T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f T e x a s a t Au s t i n Center forR ussian East European E& urasian Studies Separatist Confl icts Challenge New Georgian President by Julie George NEWSMarch/ April 2005 When Mikheil Saakashvili became president of Georgia after Vol. 20 No.2 the Rose Revolution of 2003, one of his fi rst promises was to restore the territory of Georgia, reclaiming the separatist territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Current UN recognition understands both Abkhazia and South Ossetia as Georgian territory, but both operate independently Separatist Conflicts Challenge of Georgian law and influence. Of the many bold promises by the New Georgian President 1-2 young leader, the assurance of territorial unity is his most ambitious. The politics CREEES Calendar 3 of Soviet dissolution created opportunities Georgia: History, Legends, for separatism in the Myths and Stories 4-6 successor states. In Georgia, several From the Library 6 factors helped spur the secessionist Explore UT Schedule 7 movements by Abkhazia and South Outreach News 8 Ossetia. First, the i n d e p e n d e n c e CREEES News 9 movements of the Union Republics CREEES Travel 10 (such as Georgia) created a precedent Area Opportunities 11 for the Soviet ethnic autonomies to make similar claims for Map used with permission, GlobalSecurity.orgGlobalSecurity.org independence and http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/georgia.htm sovereignty, as they did in Chechnya, and Nagorno-Karabakh. Second, the The CREEES Newsletter is pub lished regularly during the academic year using politics of nationalism that helped drive Union Republic independence affected no state funds. Please send corrections, regional politics as well, mobilizing regional ethnic identity (the Abkhaz in com ments or inquiries to Allegra Azulay Abkhazia, the Ossetes in South Ossetia) and also engendering feelings of at : [email protected]. alienation by Georgians, who were experiencing their own nationalist surge. Finally, the weakness of the Georgian government and military, combined with external support for both regional governments, created a possibility Submit mailing address changes to for military success for the separatist regions. CREEES, or contact us by telephone Georgia experienced three wars between 1990 and 1994, two at (512) 471-7782, or by fax at of secession and one civil war. The first president of Georgia, Zviad (512) 471-3368. Gamsakhurdia, initiated a policy to create a unitary state within Georgia by revoking the autonomous status of South Ossetia. National leaders in South Please visit our web page at: Ossetia responded with a petition to leave Georgia and join the Soviet Union http://www.utexas.edu/cola/ as part of the Russian Republic. Georgian militia groups clashed with South Ossetian forces before signing a ceasefi re in 1992, without a permanent political depts/creees/ resolution to date. South Ossetia enjoys a porous border with Russia and teems Separatist Confl icts continued on Page 2 CREEES News with contraband goods: foodstuffs and products for the regions back into Georgia. local markets (Georgian and South Ossetian alike), as Contraband flowing through the uncontrolled well as petroleum, illegal drugs, and weapons for arming borders of South Ossetia foments corruption and degrades Chechen and Georgian (anti-Abkhaz) militia groups. incentives for peace on all sides. Saakashvili has actively Gamsakhurdia did not take commensurate combated corruption within the central government and action against Abkhazia, although the Abkhaz continued established customs controls in South Ossetia to varying to appeal variously for autonomy, sovereignty, and degrees of success. The de facto government of South ultimately independence from Georgia. Gamsakhurdia’s Ossetia has resisted these measures, and sporadic power waned and his eventual ouster led to civil war as violence has returned to the region in the last year. militias from his The ongoing discussion of repatriation of the native western Georgians displaced during the war presents an ongoing Georgia (called hurdle to conflict resolution in Abkhazia. The de facto Zviadists) battled Abkhazian government’s official position has been one with Tbilisi-based agreeing with full rights of return in principle, although in groups to reinstate practice most attempts to repatriate Georgian families has him. The Zviadists, ended with violence. A key factor in the practical policy for based just the Abkhaz government would be the demographic impact under Abkhazia, of a comprehensive return of Georgians to Abkhazian were ultimately territory. As a result of the war, the Abkhaz hold a stark routed. Victorious majority in the region. militia groups The final obstacle to a political resolution of the Iveria Hotel: The Iveria Hotel housed about 1000 Georgians displaced by invited Eduard separatist questions is the most daunting to Georgians, the Abkhaz war. Families of four lived Shevardnadze Russia’s continued involvement in the regions. Russia’s in single hotel rooms for over ten years. into Georgian position towards Abkhazia and South