Adjara crisis (2004)

Adjara is an autonomous republic within Georgia , populated by Adzharians (an ethnographic group of Georgians , with a slight predominance of Muslim religion). In 1991, Aslan Abashidze became chairman of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Ajara. After the outbreak of the Civil War, he created his own army as a counterweight to armed groups, uniting supporters and opponents of Zviad Gamsakhurdia . Unlike the leadership of Abkhazia and South Ossetia , Abashidze did not try to achieve independence of Adjara and developed it as a “ free economic zone ” with the right to leave customs duties in the republic, and in 2000 he achieved the introduction of the special state status of Adjara into the Georgian Constitution . In fact, he was a semi-independent ruler of the republic. In addition, the 145th motorized rifle division of the Russian Armed Forces was located in Batumi, with the leadership of which Abashidze maintained friendly relations. Until 1999, the Russian border troops also helped him, but after they left he began training his own border guards ^[1] . In connection with the presence of the military base of the Russian Armed Forces in Adjara, the Russian leadership had a real mechanism, if not influence, then at least control the situation in the Adjarian region. Georgia sought to regain influence on Batumi . In addition, there was a significant economic prerequisite for the conflict: prior to the establishment of autonomy by the central government in 2004, Adjara independently controlled the border with Turkey and the proceeds from customs duties collected from sea vessels (mainly), air vessels and vehicles (as amended by the Constitution Georgia of 2000, canceled on July 5, 2004).

Confrontation between Tbilisi and Adjara

In November 2003, opposition rallies began in Georgia, accusing the country's authorities of falsifying the results of the parliamentary elections, which then turned into the Rose Revolution . During these speeches, Abashidze supported President Eduard Shevardnadze and, speaking on Adjara television, he called the leaders of the opposition "United National Movement" Mikhail Saakashvili and David Berdzenishvili "fascists", and their movement was "fascist" ^[2] . On November 23, after the opposition seized the parliament building, the Adjarian government imposed a state of emergency ^[3] . After the victory of the “Rose Revolution”, Aslan Abashidze did not have a relationship with the new authorities, in particular, opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili. Abashidze said that his autonomy would not take part in the presidential election . During the presidential campaign, Saakashvili said: “Adjara is not the property of Aslan Abashidze. If someone tries to separate this territory from Georgia, then I have a room with four walls ready for him ... Georgia is ready to negotiate, but will not allow separatism ” ^[4] . However, on January 4, 2004, presidential elections were held in the autonomy, and on election day Abashidze lifted the state of emergency, but introduced it again on January 7 ^[5] . The next day, Georgian Deputy Minister of Justice Gigi Ugulava said:

With the election of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, relations between Tbilisi and the autonomy have intensified. On January 22, Mikheil Saakashvili said: “Georgia is a single country, and whoever opposes should be removed from it. I will restore order in the country, including in Adjara. There is no aggression against the Ajarian authorities and will not be, but everyone should understand one thing - every square centimeter of Georgian land will be under control ” ^[5] .

On January 25, Saakashvili arrived in Batumi, where, together with Aslan Abashidze, he hosted a military parade with the participation of a unit of the Ministry of Defense, border troops and internal troops of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs ^[6] . As soon as the Georgian president left Batumi, his supporters, chanting "Misha, Misha!" And shouting slogans against the Ajarian leadership, moved to the Supreme Council building, where they were dispersed by special units of the Adjarian Ministry of Internal Affairs ^{[5] [6]} . In response to this action, supporters of Aslan Abashidze staged their thousands of demonstrations ^[6] . At the same time, another group of Saakashvili’s supporters went from the village of Gonio to Batumi, but after contacting them, the leader of the opposition organization Adjara’s authorities, Our Adzharia David Berdzenishvili, the situation stabilized ^[5] . In February, President Mikheil Saakashvili visited the United States and, speaking at Johns Hopkins University , said: “Abashidze and I don’t like each other” ^[7] .

On March 14, 2004, servicemen of special forces of the Ministry of State Security of Adjara and supporters of Abashidze did not let the motorcade with President Saakashvili and Georgian Interior Minister Georgy Baramidze into the autonomy ^[8] . The next day, the Georgian leadership decided to implement "a series of constitutional measures to block the separatist regime of Adjara," and Saakashvili announced:

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On March 18, as a result of an agreement with parliamentary chairman Nino Burjanadze in Batumi, a meeting was held between Mikheil Saakashvili and Aslan Abashidze, at which Saakashvili agreed to lift the economic blockade of Ajaria and Abashidze to disarm the armed forces and not impede the holding of parliamentary elections on the territory of autonomy ^[10] . However, four days later, the Georgian president accused the head of Adjara of disrupting the agreements reached. On March 23, the Georgian Foreign Ministry canceled the passports of senior officials of Adjara’s leadership, including Aslan Abashidze, his son Georgy Abashidze and the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Adjara, Jemal Gogitidze, and the National Bank of Georgia began liquidating the Batumi Sea Bank ^[11] . Speaking on Batumi television on March 25, Abashidze made it clear that he was not going to disarm militia units. He specifically said:

Despite this, parliamentary elections were held in autonomy on March 28, but they did not resolve the crisis. The Central Election Commission of Georgia canceled the results of voting in Khuloy and Kobulet districts, where Aslan Abashidze’s Vozrozhdenie party won, but when they tried to hold a second election, the locals defeated the premises of the temporary election commission and destroyed documentation brought from Tbilisi, which again aggravated the situation in autonomy ^[13] . According to the results of the parliamentary elections, the Revival party Abashidze received only a little more than 3% of the vote, after which she and the Labor Party accused the authorities of falsifying the vote ^[14] . On April 22, at the first meeting of the new parliament of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili called on parliamentarians to take an irreconcilable stance against "the Abashidze clan, which does not represent the interests of the Adzharians, but is a gang of criminals, murderers and drug dealers" ^[15] .

