Zviad Gamsakhurdia

Zviad Konstantines dze Gamsakhurdia (Georgian: ????? ???????????? ?? ???????????) (March 31, 1939 - December 31, 1993) was a dissident, scientist and writer, who became the first democratically elected President of the Republic of Georgia in the post-Soviet era. (Particularly in Soviet-era sources, his patronymic is sometimes given as Konstantinovich in the Russian style.)

Gamsakhurdia as President

On taking office, Gamsakhurdia was faced with major economic and political difficulties, especially regarding Georgia's relations with the Soviet Union. A key problem was the position of Georgia's many ethnic minorities (making up 30% of the population). Although minority groups had participated actively in Georgia's return to democracy, they were underrepresented in the results of the October 1990 elections with only nine of 245 deputies being non-Georgians. Even before Georgia's independence, the position of national minorities was contentious and led to outbreaks of serious inter-ethnic violence in Abkhazia during 1989. Some Georgian nationalists campaigned on a slogan of "Georgia for the Georgians", of which Gamsakhurdia was seen as supportive. At its most innocuous, this meant ending the Soviet domination and russification of the country. Others used it to mean the abolition of the autonomous status of minority regions, and a few extremists demanded the complete expulsion of minorities.

Related Topics:
1990 - Russification

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The slogan, and others like it, aroused alarm among minorities. Minority nationalists responded by demanding unification with ethnic counterparts across the Russian border or, in extremis, outright independence. http://www.csis.org/ruseura/ponars/policymemos/pm_0032.pdf Other Soviet republics faced similar inter-ethnic difficulties, notably concerning the Russian minorities in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Moldova and the Armenian minority in Azerbaijan - the latter two cases led to full-scale civil wars. While there were certainly legitimate concerns among many minority groups, it was widely believed by local and foreign observers that forces in Moscow were deliberately exploiting ethnic tensions to undermine the independence of the former Soviet republics.

Related Topics:
Russian - Latvia - Lithuania - Estonia - Moldova - Armenian - Azerbaijan - Moscow

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In 1989, violent unrest broke out in the autonomous district of South Ossetia between the Georgian population of the region and Ossetians demanding that their region be unified with North Ossetia (part of Russia). South Ossetia's government announced that the region would secede from Georgia and unite with their counterparts in the Russian Federation. In response, the Georgian Supreme Soviet annulled the autonomy of South Ossetia in March 1990. A three-way power struggle between Georgian, Ossetian and Soviet military forces broke out in the region, which resulted (by March 1991) in the deaths of 51 people and the eviction from their homes of 25,000 more. After his election as Chairman of the newly renamed Supreme Council, Gamsakhurdia denounced the Ossetian move as being part of a Russian ploy to undermine Georgia, declaring the Ossetian separatists to be "direct agents of the Kremlin, its tools and terrorists." In February 1991, he sent a letter to Mikhail Gorbachev demanding the withdrawal of Soviet army units and an additional contigent of interior troops of the USSR from the territory of former Authonomous District of South Ossetia.

Related Topics:
1989 - South Ossetia - Supreme Soviet - 1990 - 1991

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The rise of the opposition

Gamsakhurdia's opponents were highly critical of what they regarded as "unacceptably dictatorial behaviour", which had already been the subject of criticism even before his election as President. Prime Minister Tengiz Sigua and two other senior ministers resigned on August 19 in protest against Gamsakhurdia's policies. The three ministers joined the opposition, accusing him of "being a demagogue and totalitarian and complaining about the slow pace of economic reform". In an emotional television broadcast, Gamsakhurdia claimed that his enemies were engaging in "sabotage and betrayal" within the country.

Related Topics:
Tengiz Sigua - August 19

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Gamsakhurdia's response to the coup against President Gorbachev was a source of further controversy. On August 19 he, the Georgian government, and the Presidium of the Supreme Council issued an appeal to the Georgian population to remain calm, stay at their workplaces, and perform their jobs without yielding to provocations or taking unauthorized actions. The following day, Gamsakhurdia appealed to international leaders to recognize the republics (including Georgia) that had declared themselves independent of the Soviet Union. He claimed publicly on August 21 that Gorbachev himself had masterminded the coup in an attempt to boost his popularity before the Soviet presidential elections, an allegation rejected as "ridiculous" by US President George H. W. Bush.

