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135-539: It had a population of 26,636 in 1989, but this has fallen considerably due to the ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia and other demographic shifts during and after the War in Abkhazia (1992–93) . Gagra is the centre of the district of the same name . It is located in the western part of Region of Abkhazia, and river Psou serves as a border with Krasnodar Krai of Russia. According to some Georgian scholars, Gagra

270-677: A Blitzkrieg in Abkhazia ; But not everything is decided by tanks and Grads. The Abkhazians don't have any other land, and we have no way to go. But also the Georgians can live here no longer. In Abkhazia, they can only die. (Vitaliy Smyr, 1992) Below are a few examples taken from the Helsinki Human Rights Watch Reports, as well as documentation submitted for review to the United Nations and

405-715: A Roman client state for most of its history. In 337, King Mirian III adopted Christianity as the state religion of Iberia, beginning the Christianization of the Western Caucasus region and solidly anchoring it in Rome's sphere of influence by abandoning the ancient Georgian polytheistic religion heavily influenced by Zoroastrianism . However, the Peace of Acilisene in 384 formalized the Sasanian control over

540-533: A decree in 1919 establishing a "worker's resort" in Gagra, nationalising the resort that had been built by Oldenburg. It became a popular holiday resort for Soviet citizens and during World War II gained a new role as a site for the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers. After the war, various state-run sanatoriums were built there. The resort grew and was developed intensively as part of the "Soviet Riviera". A 1985 musical film Winter Evening in Gagra further popularized

675-599: A dominant regional group in ancient times. The name Sakartvelo ( საქართველო ) consists of two parts. Its root, kartvel-i ( ქართველ-ი ), specifies an inhabitant of the core central-eastern Georgian region of Kartli , or Iberia as it is known in sources of the Eastern Roman Empire . The official name of the country is Georgia per Article 2 of the Georgian Constitution . In Georgia's two official languages ( Georgian and Abkhaz ),

810-592: A legacy of great cathedrals, romantic poetry and literature, and the epic poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin , considered a national epic. David IV suppressed dissent of feudal lords and centralized power in his hands to effectively deal with foreign threats. In 1121, he decisively defeated much larger Turkish armies during the Battle of Didgori and abolished the Emirate of Tbilisi . The 29-year reign of Tamar,

945-734: A major centre for textile goods. Joseph Stalin , an ethnic Georgian, was prominent among the Bolsheviks, ultimately becoming the de facto leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death on 5 March 1953. Fellow Georgians such as Lavrentiy Beria and Vsevolod Merkulov likewise held powerful positions in the Soviet government. Stalin's Great Purge between 1936 and 1938 led to thousands of Georgian dissidents, intellectuals, and other presumed threats to Soviet authority being executed or sent to Gulag penal labor camps , severely truncating

1080-510: A member of the Russian royalty. He saw the potential of the region's sub-tropical climate and decided to build a high-class resort there. Having raised a large sum of money from the government, he built a palace there for himself and constructed a number of other buildings in an eclectic variety of architectural styles from around Europe. A park was laid out with tropical trees, and parrots and monkeys were imported to give it an exotic feel. Despite

1215-481: A national revival movement led by Ilia Chavchavadze . This period also brought social and economic change to Georgia, with new social classes emerging: the emancipation of the serfs freed many peasants but did little to alleviate their poverty; the growth of capitalism created an urban working class in Georgia. Both peasants and workers found expression for their discontent through revolts and strikes, culminating in

1350-523: A new government. On 9 April 1991, shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Supreme Council of Georgia declared independence  [ ka ] after a referendum held on 31 March. Georgia was the first non- Baltic republic of the Soviet Union to officially declare independence, with Romania becoming the first country to recognize Georgia in August 1991. On 26 May, Gamsakhurdia

1485-451: A personal union under the energetic king Heraclius II , who succeeded in stabilizing Eastern Georgia to a degree. In 1783, Russia and the eastern Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti signed the Treaty of Georgievsk , which made eastern Georgia a protectorate of Russia, guaranteed its territorial integrity and the continuation of its reigning Bagrationi dynasty in return for prerogatives in

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1620-534: A reign of terror against the majority Georgian population, although other nationalities also suffered. Chechens and other north Caucasians from the Russian Federation reportedly joined local Abkhaz troops in the commission of atrocities ... Those fleeing Abkhazia made highly credible claims of atrocities, including the killing of civilians without regard for age or sex. Corpses recovered from Abkhaz-held territory showed signs of extensive torture After

1755-449: A result of incessant Ottoman–Persian Wars and deportations, the population of Georgia dwindled to 784,700 inhabitants at the end of the 18th century. Eastern Georgia , composed of the regions of Kartli and Kakheti , had been under Iranian suzerainty since the Peace of Amasya signed with neighboring rivalling Ottoman Turkey ( Safavid Georgia ). With the death of Nader Shah in 1747, both kingdoms broke free and were reunified through

1890-799: A result. Despite the presence of Russian CIS peacekeeping forces, the massacres of ethnic Georgians were carried out between 1995 and 1996, which resulted in 450 deaths and thousands of IDPs fleeing eastwards. The legacy of ethnic cleansing in Abkhazia has been devastating for Georgian society. The war and the subsequent systematic ethnic cleansing produced about 200,000-250,000 IDPs , who fled to various Georgian regions, mostly in Samegrelo (Mingrelia) (112,208; UNHCR , June 2000). In Tbilisi and elsewhere in Georgia refugees occupied hundreds of hotels, dormitories and abandoned Soviet military barracks for temporary residency. Many of them had to leave for other countries, primarily to Russia, to search for work. In

2025-420: A third live in the capital and largest city , Tbilisi . Georgians , who are native to the region, constitute a majority of the country's population and are its titular nation . Georgia has been inhabited since prehistory , hosting the world's earliest known sites of winemaking , gold mining, and textiles. The classical era saw the emergence of several kingdoms, such as Colchis and Iberia , that formed

