On 21 July, the German public broadcaster ARD emitted in the show “Weltspiegel” a short story on Abkhazia. The show presented Abkahzia as a territory which was handed to Georgia by Stalin, which prompted the Georgian embassy in Germany to react to this statement, reported agenda.ge.  

The Georgian Embassy in Germany reacted to the TV story aired by the first Channel of German Public Broadcaster on 21 July. The TV story “Abkhazia - descending by a rope on the Soviet ruins” contained distorted historical facts. The letter has been sent to the broadcaster’s management and author of the story, stating that the historical facts provided in the story do not reflect the reality,” reads the letter. The embassy has thanked the people who immediately reacted to the incident on social media. A petition has also been set up, demanding an apology for the story. 

Georgian Ambassador to Germany Elguja Khokrishvili said that the role of the media is important in combating hybrid threats. “We respect the freedom of expression of the journalist. However, in this case, the media plays a big role in shaping the public view, especially when it comes to the public broadcasters,” he said.

The story speaks of a parcours athlete, who uses abandoned buildings and areas to practice the sport.  The author of the story says that there are many such abandoned places in Tkvarcheli (a town located in occupied Abkhazia). It says that in the beginning of the 90s, due to economic problems and a war between Georgians and the Abkhaz (who were striving for independence, according to the author) the town was almost emptied, while 40,000 people lived there before. The author said that the only current ally of Abkhazia is Russia and that no Abkhaz thinks that they belong to Georgia, adding that Stalin loved the beautiful nature of Abkhazia and handed the region to Georgia.

The whole story can be accessed on youtube under the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CUgmDHxQ_M&t=306s

The ARD (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland – Working group of public broadcasters of the Federal Republic of Germany) is a joint organization of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters founded in 1950 in West Germany to represent the common interests of the new, decentralised, post-war broadcasting services – in particular the introduction of a joint television network. It is maintained and operated on the national television network, called Das Erste ("The First").