Ossetia is Recently, the Iveria Hotel, a Western executive power. contradictory, at one time recognizing the two regions company, purchased the hotel, giving Spurred by their as part of Georgian territory, but later exploiting Georgia’s each family $7,000 for relocation. political success, weakness to grant South Ossetians and Abkhazians Georgian militia Russian citizenship. As a result, Georgian officials groups based nearby entered Abkhazia to consolidate often frame the separatist wars in terms of wars with Georgian power there. War ensued as Abkhaz militias, Russia, not with the regions themselves – a tendency aided by Chechen troops and Russian arms, fought back. that exacerbates already conflictual negotiation efforts In Abkhazia, where Georgians were 48% of the population between the central and de facto governments. and the Abkhaz 18%, most of the Georgian population Saakashvili’s strategy thus far has been to fled the region entirely, with over 250,000 people newly attempt corruption reform while establishing strong homeless and jobless. According to Human Rights Watch, relationships with the West in order to deter continued both sides committed war crimes against soldiers and Russian intervention. He has departed from the policies civilians, a of his predecessors who both sought to create a Georgian c o m m o n unitary state, in January offering South Ossetia the occurrence in autonomous status it lost in 1990. So far, these policies ethnic wars. have had little short-term effect on consolidating Georgian Saakashvili’s power. The anti-corruption campaign in South Ossetia pledge to was met with violence, the offer of autonomy rebuffed. bring Abkhazia Even so, the president of Georgia has demonstrated his and South intent to find a resolution to these problems that have Ossetia back plagued Georgia since its independence, guaranteeing into Georgian tumultuous affairs among the actors in the region in the control faces near future. s e v e r a l Julie George is a doctoral candidate in the Government challenges, Department. She spent a year in Georgia on a Fulbright IIE the most Abkhazia Destruction: This is what re- grant, and is currently supported by a FLAS fellowship. Her imposing being mains of the former headquarters of the dissertation deals with secession and autonomy in Russia and the search Communist Party in Sukhum(i). The Ab- Georgia. for peaceful khaz de facto government has not been leverage to able to resort all the devastation from the Our thanks to Julie George for her presentation in con- attract the war, so one in four buildings in Sukhum(i) junction with the Symposium on the Art and Culture of s e p a r a t i s t remains in ruins. the Republic of Georgia! Page 2 CREEES March/ April 2005 CREEES Calendar March/ April March 3 The Graves of Sarmatian Nobility in Ukraine Dr. Oleksandr Symonenko, University of Pennsylvania Classics Lounge, WAG 116 12:30pm March 4 Scythian and Ancient Greek Applied Arts (7th-4th Century BC) Dr. Aleksander Leskov, University of Pennsylvania Doty Fine Arts Building 2.204 3:30pm March 5 Explore UT! See page 7 for a description of all CREEES events! 11am-5pm March 10 Bridging Cultures: Austin to Stanterg Dita Dauti-Heilman, founder of 400 Voices Eastwoods Room, Texas Union 2.102 3:30pm March 14-18 Spring Break March 28 The Caucasian Blues: The Chechen War in Film Dr. Thomas J. Garza, CREEES Director Parlin 203 3pm April 7 The Holocaust on German-Occupied Soviet Territory and the Response of Soviet Jewish Intellectuals Joshua Rubenstein, Northeast Regional Director of Amnesty International USA and Associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University Eastwoods Room, Texas Union, 2.102 1pm April 9 Olympiada of Spoken Russian All-day testing of Russian language-skills for high school students April 23 Russia Day! Students from Central Texas will descend on the UT campus to be im- mersed in Russian culture. Students will learn the Cyrillic alphabet, play Russian games, experience Russian food, and explore the history and culture of this fascinating country. Don't forget to visit the CREEES calendar page online for updates and additions! http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/creees/ Czech Film Festival The Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies is showing the best of Czech cinema every Wednesday at 5pm in CAL422. All movies have English subtitles. March 2: Na Samote U Lesa (A Cottage by Wood) March 9: Post Coitum (Post Coitum) March 23: Rozmarne Leto (Capricious Summer) March 30: Je Treba Zabit Sekala (Sekal has to Die) April 6: Divoke Vcely (Wild Bees) April 13: Andel Exit (Angel Exit) April 20: Vychova Divek v Cechach (Bringing Up Girls in Bohemia) April 27: Bolero (Bolero) May 4: Slavnosti Snezenek (Snowdrop Festivities) Page 3 CREEES March/ April 2005 CREEES News GEORGIA: History, Legends, Myths and Stories Georgia has a favorable geographic location situated in the Caucasus, between the Black and “Georgia is a hospitable country, built by a good architect, Caspian Seas, neighboring Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia with very beautiful people with light skin and eyes”.