Gela Charkviani

Gela Charkviani (; 1 March 1939 – 9 November 2021) was a Georgian diplomat, writer, educator, and television personality.

Early life Gela Charkviani was born in Tbilisi on 1 March 1939 into the family of Kandid Charkviani, a leader of the Georgian Communist Party who had been accused in the Mingrelian Affair under Joseph Stalin, and his ophthalmologist wife Tamar Djaoshvili. He studied architecture at the Georgian Technical University and eventually graduated from the Chavchavadze Institute of Foreign Languages. Gela Charkviani's post-graduate studies included a semester at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1970, a period regarded as the peak of the Youth Revolution in the United States. The time spent at Ann Arbor, in Charkviani's opinion, has caused a major shift in his worldview.

Television career For 25 years thereafter Gela Charkviani taught English and later on, Sociology at the Chavchavadze Foreign Languages Institute and Tbilisi State University. From 1976 to 1994 he anchored the Georgian TV's monthly Globe program featuring profiles of the world nations. His five-part documentary Georgians in the Kremlin was aired by Rustavi-2 TV in September/October 2004.

Political career From 1992 to 2003 Charkviani was Chief Foreign Policy Adviser to President Eduard Shevardnadze.

Gela was married to Nana Toidze-Charkviani and had one son and one daughter. His son Irakli Charkviani was an influential Georgian musician and writer.

Charkviani died on 9 November 2021 at the age of 82 in Tbilisi.