Abkhazia

Abkhazia (Abkhaz ?????/Aphsny, Georgian ????????/Apkhazeti, Russian ????????/Abkhazia) is a region of 8,600 km² (3,300 sq.mi.) in the Caucasus. It is formally an autonomous republic within Georgia but is de facto independent, although not recognised as such internationally. The capital is Sukhum (Sokhumi)2.

History

Early history

The earliest archeological evidence of human settlement in the Western Caucasus dates back to about 4000-3000 BC. Current Abkhazian nationalists call these early tribes "proto-Abkhazians," and write that such tribes "lived along a swathe of the Black Sea coast roughly corresponding to the present Abkhazian republic"1.

Related Topics:
4000 - 3000 BC - 1

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In the 1st millennium BC (9th-6th centuries BC), the territory of modern Abkhazia was a part of the ancient kingdom of Colchis (Kolkha), which was subsequently absorbed in 63 BC into the Kingdom of Egrisi. Greek traders established ports along the Black Sea shoreline. One of those ports, Dioscurias, eventually developed into modern Sukhumi, Abkhazia's traditional capital.

Related Topics:
1st millennium BC - 9th - 6th centuries BC - Colchis - 63 BC - Egrisi - Sukhumi

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The Roman Empire conquered Egrisi in the 1st century AD and ruled it until the 4th century, following which it regained a measure of independence but remained within the Byzantine Empire's sphere of influence. The Abkhazians were converted to Christianity during the rule of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in the mid-6th century. Abkhazia was made an autonomous principality of the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century, a status it retained until the 9th century, when it was united with the Georgian kingdom of Imereti. Actual independence from Constantinople ebbed and flowed during this period, which Abkhazians remember as an Abkhazian principality. It is certain that Byzantine authority would have faded once the towns were left behind, as one penetrated the mountains.

Related Topics:
Roman Empire - 1st century - 4th century - Byzantine Empire - Christianity - Justinian I - 6th century - 7th century - 9th century - Imereti

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In the 16th century the area was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, during which the Abkhazians partially converted to Islam. The Ottomans were pushed out by the Georgians, who established an autonomous Principality of Abkhazia (Abkhazetis Samtavro in Georgian) ruled by the Sharvashidze dynasty.

Related Topics:
16th century - Ottoman Empire - Islam

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Abkhazia within the Russian Empire and Soviet Union

The advance of the Russian Empire into the Caucasus region led to fierce fighting between the invading Russians and the indigenous Caucasian peoples. Various Georgian principalities were annexed to the empire between 1801-1864. The Russians acquired possession of Abhkazia in a piecemeal fashion between 1829 and 1842, but their power was not firmly established before 1864, when they managed to abolish the local Principality. Large numbers of Muslim Abkhazians - said to have constituted as much as 60% of the Abkhazian population, though contemporary census reports were not very trustworthy - emigrated to the Ottoman Empire between 1864-1878 as a result of Russian oppression of Muslims.

Related Topics:
Russian Empire - 1801 - 1864 - 1829 - 1842 - 1878

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Modern Abkhazian historians insist that large areas of the region were left uninhabited, and that many Armenians, Georgians and Russians (all Christians) subsequently migrated to Abkhazia, resettling much of the vacated territory. This version of events is strongly contested by Georgian historians (see Lortkipanidze M., The Abkhazians and Abkhazia, Tbilisi 1990) who argue that Georgian tribes (Mingrelians and Svans) populated Abkhazia from ancient times, since the Colchis kingdom. According to Georgian scholars modern Abkhazians are the descendants of the North Caucasian tribes (Adygey, Apsua), and are the ones who were moving down to Abkhazia from the North Caucasus mountains throughout the history and merging there with the existing Georgian population. Either way, according to a reliable reference source, by the beginning of the 20th century Abkhazians were a minority in the region. The Encyclopædia Britannica reported in 1911 that in the principal town, Sukhum-kaleh (modern Sukhumi; population then 43,000), two-thirds were Mingrelian Georgians and one-third Abkhazians.

Related Topics:
Armenia - Mingrelians - Svans - Colchis - Adygey - Apsua - Encyclopædia Britannica - 1911

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The takeover of the Bolsheviks following the Russian Revolution led to Abkhazia being granted a degree of cultural and political autonomy until in 1931 Stalin made it an autonomous republic within Soviet Georgia. Despite its nominal autonomy, it was subjected to strong central rule from Tbilisi and the policy of "Georgianization" was forcibly imposed. Georgian became the official language, the Abkhaz language was banned, and cultural rights were repressed, with thousands of Abkhazians killed during Stalin's purges. Lavrenty Beria encouraged Georgian migration to Abkhazia, and many took up the offer and resettled there. Later, in the 1950s and 1960s, Vazgen I and the Armenian church encouraged and funded the migration of Armenians to Abkhazia. Currently, Armenians are the largest minority group in Abkhazia.

