Zviad Gamsakhurdia

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Zviad Gamsakhurdia bigraphy, stories - Activists

Zviad Gamsakhurdia : biography

March 31, 1939 – December 31, 1993

Zviad Konstantines dze GamsakhurdiaParticularly in Soviet-era sources, his patronymic is sometimes given as Konstantinovich in the Russian style. ( March 31, 1939 — December 31, 1993) was a dissident, scientist and writer, who became the first democratically elected President of Georgia in the post-Soviet era. Gamsakhurdia is the only Georgian President to have died whilst formally in office.

Links and literature

  • "The Lion in Winter — My Friend Zviad Gamsakhurdia", Todor Todorev, May 2002
  • , Elizabeth Fuller, August 1991

Gamsakhurdia as President

On taking office, Gamsakhurdia was faced with major economic and political difficulties, especially regarding Georgia’s relations with the Soviet Union. A key problem was the position of Georgia’s many ethnic minorities (making up 30% of the population). Although minority groups had participated actively in Georgia’s return to democracy, they were underrepresented in the results of the October 1990 elections with only nine of 245 deputies being non-Georgians. Even before Georgia’s independence, the position of national minorities was contentious and led to outbreaks of serious inter-ethnic violence in Abkhazia during 1989.

In 1989, violent unrest broke out in South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast between the Georgian independence-minded population of the region and Ossetians loyal to the Soviet Union. South Ossetia’s regional soviet announced that the region would secede from Georgia to form a "Soviet Democratic Republic". In response, the Georgian Supreme Soviet annulled the autonomy of South Ossetia in March 1990., Time Magazine, January 28, 1991

A three-way power struggle between Georgian, Ossetian and Soviet military forces broke out in the region, which resulted (by March 1991) in the deaths of 51 people and the eviction from their homes of 25,000 more. After his election as Chairman of the newly renamed Supreme Council, Gamsakhurdia denounced the Ossetian move as being part of a Russian ploy to undermine Georgia, declaring the Ossetian separatists to be "direct agents of the Kremlin, its tools and terrorists." In February 1991, he sent a letter to Mikhail Gorbachev demanding the withdrawal of Soviet army units and an additional contingent of interior troops of the USSR from the territory of former Authonomous District of South Ossetia.

According to George Khutsishvili, the nationalist "Georgia for the Georgians" hysteria launched by the followers of Gamsakhurdia "played a decisive role" in "bringing about Bosnia-like inter-ethnic violence.", George Khutsishvili, Perspective, Volume IV, No 3 (February–March 1994) Boston University

Human rights violations criticism

On December 27, 1991, U.S. based Helsinki Watch NGO issued a report on Human Rights violations made by the government of Gamsakhurdia.] via Human Rights Watch)], December 27, 1991 The report included information on documented Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press violations in Georgia, on Political Imprisonment, Human Rights abuses by Georgian government and paramilitary in South Ossetia, and other human Rights violations.

The rise of the opposition

Gamsakhurdia’s opponents were highly critical of what they regarded as "unacceptably dictatorial behaviour", which had already been the subject of criticism even before his election as President. Prime Minister Tengiz Sigua and two other senior ministers resigned on August 19 in protest against Gamsakhurdia’s policies. The three ministers joined the opposition, accusing him of "being a demagogue and totalitarian" and complaining about the slow pace of economic reform. In an emotional television broadcast, Gamsakhurdia claimed that his enemies were engaging in "sabotage and betrayal" within the country.

Gamsakhurdia’s response to the coup against President Gorbachev was a source of further controversy. On August 19, Gamsakhurdia, the Georgian government, and the Presidium of the Supreme Council issued an appeal to the Georgian population to remain calm, stay at their workplaces, and perform their jobs without yielding to provocations or taking unauthorized actions. The following day, Gamsakhurdia appealed to international leaders to recognize the republics (including Georgia) that had declared themselves independent of the Soviet Union and to recognise all legal authorities, including the Soviet authorities deposed by the coup. He claimed publicly on August 21 that Gorbachev himself had masterminded the coup in an attempt to boost his popularity before the Soviet presidential elections, an allegation rejected as "ridiculous" by US President George H. W. Bush.