Editing Aslan Abashidze

{{Short description|Georgian politician; former leader of the Ajarian Autonomous Republic}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=January 2010}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Aslan Abashidze
| native_name         = {{nobold|ასლან აბაშიძე}}
| native_name_lang    = ka
| nationality         = [[Soviet people|Soviet]] (1938–1991)<br/>[[Georgians|Georgian]] (1991–)
| image               = Image:KENNEDY SPACE CENTER Abashidze & Yurchikhin (2002) (cropped).jpg
| office              = 1st [[Chairman of the Government of Adjara]]
| president           = [[Zviad Gamsakhurdia]]<br>[[Eduard Shevardnadze]]<br>[[Nino Burjanadze]] (acting)<br>[[Mikheil Saakashvili]]
| term_start          = 18 August 1991
| term_end            = 5 May 2004
| predecessor         = Position Established
| successor           = [[Levan Varshalomidze]]
| office2             = Chairman of [[Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara]]
| term_start2         = 15 March 1991
| term_end2           = 2001
| predecessor2        = Position established
| successor2          = [[Antaz Kikava]]
| office3             = Chairman of [[Democratic Union for Revival]]
| term_start3         = 1992
| term_end3           = 2004
| predecessor3        = Position established
| successor3          = Position abolished
| office4             = Deputy Chairman of [[Parliament of Georgia]]
| term_start4         = 1990
| term_end4           = 1995
| office5             = Member Of [[Parliament of Georgia]]
| term_start6         = 1990
| term_end6           = 2004
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1938|7|20}}
| birth_place         = [[Batumi]], [[Adjar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]], [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic|Georgian SSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| party               = [[Round Table—Free Georgia]] (1990–1992)<br />[[Democratic Union for Revival]] (1992–2004)
| height              = 167cm<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.interpol.int/How-we-work/Notices/Red-Notices/View-Red-Notices|title=View Red Notices|website=www.interpol.int|accessdate=August 17, 2023}}</ref>
| signature           = Aslan Abashidze signature (vect).svg
| caption             = Abashidze in 2002
| relations           = [[Memed Abashidze]] <small>(grandfather)</small>
}}
'''Aslan Abashidze''' ({{lang-ka|ასლან აბაშიძე}}; born 20 July 1938) is the former leader of the [[Adjara|Ajarian]] Autonomous Republic in western [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]. He served in this capacity from 18 August{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} 1991 to 5 May 2004. He resigned under the pressure of the central Georgian government and mass opposition rallies during the [[2004 Adjara crisis]], and has since lived in [[Moscow]], [[Russia]]. On 22 January 2007, the Batumi city court found him guilty of misuse of office and embezzlement of [[Georgian lari|GEL]] 98.2 million in state funds, and sentenced him to 15 years' imprisonment ''[[trial in absentia|in absentia]]''. He also faces a charge of murder of his former deputy, Nodar Imnadze, in 1991.<ref name=civil>[http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=14486 Ex-Adjarian Leader Sentenced to Prison in Absentia.] Civil Georgia. January 22, 2007.</ref>

== Early life and career ==

Abashidze was born into a renowned [[Islam|Muslim]] [[Ajarians|Ajarian]] family, a branch of the [[Abashidze]] princely house. His grandfather [[Memed Abashidze]] was a famous writer and member of the Parliament of the [[Democratic Republic of Georgia]] between 1918 and 1921, but was shot on [[Joseph Stalin]]'s orders in 1937. His father was sent to the [[Gulag]] for ten years but survived. Despite a difficult childhood, during the 1950s Abashidze was able to obtain degrees in history and philosophy at Batumi University and in economics at [[Tbilisi State University]]. He worked as a teacher and economist for a period before joining Georgia's regional public service. He was the director of several technical service institutes before being named a regional minister in Batumi, the capital of Ajaria, where he served as Minister of Community Service. He was later appointed the national First Deputy Minister of Community Service and moved to Tbilisi. This was, however, a relatively minor government post.

In spite of his descent from a renowned Muslim family that played a pivotal role in strengthening Georgian and Islamic identities among the Muslims of Ajaria, Aslan Abashidze converted to [[Christianity]].<ref>George Sanikidze and Edward W. Walker (2004), ''Islam and Islamic Practices in Georgia.'' Berkeley Program in Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies., p. 12, [[University of California]], Berkeley Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies.</ref>

Abashidze is close to {{Interlanguage link|Grigory Luchansky|ru|Лучанский, Григорий Эммануилович|uk|Лучанський Григорій Еммануїлович|de|Grigori Emmanuilowitsch Lutschanski}}, the owner of the [[Vienna]], Austria based Nordex.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Intelligence Online staff |title=The U.S. Connection in Caucasus |work=[[Indigo Publications#Intelligence Online|Intelligence Newsletter]] (No. 401) |url=https://www.intelligenceonline.com/threat-assessment/2001/03/08/the-us-connection-in-caucasus,1699344-ART |date=March 8, 2001 |access-date=26 October 2021 |archive-date=16 November 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20201116000000/https://www.intelligenceonline.com/threat-assessment/2001/03/08/the-us-connection-in-caucasus,1699344-ART |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Abashidze and independent Georgia ==
When Georgia regained its independence on 9 April 1991, Abashidze secured his appointment as Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Ajaria. He was also appointed Deputy Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, a post that he retained in 1990–1992 and 1992–1995. He built an independent power base in Ajaria by steering a course between the Tbilisi government and the opposition. He established his own army as a counterweight to the armed factions that supported and opposed President [[Zviad Gamsakhurdia]]. 
When civil war broke out between pro- and anti-Gamsakhurdia forces in the winter of 1991–92 and again in the autumn of 1993, he kept both sides out of Ajaria, ensuring that the fighting did not spread to the republic.