2160-419: A young Georgian boy (they killed him afterwards) to dig a hole with the tractor. They placed my husband in this hole and buried him alive. The only thing I remember him saying before he was covered with the gravel and sand was: 'Dali, take care of the kids!'" After the fall of Gagra, the victors began to pillage, rape, and torture, followed by summary executions of everyone who was captured and failed to flee

2295-577: Is a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and West Asia . It is part of the Caucasus region, bounded by the Black Sea to the west, Russia to the north and northeast, Turkey to the southwest, Armenia to the south, and Azerbaijan to the southeast. Georgia covers an area of 69,700 square kilometres (26,900 sq mi). It has a population of 3.7 million, of which over

2430-592: Is derived from Gakra meaning "walnut" in the Svan language . According to the Soviet writer Bondaryev, the name of the city originates from the local Gagaa clan. According to V. Kvarchija, Gagra (< *ga-kʼə-ra) means 'the holder of the coast' in Abkhaz (Gagra was mentioned as Kakara, Kakkari on old maps). The town was established as a Greek colony in the kingdom of Colchis , called Triglite ( Ancient Greek : Τριγλίτη ), inhabited by Greeks and Colchians. Colchis came under

2565-596: Is supported by the findings of Human Rights Watch. According to U.S. State Department Country Report on Conflict in Abkhazia (Georgia): The [Abkhaz] separatist forces committed widespread atrocities against the Georgian civilian population, killing many women, children, and elderly, capturing some as hostages and torturing others ... they also killed large numbers of Georgian civilians who remained behind in Abkhaz-seized territory ... The separatists launched

2700-630: The Umm Leisun inscription found in the Old City of Jerusalem . The medieval Georgian Chronicles present an eponymous ancestor of the Kartvelians, Kartlos , a great-grandson of Japheth who medieval chroniclers believed to have been the root of the local name of their kingdom. However, scholars agree that the word Kartli is derived from the Karts , a proto-Kartvelian tribe that emerged as

2835-790: The 6th millennium BC , especially in Western Georgia, while the Mtkvari basin became stably populated in the 5th millennium BC , as evidenced with the rise of various cultures closely associated with the Fertile Crescent , including the Trialetian Mesolithic , the Shulaveri–Shomu culture , and the Leyla-Tepe culture . Archaeological findings show that settlements in modern-day Georgia were responsible for

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2970-639: The Argonauts . Archaeological evidence points to a wealthy kingdom in Colchis as early as the 14th century BC and an extensive trade network with Greek colonies on the eastern Black Sea shore (such as Dioscurias and Phasis ), though, the entire region would be annexed first by Pontus and then by the Roman Republic in the first century BC. Eastern Georgia remained a decentralized mosaic of various clans (ruled by individual mamasakhlisi ) until

3105-610: The Budapest , Lisbon , and Istanbul summits, which condemned the "perpetrators of war crimes committed during the conflict." On 15 May 2008, the United Nations General Assembly adopted (by 14 votes to 11, with 105 abstentions) a resolution A/RES/62/249, which "Emphasizes the importance of preserving the property rights of refugees and internally displaced persons from Abkhazia, Georgia, including victims of reported "ethnic cleansing," and calls upon all

3240-681: The Caucasus and benefiting from the Black Sea ecosystem, the region seems to have served as a refugium throughout the Pleistocene , while the first continuous primitive settlements date back to the Middle Paleolithic , close to 200,000 years ago. During the Upper Paleolithic , settlements developed mostly in Western Georgia, in the valleys of the Rioni and Qvirila rivers. Signs of agriculture date back to at least

3375-667: The Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus (CMPC) militia, Abkhaz formations, and the Armenian Bagramyan battalion , allegedly transported by Russian naval forces to Tkvarcheli , began their offensive on the northern Sukhumi district. Georgian forces and local volunteer units (including Ukrainian nationalist organization members ( Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People's Self-Defence )) stationed in

3510-499: The Kingdom of Imereti sent ambassadors to the Russian royal court, with Russia returning the favor in 1651. In the presence of these ambassadors, Alexander III of Imereti swore an oath of allegiance to Tsar Alexis of Russia on behalf of Imereti. Subsequent rulers also sought assistance from Pope Innocent XII but without success. The rulers of regions that remained partly autonomous organized rebellions on various occasions. As

3645-811: The Mongols , the Ottoman Empire , and Persia , before being gradually annexed into the Russian Empire starting in 1801. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, Georgia briefly emerged as an independent republic under German protection , but was invaded and annexed by the Red Army in 1921, becoming one of the Republics of the Soviet Union . In the 1980s, an independence movement grew quickly, leading to Georgia's secession from

3780-725: The Mushki , Laz , and Byzeres . Some historians have suggested that the collapse of the Hittite world in the Late Bronze Age led to an expansion of the influence of these tribes to the Mediterranean Sea , notably with the Kingdom of Tabal . The classical period saw the rise of a number of Georgian states, including Colchis in western Georgia, where Greek mythology located the Golden Fleece sought after by

3915-574: The Revolution of 1905 . Their cause was championed by the socialist Mensheviks , who became the dominant political force in Georgia in the final years of Russian rule. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic was established with Nikolay Chkheidze acting as its president. The federation consisted of three nations: Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. As

4050-519: The Russo-Georgian War of 2008 and continued Russian occupation of parts of Georgia . Georgia is a representative democracy governed as a unitary parliamentary republic . It is a developing country with a very high Human Development Index and an emerging market economy . Sweeping economic reforms since 2003 have resulted in one of the freest business climates in the world, greater economic freedom and transparency , and among

4185-604: The Treaty of Moscow . But the recognition proved to be of little value, as the Red Army invaded Georgia in 1921 and formally annexed it into the Soviet Union in 1922. In February 1921, during the Russian Civil War , the Red Army advanced into Georgia and brought the local Bolsheviks to power. The Georgian army was defeated, and the Social Democratic government fled the country. On 25 February 1921 ,

