Ajaria

Ajarian Autonomous Republic
Acharis Avtonomiuri Respublika

Official language	Georgian
Capital	Batumi
Chairman of Interim Council	Levan Varshalomidze
Area  - Total  - % water	2,900 km² n/a
Population  - Total (1989)  - Density	392,432 135.32/km²
Ethnic groups (1989)	Georgians: 82.8% Russians: 7.7% Armenians: 4.0% Greeks: 1.9%
Currency	Georgian lari
Time zone	UTC +3

The Ach'arian Autonomous Republic (commonly known as Adjaria, also transliterated as Ajara or Adzharia) is an autonomous republic of Georgia. It is located on the south-eastern coast of the Black Sea and extends into the wooded foothills of the Caucasus. The Ajarians are ethnic Georgians who profess Islam.

History

Ajaria has been part of Georgia since ancient times. The Seljuk Turks invaded in the 11th century AD and the Mongols in the 13th century. Georgia lost this territory to the Ottomans in the 17th century, during which time many of its people converted to Islam. In 1878, it was annexed by Russia. After World War I, its strategic position on the eastern Black Sea coast led to it being contested by a number of major powers, with the territory temporarily being occupied by Turkey, Germany, and Britain. But after British troops left Batum in 1920 Ajaria only briefly formed part of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-21), before being subsumed into the Soviet Union, ceded by Kemal Atatürk to Lenin's Bolsheviks in a Turco-Soviet treaty signed in Kars (Turkey) in 1921. Under Soviet rule, the region surrounding the port of Batumi was reorganized as the Ajar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, a constituent republic first of the Transcaucasian SFSR, then of the Georgian SSR. The reasons for this division were not ethnic, since the Ajars and Georgians are of same ethnic origins. It is thought that Moscow wanted to avoid giving Georgia complete control of the important Black Sea port of Batumi and to bolster Communist leanings among the ethnic Georgian Muslims known as Lazi, who were still living in Turkey.

With the collapse of the USSR., after first democratic, multiparty Parliamentary elections of October 28 1990, the appointed Chairman of the Supreme Council of Ajaria, Aslan Abashidze, was elected Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia. After a coup d'etat, December 22, 1991-January 6, 1992, Abashidze established an autocratic local regime largely independent of Georgian central authority. He was aided in this by the quiet support of Russia, which retained its troops stationed outside Batumi in Ajaria and other separatist areas, such as Abkhazia. Under Abashidze's personal rule, Ajaria established its own armed forces and did not pay taxes to the Georgian state.

Georgia's ex-president Eduard Shevardnadze visited the region several times during his rule between 1992-2003 to attempt a reconciliation with Abashidze. The latter's party, the Union of Democratic Revival of Georgia, cooperated with Shevardnadze's ruling Union of Citizens of Georgia party in the 1995 parliamentary elections, but broke with Shevardndze after the elections.

Abashidze's Revival Party has thirty members in the Georgian parliament, and is seen as a moderate opposition to the central government in Tbilisi. After the rigged elections of 2003 and the ensuing "Rose Revolution" in Georgia, Abashidze joined other old-time leaders to oppose the November 2003 ouster of Shevardnadze and expressed concern for the future status of Ajaria. However, Abashidze made a publicized rejection of calls for Ajaria to decisively secede from Georgia, posted in his tightly-controlled local press, and the Georgian government likewise promised to "respect all the demands and interests of the autonomous republic [of Ajaria]."

On January 4, 2004, Mikhail Saakashvili, the leader of the United National Movement (UNM), won the new national presidential elections with an overwhelming majority. Although Abashidze had expressed reservations about Saakaskvili's political platform - particularly his pledge peacefully to resolve the separatist disputes affecting Georgia - Ajaria nonetheless participated in the elections. Right after the elections, Russia waived visa requirements for citizens of Ajaria, though not for other Georgians, reinforcing Ajaria's autonomy, and Abashidze declared a "state of emergency" and closed all interior borders with Georgia.

Following his inauguration at the end of January, Saakashvili visited Batumi and met with Aslan Abashidze.

Relations between the two men deteriorated rapidly thereafter, with Abashidze, who always rejected separatism, increasingly critical of Saakashvili's nationalist and aggressive stance. Both sides mobilised forces in apparent preparations for a military confrontation. At the end of April 2004, Georgia held military manoeuvers near the region. In response, on May 1, 2004, the three bridges connecting Ajaria with the rest of Georgia over the Choloki River were blown up by Abashidze's forces. The tension brought thousands of pro-Saakashvili protesters onto the streets of Batumi in largely peaceful demostrations. This proved a catalyst for even larger demonstrations. Abashidze's position became untenable when elements of his own security forces joined the protesters and Russia withdrew its support (or at least did nothing to prop him up). On May 5, 2004, he fled the country and resigned his position as president, effectively restoring the sovereignty of the central government.