Tsotne Bakuria

Tsotne Bakuria (b. Dec. 22, 1971, Tbilisi, Georgia) was a member of the regional legislature of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, Georgia. In the Georgian parliamentary elections of November 2003, he was elected to the parliament of Georgia on the party list of the Democratic Revival Union, the party led by Adjaran strongman Aslan Abashidze. However, Bakuria was never able to take his seat in parliament because Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze was overthrown in the Rose Revolution, and the elections were declared invalid. After the Rose Revolution, Bakuria settled in the United States. He was a representative to the Council of Europe from 2001–2004, and an associate member of the European Union, Brussels.

He graduated from Tbilisi State University in 1993, and additionally received a BA in political science from Saarland University, Germany, in 1994. He received an MA in international relations from University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in 1998, and was a 2005 visiting scholar at George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

Bakuria is an expert in Eurasian and the Caucasus region political affairs, has published numerous commentaries for international publications, and is a frequent television commentator.