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23-485: During the founding congress, the organisation was addressed by former President Vladislav Ardzinba . Some speakers have distanced themselves from Amtsakhara , the veteran organisation founded shortly after the 1992-1993 war. On 14 July 2010, Chairman Vadim Smyr announced his resignation. On 20 July, Aruaa's Supreme Council decided that it did not accept Smyr's resignation, and that he would remain Chairman at least until

46-413: A President of Georgia , Eduard Shevardnadze . Under his rule, human rights records were extremely poor as most of the pre-war Georgian population of Abkhazia were deprived the right to return, and those who remained were subjected to systematic ethnic cleansing . Ardzinba aroused some further criticism from the international community after issuing a decree banning Jehovah's Witnesses in 1995. During

69-763: A Soviet Airborne Forces unit, the 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment , later redesignated the 50th military base after the Soviet collapse, and then the 10th Independent Peacekeeping Airborne Regiment. The unit was subordinated directly to the Russian General Staff (earlier it used to be under the HQ of the Russian Airborne Forces). In 1999, its equipment includes 142 AIFV/APC (among them - 62 BMD-1 and 11 BMD-2); and 11 self-propelled artillery systems 2S9 "Nona-S". The base has always been

92-426: A planned referendum to hold an early presidential election. [REDACTED] Abkhazia portal This article related to the politics of Abkhazia is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Vladislav Ardzinba Vladislav Ardzinba ( Abkhaz : Владислав Арӡынба , Georgian : ვლადისლავ არძინბა ; 14 May 1945 – 4 March 2010) was an Abkhaz historian and politician who served as

115-846: A significant factor in the Abkhaz conflict. The Georgian side and many Western independent observers claim the Gudauta base provided principal military support to Abkhaz rebels during the war in 1992–1993. In September 1995, Georgia had to legitimize Russian leases of three bases in the country and the Gudauta base among them. At a summit of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), in Istanbul in 1999, Russia agreed to shut down its base at Gudauta and to withdraw troops and equipment, pledging that henceforth it would be for

138-581: Is a town in Abkhazia , Georgia , and a centre of the eponymous district . It is situated on the Black Sea , 37 km northwest of Sukhumi , the capital of Abkhazia. It is the namesake for the Gudauta Bay . Gudauta used to be home to a Soviet Air Defence Forces base , Bombora airfield, where the 171st Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment flew Su-15TMs until 1982. The 171st Fighter Aviation Regiment

161-559: The May 2014 ouster of President Alexander Ankvab , Aruaa held an extraordinary congress on 19 June in which it supported the candidacy of Raul Khajimba and its Chairman Vitali Gabnia for the positions of respectively President and Vice President in the August election . On 12 December, Aruaa held a congress in which it welcomed the election victory of Khajimba and Gabnia and elected Ilia Gunia as its new Chairman. On 4 March 2016, Aruaa condemned

184-727: The Soviet Union in 1989. On 4 December 1990, Ardzinba was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Abkhazia. Ardzinba, who was a charismatic but excitable figure popular among the Abkhaz, was believed by Georgians to have helped to instigate the violence of July 1989 . Ardzinba managed to consolidate his power relatively quickly and reneged on pre-election promises to increase the representation of Georgians in Abkhazia's autonomous structures; since then, Ardzinba tried to rule Abkhazia relatively single-handedly, but avoided, for

207-598: The Georgian-Abkhaz tensions rose, Ardzinba's rhetoric mounted, as he claimed in late July 1992 that "Abkhazia is strong enough to fight Georgia." In August 1992, a Georgian military force ousted Ardzinba and his group from Sukhumi when Abkhazian militants seized government buildings. They took shelter in Gudauta , a home to the Soviet-era Russian military base. Ardzinba benefited from his contacts with

230-745: The Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow, and later Russian foreign and Prime Minister . He then returned to Sukhumi and he served there as the director of the Abkhazian Institute of Language, Literature and History from 1987 until 1989, when he was elected a Deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union from Gudauta . From there, he was involved closely with national issues, including Abkhazia, and quickly emerged as one of

253-671: The Russian hardliner circles and military leaders to garner critical support in the war against the Georgian government. After the hostilities ended in 1994 and the bulk of the Georgian population was forced out of Abkhazia, the Abkhazian parliament elected Ardzinba to the presidency, a move that was condemned by Georgia and the United Nations as illegal. He won the first direct polls on 3 October 1999, without an opponent and

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276-419: The end of his term, so no serious steps were taken to bring it about. He was unable to run for a third term due to constitutional restrictions, and it is unlikely that his health would have enabled him to do so even if this was allowed. He was replaced by Sergei Bagapsh , the winner of the presidential election of 12 January 2005 held one month after the contested 2004 election . By 2010, Ardzinba's health