Related Topics:
August 19 - August 21 - George H. W. Bush

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In a particularly controversial development, the Russian news agency Interfax reported that Gamsakhurdia had agreed with the Soviet military that the Georgian National Guard would be disarmed and on August 23 he issued decrees abolishing the post of commander of the Georgian National Guard and redesignating its members as interior troops subordinate to the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs. In defiance of Gamskhurdia, the sacked National Guard commander Tengiz Kitovani led most of his troops out of Tbilisi on August 24. By this time, however, the coup had clearly failed and Gamsakhurdia publicly congratulated Russia's President Boris Yeltsin on his victory over the putschists (Russian Journal "Russki Curier", Paris, September, 1991). Georgia had survived the coup without any violence, but Gamsakhurdia's opponents accused him of not being resolute in opposing it. Kitovani's supporters reportedly distributed leaflets in Tbilisi denouncing the government for not opposing the coup. http://www.funet.fi/pub/culture/russian/politics/coup/rlr/91-0829C.RLR

Related Topics:
Interfax - August 23 - Tengiz Kitovani - August 24 - Boris Yeltsin

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Gamsakhurdia reacted angrily, accusing shadowy forces in Moscow of conspiring with his internal enemies against Georgia's independence movement. In a rally in early September, he told his supporters: "The infernal machinery of the Kremlin will not prevent us from becoming free... Having defeated the traitors, Georgia will achieve its ultimate freedom." He shut down an opposition newspaper, "Molodiozh Gruzii," on the grounds that it had published open calls for a national rebellion. Giorgi Chanturia, whose National Democratic Party was one of the most active opposition groups at that time, was arrested and imprisoned on charges of seeking help from Moscow to overthrow the legal government. It was also reported that Channel 2, a television station, was closed down after employees took part in rallies against the government. http://www.uiowa.edu/~cyberlaw/georgia/gamed90s.html

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The government's activities aroused controversy at home and strong criticism abroad. A visiting delegation of US Congressmen led by Representative Steny Hoyer reported that there were "severe human rights problems within the present new government, which is not willing to address them or admit them or do anything about them yet." American commentators cited the human rights issue as being one of the main reasons for Georgia's inability to secure widespread international recognition. The country had already been granted recognition by a limited number of countries (including Romania, Turkey, Canada, Finland, Ukraine, Lithuania and others) but recognition by major countries eventually came during Christmas 1991, when the USA, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Pakistan, India and others formally recognized Georgian independence.

Related Topics:
US Congress - Steny Hoyer - Romania - Turkey - Canada - Finland - Ukraine - Lithuania - USA - Sweden - Switzerland - France - Belgium - Pakistan - India

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The political dispute turned violent on September 2, when an anti-government demonstration in Tblisi was dispersed by police. The most ominous development was the splintering of the Georgian National Guard into pro- and anti-government factions, with the latter setting up an armed camp outside the capital. Skirmishes between the two sides occurred across Tblisi during October and November with occasional fatalities resulting from gunfights. Paramilitary groups - one of the largest of which was the anti-Gamsakhurdia "Mkhedrioni" ("Horsemen" or "Knights"), a nationalist militia with several thousand members - set up barricades around the city.

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Coup d'etat

On December 22, 1991, armed opposition supporters launched a violent coup d'etat and attacked a number of official buildings including the Georgian parliament building, where Gamsakhurdia himself was sheltering. Heavy fighting continued in Tblisi until January 6, 1992, leaving at least 113 people dead. On January 6, Gamsakhurdia and members of his government escaped through opposition lines and made their way to the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya, where they were given asylum by the government of General Dzhokhar Dudayev.

Related Topics:
December 22 - 1991 - Coup d'etat - January 6 - 1992 - Chechnya - Dzhokhar Dudayev

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It was later claimed (although apparently not confirmed) that Soviet forces had been involved in the coup against Gamsakhurdia. On December 15, 1992 the Russian newspaper Moskovskie Novosti ("Moscow News") printed a letter claiming that the former Vice-Commander of the Trans-Caucasian Military District, Colonel General Sufian Bepaev, had sent a "subdivision" to assist the armed opposition. If the intervention had not taken place, it was claimed, "Gamsakhurdia's supporters' victory would be guaranteed." It was also claimed that Soviet special forces had helped the opposition to attack the state television tower on December 28.

Related Topics:
December 15 - 1992 - December 28

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A Military Council made up of Gamsakhurdia opponents took over the government on an interim basis. One of its first actions was to formally depose Gamsakhurdia as President. It reconstituted itself as a State Council and appointed Gamsakhurdia's old rival Eduard Shevardnadze as chairman in March 1992. The change in power was effected as a fait accompli, without any formal referendum or elections. He ruled as de facto president until the formal restoration of the presidency in November 1995.

Related Topics:
Eduard Shevardnadze - 1995

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