1 1 the Curse of Displacement
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Rr"^~N I SEP 2 2 2006 W
• e E-I v E p\ L —^rr"^~n I SEP 2 2 2006 W Note to Ms. Barcena EXECUTIVE OFFIC? 0? THE SECRETARY-GEf JERAL UNOMIG: Draft Report of the Secretary-General on the situation in Abkhazia, Georgia 1. Please fmdjittached,,_fpr the Secretary-General's apprpyal the draft report on the situation in Abkhazia, Georgia. This is a mandate renewal report - the current mandate of UNOMIG expires on 15 October 2006. The report is to be issued on 2 October 2006; the Troop and Police Contributors meeting and the Security Council consultations are scheduled for 6 October. 2. The report covers the main developments in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict since the last report of 26 June 2006 and the Security Council's adoption of resolution 1666 on 31 March 2006. A key development was the large-scale Georgian special operation in the upper Kodori Valley in July, as a result of which some military elements were re-introduced in that area in contravention of the 1994 Moscow Agreement on a Ceasefire and Separation of Forces. The Georgian side also refused to accept participation by the CIS peacekeeping force in monitoring the upper Kodori Valley jointly with UNOMIG. As a consequence, the peace process practically came to a halt as the Abkhaz side required demilitarization of the upper Kodori valley as a pre-condition for the resumption of dialogue on the broader negotiation agenda. The Georgian operation also took place against the background of the adoption, by the Georgian Parliament, of a resolution requesting the Georgian Government to start procedures to withdraw the CIS peacekeeping force from the conflict zone. -
REPORT of the Public Organization the «International Fund Apsny
REPORT Of the Public Organization The «International Fund Apsny» 2016 The Public organization "International Foundation Apsny" was founded in March 2015 by the following individuals: Sener Gogua, Daur Arshba, Slava Sakaniya, Oktay Chkotua, Maxim Gvindzhia, Asida Inapshba, Sirma Ashuba, Roin Agrba, Beslan Kvitsinia, Astamur Logua, Julia Gumba, Beslan Kvarchia, Erkan Kutarba. The aims of organization are to promote a merger the unification of Abkhazian people around the world. The "International Foundation Apsny" prepares and implements projects that address demographic, social, cultural and other issues related to the development of state. Moreover, the organization develops favorable conditions for the participation of the Abkhazian diaspora in the socio - economic life of Abkhazia. The organization is highly involved in charity work. The «International Fund Apsny» is structured in the following way: President – Gogua Sener Nedzhemovich Vice-President - Gvindzhia Maxim Kharitonovich Secretary General - Inapshba Ashida Vladimirovna 1. Committee on International Relations - Gvindzhia Maxim Kharitonovich 2. Committee on Media and Public Relations - Amkuab Guram Artemovich 3. Committee on Apsuara - Chkotua Oktay Bekirovich 4. Committee on Population and Repatriation - Ashoba Syrma Pavlovna 5. Committee on Economic Development, Investments and Finance - Kvarchia Beslan A. 6. Committee on Culture and Education - Logua Nugzar Chichikoevich 7. Committee on Social Policy - Yulia Gumba Sabrievna 8. Committee on Youth Policy - Agrba Simon Zakanovich -
Local Elites in the Years of Independence (The Example of Gurjaani District, Georgia)
DIFFERENT GOVERNMENTS IN TBILISI, SAME PEOPLE IN REGIONS: LOCAL ELITES IN THE YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE (THE EXAMPLE OF GURJAANI DISTRICT, GEORGIA) Giorgi Gotua he ruling political regime in Georgia has changed three times since 1990. Twice the government was replaced through non-constitutional means. None of these regimes were able to consolidate and reach consensus with different groups vying for power regarding basic insti- Ttutions and rules of game. Researchers studying the transition from autocracy to democracy point out various structural factors (culture, socio-economic factors) which they say deter- mine the successful consolidation of new democratic regimes. In recent years, more and more attention has been paid to political elites as essential actors able to decisively influence the direction of state development. Choices made by elites at certain stages of state development, the level of power and authority they ex- ercise in society and the character of relations among various factions determine the success of the process of forming and consolidating a new regime. Studies by G. Field, M. Burton and D. Higley demonstrate that the stability of a regime is directly linked to the degree of consensus among its various fac- tions regarding existing institutions and rules of game (another way to guaran- tee relative stability of the regime, dominance of one group over another, is not discussed as an option within the framework of this research).1 Georgia’s case can serve as a good example demonstrating the correctness of this thesis. During the period of independence three political regimes have changed in Georgia. The regime of President Zviad Gamsakhurdia – which followed the 1 This thesis is presented in: Field G., Hihley J., Burton M., National Elite Configurations and Transitions to De- mocracy // Classes and Elites in Democracy and Democratization: A Collection of Readings / ed. -
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2001 Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor March 4, 2002
