Georgia and Abkhazia: conflict, reasons

War, conflict, power confrontation is always tragic. Especially if the process lasts for decades. Not firsthand about such a disaster, Georgia and Abkhazia know - the conflict between them serves as a vivid example of national strife and enmity. But why did it happen? This will be discussed later.

How did it all start?

There are several points of view on the problem of confrontation between the two Caucasian peoples. One of them is a moderate concept, according to which between Georgians and Abkhazians there is no sharp confrontation, as, for example, between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. That historically they are two close people in the cultural and ethnical sense. Mutual hatred has taken root only after a direct conflict. It was caused artificially through propaganda in the media and various political technologies.

But then there remains one incomprehensible question. How to explain such enmity? It can not arise from scratch with the help of political PR technologies alone.

The answers to these questions are given by another concept. It is based on the existence of centuries-old contradictions between the two peoples.

Prehistory

Abkhazians are a people that are ethnically and culturally close to the Adygeans. During the 19 and 20 centuries had no independence, and had autonomy in the various subjects of the Russian Empire.

Until the early 19th century, the principality was formally under Turkey's protectorate. Only since 1810 the Abkhazians began to "integrate" into Russia.

Until 1864, the principality had autonomy, which was lost in 1866. It is worth saying that the locals did not take it with obedience. Two years later, massive uprisings and protests began. The situation was aggravated by the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. The Abkhaz chose the side of the enemy. This is quite logical, since the old-timers remembered the times when the country was an autonomy within Turkey. The Russian empire solved the problem in two ways:

1. Forcible transfer outside the empire.
2. Territorial reforms.

At the end of the century, modern Abkhazia was divided. The Sukhumi district was subordinate to the Russian administration in Tiflis, and Gagra with its environs was part of the Black Sea province.

It can be concluded that the conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia has historically matured long ago. 1992 was only the beginning of military operations, the consequences of which have not been eliminated so far. Without taking a point of view, I want to note that, before joining the USSR, autonomy was never fully part of Georgia.

Georgia and Abkhazia: conflict. Reason for confrontation

Administrative reforms of the Russian Empire, and then the Soviet Union, led to armed confrontation. As the President of our country V. Putin said, the Communists laid not even a mine but an atomic bomb of delayed action under the foundation of the future state, dividing the country into national, rather than territorial autonomies with the principle of federalism. The conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia is an example, more precisely, a confirmation of these words. Once the divided territory under the USSR became a single autonomy within the Georgian SSR.

The image of the "enemy" in the minds of the Abkhazians

It began to appear and be planted from the beginning of the 30s. The history of the period of the revolution and the Civil War with the subsequent "Sovietization" of the state somehow unfairly treated Abkhazia. Supporting the Bolsheviks against the Menshevik and White Guard Georgia, later it was annexed to the latter, only the Soviet one. Even then the image of the enemy began to form in the minds of many. After all, the struggle between white and red here took on the character of a completely natural inter-ethnic slaughter. Suffered, of course, and Georgia, and Abkhazia.

The conflict broke out, therefore, on the basis of the Civil War. Some supported the Mensheviks and White Guards. They are Georgians. Abkhazians are Bolsheviks. But after the victory of the party of Lenin, the latter unfairly found themselves in the role of the vanquished. Defeat to the losing side in the future has borne fruit.

Since the 1930s, the cultural and legal arbitrariness of Georgians towards the Abkhaz has begun. Since that time, Stalin's power in the country is unconditional. Georgians become full "masters" of the Caucasus.

The "offensive" on Abkhazia begins in all spheres:

• The first of the two republics, which was "downgraded" in status. The mere fact that Autonomy was part of the Georgian SSR speaks of contemptuous treatment of the Abkhaz people by the authorities. This was perceived painfully among the intelligentsia and the older generation. Georgians in their eyes are enemies. It's not so much the loss of the status of a single republic, but the one to whom Abkhazia was annexed.
• Georgian graphics are entered into the alphabet.
• Schooling is translated into an "enemy" language.
• The resettlement policy of Georgians to Abkhazia is being carried out. For several decades, the ratio of migrants to the indigenous population was 48 to 52. That is, almost half of the population was from Georgia, who enjoyed various benefits, including priority in hiring. Such measures made people without rights in their land, which could not but affect negatively the mutual relations of the two neighboring peoples.
• The media in Abkhazia were broadcast only in Russian and Georgian. That also aroused discontent among the local population, who reveres his tradition, culture.

After the Stalinist regime, the "thaw" period begins in the country. He brought the mountain people the media in their own language, native speech in the school, a reduction in discrimination.

Now we can ask a logical question: "Did Abkhazia have a conflict with Georgia?" History gives a positive answer.