However, unlike the rulers of [[Abkhazia]] and [[South Ossetia]], he did not attempt to seek independence for Ajaria and pursued what can best be described as a policy of "armed autonomy" after the [[1991-92 Georgian coup d'état|fall of Gamsakhurdia]]. He effectively turned Ajaria into a "free economic zone" with few restrictions on trade but with the customs duties and revenues going to his government rather than to Tbilisi.

Abashidze attracted some criticism for his heavy-handed rule, which was often described as feudal. He established his own political party in 1992, known variously as the [[Democratic Union for Revival|Union of Democratic Revival]] or the Union for Georgia's Rebirth. In 1998, he was elected President of Ajaria with 93% of the vote in what Russian observers regarded as a generally free and fair election.

He preferred to exercise influence from a distance, rather than attempting to bid for national power, and consistently adopted a policy of backing whoever seemed to offer the best deal for maintaining his rule over Ajaria. He reached an accommodation with President [[Eduard Shevardnadze]], who appeared to have preferred to live with a semi-independent Ajaria rather than risk another civil war. His relations with Shevardnadze grew frosty at the end of the 1990s, as he and the government traded accusations of corruption and treason.

== Abashidze and the "Rose Revolution" ==
The forced resignation of Shevardnadze in November 2003 – widely dubbed the "[[Rose Revolution]]" – created a political crisis between Abashidze and the new government in [[Tbilisi]]. The Georgian opposition had strongly criticised Shevardnadze for failing to resolve the problem of separatism in the country, including what they saw as the lack of control which Tbilisi had over Ajaria. Not surprisingly, Abashidze saw this as a threat to his position and the continued semi-independence of Ajaria, and denounced the downfall of Shevardnadze as a "coup". He declared a state of emergency in Ajaria and sought Russian support in the event of an open conflict. However, he failed to attract much support from Russia and came under intense pressure from the [[United States]] to compromise. On 25 January 2004, Abashidze met the newly elected President [[Mikhail Saakashvili]] in Batumi and declared his intention to work with Saakashvili.

This relationship soon foundered after Saakashvili vowed to restore central authority over Georgia's separatist regions. In mid-March 2004, a motorcade carrying Saakashvili to planned political events in Ajaria ahead of the 28 March Georgian legislative elections was turned back by Ajarian border guards. Abashidze accused Saakashvili of leading a military convoy into the republic with the aim of overthrowing him, and declared a state of emergency in Ajaria and a mobilization of armed formations. In response, Saakashvili issued a one-day ultimatum to Abashidze to accept central authority and disband the Ajarian paramilitary forces. The government also closed transit routes into and out of Ajaria.

Amid high tension and widespread public demonstrations, foreign governments and international organisations appealed to both sides to exercise restraint and resolve their differences peacefully. Abashidze resigned as leader of Ajaria on 5 May 2004, when Special Forces entered the region and Adjarian paramilitary forces began to swap sides and disarm. The next day, after being granted assurances that he would not be extradited, Abashidze left for [[Moscow]], without a shot being fired in the region.

Abashidze's property in Georgia, as well as that of his close relatives, was frozen by the Georgian courts and eventually transferred to the state's ownership. According to ''[[The New York Times]]'', as of December 2012, Abashidze was living in [[Barvikha]] [[types of inhabited localities in Russia|village]] in [[Odintsovsky District]] of [[Moscow Oblast]].<ref name="nyt2012-12-28">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/29/world/europe/in-barvikha-russia-leaders-like-assad-find-haven.html?r=0&exprod=myyahoo
|title=In Russia, Exile in Comfort for Leaders Like Assad
|last=Kramer
|first=Andrew E.
|date=December 28, 2012
|work=The New York Times
|accessdate=29 December 2012}}</ref>

In August 2016, the Batumi City Court sentenced Abashidze to a 15-year imprisonment in absentia for multiple charges, including misuse of office, embezzlement, organization of terrorist attacks in 2004 and the murder of his former deputy, Nodar Imnadze, on 30 April 1991.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ex-leader of Adjara sentenced to 15 years of jail in absentia • Tabula|url=http://www.tabula.ge/en/story/110733-ex-leader-of-adjara-sentenced-to-15-years-of-jail-in-absentia|accessdate=31 December 2017|work=Tabula|date=12 August 2016}}</ref>

== Family ==
Aslan Abashidze is a widower, having been married to Maguli Gogitidze, a musician, with whom he had two children: a son and daughter.

== See also ==
* [[Chairman of the Government of Adjara]], first person to hold the position

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3683629.stm Profile: Aslan Abashidze], Steven Eke, ''[[BBC News]]'', 4 May 2004
*{{NYTtopic|people/a/aslan_abashidze}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080822122743/http://www.internationalreports.net/cis/georgia/2002/adjara/presidentaslan.html "President Aslan Abashidze, visionary leader of Adjara"], 2002
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160303215528/http://www.parliament.ge/ABOUT/election_99/aslan_abashidze.htm Aslan Abashidze] at the Georgia Parliament
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080419104803/http://www.georgianbiography.com/alphabetindex.html#A Aslan Abashidze], The Dictionary of Georgian National Biography.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abashidze, Aslan}}
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:Christians from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Eastern Orthodox Christians from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Sunni Islam]]
[[Category:People from Batumi]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Georgian exiles]]
[[Category:Former Sunni Muslims from Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Democratic Union for Revival politicians]]
[[Category:Rose Revolution]]
[[Category:Heads of Government of Adjara]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples]]
[[Category:Heads of government who were later imprisoned]]
[[Category:People of Adjarian descent]]
[[Category:Nobility of Georgia (country)]]