University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School February 2019 Soviet Nationality Policy: Impact on Ethnic Conflict in Abkhazia and South Ossetia Nevzat Torun University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons, and the Political Science Commons Scholar Commons Citation Torun, Nevzat, "Soviet Nationality Policy: Impact on Ethnic Conflict in Abkhazia and South Ossetia" (2019). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7972 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Soviet Nationality Policy: Impact on Ethnic Conflict in Abkhazia and South Ossetia by Nevzat Torun A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Earl Conteh-Morgan, Ph.D. Kees Boterbloem, Ph.D. Bernd Reiter, Ph.D. Date of Approval February 15, 2019 Keywords: Inter-Ethnic Conflict, Soviet Nationality Policy, Self Determination, Abkhazia, South Ossetia Copyright © 2019, Nevzat Torun DEDICATION To my wife and our little baby girl. I am so lucky to have had your love and support throughout the entire graduate experience. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I want to thank Dr. Earl Conteh-Morgan, my advisor, for his thoughtful advice and comments. I would also like to thank my thesis committee- Dr. Bernd Reiter and Dr. Kees Boterbloem, for their guidance, their keen insights and advice. Thanks you also to my small family (my lovely baby girl, and my beautiful wife) in USA and rest of the family in Turkey, for their love and support. They deserve everything. Finally, I would like to thank Republic of Turkey and Ministry of National Education, for providing me with an opportunity to study in USA and financial support during my education. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. iii Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 6 Organizational Structure of the Study ............................................................................... 10 Literature Review: An Overview of Predominating Theories of Conflict ........................ 12 Literature Review on Conflict in the Caucasus ................................................................. 18 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 19 Chapter 1: The History of Georgian, Abkhazian and South Ossetian Identities .......................... 20 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 20 The History of Georgia and Georgian Ethnic Identity ...................................................... 20 The History of Abkhaz and Abkhaz Ethnic Identity ......................................................... 27 The History of South Ossetia and Ossetian Ethnic Identity .............................................. 36 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 39 Chapter 2: Historical Background of Inter-Ethnic Conflict in Georgia ........................................ 42 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 42 Ethnic Conflict in Abkhazia .............................................................................................. 46 Ethnic Conflict in South Ossetia ....................................................................................... 52 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 59 Chapter 3: Soviet Nationality Policy ............................................................................................. 61 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 61 Soviet Nationality Policy in Lenin‘s Administration and the Indigenization (Korenizatsiaa) Policy of Moscow in the Early Years of the Soviet Union................ 62 Soviet Nationality Policy in Stalin‘s Administration ........................................................ 69 Soviet Nationality Policy in Khrushchev‘s Administration .............................................. 71 Soviet Nationality Policy in Brezhev‘s Administration .................................................... 72 Soviet Nationality Policy in Gorbachev‘s Administration ................................................ 73 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 75 Chapter 4: The Role of Soviet Nationality Policy and Soviet Federal Structure as an Ethnic Conflict Trigger in Georgia and the Formulation of Statehood of Abkhazia and South Ossetia ............................................................................. 76 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 76 Soviet Nationality Policy as an Ethnic Conflict Trigger in Abkhazia .............................. 79 i Soviet Nationality Policy as an Ethnic Conflict Trigger in South Ossetia ........................ 88 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 90 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 91 References ..................................................................................................................................... 95 ii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Population of the Georgian Soviet Republic by ethnic structure, according to the last 1989 Soviet census ............................................................................................. 4 Table 2: Ethnic Composition of Abkhaz Autonomous Republic in Soviet Period ....................... 81 Table 3: Ethnic Distribution of the Abkhaz Communist Party in the Soviet Period..................... 82 iii ABSTRACT This study aims to answer two interlinked questions with respect to ethnic conflict in Georgia: Why and how two ethnic groups (Abkhazians and Ossetians) in Georgia sought secession in 1990s rather than accepting unity under a common Georgian roof, and what explains the occurrence of ethnic conflicts between the Abkhazians and Georgians and between the South Ossetians and Georgians? The central argument of this thesis is that Soviet nationality policy was a foremost driving force in shaping consciousness of being ethnic groups in Georgia and set the stage for the inter- ethnic conflicts of the post-Soviet era. A number of factors explain the particular inter-ethnic conflicts in Georgia among ethnic groups, including a long historical relationship between the Georgian people and the Abkhaz and Ossetian minorities, but I argue that the foremost factor was the role of Soviet nationality policy that evolved from Lenin to Gorbachev, a policy that granted ethnic groups some level of privileges and fostered a wave of national self-assertion, Soviet nationality policy and the Soviet federal structure created numerous ethnic- and territorial-based autonomous units during the Soviet era; these units shaped their own political institutions, national intelligentsias, and bureaucratic elites, forming the basis for later nationalistic movements and developing a wish for self-determination and full independence. These institutions and beliefs made ethnic conflict in a post-Soviet Georgia inevitable. iv INTRODUCTION Conflict between ethnic groups has become one of the major security dilemmas in the post-cold War period in Caucasus. The breakup of the Soviet Union led to the emergence of fifteen new multi-ethnic states, which in turn inflamed ethnic tensions and conflict. As some minority groups have suffered discrimination and some ethnicities have sought to achieve dominance over others increased tensions have erupted into violence in many of these newly independent states. Georgia is one of the post-Soviet states to have bitterly experienced such ethnic conflict. As John M. Cotter (1999) states, the existence of many ―nations without states‖ in a region makes violence between ethnic groups inevitable. In the conflict literature, there are numerous studies that have accounted for variations of conflict and its intensity; their explanations range across a wide scope, from the ―ancient hatreds‖ and old rivalries, to systematic manipulation by