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attacked by the Ingush. And, both of the peoples faced with a new phenomenon
emerged as a serious problem for the peoples of the North Caucasus: the refugee
problem.
Beyond that, as the most destructive consequence, the conflict, to a great
extent, ruined the unity of the North Caucasian peoples that was institutionalized in
the Confederation. As Shanibov stressed it direct confrontation among the two of
its component parts caused a serious damage on the prestige of the Confederation,
and resulted with a terrible moral defeat on the Confederation’s work. The
Confederation’s intention to work, as a peacemaking and peacekeeping entity, has
been blocked by its own constituent members, and as a result, considerably reduced
the power of the Confederation.
599
Nevertheless, the existence of a new conflict, at that time with an outside
power, namely Georgia, did cause a dead blow to the Confederation, and, all the
attention was turned toward Abkhazia.
4- The Abkhaz-Georgian conflict:
600
Abkhazia had always been the Achilles heel of the Caucasian unity in
1990s and as it was stressed several times by the leaders of the Assembly and the
599
Şenibe, Birliğin Zaferi, 54.
600
For the Abkhaz-Georgian dispute see B.G. Hewitt, “Abkhazia: a problem of identity and
ownership,” Central Asian Survey, 12(3): 267-323 and in Transcaucasian Boundaries, John F.R.
and et. al., eds., 1996. London: 190-225. Gueorgui Otyrba, “War in Abkhazia: The Regional
Significance of the Georgian-Abkhazian Conflict,” in Roman Szporluk ed., 1994. National Identity
and Ethnicity in Russia and the New States of Eurasia, New York: 281-309; B. Coppieters,
Georgians and Abkhazians: The Search for a Peace Settlement, available from the Internet:
www.vub.ac.be/polı/publi.; Stanislav Lakoba, “Abkhazia is Abkhazia,” Central Asian Survey,
14(1): 97-106. John Colarusso, “Abkhazia,” Central Asian Survey, 14(1): 75-96.
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Confederation, the peoples of the North Caucasus and even the other small peoples
of the former Soviet Union saw their destiny in the fate of Abkhazia. By helping
the struggle of Abkhazia, the peoples of the North Caucasus gained a sense of
regional identity and the Confederation of the Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus
acquired an immediate and concrete task true to the meaning of its existence.
As it was in the case of South Osetia, the Abkhaz strongly opposed the
emerging nationalist policies and actions of the Georgians, and in return to the
election of Zviad Gamsakhurdia as the President of the Republic of Georgia in
October 1990, they elected an Abkhaz nationalist, Vladislav Ardzinba to the
chairman of the Abkhazian Supreme Soviet.
Again similar to the South Osetian case, a major catalyst of tensions was
the March 1991 all-union referendum. The Abkhaz, despite the existence of
Georgian threats, took part in all-union referendum and voted in favour of the
preservation of the union. Then, while the Georgia had declared its secession from
the Soviet Union and independence on 9 April 1991, the Abkhaz, in response,
declared their intent to become the part of the Soviet Union.
During the course of the last months of 1991, the parties mainly negotiated
on the proposal of the Abkhaz for the two-chamber parliament for Abkhazia.
Despite the opposition from the Georgian side, the Abkhaz organized elections in
October and December 1991 for this parliament. However, within the months, the
parliament was paralyzed owing to the formation of two blocks: that of the
Georgian deputies on the one side and the other ethnic groups’ deputies on the
other. The Georgian deputies repeatedly rejected decisions that were taken by a
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majority of votes. These disagreements led to a walkout by Georgian deputies who
continued to meet in separate quarters.
During this chaos, inter-Georgian tensions increased and descended into
open warfare in Tiflis over the period of the last days of 1991 and the beginning of
1992. An elected president Zviad Gamsakhurdia fled to Chechnya and the Military
Council of Sigua-Kitovani-Ioseliani was set up. Then in March 1992,
Shevardnadze was brought in Tiflis and quickly made head of State Council, which
run Georgia until the elections on 11 October 1992. The arrival of Shevardnadze
obtained international recognition of Georgia, which implied the recognition of the
borders, claimed by that country’s government and therefore the inclusion of
Abkhazia in its territory.
Meanwhile following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Georgia proceeded
to adopt its constitution of 1921, which made no reference to Abkhazia. The
Abkhaz saw the adoption of this constitution together with the earlier nullification
of its borders with Georgia, as a further downgrading of its already intolerable
status.
In June 1992, president Ardzinba of Abkhazia sent a draft treaty to the
Georgian State Council in which a federative or confederative solution to the
problem was suggested, which would safeguard Georgia’s territorial integrity. The
draft contained provisions for the guarantee of the rights of all minorities in the
territories under the Abkhazian and Georgian jurisdiction, and for rejection of the
use of military force to resolve differences. The Georgian leadership nevertheless
did not reply.
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