Attempts to leave the GSPC

During the second half of the 20th century, the Abkhazians repeatedly tried to secede from the Georgian SSR. Several times the national intelligentsia appealed to Moscow with official collective letters. The most famous date is 1977. In history it was called "Letter 130". All the Abkhazian intelligentsia, all the well-known and respected people of the autonomy put their signatures in it. "Letter 130" was regarded by the people as a kind of referendum on leaving Georgia. In it, residents asked to join autonomy either to Russia, or to create a separate republic, as it was before Stalin.

The Abkhaz regional committee accused people who signed the letter of libel. In 1978, a special congress was held on this issue. All communist leaders condemned the "Letter", calling the organizers "conspirators". Thus, we can say with confidence that Abkhazia had a conflict with Georgia. The history of their confrontation began not with the "bloody" of 1992, but much earlier.

During this period, the authorities begin to "pacify" the population:

• The Georgian alphabet was removed. Instead of it there was a Cyrillic alphabet.
• They allowed free broadcasting in their native language, which, along with Russian and Georgian, was recognized as state on the territory of the autonomy.
• Restricted migration of Georgians to Abkhazia, which had previously been actively supported.

First victims

In the late 80's. XX century, the Union began to crack at the seams. It became clear that interethnic confrontations were about to break out. The Georgian leadership needed to carefully approach the solution of the Abkhazian issue. Instead, the leaders of the republican Communist Party Patiashvili and Gumbaridze who replaced him in 1989 began to flirt with the nationalists, hoping to retain power in the event of the collapse of the USSR.

The situation was so heated that the "Aidgilar" forum on behalf of the residents of the entire autonomy appealed to Gorbachev to join the RSFSR. In case of refusal they demanded immediately to introduce a special management procedure. These requirements Moscow simply ignored.

The period from July 15 to July 18, 1989 was long remembered by Georgia and Abkhazia: the conflict for the first time developed into an armed confrontation. The first victims appeared. 12 people died. Everyone understood that these were only "the first swallows", not far off a large-scale military conflict. Georgia and Abkhazia begin preparations.

The collapse of the USSR: the inviolability of borders or the right of a nation to self-determination?

So what are the causes of the conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia? This question is very difficult to answer immediately and unequivocally. In the section "Georgia and Abkhazia: Conflict. Cause "we have considered the roots of historical contradictions. After the collapse of the Soviet state, they were also supplemented by legal ones. However, with such problems faced not only the warring parties. Many former union republics, autonomies and national subjects faced a difficult choice: what to do in this situation?

Legal norms that contradicted each other

• The principle of inviolability of the borders of Georgia in accordance with the UN Resolution.
• The right of peoples to self-determination. Also, the norm of international law, signed by the UN. In addition, when creating the USSR, Lenin, despite all the objections of a close circle around the party, including Stalin, introduced into the draft federal treaty the principle of federalism with the free right to withdraw from the Union republics. Autonomous okrugs and national subjects also had this right.

In practice, of course, this was not. This is only a nominal declaration. Abkhazia tried to leave Georgia three times. But she was refused.

But! The official communist congress never confirmed the right of the Abkhaz people to secede. That is, in fact, the leadership of the autonomy did not support the demands of the population. Consequently, the legal principle of voluntary withdrawal was not violated until 1989.

The very system of the administrative apparatus was built in such a way as to prevent the official collapse of the USSR. With the coming to power of Gorbachev, everything is drastically changing. Now the principle of democratic decision-making is proclaimed. Even the head of state himself became elected president in the general election, and not the secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. It follows that now it is not the committees of the republican parties that decide whether to grant the notorious right to exit, which in principle was impossible, but the people themselves. It was Abkhazia that wanted to use this right.

1992 and the transition to a new "old" Constitution

It is just about the Constitution of 1925. The very place where Lenin "allowed" all republics to freely separate from the USSR. Following the example of the United States, when the first "free" states voluntarily entered the state and could easily get out of it. In both countries, no one has ever used this right because of the impossibility.

But the Supreme Council of Abkhazia decided to defend this right and withdraw from Georgia. If in 1977 and 1989 the people wanted this without the support of the regional committee, then now the official supreme authority in unity with the majority of ordinary citizens announced their withdrawal.

Under the 1925 Constitution, Abkhazia is a sovereign state that, on the principles of voluntariness and equality, is part of the USSR. Of course, from a legal point of view, no one had any right to deprive her of the status of the republic and "turn" into autonomy. But at the moment the country lived under the 1978 Constitution, which made such an act illegal.

