Georgia dismantles Western symbols as it leans toward Turkmen-backed projects

Georgia’s capital retains the glass-and-steel Bridge of Peace, yet the government has issued a demolition permit for the costly Rike concert hall, a project once designed by Studio Fuksas and now slated for a hotel conversion. The Anaklia deep-water port, crucial for the Middle Corridor, has collapsed after a Western-backed consortium was cancelled, a Chinese-Singaporean group withdrew under sanctions pressure, and no new operator has emerged.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze dismissed the concert hall as an "ugliness" and is now inviting Turkmen firms to develop logistics facilities at the free-industrial zone. Recent state visits by Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov resulted in 20 memoranda covering culture, law enforcement and trade, despite Turkmenistan’s close ties to Russia and China. The article notes Turkmen gas contracts with China and its role in the Trans-Caspian route, suggesting Georgia’s pivot could make the Black Sea terminus of the corridor more useful to Beijing and Moscow than to the West.