Adjara Revolution

In mid-April, General Roman Dumbadze, commander of the 25th Motorized Rifle Batumi Brigade of the Georgian Armed Forces, joined Aslan Abashidze under his command . ^[16] On April 21, the 3rd Directorate of Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, headed by Colonel Murad Tsintsadze, became subordinate to the head of Adjara ^[17] . On April 27, Abashidze signed a decree on universal mobilization in Adjara autonomy ^[18] . At the same time, several servicemen of the quick reaction detachment, which was personally subordinate to the head of the autonomy, left Adzharia, sided with the Georgian authorities ^[19] . On April 30, Adjara’s special forces and a quick reaction detachment dispersed the Ajarian opposition rally near the building of the Batumi city court ^[20] .

On May 2, by decision of the Adzharian leadership, three automobile bridges over the Choloki River were blown up , which were an important link between Adjara and the rest of Georgia, and the railroad connecting Batumi with Georgia was dismantled in the cities of Kobuleti and Tsikhisdziri . On the same day, Saakashvili presented an ultimatum to the leader of Adzharia until May 12 to disarm illegal armed groups, threatening otherwise the dissolution of the government and parliament of Adjara ^[21] . Georgia’s actions supported the USA . US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that Washington is “deeply concerned about the decision of the Adjarian leader Aslan Abashidze to destroy the bridges” , and that “the fundamental issue for us is that Adjara is part of Georgia. We strongly support the efforts of the Georgian government aimed at restoring our power and the rule of law in Adjara ” ^[22] . On May 4, broadcasting of Georgian TV was stopped in Adjara, and in the autonomy capital near the university building 5 thousand people started a protest rally demanding the resignation of Abashidze ^[18] . By the next day, the number of participants reached 15 thousand people; 25 military and 4 parliamentarians took their side, the deputy minister of internal affairs of Adzharia Elguja Dzhincharadze and the minister of health and social protection of Ajaria Guliko Shervashidze also announced their resignation ^[18] . On the same day, Mikheil Saakashvili announced on television the introduction of his direct rule in Adzharia and promised Abashidze "security guarantees" if he "resigns without excesses" ^[18] . The large-scale armed conflict in the autonomous republic was prevented as a result of negotiations between Russia and Georgia. Secretary of the Russian Security Council Igor Ivanov went to Adjara. On the night of May 5-6, Aslan Abashidze left Adjara with his son George ^[18] , flew with Moscow to the Secretary of the Security Council of Russia. In an urgent television message, Mikhail Saakashvli announced: “Aslan has escaped! Adjara is free! ” ^[18] . RIA Novosti wrote in those days:

One-on-one negotiations between Ivanov and Abashidze lasted four hours. Towards the end of the negotiations, shots rang out near the building where they were passing. There is still no exact information about this incident. According to one version, this was a farewell “salute” for the close associates of the “Adjarian lion,” who by that time already knew about Abashidze’s resignation. At the end of negotiations with Ivanov, the former head of Adzharia left his residence and headed to Batumi airport, from where he flew to Moscow. Publicly refuting the information about the possibility of his resignation as early as Wednesday evening, before negotiations with the head of the Security Council of Russia, Abashidze chose to leave Batumi without any statements. This gave rise to the leadership of Georgia to call his departure "flight." ^[23]

Thousands of people greeted Abashidze's resignation with glee on the streets of Batumi. The chair of Abashidze was taken out of his office in the building of the Supreme Council of Adjara, broken and publicly burned at the monument to his grandfather - Memed Abashidze ^[23] . On May 6, President Saakashvili arrived in Batumi. On the same day, an interim council of Adjara was created, headed by the head of the Department of Railways of Georgia Levan Varshalomidze ^[24] . On May 10, the heads of district administrations and the interim mayor of the city, Edward Surmanidze, were appointed in Batumi. On the same day, Saakashvili took part in the dismantling of the checkpoint on the Choloki River and, controlling a bulldozer, demolished the building where security had previously been located and citizens were searched, saying: “ There will never be a dividing line between the Chokolas in the history of Georgia Adjara and the rest of Georgia ” ^[25] . After the overthrow of Abashidze, Edward Surmanidze stated that the opposition movement “Our Adjaria” ceases to exist because “it achieved its goal - expelled Aslan Abashidze from Adjara, overthrew his regime and returned autonomy to the constitutional field of Georgia” ^[26] . On June 20, elections of the Supreme Council took place in the autonomy, in which the party “Saakashvili - the victorious Adjara” won, gaining about 70% of the vote ^[27] . On July 5, the President of Georgia signed the constitutional law “On the status of the Autonomous Republic of Ajara in connection with amendments to the Constitution of Georgia”, according to which the supreme representative body of the Supreme Council of Adjara and the executive branch in the person of the government, which is accountable to the central authorities of Georgia, function in the autonomy ^[28] . The Ajarian crisis ended with the complete subordination of autonomy to the metropolitan authorities.

• Развитие событий в постсоветской Аджарии