The War Begins

On June 23, 1992, the Supreme Council of the Autonomy announced the transition to the Constitution of 1925, according to which the country is an independent subject of law. A month later, Georgia joined the UN, which enabled it to legally "secure" the frontier of the republic that existed before the collapse of the USSR. Now Abkhazians, from the standpoint of international law, were separatists who undermine the foundations of the constitutional order. Armed conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia is inevitable.

Stages of confrontation

1. 1989-1992 - political and legal. Both sides tried to defend their point of view using legal methods. The Abkhaz claimed that the act on the entry of their country into Georgia was not legal. Under the Constitution of 1925, this state entered the USSR on an equal footing. Hence, the subordination of one subject to another is not justified. The struggle went on inside the "Abkhazian" society. The policy of encouraging migration from Georgia has done its job. There was a split in the society. Georgia itself tried to justify the "legal right" of Abkhazia, which tried to leave the USSR one of the first. This position was argued by the right of the nation to self-determination. Consequently, Abkhazia can also use this same principle and withdraw from Georgia.
2. 1992-1994 - armed confrontation.
3. 1994-2008 - an attempt at a peaceful settlement of the situation.
4. 2008 - to the present time - escalation of the conflict. "5-day war" and Russia's participation in the armed conflict. Proclamation of independence. But nothing changes. Now Georgia and Abkhazia are already independent from each other. Briefly about this later.

Georgia itself destroyed the normative base, which justified the presence of Abkhazia in its composition. In 1992 she renounced the 1978 Constitution of the USSR. That is, she created a precedent that divides into parts of it.

In August 1992, regular Georgian troops with heavy artillery and tanks were introduced to Abkhazia. A large-scale war began. In addition to the victims, she brought absolutely nothing to Georgia. A powerful community within the autonomy (240,000 people) gave nothing. Calculation of the internal front was not justified. In addition, there were two Georgian enclaves in Gagra and Gantiadi, which were abolished. Their inhabitants were expelled from the country.

Effects

The powerful Georgian diaspora (almost half of the total population), which for decades gradually merged into Abkhazia, destroying it from within, in one instant left autonomy. The war brought about 20 thousand deaths, which is very much for such small states.

Refugees as a Business

Paradoxical history occurs with refugees for many years. According to international law, these are people who need help in interstate conflicts. Such are the Georgian refugees who left Abkhazia.

But a strange picture: there were 240 thousand Georgians living in Abkhazia, who left there (to different countries). And in official sources there appears another figure - 300 thousand. The situation is clarified by the financial assistance provided to refugees. The UN allocates $ 6 per person per person per person. Money is received by the official treasury of Georgia, which such a subsidy quite suits. Naturally, there were "refugees", for which the budget receives a decent amount. According to official sources, 1 million 800 thousand dollars a day is UN aid.

From this it follows that legally the status of Abkhazia's independence is recognized by Georgia. Because the UN is obliged to help refugees. Therefore, demanding financial assistance, Georgia recognizes that these people are from another independent state. After all, the UN is not obliged to provide financial assistance in case of conflict within a certain country.

"5-day war." RF Help

Georgia's internal conflict with Abkhazia and South Ossetia has grown into an international one with Russia. This happened in August 2008. Georgian artillery opened fire on the peaceful cities of the Autonomy, despite the presence of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation under the UN flag in them.

This act was regarded by the President of Russia DA Medvedev as genocide of the peaceful population of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Guided by the Constitution, according to which the state protects its citizens, and there were many of them on the territory of the autonomy, the supreme commander-in-chief ordered to "protect" the civilian population and commit an act of "coercion to peace." Russian regular troops entered Abkhazia.

Soldiers who visited there, I have the right to benefits to participants in the armed conflict. Abkhazia and Georgia are foreign subjects. So, whoever was there, has the status of a veteran of war, and not a participant in an anti-terrorist operation, as in the territory of Chechnya and Dagestan.

The conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia in 2008 ended after 5 days with a referendum on the independence of the republic. Of course, very few people recognize this status on the world stage.

It is worth noting that the conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia in 2008 is the first armed war from the point of view of international legislation, in which Russia took part from the times of the Great Patriotic War.

Results

Two independent countries appeared on the international scene - Georgia and Abkhazia. The conflict, in spite of this, did not disappear. Both sides will always defend their rights. Now Abkhazia is supported by Russia, which could not do this in 1992-1994. The opposition is on, diplomatic and economic methods are being used. But it seems that peace in the Caucasus between these two peoples will be established only when everyone recognizes the right of the nation to self-determination. After Saakashvili's regime, Georgia is trying to establish diplomatic relations with Moscow. Claims on these territories are less and less. However, everyone understands that Georgia will never accept the loss of these lands. The conflict is still unresolved.