Greta Thunberg, the renowned Swedish climate activist, has recently been navigating the choppy political waters of Georgia and Armenia, due to her inability to attend the COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. Her no-fly policy and the closed land borders of Azerbaijan have kept her grounded in neighboring countries.
Thunberg’s journey began with a trip to Georgia, which she reached overland through Turkey. Her visit coincided with a politically tumultuous period in Georgia, marked by regular protests by opposition activists seeking to overturn the results of the parliamentary elections held on October 26. The ruling party, Georgian Dream, emerged victorious in the elections, but allegations of widespread irregularities have led opposition activists to question the validity of the results.
Thunberg attended a protest on November 4, expressing her support for Georgian democracy and freedom. The climate activist also attempted to connect her advocacy for climate justice with the Georgian demand for democracy. However, her solidarity was not always reciprocated, particularly by Georgian liberals who disagreed with her political views.
While in Tbilisi, Thunberg advocated for protests against the Turkish and Azerbaijani embassies, along with the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR, accusing them of supporting energy supply to Israel and contributing to genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. This view was not shared by many pro-western Georgians, who see the Azerbaijani oil, shipped through Georgia via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, as a strategic asset that fosters their energy independence from Russia and strengthens their ties to Europe.
Thunberg faced criticism on social media for her political stance and was accused of being anti-Semitic due to her support for Palestinians. Some critics felt that she was pushing her own agenda rather than supporting the cause of the Georgian protesters.
On November 11, Thunberg organized a protest against COP29, along with activists from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The protest highlighted a variety of issues, including Azerbaijan’s human rights abuses, the plight of the ethnic Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, Georgian democracy, and animal rights.
Thunberg’s time in Armenia was less contentious, due to the absence of a competing domestic political agenda and her strong support for Armenia in its conflict with Azerbaijan. She called for immediate sanctions against the Azerbaijani regime for its human rights violations at a conference held on November 14.
In a surprising turn of events, Azerbaijan, which had previously supported Thunberg, criticized her for her stance against the country. An article in a pro-government newspaper labeled her a puppet of liberal philanthropist George Soros and accused her of being ungrateful for Baku’s past support.
