Career
Giorgadze was born in Zaisan, Eastern Kazakhstan, on a Soviet - Chinese border. His father General Panteleimon Giorgadze, a World War II veteran and the former head of United Communist Party of Georgia, wanted his son to receive military education. In 1968 Giorgadze got accepted at the prestigious Higher School of the USSR Committee for State Security (KGB) in Moscow. He graduated in 1973 with a degree in Jurisprudence and foreign languages. Besides Georgian and Russian, he speaks Turkish and French as well as Serbo-Croatian and Azeri. Lieutenant-General Giorgadze held various posts with the security services of the Republic of Georgia. From 1980 to 1981 he also took part in combat operations in Afghanistan as a member of the KGB "Cascade" task group in the city of Kandahar. He has been awarded fifteen government decorations, including the "For Merit in Combat" medal and holds the title of "Honorary Officer of the KGB of the USSR".
During the 1992-1993 civil war between the adherents of the first Georgian president Zviad Gamsakhurdia and his opponents, Igor Giorgadze sided with Eduard Shevardnadze and in 1993, was appointed the country's Minister of State Security. During his ministerial tenure Giorgadze actively promoted working relations with the special services of Turkey, Russia, the United States and grew in considerable influence in the Georgian government.
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