Georgia Page 1 of 19 Georgia Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2001 Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor March 4, 2002 The 1995 Constitution provides for an executive branch that reports to the President and a legislature. The President appoints ministers with the consent of Parliament. In April 2000, Eduard Shevardnadze was reelected to a second 5-year term as President in an election marred by numerous serious irregularities. International observers strongly criticized the election, citing interference by state authorities in the electoral process, deficient election legislation, insufficient representative election administration, and unreliable voter registers. The country's second parliamentary elections under the 1995 Constitution were held in 1999 and were characterized by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as a step toward Georgia's compliance with OSCE commitments. The civil war and separatist wars that followed the 1992 coup ended central government authority in Abkhazia and Ossetia, and weakened central authority in the autonomous region of Ajara and elsewhere in the country. The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary is subject to executive pressure. Internal conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia remained unresolved. Ceasefires were in effect in both areas, although sporadic incidents of violence occurred in Abkhazia. These conflicts and the problems associated with roughly 270,000 internally displaced persons (IDP's) from Abkhazia, 60,000 from South Ossetia, and another 4,000-5,000 refugees from Chechnya, posed a continued threat to national stability. In 1993 Abkhaz separatists won control of Abkhazia, and most ethnic Georgians were expelled from or fled the region. -
Georgia/Abkhazia
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ARMS PROJECT HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH/HELSINKI March 1995 Vol. 7, No. 7 GEORGIA/ABKHAZIA: VIOLATIONS OF THE LAWS OF WAR AND RUSSIA'S ROLE IN THE CONFLICT CONTENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................................................................5 EVOLUTION OF THE WAR.......................................................................................................................................6 The Role of the Russian Federation in the Conflict.........................................................................................7 RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................................................8 To the Government of the Republic of Georgia ..............................................................................................8 To the Commanders of the Abkhaz Forces .....................................................................................................8 To the Government of the Russian Federation................................................................................................8 To the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus...........................................................................9 To the United Nations .....................................................................................................................................9 To the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe..........................................................................9 -
I Am Falling Behind the Happenings
The Diary of Anatoly S. Chernyaev 1985 Donated by A.S. Chernyaev to The National Security Archive Translated by Anna Melyakova Edited by Svetlana Savranskaya http://www.nsarchive.org Translation © The National Security Archive, 2006 The Diary of Anatoly S. Chernyaev, 1985 http://www.nsarchive.org January 4th, 1985. I am falling behind the events. And they are bustling. Before the New Year’s I was distressed for Ponomarev:1 Kosolapov asked for permission to print in Communist the conclusion we wrote for B.N. [Ponomarev] for the eight-volume International Labor Movement. In response, he received instructions from Zimyanin2 to remove the footnote that it was the conclusion—let it, he says, be just an article... This is how Zimyanin now gives orders to B.N., being lower in rank than him! But something else is the most important—he reflects the “opinion” that it is not necessary to establish the connection (for many decades into the future) between Ponomarev and this fundamental publication in an official Party organ... That is, they are preparing our B.N. for the hearse. I think he will not survive the XXYII Congress; in any case not as CC [Central Committee] Secretary. At work, almost every day brings evidence of his helplessness. His main concern right now is to vindicate at least something of his self-imagined “halo” of the creator of the third (1961) Party Program. In no way can he reconcile himself to the fact that life has torn “his creation” to pieces. He blames everything on the intrigues of either Gorbachev3 or Chernenko4; but mainly on “the curly one” (this is how he calls Chernenko’s assistant Pechenev); and also in part on Aleksandrov5 and Zagladin.6 He complains to me, seeking in me somebody to talk to, a sympathizer. -
Gorbachev and the Dynamics of Change *
GORBACHEV AND THE DYNAMICS OF CHANGE * K.S. Karol By six in the morning, queues are already beginning to form in front of the news-stands in Moscow and Leningrad. People may be queuing to buy Ogonek, a popular illustrated weekly which had no great readership until very recently, or a literary review which is publishing a work that has been held up by the censors for decades, or a long-awaited critical novel. They may even be queuing to make sure of getting hold of their usual daily, or sometimes even Pravda, if it contains an article or an interview that is out of the ordinary: they are afraid that it will be sold out within a few hours. Live television programmes are also becoming more common and the public, who are often invited to take part in them, follow them with an attention that was unknown in the past. Although they have a world-wide reputation for being indigestible, the Soviet press and mass media are suddenly enjoying immense public popularity, thanks to the policy of glasnost (openness) introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev. Is this phenomenon really only the tip of an iceberg? Are profound changes really at work in Soviet society? How far can the perestroika (reconstruct- ion) inspired and led by the new General Secretary actually go? For the first time since the Revolution of October 1917-and on the eve of its seventieth anniversary-censorship has been virtually abolished in the Soviet Union. Editors of various publications, who are assumed to know just how far they can go, have sole responsibility for what they publish. -
Aw As Adjunct to Custom?
