Adjara Celebrates Abashidze’s Departure
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| Saakashvili in jubilant crowd in Batumi, May 6. Photo by Goga Chanadiri |
Georgia closed last chapter in ‘Rose Revolution’ after Aslan Abashidze stepped down and fled to Russia on May 6.
Abashidze, who ruled Adjara for past decade with a firm hand, had to yield to heavy pressure coming from the country’s central government and over 15,000 protesters in the streets of Batumi.
Thousands of people were celebrating Abashidze’s departure in the streets of Batumi. Arrival of Mikheil Saakashvili in Batumi at dawn on May 6 gave a new impetus to jubilant crowd.
“It is a miracle, Adjara is free, I am happy and proud,” he said, while walking in the streets of Batumi on May 6.
Thousands of people were greeting him, chanting “Misha, Misha” – nickname of Mikheil Saakashvili.
“You are heroes,” Mikheil Saakashvili told a crowd from the window of Aslan Abashidze’s former residence earlier on May 6.
“You have demonstrated to the whole world your striving for democracy,” he added. President Saakashvili also visited mountainous regions of Adjarian Autonomy later on May 6.
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| Tbilisi vows Adjara, at Georgia’s Black Sea coast would retain autonomous status. Photo by Goga Chanadiri |
Abashidze, a holdover of Georgia’s ex-President Shevardnadze’s regime, left for Moscow with his son Giorgi, who was a Mayor of Batumi and several of his closest allies, after the overnight talks with Russian Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov.
Aslan Abashidze ruled Adjara as a personal fiefdom since 1991. He was appointed as the chairman of Adjarian Supreme Council by Georgia’s late President Zviad Gamsakhurdia.
Aslan Abashidze, who was born in 1938 into a noble family of hereditary aristocrats, served as the Public Utilities Minister of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in late 80s, after being the deputy of the same ministry in Adjara in 1984-86.
The ex-President Shevardnadze’s policy of turning a blind eye on developments in Adjara – human right abuses, refusal to transfer taxes in the central budget – has led to the increase of Abashidze’s power in the region, which grew into his unilateral rule in the Autonomous Republic.
But it became impossible for Abashidze to keep the same policy after Mikheil Saakashvili swept power in Georgia as a result of last November’s Rose Revolution, which ousted Shevardnadze. He vowed to consolidate power and restore Georgia’s territorial integrity.
“This [Abashidze’s ouster] is the beginning reunification of Georgia’s territorial integrity,” Saakashvili said in his televised address to nation on May 6.
Adjara’s Status ‘Untouchable’
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| Abashidze has blown up Choloki and two other bridges on May 2, putting country on the brink of civil confrontation. Photo by Goga Chanadiri |
“There is no threat to Adjara’s autonomous status and there will be no such threat in the future,” he said. “Adjara’s status will be finally clarified by a special constitutional law,” he added.
The Parliament on May 6 gave a go-ahead to direct presidential rule in Adjara and passed decree allowing President to cancel current Adjarian Parliament and other local self-governance bodies in the region.
Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania told reporters on May 6, that the snap elections in Adjara would be held within 5-6 weeks.
He said a special state commission, chaired by President Saakashvili was to be set up to appoint interim local leaders and to make preparations for early elections.
Reminiscent of ‘Rose Revolution’
Scenes of Batumi on May were reminiscent of the last November “Rose Revolution” in Tbilisi, when thousands of protesters forced former President Shevardnadze to resign. Scenes of jubilation in Batumi were not the only similarity.
Like Shevardnadze last November, Abashidze initially showed no signs of stepping down. Just before the talks with Secretary of the Russian Security Council Igor Ivanov he dismissed reports over his intention to resign as “rumor and disinformation.”
Like last November, Russia’s Ivanov brokered to solve the standoff. Then Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov arrived in Tbilisi on November 23 and held separate talks with by then opposition leaders – Mikheil Saakashvili, Zurab Zhvania and Nino Burjanadze – and ex-President Shevardnadze, that led to latter’s resignation.
Aslan Abashidze left for Moscow together with Igor Ivanov, after three-hour long talks in Abashidze’s residence. “Russia played a prominent role to solve the standoff peacefully,” said later Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania.
Resignation of Shevardnadze and Abashidze coincided with Georgia’s main patron Saint George’s Day – celebrated by Georgians on November 23 and on May 6.
But unlike Shevardnadze, Aslan Abashidze made no official statement over his resignation. He fled Georgia without making any comments. It seems it was too hard for him to admit failure in desperate attempts to retain power in Adjara after 13-year unilateral ruled.