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4320-665: The brutal suppression by Soviet forces of a large peaceful demonstration held in Tbilisi on 4–9 April 1989 proved to be a pivotal event in discrediting the continuation of Soviet rule over the country. In October 1990, the first multi-party elections were held in Soviet Georgia, which were the first multi-party elections in the entire Soviet Union, in which the opposition groups were registered as formal political parties. The Round Table—Free Georgia coalition led by Zviad Gamsakhurdia secured victory in this election and formed

4455-524: The de facto Abkhaz authorities "to refrain from adopting measures incompatible with the right to return and with international human rights standards, such as discriminatory legislation ... [and] to cooperate in the establishment of a permanent international human rights office in Gali and to admit United Nations civilian police without further delay." According to political scientist Bruno Coppieters, "Western governments took some diplomatic initiatives in

4590-576: The early Middle Ages . The Roman–Persian Wars plunged the region into chaos, with both Persia and Constantinople supporting various warring factions in the Caucasus ; however, the Byzantine Empire was able to establish control over Georgian territories by the end of the 6th century, ruling Iberia indirectly through a local Kouropalates . In 645, the Arabs invaded southeastern Georgia, starting an extended period of Muslim domination in

4725-871: The fastest rates of GDP growth . In 2018, Georgia became the second country in the world to legalize cannabis , and the first former socialist state to do so. Georgia is a member of numerous international organizations, including the Council of Europe , Eurocontrol , BSEC , GUAM , Energy Community . As part of the Association Trio , Georgia is a candidate for membership in the European Union . Ancient Greeks ( Strabo , Herodotus , Plutarch , Homer , etc.) and Romans ( Titus Livius , Tacitus , etc.) referred to early western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians ( Iberoi , Ἰβηροι in some Greek sources). The first mention of

4860-891: The genocide of Georgians in Abkhazia ( Georgian : ქართველთა გენოციდი აფხაზეთში ), refers to the ethnic cleansing , massacres, and forced mass expulsion of thousands of ethnic Georgians living in Abkhazia during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict of 1992–1993 and 1998 at the hands of Abkhaz separatists and their allies. Armenians , Greeks , Russians , and opposing Abkhazians were also killed. In 2007, 267,345 Georgian civilians were registered as internally displaced persons (IDPs). The ethnic cleansing and massacres of Georgians have been officially recognized by Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) conventions in 1994, 1996, and again in 1997 during

4995-589: The 11th century, the nascent Georgian kingdom experienced geopolitical and internal difficulties, with various noble factions opposed to the centralization of the Georgian state. They were often backed by the Byzantine Empire, which feared a dominion of the Caucasus region by the Bagrationi dynasty, and in some instances fueled internal conflict through aristocratic families seeking more power. However, ties between Byzantium and Georgia were normalized when

5130-530: The 1930s. The 1918 Georgian–Armenian War , which erupted over parts of disputed provinces between Armenia and Georgia populated mostly by Armenians, ended because of British intervention. In 1918–1919, Georgian general Giorgi Mazniashvili led an attack against the White Army led by Moiseev and Denikin to claim the Black Sea coastline from Tuapse to Sochi and Adler for independent Georgia. In 1920 Soviet Russia recognized Georgia's independence with

5265-575: The 4th century BC when it was conquered by Alexander the Great , eventually leading to the creation of the Kingdom of Iberia under the protectorate of the Seleucid Empire , an early example of advanced state organization under one king and an aristocratic hierarchy. Various wars with the Roman Empire , Parthia , and Armenia made Iberia regularly change its allegiance, though it remained

5400-405: The Abkhaz entered my house, they took me and my seven year old son outside. After forcing us to kneel, they took my son and shot him right in front of me. After they grabbed me by hair and took me to the nearby well. An Abkhaz soldier forced me to look down that well; there I saw three younger men and couple of elderly women who were standing soaked in water naked. They were screaming and crying while

5535-779: The Abkhaz side implemented a process of ethnic cleansing to expel and eliminate the ethnic Georgian population in Abkhazia. The exact number of those killed during the ethnic cleansing is disputed. According to Georgian data, 5,000 civilians were killed and 400 were missing. Roughly 200,000 to 250,000 ethnic Georgians were expelled from their homes. The campaign of ethnic cleansing also affected Russians, Armenians, Greeks, some Abkhaz, and other minor ethnic groups living in Abkhazia. More than 20,000 houses owned by ethnic Georgians were destroyed. Hundreds of schools, kindergartens, churches, hospitals, and historical monuments were pillaged and destroyed. The 1994 U.S. State Department Country Report describes scenes of massive human rights abuse, which

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5670-426: The Abkhaz were dumping dead corpses on them. Afterwards, they threw a grenade there and placed more people inside. I was forced again to kneel in front of the dead corpses. One of the soldiers took his knife and took the eye out from one of the dead near me. Then he started to rub my lips and face with that decapitated eye. I could not take it any longer and fainted. They left me there in a pile of corpses. According to

5805-666: The Bagrationi. Dynastic conflicts eventually weakened Abkhazia in the second half of the 10th century while in Tao-Klarjeti, Prince David III used his influence within Byzantine Anatolia to empower the Bagrationi. Bagrat III, heir of the Bagrationi dynasty, successively became King of Abkhazia (978), Prince of Tao-Klarjeti ( 1000 ), and King of the Iberians (1008), allowing him to unify most Georgian feudal states and be crowned in 1010 as King of Georgia . For much of

5940-460: The Brilliant (r. 1299–1302), known for reuniting eastern and western Georgia and restoring the country's previous strength and Christian culture. After his death, local rulers fought for their independence from central Georgian rule, until the total disintegration of the kingdom in the 15th century. Georgia was further weakened by several disastrous invasions by Timur . Invasions continued, giving

