Aslan Abashidze State and political figure of Georgia, head of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara (1991-2004). Date of Birth: 20.07.1938 Country: Georgia

Biography of Aslan Abashidze

Aslan Abashidze was a Georgian statesman and political leader, who served as the head of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara from 1991 to 2004. He belonged to an ancient princely dynasty that had ruled Adjara since 1463 as eristavi (dukes), and later as sanjak-beys (governors) of Batumi and Lazistan after the region came under Turkish control in the 17th century.

Abashidze's grandfather, Memed Abashidze, a writer and translator, became the chairman of the first parliament (medjlis) of Adjara in 1918-21, successfully keeping Adjara part of Georgia and preventing Turkish occupation. However, in 1938, Memed Abashidze was executed, and his son Ibragim, Aslan's father, was arrested and exiled to Siberia two months before Aslan's birth. Aslan's mother, Shaester Bejanidze, came from an aristocratic family that owned the northern part of Adjara.

Aslan Abashidze obtained a degree in History and Philology from Batumi Pedagogical Institute in 1962, and later studied Planning of National Economy at Tbilisi State University in 1984. In 1962, he was sentenced to two years probation for firearm possession and hooliganism. He worked as a teacher in a music school, headed a vocational school, and engaged in Komsomol (Communist Youth League) activities. During this time, he became close with his older brother Eduard Shevardnadze, known as Hippocrates, who was the Chairman of the Committee for Vocational Education in Georgia.

In 1981, Abashidze became the deputy chairman of the Batumi City Council's executive committee, and in 1984, he became the Minister of Household Services in Adjara Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. He later served as the deputy minister of household services in the Georgian SSR and went on to become the president of the state concern for household services, "Gruzbytservice".

In March 1991, with the support of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, whom Abashidze had known since childhood, he became the acting chairman of the Supreme Council of Adjara, and in July of the same year, he was elected as the chairman of the Supreme Council of Adjara (he was re-elected to this position in 1996). However, Gamsakhurdia set gradual abolition of Adjara's autonomous status as a condition for Abashidze's election. From 1991 to 1995, he also served as the deputy chairman of the Georgian Parliament.

On August 19, 1991, upon learning about the coup in Moscow, Abashidze informed Gamsakhurdia and convinced him to accept all the demands of the State Committee on the State of Emergency (GKChP). In December 1991, when the civil war broke out, Abashidze formed his own army to counterbalance the armed groups supporting and opposing Z. Gamsakhurdia. In 1992, he led the political party "All-Georgian Union of Revival" (renamed as "Union of Democratic Revival of Georgia" in 1997), which achieved some success in the parliamentary elections of 1992 and 1995, forming a strong parliamentary faction.

On September 28, 1992, Abashidze practically declared the economic structures of Adjara independent from Tbilisi. Unlike the leadership in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, he did not seek independence for Adjara and instead developed it as a "free economic zone" with the right to collect customs duties in the republic. He provided the Russian military base located near Batumi with the most favorable conditions. In March 1994, he welcomed Georgia's accession to the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). According to media reports, Abashidze maintained friendly relations with Yuri Luzhkov.

According to Abashidze, he survived 17 assassination attempts, although the opposition in Adjara considered most of them to be fabricated. In 2000, he ran for the presidency of Georgia but withdrew his candidacy in favor of Eduard Shevardnadze, even though a representative of Abashidze's bloc, "Revival of Georgia," Giorgi Patiashvili, participated in the elections. In the same year, Abashidze was elected as the head of Adjara with 99% of the votes and a voter turnout of 90%.

After the "Rose Revolution," Abashidze's relationship with Mikheil Saakashvili deteriorated. In April 2004, Saakashvili stated that the "Abashidze clan" was a gang of criminals, murderers, and drug dealers, after which direct presidential rule was imposed in Adjara in May. Georgian special forces were deployed to the borders of the autonomous republic, while the Ministry of Internal Affairs forces of Adjara opposed them. A large-scale armed conflict was prevented through negotiations between Russia and Georgia, with Russia promising not to oppose the restoration of Tbilisi's control over Adjara and to evacuate Abashidze from Adjara to Moscow in exchange for guarantees of his immunity, publicly given by Mikheil Saakashvili on national television. On May 5, 2004, Abashidze resigned, and the next day, a plane with the head of the Russian Security Council, Igor Ivanov, arrived in Batumi, who flew Abashidze to Moscow.