Eka Tkeshelashvili

Eka Tkeshelashvili ეკა ტყეშელაშვილი
State Minister for Reintegration, Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia
In office November 20, 2010 – October 25, 2012
President	Mikheil Saakashvili
Preceded by	Temur Iakobashvili
Succeeded by	Paata Zakareishvili
Secretary of National Security Council
In office December 6, 2008 – November 20, 2010
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office May 5, 2008 – December 6, 2008
Preceded by	David Bakradze
Succeeded by	Grigol Vashadze
Prosecutor General
In office February 1, 2008 – May 5, 2008
Minister of Justice
In office August 1, 2007 – January 31, 2008
Preceded by	Gia Kavtaradze
Succeeded by	Nika Gvaramia
Personal details
Born	May 23, 1977 Tbilisi, Georgia
Alma mater	Tbilisi State University

Ekaterine "Eka" Tkeshelashvili (Georgian: ეკატერინე "ეკა" ტყეშელაშვილი; born May 23, 1977) is a Georgian jurist and politician, formerly serving as Minister of Justice, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Secretary of the National Security Council, and Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister for Reintegration of Georgia under President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Biography

Tkeshelashvili was born on May 23, 1977 in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. She graduated from the Faculty of International Law and International Relations at Tbilisi State University in 1999 and worked as a lawyer for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Georgia, and then for IRIS Georgia, a Tbilisi office of the University of Maryland’s Center for Institutional Reform and the Informal Sector. From October 9, 1997 until September 10, 1999, she was the Chief Specialist Centre for Foreign Policy Research and Analysis in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia.^[1] From June 1 to November 1, 2001, Tkeshelashvili was a lawyer at Lawyers' Committee of Human Rights in New York City, from December 2002 until May 2003, interned at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague, Netherlands.

Political career

Tkeshelashvili was appointed to her first government post as Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia on February 1, 2004. She was then appointed Deputy Minister of Interior on September 1, 2005 and then became a Chairperson of the Tbilisi Court of Appeals from May 1, 2006 to August 1, 2007.

Eka Tkeshelashvili (center) greeting Condoleezza Rice in Georgia, August 2008.

She served as Minister of Justice of Georgia from August 2007 to January 2008, and as Prosecutor General of Georgia from January to May 2008. On May 5, 2008 she was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, a post she held until December 5, 2008.^[2] Her appointment coincided with Georgia’s increasingly tense relations with its northern neighbor Russia over the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Georgia’s aspiration to join NATO. During her tenure in this position, she vowed to pursue active diplomacy to find a peaceful solution to all existing problems.^[3] Tkeshelashvili was replaced as Minister of Foreign Affairs by Grigol Vashadze on December 5, 2008, in a cabinet shuffle.^[4][5] Later in December, she was appointed to head the National Security Council.^[6][7] From 2010 to 2012, she was State Minister for Reintegration.^[1][8]

Personal life

Tkeshelashvili is married and has two children. In addition to her native Georgian, she speaks English, Russian, and French.^[9]

References

1. "Ministry for Reintegration. Ekaterine Tkeshelashvili". Retrieved 2011-02-16.
2. "Chief Prosecutor Becomes Foreign Minister", Civil.ge, May 5, 2008.
3. (Russian) <<Грузинская дипломатия должна быть активной - глава МИД>> NewsGeorgia, May 6, 2008.
4. "Cabinet reshuffled", Civil.ge, December 5, 2008.
5. "Senior Georgian ministers sacked", BBC News, December 5, 2008.
6. "Former FM to Chair NSC", Civil.ge, December 18, 2008.
7. "Saakashvili: NSC Becomes Stronger with its New Chair", Civil.ge, December 23, 2008.
8. "Reshuffle in Government, NSC", Civil.ge, November 20, 2010.
9. Ekaterine Tkeshelashvili biography, Office of the State Minister of Georgia for Reintegration, Retrieved January 1, 2011.