6075-717: The Caucasus, and extended over large parts of present-day Azerbaijan, Armenia, eastern Turkey, and northern Iran, and used the vacuum of power left by the Fourth Crusade to create the Empire of Trebizond as a Georgian vassal state. The revival of the Kingdom of Georgia was set back after Tbilisi was captured and destroyed by the Khwarezmian leader Jalal ad-Din in 1226, followed by devastating invasions by Mongol ruler Genghis Khan . The Mongols were expelled by George V

6210-440: The Chairman of the Supreme Council Zhiuli Shartava , the Mayor of Sukhumi Guram Gabiskiria , Mamia Alasania and other members of the Abkhaz government, including the members of Sukhumi police. Initially, they were promised safety, but eventually killed; Shartava was tortured before his death. A Georgian woman who survived the Sukhumi massacre recalls her ordeal in an interview with Russian film director Andrei Nekrasov : When

6345-681: The Cossack. He grabbed me and tried to rip off my clothes, after which I started to resist but they hit my head on the ground and started to beat me with AK47 butts. While hitting me all over my body, they yelled: We will kill you, but we will do so slowly. Then they took me to an Abkhaz school where they kept Georgian civilian prisoners. There were only Georgians there, women, children and men. There were some women who were pregnant, and children of different ages. The Battalion of Cossacks kept coming there regularly. They took young girls and children and raped them systematically. These were children aged 10, 12, 13, and 14. They especially targeted children. One of

6480-464: The Drama Theatre, and Yuriy Davitaya, the director of the Sukhumi park of culture and recreation. Also murdered were 200 teachers, including 60 women. Massive reprisals occurred in the neighbouring regions as well. In Khypsta/Akhalsopeli 17 Georgians were shot, the heart of a 70-year-old man was cut out, another man was hacked to death by an axe, and a 65-year-old was tied to a tractor, tortured, and then killed. Abkhaz nationals were also targeted during

6615-450: The Gagra events of 1992, the local inhabitants were driven to the city soccer stadium Akhaldaba. Men, women, and children were separated from each other. Within hours, the men were executed while women and teenagers were raped and later killed. According to witness accounts, Abkhaz separatists organized detention camps where teenage girls and women were kept for 25 days. During this period they were systematically raped and abused. Along with

6750-444: The Gali district in 1998. Nevertheless, between 40,000 and 60,000 refugees have returned to the Gali district since 1998, including persons commuting daily across the ceasefire line, as well as those migrating seasonally in accordance with agricultural cycles. The human rights situation remains precarious in Georgian-populated areas of the Gali district. The United Nations and other international organizations have been fruitlessly urging

6885-405: The Georgian royal Bagrationi dynasty , as well as the autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church . Pyotr Bagration , one of the descendants of the abolished house of Bagrationi, later joined the Russian army and became a prominent general in the Napoleonic wars. On 22 December 1800, Tsar Paul I of Russia , at the alleged request of the Georgian King George XII , signed the proclamation on

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7020-456: The Hague War Crimes Tribunal. On 3 September 1992, the Russian-mediated agreement was signed between Georgian and Abkhaz separatist sides, which obliged Georgia to withdraw its military forces from the city of Gagra . The agreement forced Abkhaz separatists from Gudauta to hold their attacks on the city. Soon after, the Georgian forces, which included Shavnabada , Avaza, and White Eagle battalions (along with their tanks and heavy artillery), left

7155-432: The Iberians in 888 , restoring the monarchy abolished three centuries prior. In Western Georgia, the Kingdom of Abkhazia benefited from the weakening of Byzantium in the region to unify various tribes and become one of the most powerful states of the Caucasus in the 8th century. In the 9th-10th centuries, Abkhazia grew its influence through several military campaigns and came to control much of Iberia and competing with

7290-426: The Member States to deter persons under their jurisdiction from obtaining property within the territory of Abkhazia, Georgia in violation of the rights of returnees." The UN Security Council passed a series of resolutions in which it appealed for a cease-fire. Prior to the 1992 War , Georgians made up nearly half of Abkhazia's population, while less than one-fifth of the population was Abkhaz . In contrast, in 1926,

7425-421: The Ottomans advanced into the Caucasian territories of the crumbling Russian Empire, Georgia declared independence on 26 May 1918. The Menshevik Social Democratic Party of Georgia won the parliamentary election and its leader, Noe Zhordania , became prime minister. Despite the Soviet takeover, Zhordania was recognized as the legitimate head of the Georgian Government by France, UK, Belgium, and Poland through

7560-422: The Red Army entered Tbilisi and established a government of workers' and peasants' soviets with Filipp Makharadze as acting head of state. Georgia was incorporated into what would soon become the Soviet Union . Soviet rule was firmly established only after local insurrections were defeated. Georgia would remain an unindustrialized periphery of the USSR until the first five-year plan (1928–1932), when it became

7695-422: The Russian population had sextupled. The ethnic conflict in Abkhazia largely began in July 1989 with the Sukhumi riots . In order to defuse tensions, Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia agreed on an arrangement to grant a wide over-representation to Abkhazians in the local Supreme Council , with Abkhazians, while being only 18% of the population, getting the largest portion of seats. A two-thirds majority

7830-494: The Soviet Union in April 1991. For much of the subsequent decade , the country endured economic crises, political instability , and secessionist wars in Abkhazia and South Ossetia . Following the peaceful Rose Revolution in 2003, Georgia strongly pursued a pro-Western foreign policy, introducing a series of democratic and economic reforms aimed at integration into the European Union and NATO . This Western orientation led to worsening relations with Russia , culminating in

7965-408: The Soviet Union, contributing to the nation's consolidation. 1978 Georgian demonstrations saw the return of mass anti-Soviet protests, but this time government backed down. Throughout the remainder of the Soviet period, Georgia's economy continued to grow and experience significant improvement, though it increasingly exhibited blatant corruption and alienation of the government from the people. With

