The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia has commented on the detention at a Turkish airport of Zurab Japaridze, one of the leaders of the opposition “Coalition for Change.”
As the ministry stated to the IPN news agency, “an entry ban on Japaridze to any country was not a request of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia.”
Earlier, Zurab Japaridze himself reported that he had been detained at the Turkish border. According to the opposition figure, he was informed that “an entry ban to the country has been in effect since November 2025, as information was received from official Georgian bodies.”
As a reminder, Zurab Japaridze was released on December 19, 2025, after seven months of imprisonment. That sentence was handed down for failing to appear before a temporary parliamentary investigative commission.
During his imprisonment, in November 2025, Japaridze was hit with new charges under articles of “sabotage” and “assisting a foreign state in hostile activity.” If convicted, he faces between 7 and 15 years of imprisonment.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia alleges that Japaridze and several other opposition politicians transmitted information damaging to Georgia’s national interests to foreign state representatives. The politician denies these allegations.
It should also be noted that in April 2026, the Georgian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that Georgian authorities had transmitted information via Interpol channels to Turkey concerning Zurab Japaridze, Elene Khoshtaria, and Giorgi Vashadze.
Case files indicate that Tbilisi contacted the Interpol bureau in Ankara on May 7, 2025. The Turkish response stated that none of the three politicians were present in the country, and that the notification from the Georgian side had been forwarded to relevant agencies to place them on the list of persons barred from entry.
At the time, Japaridze said he did not know whether he had been placed on that list. However, he did not rule out that foreign travel could present problems and lead to his detention.
Radio Liberty also reported on an intensified level of cooperation between law enforcement agencies in Georgia and Turkey.
