During a campaign stop in Akhalkalak, on the eve of presidential elections in Georgia, Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili urged local Armenians to learn Georgian.

Escorting his Georgia Dream party candidate Giorgi Margvelashvili, the Prime Minister told the crowd, “The only thing you need is to learn Georgian to the best of your ability.”

While onlookers gathered at the Mesrob Mashtots statue in the town had applauded Ivanishvili’s promises to assist farmers by building reprocessing plants, the language statement met with silence.

Ivanishvili expanded on the language issue by saying that the government had drafted a number of integration programs ever since independence and that learning Georgian was an integral part of the package.

In response, the website of the Armenian community in Georgia sarcastically noted, “The government is so concerned about our welfare that without even asking, it knows what’s best for us.”

“He loves you and will work on your behalf. He will try to lighten your load,” Ivanishvili told the crowd in Russian, referring to candidate Margvelashvili.

The two other candidates in the October 27 election for president are David Bakradze of the United National Movement, and Nino Burjanadze of the Democratic Movement-United Georgia.