8100-442: The Sukhumi massacres. Anyone who had tried to hide a Georgian refugee or helped in any way was condemned and killed. "Temur Kutarba, an Abhazian, was killed by an Adighe Soldier in front of his children, for not being active in killing Georgians. V. Vadakaria, 23 and his Abhazian friend, who tried to defend him, both were killed." Approximately 400 Georgian families were killed during the Abkhaz offensive on Ochamchire . Similar to

8235-412: The United Nations and made up an appeal to Moscow to halt an active involvement of its military forces in the conflict. UN Security Council passed series of resolutions in which it appeals for a cease-fire and condemned the Abkhazian policy of ethnic-cleansing." Georgia (country) Georgia ( Georgian : საქართველო , romanized : sakartvelo , IPA: [sakʰartʰʷelo] )

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8370-511: The agreement to hold their offensive and heavy bombardment of the city. In return, the Georgian side was reassured by Russia that Sukhumi would not be attacked or bombed if the Georgian army completed its withdrawal. The Georgian troops and tanks were evacuated by Russian military ships to the city of Poti. Sukhumi was left without any significant military defense. Many civilians stayed in Sukhumi, and all schools were re-opened on September 1. Many IDPs returned to their homes, and normal life resumed in

8505-444: The anti-Georgian coalition forces were increasing using in their war had been captured from the enemy." The anti-Georgian military coalition was made up of the North Caucasian Group called "The Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus ", Shamil Basaev 's "Grey Wolf" Chechen division, the Armenian Bagramian Battalion , Cossacks, militants from Transnistria , and various Russian special units. Musa Shanibov , one of

8640-427: The atrocities being committed against civilians, more than 50 Georgian prisoners of war were executed. The mass killing of civilians also occurred in other parts of the Ochamchire district, mainly in Kochara (heavily populated by ethnic Georgians – 5340 persons according to pre-war estimates). Approximately 235 civilians were killed and 1000 houses were destroyed. The former resident of Ochamchire, Leila Goletiani, who

8775-434: The beginning of perestroika in 1986, the Georgian Soviet leadership proved so incapable of handling the changes that most Georgians, including rank and file communists, concluded that the only way forward was a break from the existing Soviet system. Starting in 1988, mass protests erupted in Georgia in favor of independence, led by Georgian nationalists such as Merab Kostava and Zviad Gamsakhurdia . The following year,

8910-538: The blind man, his brother and his wife with a gun butt, calling him "dog!" and kicking him. He fell over. I saw blood. One soldier said: "We won't kill you, but where are the young girls?" I said there weren't any." "My husband Sergo was dragged and tied to a tree. An Abkhaz woman named Zoya Tsvizba brought a tray with lots of salt on it. She took the knife and started to inflict wounds on my husband. After that, she threw salt onto my husband's exposed wounds. They tortured him like that for ten minutes. Afterwards, they forced

9045-420: The centre of the fighting and suffered heavy damage. To this date ethnic Georgians have an IDP status and have not been able to return to their homes. The chief landmarks of Gagra are: 43°20′N 40°13′E  /  43.333°N 40.217°E  / 43.333; 40.217 Ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia The ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia , also known in Georgia as

9180-413: The church of St George in the center of the village. The local villagers (including women and children) were massacred, while the church of St George became the scene of a blood bath. The nuns were raped and killed before the Orthodox priests, father Yuri Anua and father Andria. Both priests were taken outside of the church and questioned about the land ownership in Abkhazia. After answering that Abkhazia

9315-440: The city in time. At 5:00 pm on October 1, approximately 1000–1500 civilians were rounded up and placed under guard at the soccer stadium in downtown Gagra. On October 6, close to 50 civilians were found hanging on electricity poles. Soon after, children, elderly, women, and men who were detained at the soccer stadium were gunned down and dumped in mass graves not far from the stadium. A Russian military observer Mikhail Demianov (who

9450-434: The city of Gudauta . The ethnically based policies initiated by the Georgians in Sukhumi simultaneously created refugees and a core of fighters determined to regain lost homes. However, as the war progressed, the Abkhaz separatists carried out similar policies of violent displacement of ethnic Georgians in greater proportions, which saw 250,000 people forcefully evicted from their homes. Using aid allegedly provided by Russia,

9585-421: The city suburbs (Leselidze and Kolkhida) and were destroyed in the city center by the end of October 1. With the fall of Gagra, the Georgian population was captured by the separatists and their allies. The first significant massacres and ethnic cleansings were committed during the fall of Gagra. People of all ages were rounded up from Gagra, Leselidze, and Kolkhida and killed. When the separatist militants entered

9720-549: The city with only rifles and AK-47s were left without any defense from artillery or mechanized units. The union of theater actors of Sukhumi joined the fighting, along with other civilians. The city was mercilessly bombed by Russian air forces and separatist artillery. On September 27, the city fell when Abkhaz, CMPC, and Russian units stormed the House of the Government of Abkhazia. One of the most horrific massacres of this war

9855-473: The city, civilians became a target of mass murder. The main targets were young people and children. According to the witness account: Women and young girls captured by the militants became the victims of rape and torture. One elderly Georgian woman who lived through the October attack in Gagra recounted the following: "They brought over a blind man and his brother, who always stayed with him. They began to beat

9990-448: The city. According to Shevardnadze, he trusted Yeltsin and the Russian guarantees and, therefore, asked the population to return. However, the Abkhaz separatists, North Caucasian Volunteers, Cossacks, and Russian special forces attacked Sukhumi on September 16 at 8 a.m. The attack marked the beginning of 12 days of non-stop fighting around the besieged Sukhumi, with intensive fighting and human loss from both sides. Georgians who stayed in

10125-478: The city. Only small pockets of armed groups (made up of volunteer units of the ethnic Georgians of Gagra) remained. However, on October 1, the Abkhaz side violated the agreement and launched a full-scale attack on Gagra. The attack was well coordinated and mainly carried out by the Chechen (under the command of Shamil Basaev ) and North Caucasian militants. Meantime in Gagra, small Georgian detachments lost control of