LAW AS ADJUNCT TO CUSTOM? Abkhaz custom and law in today’s state-building and ‘modernisation’ - (Studied through dispute resolution) DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND CONSERVATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KENT FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 12 FEBRUARY 2015 By Michael Costello Examiners: Professor Michael Fischer Associate Professor Jacob Rigi Supervisor: Lecturer Glenn Bowman 1 LAW AS ADJUNCT TO CUSTOM? The relationship between Abkhaz custom and law in today’s state-building and ‘modernisation’ - (Studied through dispute resolution) Abstract The setting for research is Abkhazia a small country south of the Caucasus Mountains and bordering Europe and the Near East. The Abkhaz hold onto custom – apswara – to make of state law an adjunct to custom as the state strives to strengthen its powers to ‘modernise’ along capitalist lines. This institution of a parallel-cum-interwoven and oppositional existence of practices and the laws questions the relationship of the two in a novel way. The bases of apswara are its concepts of communality and fairness. Profound transformations have followed the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the breakaway from and subsequent war with Georgia, none of which have brought the bright prospects that were hoped-for with independence. The element of hope in post-Soviet nostalgia provides pointers to what the Abkhaz seek to enact for their future, to decide the course of change that entertains the possibility of a non-capitalist modernisation route and a customary state. Apswara is founded on the direct participatory democracy of non-state regulation. It draws members of all ethnicities into the generation of nationalist self-awareness that transcends ethnicity and religions, and forms around sacred shrines and decisions taken by popular assemblies. -
Civil Wars in Georgia: Corruption Breeds Violence Pavel K
7 Civil wars in Georgia: corruption breeds violence Pavel K. Baev Introduction incredibly rich and uniquely complicated case for the analysis of modern civil wars. It is a newly independent state that appeared Gwith the collapse of the USSR, but it also has a long history of statehood. It is a relatively small state, but it occupies a key geopolitical crossroads which has acquired strategic importance with the new development of hydrocarbon resources in the Caspian area. Its population is small and declining but the ethnic composition, cultural and religious traditions are extremely diverse. From the moment that Georgia restored its independence, it has found itself engulfed by political violence organised along several separate but criss-crossing tracks, with destabilising impulses spreading unchecked. In 1992–93, Georgia came breath- takingly close to collapsing as yet another ‘failed state’, however, all major violent clashes had terminated by the end of 1993. Despite serious international efforts to assist peace processes and internal reforms, to date none of the conflicts has been resolved, generating occasional skirmishes and, more importantly, significant uncertainty regarding Georgia’s ability to survive as an independent state. It is obvious that the civil wars in Georgia in 1990–93 erupted as a conse- quence of the break-up of the USSR;1 however, in most Soviet constituent repub- lics the inevitable destabilisation resulting from that cataclysm did not take such violent forms. Many regions in Central Asia (the Fergana valley), in the North Caucasus (Dagestan, see Chapter 6 in this volume) and in Georgia itself (Ajariya) had explosive combinations of risk factors but remained relatively peaceful. -
An Ambivalent 'Independence'
OswcOMMentary issue 34 | 20.01.2010 | ceNTRe fOR eAsTeRN sTudies An ambivalent ‘independence’ Abkhazia, an unrecognised democracy under Russian protection NTARy Wojciech Górecki Me ces cOM Abkhazia – a state unrecognised by the international community and depen- dent on Russia – has features of a democracy, including political pluralism. This is manifested through regularly held elections, which are a time of ge- tudies nuine competition between candidates, and through a wide range of media, s including the pro-opposition private TV station Abaza. astern e The competing political forces have different visions for the republic’s deve- lopment. President Sergei Bagapsh’s team would like to build