Related Topics:
Bolsheviks - Russian Revolution - 1931 - Stalin - Soviet - Lavrenty Beria - 1950s - 1960s - Vazgen I

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The repression of Abkhazians was ended after Stalin's death and Beria's execution, and Abkhazians were given a much more powerful role in the governance of the autonomous republic. As in most of the smaller autonomous republics, the Soviet government encouraged the growth of culture and particularly of literature. Ethnic quotas were established for certain bureaucratic posts, giving the Abkhaz a degree of political power that was disproportionate to their minority status in the republic. This was interpreted by some as a "divide and rule" policy whereby local elites were given a share in power in exchange for support for the Soviet regime. In Abkhazia as elsewhere, it led to other ethnic groups - in this case, the Georgians - resenting what they saw as unfair discrimination, thereby stoking ethnic discord in the republic.

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The Abkhazian War

As the Soviet Union began to disintegrate at the end of the 1980s, ethnic tension grew between the Abkhazians and Georgians over Georgia's moves towards independence. Georgian nationalists held demonstrations in Tbilisi as early as 1989 demanding the full integration of Abkhazia into an independent Georgia. Many Abkhazians opposed this, fearing that an independent Georgia would lead to a renewed period of "Georgianization", and argued instead for the establishment of Abkhazia as an independent republic in its own right. The dispute soon turned violent, when rioting between Georgians and Abkhazians broke out in Sukhumi on 16 July 1989. 16 people were said to have been killed and another 137 injured following a dispute over university enrollment policies. After several days of violence, Soviet troops restored order in the city but blamed rival nationalist paramilitaries for "provoking" confrontations.

Related Topics:
1980s - Tbilisi - 1989 - 16 July

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Georgia declared independence on 9 April 1991, under the rule of the former Soviet dissident Zviad Gamsakhurdia. He was overthrown in an armed rebellion between December 1991 and January 1992. In December, the Georgian National Guard, under the command of Tengiz Kitovani, laid siege to Gamsakhurdia's office. After months of stalemate he was forced to resign, and was replaced as president by Eduard Shevardnadze, a former Soviet foreign minister whose rule began (in effect) as the public face of a government dominated by hardline Georgian nationalists.

Related Topics:
9 April - 1991 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia - 1992 - Tengiz Kitovani - Eduard Shevardnadze

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On 21 February 1992, Georgia's ruling Military Council announced that it was abolishing the Soviet-era constitution and restoring the 1921 Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Georgia. Many Abkhazians interpreted this as an abolition of their autonomous status. In response, on 23 July 1992, the Abkhazia government effectively declared independence, though this was not internationally recognized. The Georgian government accused Gamsakhurdia supporters of kidnapping Georgia's interior minister and holding him captive in Abkhazia. It dispatched 3,000 troops to the region, ostensibly to restore order, but heavy fighting between Georgian forces and Abkhazian separatists broke out in and around Sukhumi. The Abkhazian authorities rejected the government's claims, claiming that it was merely a pretext for an invasion. After about a week's fighting and many casualties on both sides, Georgian government forces managed to take control of most of Abkhazia and closed down the regional parliament.

Related Topics:
21 February - 1992 - 1921 - Democratic Republic of Georgia - 23 July

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The Abkhazians' military defeat was met with a hostile response by the self-styled Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus, an umbrella group uniting a number of pro-Russian movements in the North Caucasus, Russia (Chechens, Cossacks, Ossetians and others). Hundreds of volunteer paramilitaries from Russia (including Shamil Basayev, a little known former Russian army officer at that time) joined forces with the Abkhazian separatists to fight the Georgian government forces (see Wall Street Journal: Vladimir Socor, A Test Ground of Putin's International Conduct). In September, the Abkhazians and Russian paramilitaries mounted a major offensive after breaking a cease-fire, which drove the Georgian forces out of large swathes of the republic. Shevardnadze's government accused Russia of giving covert military support to the rebels with the aim of "detaching from Georgia its native territory and the Georgia-Russian frontier land". The year ended with the rebels in control of much of Abkhazia west of Sukhumi. Significant "ethnic cleansing" occurred on both sides, with Abkhazians displaced from Georgian-held territory and vice-versa; some 3,000 people were reported to have been killed in this first phase of the war.

Related Topics:
Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus - Chechen - Cossacks - Ossetians - Shamil Basayev - Ethnic cleansing

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The conflict remained stalemated until July 1993, when Abkhazian (separatist) forces launched an attack on Georgian-held Sukhumi. The capital was surrounded and heavily shelled, with Shevardnadze himself trapped in the city. Although a truce was declared at the end of July, this collapsed after a renewed Abkhaz attack in mid-September. After ten days of heavy fighting, Sukhumi fell on 27 September. Newly appointed Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze narrowly escaped death, as he had vowed to stay in the city no matter what, but was eventually forced to flee when separatist snipers fired on the hotel in which he was residing. Shevardnadze had to rely on the Russian navy to evacuate him from Sukhumi.

Related Topics:
1993 - September - 27 September - Eduard Shevardnadze

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The separatist forces quickly overran the rest of Abkhazia as the Georgian government faced a second threat, an uprising by the supporters of the deposed Zviad Gamsakhurdia in the region of Mingrelia (Samegrelo). In the chaotic aftermath of defeat, almost the entire non-Abkhazian population fled the region by sea or over the mountains. Many thousands died - it is thought that as many as 10,000 may have perished - and some 250,000-300,000 people were forced into exile.

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