10260-637: The conduct of Georgian foreign affairs. Despite its commitment to defend Georgia, Russia rendered no assistance when the Iranians invaded in 1795, capturing and sacking Tbilisi and massacring its inhabitants. Although Russia initiated a punitive campaign against Persia in 1796, the Russian Imperial authorities subsequently violated key promises of the Georgievsk Treaty and in 1801 proceeded to annex eastern Georgia, while abolishing

10395-478: The consent of Georgian deputies. After this, on 30 June, Georgian deputies of the Supreme Soviet organized a walk-out and began boycotting the Soviet. The political situation in Abkhazia changed into a military confrontation between the Georgian government and Abkhaz separatists. The fighting escalated as Georgian Interior and Defence Ministry forces , along with police units, took Sukhumi and came near

10530-507: The control of the kingdom of Pontus in the 1st century BC before being absorbed by the Roman Empire , which renamed the town as Nitica . Its geographical position led the Romans to fortify the town, which was repeatedly attacked by Goths and other invaders. The town and the whole region of Colchis remained part of Byzantine Empire . It became a major trading settlement in which Genoese and Venetian merchants were prominent, trading in

10665-446: The core central Georgian region of Kartli , recorded from the 9th century, and in extended usage referring to the entire medieval Kingdom of Georgia prior to the 13th century. The Georgian circumfix sa -X- o is a standard geographic construction designating 'the area where X dwell', where X is an ethnonym . The self-designation used by ethnic Georgians is Kartvelebi ( ქართველები , i.e. 'Kartvelians'), first attested in

10800-642: The country is named საქართველო ( Sakartvelo ) and Қырҭтәыла ( Kərttʷʼəla ) respectively. Prior to the adoption of the Constitution in 1995 and following the dissolution of the USSR , the country was commonly called the "Republic of Georgia" and occasionally it still is. Several languages continue to use the Russian variant of the country's name, Gruzia , which the Georgian authorities have sought to replace through diplomatic campaigns. Since 2006, Israel, Japan, and South Korea legally changed their appellation of

10935-599: The country to variants of the English Georgia . In 2020, Lithuania became the first country in the world to adopt Sakartvelas in all official communications. The oldest traces of archaic humans in what is now Georgia date from approximately 1.8 million years ago in the form of the Dmanisi hominins , a subspecies of Homo erectus representing the oldest-known fossils of hominins in Eurasia . Buffered by

11070-426: The early 1990s, refugees living in Georgia resisted assimilation into Georgian society. Georgia's government did not encourage the assimilation of the refugees, fearing that it would "lose one of the arguments for retaining hegemony over Abkhazia". Some 60,000 Georgian refugees spontaneously returned to Abkhazia's Gali district between 1994 and 1998, but tens of thousands were displaced again when fighting resumed in

11205-437: The elderly Georgian refugee who survived the war: ... They captured a young girl. She was hiding in the bushes near the house where they killed her parents. She was raped several times. One of the soldiers killed her and mutilated her. She was cut in half. Near her body they left a message: as this corpse will never be as one piece, Abkhazia and Georgia will never be united either. The separatists and their allies captured

11340-481: The empire. The principality of Guria was abolished and incorporated into the Empire in 1829, while Svaneti was gradually annexed in 1858. Mingrelia , although a Russian protectorate since 1803, was not absorbed until 1867. Russian rule offered the Georgians security from external threats, but it was also often heavy-handed and insensitive. By the late 19th century, discontent with the Russian authorities grew into

11475-576: The end of the war, the government of Georgia , the United Nations , the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and the refugees began to investigate and gather facts about the allegations of genocide , ethnic cleansing , and deportation conducted by the Abkhaz side during the conflict. In 1994 and again in 1996, the OSCE, during its Budapest summit, officially recognized

11610-594: The entire Caucasus, though Christian rulers of Iberia sought to rebel at times, leading to devastating wars in the 5–6th centuries, most famously under the rule of King Vakhtang Gorgasali who expanded Iberia to its largest historical extent by capturing all of western Georgia and building a new capital in Tbilisi . In 580, the Sasanian Empire abolished the Kingdom of Iberia, leading to the disintegration of its constituent territories into various feudal regions by

11745-464: The ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia and condemned the "perpetrators of war crimes committed during the conflict." According to Catherine Dale from United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees : In a former tourist camp in Kutaisi, a large gathering of displaced people tell of the "common practice" called the " Italian necktie ", in which the tongue is cut out of the throat and tied around

11880-491: The expensive work, the resort was not initially a success, although it did later attract a growing number of foreign tourists visiting on cruises of the Black Sea. Following the founding of the resort, the area was ceded from Sukhum Okrug to Black Sea Governorate in 1904. In the Russian Revolution of 1905 , a local uprising produced a revolutionary government in the town, which founded a short-lived Republic of Gagra. This

12015-467: The fall of Gagra. The Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of Abkhazia, Mikhail Jinjaradze, was dragged out of his office and executed. After the failed attempt of the separatist forces and their allies to storm Sukhumi on March 14, 1993, they diverted their main forces to the northern side of the front line, which divided Georgian-held Sukhumi and separatist-controlled territories. On July 4,

12150-405: The findings of a Georgian committee, the massacres continued for about two weeks after the fall of Sukhumi; Georgians who had failed to flee the city were hiding in abandoned apartment buildings and house basements; neither combatants nor civilians nor medical personnel (most of them female) was spared. Upon discovery by the militants, they were killed on the spot. One of the most brutal massacres of

12285-494: The first female ruler of Georgia, is considered the most successful in Georgian history. Tamar was given the title "king of kings" and succeeded in neutralizing her opposition, while embarking on an energetic foreign policy aided by the downfall of the rival powers of the Seljuks and Byzantium. Supported by a powerful military élite, Tamar was able to build on the successes of her predecessors to consolidate an empire that dominated

