[A-List] Georgia: With Civil War Looming, 'Russia Must Defend Adjaria'

[Rick Rozoff]

1) Georgian (Real) Opposition Parties: Saakashvili
Planning 'Armed Aggression' Against Adjaria
2) Civil War Looms Over Georgia
3) New Georgian Regime Gets Turkey To Close Border
With Adjaria
4) With Turkey Refusing To Honor Mutual Defense
Treaty, "Russia Must Simply Defend Adjaria": Abashidze
5) New Georgian Democracy: *Assembly Of The Nobility*
And *Tsar's Crown* Denounce Adjaria


 

1)
http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2-tca.asp

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
March 15, 2004


GEORGIAN OPPOSITION DECRIES PRESIDENTIAL THREATS



Meeting in Tbilisi on 14 March, members of the
opposition Labor and Socialist parties, together with
unnamed close associates of former President
Shevardnadze, accused President Saakashvili of
mobilizing army and Interior Ministry troops in
preparation for "armed aggression" against Adjaria,
Caucasus Press reported. They called for convening an
emergency parliament session to discuss the
deteriorating relations between the central government
and the Adjar leadership. Leading members of
Saakashvili's National Movement promptly rejected the
opposition allegations that the Georgian leadership
plans an armed intervention in Adjaria, Caucasus Press
reported. Giga Bokeria accused the opposition of
"betraying Georgian national interests," while Givi
Targamadze called on Georgian police to arrest
Abashidze, saying he "belongs in prison," Caucasus
Press reported on 14 March. LF
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2)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/03/15/wgeo15.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/03/15/ixworld.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=160700


The Telegraph
March 15, 2004


Civil war looms over stand-off in Georgia
By Julius Strauss



President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia threatened a
separatist leader in the west of the country with an
economic blockade last night as tensions in the
country rose dangerously.

The threat came after militiamen loyal to Aslan
Abashidze, who controls the region of Adjara, stopped
a presidential convoy entering their territory by
firing shots in the air. Mr Saakashvili responded by
closing the country's air space and putting the
national army on alert.

He said last night that if Mr Abashidze did not allow
him access today, he would blockade Adjara's airspace
and oil port and seize the regional leadership's bank
accounts.

If neither side backs down, civil war could ensue.
Witnesses reported that officials in Adjara were
handing out guns and mining bridges in preparation for
conflict.

Russia, which supports Mr Abashidze, warned Mr
Saakashvili not to use force to resolve the dispute. A
Russian foreign ministry spokesman, Alexander
Yakovenko, said: "In the event of a crisis, all
responsibility would lie with the Georgian
leadership."
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3)
http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=4056972&startrow=1&date=2004-03-16&do_alert=0


Russian Information Agency (Novosti)
March 16, 2004


ACCORDING TO MIKHAIL SAAKASHVILI, SARPI CUSTOMS POST
ON TURKISH BORDER WILL BE CLOSED 


TBILISI, March 16 (RIA Novosti) - According to the
Novosti-Georgia information agency, Georgian president
Mikhail Saakashvili reported to journalists that the
Sarpi customs post in Adzharia (an autonomy within
Georgia) at the Turkish-Georgian border would be
closed. 

Saakashvili reported that "Georgian authorities were
forced to request the Turkish government to close the
Sarpi customs post at the Georgian-Turkish border
until security was restored and the possibility to
protect appropriate cargoes and people regained." At
the same time the head of the Georgian state indicated
that Turkey is a friendly country and they did not
expect any complications in that issue. 
------------------------------------------------------
4)
http://www.interfax.com/com?item=Geor&pg=0&id=5703988&req=

Interfax (Russia)
March 15, 2004


Kars Treaty on protecting Ajaria expired long ago -
ambassador 


-"Russia simply must protect Ajaria," Ajarian leader
Aslan Abashidze told Interfax earlier. "There is the
Treaty of Kars, which stipulates that Turkey will
protect the Ajarian autonomous republic. There is also
the Moscow Treaty, which entails the same commitments.
Russia must [protect Ajaria] under those treaties,"
Abashidze said. 



Moscow. (Interfax) - Ajaria cannot count on protection
from Turkey under the Treaty of Kars, Georgian
Ambassador to Russia Konstantin Kemularia said at a
Monday press conference at the Interfax main office. 

"It is senseless to make any comments on the treaty.
Its validity expired long ago. Things are completely
different nowadays. International relations are based
on the realities of the 21st century. Relations
between Russia and Turkey, Georgia and Turkey, Georgia
and Russia have changed," he said. 

"Those who want to reanimate the past and pin hopes on
problems in international relations between our
ancestors stand no chance," Kemularia said. 

"Russia simply must protect Ajaria," Ajarian leader
Aslan Abashidze told Interfax earlier. "There is the
Treaty of Kars, which stipulates that Turkey will
protect the Ajarian autonomous republic. There is also
the Moscow Treaty, which entails the same commitments.
Russia must [protect Ajaria] under those treaties,"
Abashidze said. 
------------------------------------------------------
5)
http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=4056938&startrow=1&date=2004-03-16&do_alert=0


Russian Information Agency (Novosti)
March 16, 2004

GEORGIA: ASSEMBLY OF THE NOBILITY AND TSAR'S CROWN
MOVEMENT REPROACH ABASHIDZE 


TBILISI, MARCH 16 (RIA NOVOSTI) - The Georgian
Assembly of the Nobility and the public political
movement, The Tsar's Crown denounce headlong moves by
President Aslan Abashidze of Adzharia, which have
brought to an edge a crisis in the autonomous
republic. 

"It's shameful that Adzharia is barring entrance to
Georgia's President, and Georgians are speaking to
Georgians in the idiom of weapons. Aslan Abashidze
descends from one of Georgia's noblest families, and
he ought not to stoop to that kind of things,"
Constantine Cholokashvili, president of the Georgian
Assembly of the Nobility, said to a news conference
today. 

"There is no room for frontiers between Georgia and
Adzharia, an ancient Georgian land," Iya
Bagrationi-Mukhraneli, Tsar's Crown leader, said to
the same conference. 

The Abashidzes are the foremost Adzharian princely
family. They were Adzharia's eristavis, sovereigns,
since 1463. As the Ottoman Empire seized Adzharia in
the 16th century, sancak begs, governors, of Batum and
Trebizond were appointed solely from their midst. 

Memed Abashidze, Aslan's grandfather, was prominent
man of letters and political activist. Speaker of
Adzharia's first parliament in 1918-21, he spared no
efforts for his native land to rejoin Georgia after
three centuries in the Ottoman Empire. 



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