Abashidze Desperately Grips for Power
Moscow Backs Adjarian Leader
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| Abashidze secures backing in Moscow. |
“The attempts by extremist-minded forces in Georgia, in particular from the organization Kmara [Enough – youth movement demanding Abashidze’s resignation], to cause tensions in Adjara are extremely dangerous and fraught with a destabilization of the situation in the country as a whole,” the statement reads. Moscow also warned “provocative actions may lead to the most serious consequences.”
Recently Aslan Abashidze visited Moscow and held talks with the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Valeri Loshchinin. Aslan Abashidze said upon his arrival from Moscow on January 18 that economic issues were discussed during the talks in Russia. However, many political analysts in Georgia suppose that Abashidze tried to secure his Russian allies in Moscow.
The anti-Abashidze campaign in Adjara is basically driven by two organizations – public movement Our Adjara and youth movement Kmara (Enough). The Kmara movement has recently launched disseminating banners in the Adjarian capital Batumi with slogans “Enough to Abashidze’s Dictatorship.” As a result several activist of the Kmara were arrested by the Adjarian police on January 6 and released after ten-day detention.
Murder of the Adjarian Interior Ministry’s high official in the center of Batumi on January 18 further increased tensions in Adjara, as the Abashidze’s opponents say that the assassination was politically motivated. However, Adjarian Interior Minister Jemal Gogitidze dismissed oppositions’ claims as “ungrounded.”
Temur Inaishvili, head of the Emergency Situations Department of the Adjarian Interior Ministry, who was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the center of Batumi, was brother of one of the founders of the Our Adjara movement Jemal Inaishvili.
“This murder was masterminded by the Adjarian authorities and was politically motivated,” Jemal Inaishvili, said in an interview with Rustavi 2 television.
Our Adjara movement claims that Inaishvili was killed because he openly sympathized with the movement. Georgian President-elect Mikheil Saakashvili has already asked newly appointed chief prosecutor of Georgia Irakli Okruashvili to take under his personal control the investigation into Inaishvili’s murder.
The new leadership of the country has already demonstrated that it will not permit Abashidze’s unilateral moves in Adjara. On January 16 a special group of the Interior Ministry was dispatched to Batumi from Tbilisi to arrest fugitive ex-chief of the Georgian Railway Company Akaki Chkhaidze. The operation was carried out without any notification of the local authorities in Adjara. Akaki Chkhaidze is accused of misappropriating 476,000 Lari (approximately $216,000).
“We will not permit Adjara to turn into haven for criminals. Adjara is an integral part of Georgia and the laws there are the same as in entire Georgia,” Mikheil Saakashvili said at a news briefing on January 16.
Political analysts say that Abashidze faces a dilemma – if he prefers to cooperate with the new leadership of Georgia, he will have to democratize its unilateral rule in the Autonomous Region. Otherwise, he has to make his rule much more repressive that will trigger more protests of the local population. Observers suppose that Abashidze has a little chance to hold power in both cases. If he pursues democratic policy, he is less apparent to compete with his opponents in the elections.
Koba Khabazi, one of the founders of the public movement Our Adjara, said “it will be rather difficult to force Abashidze to resign.”
“Shevardnadze would never have admitted bloodshed, since he always cared about his international image. But Abashidze has nothing to lose and he will not avoid use of force. Therefore, we refrain from launching wide-scale protest rallies in Adjara,” Koba Khabazi said.