up multilateral foreign relations (although the highest priority would be given to relations 1 Despite the lack of with Russia), while the group led by Raul Khajimba, a former vice-president international recognition, entre for it seems unreasonable c and present leader of the opposition, would rather adopt a clear pro-Moscow to use the form ‘self- orientation. It is worth noting that neither of the significant political forces appointed’ or ‘so-called’ president, or to append wants Abkhazia to become part of Russia (while such proposals have been inverted commas to the term (which also con- made in South Ossetia), and a majority of the Abkhazian elite sees Russia’s NTARy cerns other Abkhazian recognition of the country’s independence as a Pyrrhic victory because Me officials and institutions) it has limited their country’s room for manoeuvre. However, all parties are because Bagapsh in fact performs this agreed in ruling out any future dependence on Georgia. -
Obituary Bagapsh
SERGEJ BAGAPSH Sergej Bagapsh, the second president of the Republic of Abkhazia, died in office on 29 May in a Moscow hospital of complications following lung-surgery the previous week. He was 62. Bagapsh was born in Abkhazia’s capital, Sukhum, on 4 March 1949. He trained as an agronomist at the local Institute of Subtropical Agriculture. After military service, however, he made his career in the structure of the Soviet Communist Party, serving in various capacities during most of the 1970s in the youth-organisation known as the Komsomol. But his first prominent position was as First Secretary of the Ochamchira District, home to his family’s native village of Dzhgerda in the south-east of Abkhazia. He occupied this post from 1982 to 1989, which year saw critical developments in Abkhaz-Georgian relations, leading to Abkhazia’s long-desired secession from Georgia in the wake of their bitter war (14 August 1992 – 30 September 1993). Reacting to the threat emanating from Georgian nationalism as the Kremlin’s grip on the Soviet republics slackened under perestrojka, the Abkhazians took steps to protect their interests and opposed the establishment in Sukhum of a branch of Tbilisi State University. The Abkhazians saw this as an attempt to undermine the viability of the Abkhazian State University, only the second institution of higher education in what was then Soviet Georgia. On the night of Saturday 15 July, fatalities occurred in Sukhum as the communities came to blows. Large numbers of armed men rallied to the cause in the neighbouring Georgian province of Mingrelia. -
The Caucasus Globalization
Volume 3 Issue 2-3 2009 1 THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION INSTITUTE O STRATEGIC STUDIES O THE CAUCASUS THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies Volume 3 Issue 2-3 2009 CA&CC Press® SWEDEN 2 Volume 3 Issue 2-3 2009 OUNDEDTHE CAUCASUS AND& GLOBALIZATION PUBLISHED BY INSTITUTE O STRATEGIC STUDIES O THE CAUCASUS Registration number: M-770 Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan Republic PUBLISHING HOUSE CA&CC Press® Sweden Registration number: 556699-5964 Registration number of the journal: 1218 Editorial Council Eldar Chairman of the Editorial Council (Baku) ISMAILOV Tel/fax: (994 12) 497 12 22 E-mail: [email protected] Kenan Executive Secretary (Baku) ALLAHVERDIEV Tel: (994 – 12) 596 11 73 E-mail: [email protected] Azer represents the journal in Russia (Moscow) SAFAROV Tel: (7 495) 937 77 27 E-mail: [email protected] Nodar represents the journal in Georgia (Tbilisi) KHADURI Tel: (995 32) 99 59 67 E-mail: [email protected] Ayca represents the journal in Turkey (Ankara) ERGUN Tel: (+90 312) 210 59 96 E-mail: [email protected] Editorial Board Nazim Editor-in-Chief (Azerbaijan) MUZAFFARLI Tel: (994 – 12) 499 11 74 E-mail: [email protected] (IMANOV) Vladimer Deputy Editor-in-Chief (Georgia) PAPAVA Tel: (995 – 32) 24 35 55 E-mail: [email protected] Akif Deputy Editor-in-Chief (Azerbaijan) ABDULLAEV Tel: (994 – 12) 596 11 73 E-mail: [email protected] Volume 3 IssueMembers 2-3 2009 of Editorial Board: 3 THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION Zaza Doctor of History, professor, Corresponding member of the Georgian National Academy ALEKSIDZE of Sciences, head of the scientific department of the Korneli Kekelidze Institute of Manuscripts (Georgia) Mustafa Professor, Ankara University (Turkey) AYDIN Irina D.Sc.