Tensions Increase, as Saakashvili Barred from Entering Adjara

President Saakashvili vowed earlier in March “to take control over Adjara,” however he was not even permitted to travel to Georgia’s defiant region on March 14. Saakashvili described an incident as “a serous challenge for the Georgian State.”

Officials in Tbilisi say President Saakashvili was barred from entering Adjara Autonomous Republic as armored vehicles and hundreds of armed men blocked administrative border between the Autonomous Republic and the rest of Georgia.

Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Baramidze, who accompanied President Saakashvili, negotiated with the Adjarian side at the administrative border, however tried in vain to convince them not to prevent the President from entering Adjara.

Adjarian authorities explained that the Georgia’s central authorities tried dispatch troops in Adjara under the pretext of Saakashvili’s visit.

Georgian televisions showed video footage of talks between Georgian Interior Minister and Adjarian authorities at the border.

“We are always welcome to President Saakashvili, but why do you need so many armed men with you? No, we will not allow you to enter this way, only without these armed men,” head of Kobuleti district of Adjara Tariel Khalvashi told Georgian Interior Minister.

“We are not against the President’s visit. He is the President of Georgia and is free to travel in any part of the country. But they intended to enter into Adjara with the troops. We will not permit this,” Mayor of Batumi, Adjarian capital, Giorgi Abashidze, who is son of Adjarian leader Aslan Abashidze, told reporters later.

However, President Saakashvili told reporters later that he was “accompanied only by 30 bodyguards.” “There were no troops,” he added.

After an incident the President’s convoy turned back and left for Poti, a town near Adjara.

“We will not tolerate the situation, which is in Adjara; however I decided not to carry out radical and strict measures in order to avoid bloodshed. But I am not going to step back. I remain in Poti and I will convene today a cabinet meeting here. I want to tell Adjarian population: do not obey orders of the Adjarian leadership to take arms,” Mikheil Saakashvili said.

“Georgia’s troops are ready for everything, but we don’t want to use them in this case in order to avoid bloodshed,” the President added.
 
He also warned Russia, who has a military base in the Adjarian capital Batumi, not to interfere in Georgia’s internal affairs.

“Not a single Russian tank should move from the military base, because this [Adjara] is our territory,” Saakashvili added.

“It is a bad signal. Situation is very aggravated. President was foiled to enter Adjara to meet voters, it is absolutely inadmissible,” Zurab Zhvania, the Prime Minister, who also arrived in Poti, told reporters.

Aslan Abashidze, who is in Moscow at the moment told Adjarian television on March 14, that the central authorities want to overthrow Adjarian leadership with use of force. He also said that he tried to negotiate with President Saakashvili via mediator in vain.

“With the help of the foreign mediator [Abashidze did not named him] we were holding talks with the central authorities during the last week. But no agreement has been reached. Then I decided to visit Moscow to inform the international community regarding the threat of bloodshed that might take place in Adjara. I have dispatched my representatives to the United States where they have met with the officials of the Department of State. They [Abashidze’s envoys] also met with George Soros [the U.S. billionaire philanthropist] to inform him regarding the recent development. We met with everybody, which assisted the new authorities to take power [in last November’s bloodless revolution]. They told us that the central authorities would be responsible in case of bloodshed,” Aslan Abashidze told the Adjarian television, speaking via phone from Moscow.

Earlier on March 13 Abashidze told the press conference in the Russian capital that the central authorities intend to use force to oust “legally elected Adjarian authorities.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry also accused Georgia’s central authorities of attempts to overthrow Adjarian leadership. The Ministry’s statement issued on March 12 reads, Tbilisi trains its law enforcement agencies and organizes protest rallies in Batumi, Adjarian capital, “to overthrow the legal authorities in Adjara.”

The tensions extremely tensed between Tbilisi and Batumi on March 13, when the Adjarian police briefly detained Georgia’s Finance Minister Zurab Nogaideli, who was visiting Autonomous Republic for election campaigning of the ruling party.

“If Abashidze intends to blackmail the Georgian president like a feudal lord, he is making a big mistake,” President Saakashvili said on March 13.

President Saakashvili has once visited Adjara on January 25, when he was official sworn in as a President of Georgia. Both Abashidze and Saakashvili together observed the military parade in Batumi on the inauguration day.

However, the tensions between Tbilisi and Batumi increased in early March, when Aslan Abashidze expressed concern that the central authorities seek for “total control over Adjara.” In a response to this statement Saakashvili said that he will gain “control over Adjara.”