State Building and Confl ict Resolution in the Caucasus Eurasian Studies Library Historical, Political and Social Studies of Slavic and Islamic Cultures in the Eurasian Region VOLUME 1 State Building and Confl ict Resolution in the Caucasus By Charlotte Hille LEIDEN • BOSTON 2010 On the cover: Cristina Garcia Rodero/Magnum Photos/Hollandse Hoogte. Georgia, A woman from a small village of South Ossetia. Th is book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hille, Charlotte Mathilde Louise, 1964– State building and confl ict resolution in the Caucasus / by Charlotte Hille. p. cm. — (Eurasian studies library) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-17901-1 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Nation-building—Caucasus—History. 2. Ethnic confl ict—Caucasus—History. 3. Social confl ict—Caucasus—History. 4. Political violence—Caucasus—History. 5. Confl ict management—Caucasus—History. 6. Caucasus—History. 7. Caucasus— Ethnic relations. 8. Caucasus—Politics and government. I. Title. II. Series. DK509.H55 2010 947.5084—dc22 2009045374 ISSN 1877-9484 ISBN 978 90 04 17901 1 Copyright 2010 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Th e Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to Th e Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands For Sophie CONTENTS List of Maps ........................................................................................ ix Acknowledgments .............................................................................. xi Introduction ........................................................................................ xiii Chapter One Overview of the Caucasus .................................... 1 Chapter Two State Building, Th eoretical Approaches ............. 27 Chapter Th ree State Building in the North Caucasus .............. 47 Chapter Four State Building in the North Caucasus aft er the Russian Revolution ................................................................. 51 Chapter Five State Building in the South Caucasus before 1917 ..................................................................................... 63 Chapter Six State Building in the South Caucasus aft er the Russian Revolution ....................................................................... 67 Chapter Seven Georgia between 1918 and 1921 ....................... 73 Chapter Eight Armenia between 1918 and 1921 ...................... 129 Chapter Nine Disputed Territories: Nagorno-Karabakh, Nakhichevan and Zangezur ......................................................... 163 Chapter Ten Azerbaijan between 1918 and 1921 ..................... 175 Chapter Eleven Th e South Caucasus as Part of the Soviet Union: Th e Period 1921–1936 ........................................ 195 Chapter Twelve Territorial Claims aft er the Second World War ..................................................................................... 201 Chapter Th irteen Perestroika and Glasnost ............................... 207 viii contents Chapter Fourteen State Building in the South Caucasus Since 1991 ....................................................................................... 211 Chapter Fift een State Building in Georgia Since 1991 ............. 225 Chapter Sixteen State Building in Armenia Since 1991 .......... 249 Chapter Seventeen State Building in Azerbaijan Since 1991 ....................................................................................... 265 Chapter Eighteen State Building in the North Caucasus Since 1991 ....................................................................................... 275 Chapter Nineteen Confl ict Resolution in the South Caucasus ......................................................................................... 315 Chapter Twenty Confl ict Resolution in the North Caucasus ......................................................................................... 327 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 333 Bibliography ........................................................................................ 335 Index .................................................................................................... 343 LIST OF MAPS Map 1: Th e North Caucasus ............................................................ 2 Map 2: Th e South Caucasus ............................................................. 5 Map 3: Languages in the Caucasus ................................................. 11 Map 4: Georgia ................................................................................... 74 Map 5: Abkhazia ................................................................................ 86 Map 6: Ajaria ...................................................................................... 107 Map 7: South Ossetia ........................................................................ 111 Map 8: Armenia ................................................................................. 130 Map 9: Nagorno Karabakh ............................................................. 164 Map 10: Nakhichevan ....................................................................... 171 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Out of appreciation for the support I received in writing this book, I want to thank a number of people and institutions. Th e research for and the writing of the book took place while I was an affi liate of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard Univer- sity in the Spring of 2007 and Worcester College at Oxford University in the Spring of 2008, and I would like to thank specifi cally Patricia Craig, executive director of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for Euro- pean Studies, and Th eo van Lint at Oxford University for making these stays possible. Th eo van Lint was also so kind to off er valuable feed- back on my text on Armenia. In a number of guest lectures I was able to present and discuss my research results at Center of International Confl ict Analysis and Management, at Radboud University Nijmegen, and I want to thank specifi cally Bert Bomert and Maarten Cras for making giving these lectures possible. I also want to thank Ruud Janssens and Alexander Bon for read- ing earlier draft s of the book, while Erik Olsen corrected my English. Sonja van Reede, Maurits Gorlee and Imael Snyders read parts of the text. Laurens van der Varst assisted with the research on the politi- cal developments in the North Caucasus. Discussions on the situation in the Caucasus with Renee Gendron and Margriet Goos were very valuable. I also want to thank the three anonymous referees for their valuable feedback on the book. Ivo Romein, editor at Brill Publishers, merits special mention for keeping an eye on the deadlines. In addition to all this scholarly and professional support, I want to thank Sophie Vermeij, Paul Hille, and Victor Hille, for their moral support while completing this quest and Ruud Janssens for supporting me, giving practical advice and for being there. INTRODUCTION Th e violent confl ict that erupted in August 2008 between Georgia and Russia shows the importance of the Caucasus to the Russian Federa- tion. Th e United States of America, North Atlantic Treaty Organiza- tion and the European Union among others are also actively involved in the region. Th e challenges and risks involved have the attention of many citizens and politicians. Many books on regional hostilities have been written on the North Caucasus, in particular on Chechnya, or on the South Caucasus, oft en concentrating on one republic. isTh book deals with the whole of the Caucasus, and aims to give an insight in the development of state building and confl ict resolution in the area. Th e aim of this book is to utilize a diff erent method of looking at the state building process, by looking at it from a legal and political per- spective. Th e starting point will be the 1933 Montevideo Convention, which was the fi rst international legal document to list criteria which had to be complied before states would decide to recognize an entity as a state. Diff erent forms of states are being discussed, with special emphasis on the position of minorities in the state. Th is is important since confl icts with minorities have led to territorial confl icts in both the North and the South Caucasus. Part of the state building process is the formation of functioning institutions, and the guarantee of civil rights. Th is aspect is especially highlighted in the chapters on state building and confl ict resolution in the North Caucasus, since unrest in these republics originates from a lack of guaranteed basic rights. Th e assumption in this book is that there are many more ways to live in peace, and build a stable state, if governments would not adhere so strongly to the unitary state. Confl icts in the Caucasus all have a history that predates the dissolu- tion of the Soviet Union in 1991. In order to understand the positions of