12420-464: The first use of fibers, possibly for clothing, more than 34,000 years ago, the first cases of viticulture ( 7th millennium BC ), and the first signs of gold mining ( 3rd millennium BC ). The Kura-Araxes , Trialeti , and Colchian cultures coincided with the development of proto-Kartvelian tribes that may have come from Anatolia during the expansion of the Hittite Empire , including

12555-403: The girls there was 8 years old. She was taken by different groups of these Cossacks and was raped numerous times. I don't know how she managed to survive after so many rapes but I don't want to mention her name in order to protect her identity. They also took women but later they started to take elderly women. They raped these elderly women in the way which I don't want to go into detail ... it

12690-537: The incorporation of Georgia (Kartli-Kakheti) within the Russian Empire, which was finalized by a decree on 8 January 1801, and confirmed by Tsar Alexander I on 12 September 1801. The Bagrationi royal family was deported from the kingdom. The Georgian envoy in Saint Petersburg reacted with a note of protest that was presented to the Russian vice-chancellor, Prince Kurakin. In May 1801, under

12825-588: The kingdom no time for restoration, with both Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu Turkomans constantly raiding its southern provinces. The Kingdom of Georgia collapsed into anarchy by 1466 and fragmented into three independent kingdoms and five semi-independent principalities . Neighboring large empires subsequently exploited the internal division of the weakened country, and beginning in the 16th century, various Ottoman and Iranian forces subjugated western and eastern regions of Georgia, respectively. This pushed local Georgian rulers to seek closer ties with Russia. In 1649,

12960-525: The land'). These centuries-old explanations for the word Georgia / Georgians are now mostly rejected by the scholarly community, who point to the Persian word gurğ / gurğān ( گرگ , ' wolf ' ) as the likely root of the word. Under this hypothesis, the same Persian root was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages. The native name is Sakartvelo ( საქართველო ; 'land of Kartvelians '), derived from

13095-446: The large ethnic Georgian presence within the borders of Abkhazia, continued their policy of ethnic cleansing and forced expulsion of ethnic Georgians. United Nations observers witnessed the events of 1994 as they unfolded. Between February 8 and 13, the Abkhaz separatist militia and their allies attacked the villages and populated areas of the Gali region, killing, raping, and destroying houses. Approximately 4,200 houses were destroyed as

13230-540: The leaders of the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus, said during his speech to the militants from said organization in 1992: Our enemy must see how we're uniting and gaining strength. We need to thoroughly consider our operations and evaluate small, yet important facts. We need to act professionally. We need to quickly learn how to kill, hack, cut off noses, etc. Confronted with hundreds of thousands of ethnic Georgians unwilling to leave their homes,

13365-410: The local population fleeing into the mountains. By the 18th century, the town had been reduced to little more than a village surrounded by forests and disease-ridden swamps. Its fortunes were restored in the 19th century when the Russian Empire expanded into the region, annexing the whole of Georgia. The swamps were drained and the town was rebuilt around a new military hospital. Its population, however,

13500-467: The majority Georgian populations, erupted into widespread inter-ethnic violence and wars. Supported by Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia achieved de facto independence from Georgia, with Georgia retaining control only in small areas of the disputed territories. Eduard Shevardnadze (Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1985 to 1991) was named as the head of Georgia's new government in March 1992 and

13635-580: The name Georgia is in Italian on the mappa mundi of Pietro Vesconte dated 1320. At the early stage of its appearance in the Latin world, the name was often spelled Jorgia . Lore-based theories were given by traveler Jacques de Vitry , who explained the name's origin by the popularity of St. George among Georgians, while Jean Chardin thought that Georgia came from the Greek γεωργός ('tiller of

13770-715: The nation's cultural and intellectual life. During World War II , Germany led an Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 with the aim of conquering all territory up to the Ural Mountains . As the initial operation stalled, the Axis launched the Fall Blau offensive in 1942 to take control of strategic Caucasian oil fields and munitions factories; ultimately, Axis troops were stopped before reaching Georgian borders. Over 700,000 Georgians—constituting about 20 percent of

13905-477: The neck. A woman tells of a man being forced to rape his teenage daughter, and of Abkhaz soldiers having sex with dead bodies. A man tells how in Gudauta, Abkhaz killed small children and then cut off their heads to play football with them. These themes are repeated in many separate accounts. The Human Rights Watch report drafted in 1995 included a detailed account of the war crimes and atrocities committed during

14040-498: The nucleus of the modern Georgian state. In the early fourth century, Georgians officially adopted Christianity , which contributed to the unification into the Kingdom of Georgia . Georgia reached its Golden Age during the High Middle Ages under the reigns of King David IV and Queen Tamar . Beginning in the 15th century, the kingdom declined and disintegrated under pressure from various regional powers, including

14175-546: The oversight of General Carl Heinrich von Knorring, Imperial Russia transferred power in eastern Georgia to the government headed by General Ivan Petrovich Lazarev . The Georgian nobility did not accept the decree until 12 April 1802, when Knorring assembled the nobility at the Sioni Cathedral and forced them to take an oath on the Imperial Crown of Russia . Those who disagreed were temporarily arrested. In

14310-418: The population—fought in the Red Army to repel the invaders and advance towards Berlin; an estimated 350,000 were killed. After Stalin's death , Nikita Khrushchev became the leader of the Soviet Union and implemented a policy of de-Stalinization . Khrushchev's purges were met with riots in Tbilisi that had to be dispersed by military force. This violent turn of events that compromised Georgian loyalty to

14445-589: The region; this also led to the establishment of several feudal states seeking independence from each other, such as the Emirate of Tbilisi and the Principality of Kakheti . Western Georgia remained mostly a Byzantine protectorate, especially following the Lazic War . The lack of a central government in Georgia allowed the rise of the Bagrationi dynasty in the early 9th century. Consolidating lands in

