Georgian-Abkhazian War
| date | August 14, 1992 - September 27, 1993 |
|---|---|
| place | Abkhazia |
| output | De facto independence of Abkhazia |
| Territorial changes | Abkhazia splits off from Georgia |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| Commander | |
|
|
|
.svg){kind=small}
The Georgian-Abkhazian War was a conflict that took place between the Georgian government and Abkhazian separatists between 1992 and 1993 . As a result, the ethnic Georgians were largely expelled from the Abkhazian area and Abkhazia achieved de facto independence from Georgia.
background
The roots of the Abkhazia conflict go back to the pre-Soviet era, when the independent states of southern Transcaucasia emerged in the course of the breakup of the Russian tsarist empire in 1918 . Abkhazia was incorporated into the state territory of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in June 1918 before becoming independent for a short time. With the establishment of Soviet power in Georgia in 1921, the legal status issue of Abkhazia was up for discussion. After brief deliberations, in March 1921 the “Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia” (ASSR) was proclaimed parallel to the Georgian SSR . It was upgraded in its federal rights and basically had autonomous powers equal to those of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. In 1931, however, on the initiative of Joseph Stalin and Lavrenti Beria, the downgrading of the previous formation took place. Abkhazia was converted into an autonomous area within the Georgian SSR.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union , many Abkhazians have been demanding an independent state, while the inhabitants of South Ossetia have supported an annexation to Russia . In the South Ossetian War (1991–1992), South Ossetian separatists fought against the Georgian government. With the invasion of Russian troops in the summer of 1992, the conflict ended and South Ossetia has since been a self-declared independent state, which, however, is not internationally recognized by the vast majority of states and is very dependent on Russian military and economic aid.
Course of conflict
On July 23, 1992, the autonomous republic of Abkhazia declared its independence. After a short time, tensions between Abkhazia and Georgia rose. On the night of August 13-14, 1992, Georgian troops crossed the border with Abkhazia on the grounds that they wanted to liberate Georgian state representatives. On August 18, the Confederation of the Caucasus and on August 25, the Georgian Commander-in-Chief Giorgi Karkarashvili issued an ultimatum to the respective conflicting parties. An armistice was agreed on September 3rd. In October, however, the Abkhazian armed forces launched an offensive, including Gagra . Georgia then asked NATO for help in preserving territorial integrity. In the meantime there were peace talks and armistices, but these were not kept.
Both warring parties received support from foreign volunteers; Members of the right-wing Ukrainian party UNA-UNSO fought on the side of the Georgians , while Armenians and Russians supported the Abkhaz rioters .
At the end of September 1993, Sukhumi was captured by the separatists. On September 27, 1993, crimes against the Georgian civilian population occurred there , in which over 7,000 people were killed. With the capture of Sochumi, the hostilities ceased and Abkhazia was blocked by the Commonwealth of Independent States for several years .
consequences
Around 10,000 people died in the two-year war over Abkhazia. More than half of them were civilians. In the course of the Abkhaz counter-offensive in the summer of 1993, almost all Georgian residents of the breakaway province (250,000 people) were driven from their hometowns. Around 50,000 Georgian refugees returned to the neighboring city of Gali in southern Abkhazia in the following years . However, they do not stay there permanently, but migrate again and again between Gali and Zugdidi on the Georgian side of the conflict line.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.bpb.de/internationales/europa/ukraine/138428/analyse-die-entstehung-des-ukrainophonen-parteifoermigen-rechtsextremismus-in-der-ukraine-der-1990er
- ↑ Pål Kolstø & Helge Blakkisrud: Yielding to the sons of the soil: Abkhazian democracy and the marginalization of the Armenian vote , in: Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36 (2013), No. 12, pp. 2075-2095 (here: p . 2087/2088).
- ↑ Eva-Maria Auch: The conflict in Abkhazia in a historical perspective . Ed .: OSCE Yearbook 2004. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden 2004, p. 242 ff .
- ↑ With open cards : Georgia after the war.
- ↑ http://www.trackingterrorism.org/group/bagramyan-battalion
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from February 5, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Bernard A. Cook: Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia , New York (et al.): Routledge 2014, p. 77.
- ↑ Sabine Fischer: Not frozen! The unresolved conflicts over Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh in the light of the crisis over Ukraine . Ed .: SWP study. Berlin July 2016, p. 50 .