The examination of the political developments between 1985 and 1991

This section provides an overview of major socio-political changes during the transition period in which Georgia transferred from a Soviet republic to an independent state, the Republic of Georgia, in order to provide essential context for the analyses in the subsequent sections. The chapter covers a seven-year period between the early stage of perestroika when Shevardnadze, then the First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party, left Tbilisi to Moscow to hold a position as the Soviet Foreign Affairs Ministry in 1985, until he returned to Georgia to fill in a power vacuum left after the ousting of the first President of independent Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, in January 1992.

3.2.1 Re-emergence of Georgian nationalism and independence movement

The first half of the seven year period coincides with perestroika, the sociopolitical reform movement introduced by Mikhail Gorvachev between 1985 and 1989. Georgia was independent for a brief period of time between 1918 and 1921. During the Soviet times and especially since 1956 when a pro-Georgian rally in Tbilisi was violently oppressed by the Soviet troops, Georgian nationalism had not been on the political surface. Under perestroika, the Georgian nationalism started to re-emerge and gather momentum. The re-kindled Georgian nationalism led to the independence movement. Nationalistic Georgian intellectuals such as Giorgi Chanturia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Merab Kostava and Erekle Shengelaia emerged as independence movement leaders.

Jumbar Patiashvili, who replaced Shevardnadze as the Georgian Communist Party in 1985, maintained severe repression of any dissident movements. During the late 1980s, the police broke up pro-independence demonstrations and meetings more frequently, as the Georgian nationalist movement was increasingly gathering popular support. On May 26 1988, the police intervened in various demonstrations and meetings to commemorate the anniversary of the first Georgian independence. This incident was followed by a more violent intervention on April 9 1989. The Soviet troops cracked down on a pro-

46

independence demonstration in Tbilisi, killed 19 people and injured hundreds. (Keller, 1989)

The violent oppression by the Soviet troops, however, contributed to the popular support for the Georgian nationalist movement leaders. By late 1989, Gamsakhurdia became the most prominent political figure.11 _{In 1991, the} Georgian parliament declared secession from the Soviet Union. The Georgians voted for a restoration of the independence of Georgia at a referendum in which almost 90 percent of the voters supported the “restoration of the state independence of Georgia”. (Suny, 1994, p. 326) Gamsakhurdia was elected with an overwhelming majority (more than 85 percent), as the first President of independent Georgia. (Suny, 1994, p. 326)

3.2.2 Independence and civil wars

The declaration of independence did not, however, bring political stability in Georgia. On the contrary, Georgia became an extremely fragile state and affected by violent clashes in various parts of the countries including its capital, Tbilisi. Instead of consolidating his power, Gamsakhurdia increasingly become hostile towards his political opponents. Gamsakhurdia drew further hostilities towards him by his ambivalent response to the coup attempt in Moscow in August in 1991. (Jones, 2015, pp. 62–63; Suny, 1994, p. 327) On 22 December, Gamsakhurdia’s opponents attacked the parliament building. In January 1992, the first elected President of Georgia was deposed after fighting with his opponents, causing dozens of deaths in central Tbilisi. Gamsakhurdia escaped to Armenia and later to Chechnya, where he remained until his death in December 1993. (Civil Georgia, 2009)

The territorial integrity of independent Georgia was jeopardized. As the independence movement gathered pace, tensions grew between ethnic Georgian and other ethnic groups within the new Georgian state, in particular the

11 _{Merab Kostava, the other most popular nationalist movement leader, was killed in a car accident in}

47

Abkhaz and Ossetians. The more momentum the nationalistic independence movement gained among the ethnic Georgians, the more distant the non- Georgian peoples became from the Georgian-centric movement. The ethnic tensions led to territorial conflicts, particularly over two regions, i.e., Abkhazia (the former Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) and South Ossetia (the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast). There was another territorial issue with Adjara (the former Adjaran Autonomous Soviet Social Republic) which was predominantly habituated by the Muslim population. Adjara had been largely controlled by its leader, Aslan Abashidze12 _{and his clans for a long period of time.} Unlike the cases of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the relation with Tbilisi remained relatively calm and the territorial issue did not escalate into a violence conflict. Since the late 1980s, the Abkhaz had started to demand separation from the Soviet Georgia. The tension between the Georgians and the Abkhaz escalated, especially after a mass Abkhaz meeting in March 1989, demanded for separation. During the same period, violent confrontations were frequent between the Georgians and the Ossetians in South Ossetia, too. In 1989, demands for more autonomy in South Ossetia led to violent clashes between the Georgian and Ossetian militias. Russian peacekeepers were deployed in South Ossetia in 1980. In 1992, South Ossetians voted for independence, although Georgia did not recognise the referendum.

In addition to the ethnic conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a civil war erupted in a western Georgian region of Samegrelo. Tbilisi also became a battle field, as inter-militia violence became intensified. In Samegrelo, the Zviadistss fought to take over the power in the capital against Gamsakhurdia’s opponents. Street violence in Tbilisi exchanged fires mainly between different youth gangs for their private revenge. State control became virtually non-existent in the western Georgia. By that time, Georgia lost its control over Abkhazia and South Ossetia. With Adjara having its own paramilitary forces under a personal fiefdom of Abashidze, Georgia’s territorial integrity was eroded, leaving Georgia on the verge of turning into a failed state by 1992.

12 _{When Georgia became independent of the Soviet Union, Abashidze was appointed as the Chairman of}

48

By the time when Georgia became an independent state, its society had become highly volatile and militant. The state apparatus of newly independent Georgia was not functional. A Military Council replaced the ousted president, Gamsakhurdia. Having ousted Gamsakhurdia, his opponents and paramilitary heads, Tengiz Kitovani and Jaba Ioseliani invited Shevardnadze, who had resigned as the Soviet Foreign Affairs Minister by then, to return to Georgia. Shevardnadze returned to Tbilisi. The Military Council was transferred to the State Council, and Shevardnadze was appointed the head of the newly formed State Council in March 1992, with the two paramilitary leaders among the four voting members (Jones, 2015, p. 82), then the chairperson of the parliament in October.

In sum, Georgia in the late 1980s and early 1990s witnessed massive socio- political changes. Georgia transformed from a Soviet republic to an independent state. However, its territorial borders became contested and the inter-ethnic tension escalated and led to the armed conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. As the Soviet Union dissolved, its state apparatus ceased to function. The militarised power struggle among political elites, the armed conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia as well as the absence of functional state apparatus created a political and institutional vacuum in Georgian society. It was in this context that security sector change in the late 1980s and 1990s took place.