299-473: The first de facto president of Abkhazia . Ardzinba led Abkhazia to de facto independence in the 1992–1993 War with Georgia , but its de jure independence from Georgia remained internationally unrecognised during Ardzinba's two terms as President from 1994 to 2005. His government orchestrated ethnic cleansing of Georgian civilians in Abkhazia in 1993. A noted specialist in Hittitology , he

322-467: The last years of his presidency Ardzinba faced criticism for both failing to bring stability to Abkhazia and his increasingly low public profile. He had not appeared in public since 2002. As a result, the role of governing the state had been increasingly left to Prime Minister Raul Khajimba . He had been in extremely poor health and underwent treatment in Moscow for some time. Despite increasing calls from

345-543: The most active proponents of the Abkhaz secessionist cause. While a deputy to the USSR Supreme Soviet, Ardzinba forged close ties with the hardliners in Moscow, particularly with the parliamentary chairman Anatoly Lukyanov and other members of the hardline communist groups in Moscow that were responsible for the August 1991 coup attempt. He was a member of the first parliament to be elected democratically in

368-726: The next congress of the organisation. On 10 July 2013, Aruaa signed a cooperation agreement with opposition parties United Abkhazia , Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia , the People's Party of Abkhazia and the Party for the Economic Development of Abkhazia , and with a number of other social movements. During its third congress on 30 July 2013, the movement elected Vitali Gabnia as its new Chairman, up until then Daur Achugba had been acting Chairman. Following

391-616: The opposition (particularly the Amtsakhara movement) for him to resign he had stated that he would finish his term, which was supposed to end in October 2004, but in fact did not end until 12 February 2005, due to disputes over the election of his successor. There were also calls for him to be impeached. However, although the Abkhaz Constitution allows for impeachment, the process would likely have not been completed before

414-706: The sole use of the CIS peacekeepers ("rehabilitation centre for peacekeeping troops"). However, Abkhaz authorities block OSCE inspection visits and no date is set for withdrawal from the base. Georgia still alleges that it is used to offer military support to the Abkhaz secessionists. After the Russo-Georgian War , Russia recognized Abkhazia and signed with its government the treaty allowing Russia to keep its military base in Gudauta and reinforce it with T-62 tanks, light armored vehicles, S-300 air defense systems and several aircraft. The Gudauta base remains one of

437-555: The time being, overt conflict with the central authorities in Tbilisi . In mid-1991, he negotiated and accepted the Georgian concession on the reform of the electoral law that granted the Abkhaz wide over-representation in the Supreme Soviet. However, Ardzinba created the Abkhazian National Guard that was mono-ethnically Abkhaz, and initiated a practice of replacing ethnic Georgians in leading positions with Abkhaz. As

460-781: Was a member of the first parliament to be elected democratically in the Soviet Union in 1989. Vladislav Ardzinba was born in the village of Lower Eshera , Sukhumi District , Abkhaz ASSR , Georgian SSR , Soviet Union . After graduating from the Historical Department of the Sukhumi Pedagogical Institute, Ardzinba studied at the Tbilisi State University where he received a doctoral degree . He then worked for eighteen years in Moscow specialising in ancient Middle Eastern civilizations under Yevgeniy Primakov , then head of

483-728: Was in decline and had been for some time. Ardzinba died on 4 March 2010, at the age of 64. He was in the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow at the time. He had been escorted there the previous week. The cause of death was not released to the public. He is survived by his wife and daughter. The President of Abkhazia, Sergei Bagapsh , paid tribute: "His service to the Abkhaz people was boundless". Three days of mourning were declared in Abkhazia in remembrance of Ardzinba. Gudauta Gudauta ( Georgian : გუდაუთა , [ɡudautʰa] ; Abkhaz : Гәдоуҭа , Gwdowtha ; Russian : Гудаута , Gudauta )

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506-473: Was re-elected as president of Abkhazia. He installed an autocratic regime and remained politically untouchable until his health seriously deteriorated in 2003. He once stated that independence from Georgia is not negotiable, and he has tried to align the state with Russia, whose political and economic support was essential to the republic. As a leader of the Abkhaz side he met the two successive Russian presidents , Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin , as well as

529-658: Was then transferred to Anadyr Ugolny Airport , Chukotia Autonomous Okrug. The 529th Fighter Aviation Regiment, flew Su-27 'Flankers' from the base in the last years of the Cold War . This regiment was under the command of the 19th Army of the Air Defence Forces . Gudauta was a center of Abkhaz separatist resistance to Georgian government forces during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in 1992–1993. Bombora airfield outside Gudauta later became home to

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