Eduard Shevardnadze Politician, President of Georgia Date of Birth: 25.01.1928 Country: Georgia

1. Biography of Eduard Shevardnadze
2. Political Career in Georgia
3. Political Career in the Soviet Union
4. Return to Georgia
5. Presidency and Retirement

Biography of Eduard Shevardnadze

Eduard Shevardnadze was a Georgian politician and the President of Georgia. He was born on January 25, 1928, in the village of Mamati in the Lanchkhuti district of Guria. Shevardnadze completed his education at the Tbilisi Medical College and later graduated from the Kutaisi Pedagogical Institute named after A. Tsulukidze in 1959. He started his career in the Komsomol and party activities in 1946.

Political Career in Georgia

In the early 1960s, Shevardnadze served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party in Mtskheta and then as the First Secretary of the Party in the First of May District in Tbilisi. From 1964 to 1972, he held the position of the First Deputy Minister for Public Order and later became the Minister of Internal Affairs in Georgia. As the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia from 1972 to 1985, Shevardnadze launched a high-profile campaign against the shadow market and corruption, although these issues were not completely eradicated.

Political Career in the Soviet Union

From 1985 to 1990, Shevardnadze served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union and was a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the same period. He was also a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from the 9th to the 11th convocations. In 1990-1991, Shevardnadze was a People's Deputy of the USSR.

In December 1990, Shevardnadze resigned from his position in protest against the emerging dictatorship and left the ranks of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In November 1991, he was invited by Mikhail Gorbachev to lead the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, but this position was abolished a month later after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Shevardnadze was one of Gorbachev's close associates in implementing the policies of perestroika, glasnost, and easing international tensions.

Return to Georgia

Shortly after stepping down from his leadership position in Moscow, Shevardnadze returned to power in his native Georgia. In December 1991 and January 1992, he organized a military coup in the Republic of Georgia, which removed President Zviad Gamsakhurdia from office and effectively ended the civil war. However, Shevardnadze's hopes of reintegrating the breakaway region of Abkhazia into Georgia were thwarted by Russia's position. From 1992 to 1995, he served as the Chairman of the Parliament of the Republic of Georgia and the Chairman of the State Council of Defense of Georgia.

Presidency and Retirement

In 1995, Shevardnadze became the President of the Republic of Georgia. In April 2000, he was re-elected as the President, receiving over 82% of the votes from participating voters. Shevardnadze declared his intention to retire and write memoirs after the end of his presidential term in 2005. In October 2002, his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Kishinev was hailed as the "beginning of a turning point in Georgian-Russian relations," as both leaders expressed readiness to combat terrorism together.

In November 2003, parliamentary elections were held in Georgia, which led to the Rose Revolution due to the opposition's allegations of widespread falsifications. On November 23, 2003, Shevardnadze resigned from his position as President in response to the ultimatum from the opposition, which demanded his resignation or the occupation of the residence in Krtsanisi.