Aslan Abashidze

Aslan Abashidze (2002)

Aslan Ibragimowitsch Abashidze ( Georgian ასლან აბაშიძე ; Russian Аслан Ибрагимович Абашидзе * 20th July 1938 in Batumi , Adscharische ASSR ) is a Georgian politician and was 1991-2004 autocratic head of state and president of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara in Georgia , which is largely under his leadership was independent of the central government in Tbilisi.

Life

Youth and job

Abashidze comes from a Muslim-Georgian aristocratic family from Adjara. His grandfather, the writer Memed Abashidze , a member of parliament during the first Georgian republic from 1918 to 1921, was shot in 1937 on orders from Stalin . The father spent ten years in a Soviet forced labor camp.

In the 1950s, Abashidze began studying history and philosophy at the State Pedagogical Institute in Batumi , which he graduated in 1962, followed by a second degree in economics at the State University of Tbilisi in 1964 . Until 1981 he worked as an English teacher, later as a school director.

From 1981 to 1984 Abashidze was deputy spokesman for the Batumi City Council, from 1984 to 1986 Adjar Minister for Utilities, 1986 to 1989 Deputy Minister for Utilities.

Autocratic ruler

In April 1991, shortly before the final collapse of the Soviet Union , Abashidze became chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Adjara at the instigation of Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia , in fact its head of state. At that time, Ajaria was an autonomous republic of Georgia.

In the years that followed, a civil war broke out in Georgia and there was fighting throughout the country. Under Abashid's leadership, Adjara became largely independent of the Georgian government in Tbilisi, although it never officially broke away from Georgia. He managed to keep the armed conflicts and the Georgian civil war out of Adjara, although he has ruled the country autocratically ever since.

Abashidze built up his own military in Ajaria and turned the country into a kind of special economic zone. Tax revenue was no longer paid to the Georgian government, but remained in Adjara. Insurgents and militias from other parts of Georgia were denied access to Adjara. After negotiations with the Georgian government, Abashidze was able to secure the status of his own government, as Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze was prepared to tolerate the extensive independence of Ajarias in order to prevent further bloodshed.

Abashidze was also active in Georgian politics outside of Ajaria. From 1991 to 1995 Abashidze was Vice President of the Georgian Parliament . In 1991 he founded the political party Union for Democratic Revival , which was successful in the Georgian elections in 1995 and received 15 seats in the Georgian parliament elected in 1999.

In 1998 Abashidze was re-elected President of Ajaria with 93% of the votes cast.

Abashidze (left) in the Kennedy Space Center in 2002 together with the cosmonaut Fyodor Yurtschichin and his son Georgi (right)

Abashidze sometimes got rid of political opponents with rude methods. In April 1991, his deputy and political rival, Nodar Imnadze, was killed in a shooting in Abashidse's office. The future director of the Georgian National Library, Levan Berdsenishvili, was expelled from the country after criticizing Abashidze. The Mayor of Batumi and MP Tengis Asanidze was tried in 1993 for allegedly illegal financial transactions and illegal possession of weapons. Although the European Court of Human Rights demanded his immediate release, he was imprisoned until April 2004.

Abashid's reign ends and exile

At the end of 2003, the so-called Rose Revolution took place in Georgia , as a result of which the long-standing President Eduard Shevardnadze resigned and Mikheil Saakashvili took over as his successor. The government around Abashidze condemned the Rose Revolution as a "coup". Serious tensions arose between the Ajarian and the new government, which worsened in the spring of 2004. After mass protests against his government in Batumi , there was a change of power in Adjara . Abashidze resigned from his post as head of the Adjar government on May 6, 2004, and since then Adjara has been under the control of the Georgian government.

Abashidze went into exile with his family in Moscow , where he owns a house and is friends with the former mayor Yuri Luzhkov . Although the Georgian government accuses him of various serious criminal offenses, it wants to refrain from prosecution and extradition after consultation with Russian President Vladimir Putin .

Awards

Abashidze has the honorary rank of major general in the Russian army (1994). The Russian Federation awarded him the Order of Merit and the Order for Services in the Caucasus (1996). He is also a Knight of the Order of Malta (1997).

Private

He has a lavish lifestyle, owned a large country house in the Adjarian Province, a city residence in Batumi and a house in Moscow . He kept 80 award-winning exotic dogs, as well as ostriches and pheasants . His fleet of vehicles included two Hummer and two Tornado racing boats . Son Giorgi drove a Lamborghini . The luxury life was financed from the Ajarian state budget and various companies that belonged to Abashidze. The 105 possessions of Abashidses and his family that remained in Ajaria were transferred to the state in March 2005.

Abashidze was married to the musician Maguli Gogitidse (1951-2003) until her death. They both have a son and a daughter, Giorgi and Diana. The son Giorgi was Mayor of Batumi from June 2002 to May 2004. A report in the New York Times According to Abashidze lived 2012 in Barvikha , a suburb of Moscow, part of Rublyovka .

Web links

Commons : Aslan Abashidze  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Andrew E. Kramer: In Russia, Exile in Comfort for Leaders Like Assad . In: The New York Times , December 28, 2012. Retrieved January 10, 2015.