14580-483: The reigns of David IV (r. 1089–1125) and his great-granddaughter Tamar (r. 1184–1213) has been widely termed as the Georgian Golden Age . This early Georgian renaissance, which preceded its Western European analog, was characterized by impressive military victories, territorial expansion, and a cultural renaissance in architecture, literature, philosophy and the sciences. The Golden Age of Georgia left

14715-530: The residential areas of Sukhumi and villages on Gumista River. The Russian journalist Dmitry Kholodov remained in Sukhumi before it fell to separatists and wrote a couple of reports from the besieged city, The shelling of Sokhumi is the most disgusting thing in this war ... All the residents of Sokhumi remember the first shelling. It took place on 2 December 1992. The first rocket fell on Peace Street. They struck at crowded places. The next strategic 'target'

14850-478: The resort. In the late 1980s, tensions grew between the Georgian and Abkhazian communities in the region. An all-out war erupted between 1992 and 1993 which ended in a defeat of the Georgian government's forces. Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Georgians were expelled from their homes in Abkhazia and thousands were massacred in an outbreak of mass ethnic cleansing . Gagra and the Abkhazian capital Sukhumi were at

14985-423: The separatists managed to re-arm and organize militants from North Caucasus. According to political analyst Georgy Mirsky, the Russian military base in Gudauta was, "supplying the Abkhazian side with weapons and ammunition." Furthermore, he adds that "no direct proof of this has ever been offered, but it would be more naïve to believe that the tanks, rockets, howitzers, pieces of ordnance, and other heavy weapons that

15120-486: The southwestern region of Tao-Klarjeti , Prince Ashot I (813–830) used infighting between Arab governors to expand his influence to Iberia and was recognized as Presiding Prince of Iberia by both the Abbasid Caliphate and the Byzantine Empire. Though Ashot's descendants formed competing princely lines, Adarnase IV managed to unify most Georgian lands (except for Kakheti and Abkhazia) and was crowned King of

15255-608: The summer of 1805, Russian troops on the Askerani River near Zagam defeated the Iranian army during the 1804–13 Russo-Persian War and saved Tbilisi from reconquest now that it was officially part of the Imperial territories. Russian suzerainty over eastern Georgia was officially finalized with Iran in 1813 following the Treaty of Gulistan . Following the annexation of eastern Georgia, the western Georgian kingdom of Imereti

15390-581: The time being, overt conflict with the central authorities in Tbilisi . 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. On 24 June 1992, the Abkhaz armed formations attacked the building of Abkhazian Ministry of Internal Affairs, beat up and forcibly removed ethnic Georgian minister Givi Lominadze from office, replacing him with ethnic Abkhaz Alexander Ankvab , without

15525-620: The town's main exports – wood, honey, wax and slaves. The name "Gagra" appeared for the first time on a map in 1308, on a map of the Caucasus made by the Italian Pietro Visconti, which is now in the Library of Saint Mark in Venice. In the 16th century, Gagra and the rest of western Georgia were conquered by the Ottoman Empire . The western merchants were expelled and the town entered a prolonged period of decline, with much of

15660-425: The two countries faced a new common enemy, the rising Seljuk Empire in the 1060s. Following the decisive Byzantine defeat at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, Constantinople started to retreat from eastern Anatolia and entrusted Georgia with its administration, placing Georgia at the forefront of Turkish in the 1080s. The Kingdom of Georgia reached its zenith in the 12th to early 13th centuries. This period during

15795-471: The two populations had been nearly balanced at around one-third each, with Russians, Armenians, and Greeks constituting the remainder. Large-scale immigration of Georgians, Russians, and Armenians allowed their respective populations to balloon; while the Abkhaz population had not even doubled by 1989, the Georgian population had nearly quadrupled from 67,494 to 239,872, the Armenian population had tripled, and

15930-404: The villages of Shroma , Tamishi , and Kamani were taken by surprise. On July 5, after intensive fighting, the Georgians lost as many as 500 people in a couple of hours. The village of Kamani fell into the hands of separatist formations and their North Caucasian allies. Kamani was populated mainly by Svans (a sub-ethnic group of the Georgian people) and Orthodox nuns who had been living in

16065-467: The war occurred during this period. Video materials show a 5-year-old child being brutally killed by an Abkhaz militant in front of his mother on the streets of Sukhumi. Over 100 Georgian people working in the cultural field were killed, among them women. Among others were Nato Milorava, the artistic director of the Gumista recreation centre, Vasily Cheidze, Teymuraz Zhvaniya, and Guram Gelovani, actors of

16200-408: The war. It concludes that "Human Rights Watch finds Abkhaz forces responsible for the foreseeable wave of revenge, human rights abuse, and war crimes that were unleashed on the Georgian population in Sukhumi and other parts of Abkhazia. In Human Rights Watch's judgment, these practices were indeed encouraged in order to drive the Georgian population from its homes." The Georgian command wanted to make

16335-400: The whole day I only could hear the screams and cries of the people who were brutally tortured. On the next day, I witnessed the mass execution of people on the stadium. They installed machine guns and mortars on the top and placed people right on the field. It took a couple of hours to kill everybody UN observers started to investigate and gather all the facts concerning the war crimes during

16470-408: Was accused by the Georgian side of being the military advisor to the separatist leader Ardzinba) told Human Rights Watch: When they [Abkhaz] entered Gagra, I saw Shamyl Basaev's battalion. I have never seen such a horror. They were raping and killing everyone who was captured and dragged from their homes. The Abkhaz commander Arshba raped a 14-year-old girl and later gave an order to execute her. For

16605-449: Was annexed by Tsar Alexander I. The last Imeretian king and the last Georgian Bagrationi ruler, Solomon II , died in exile in 1815, after attempts to rally people against Russia and to enlist foreign support against the latter, had been in vain. From 1803 to 1878, as a result of numerous Russian wars now against Ottoman Turkey , several of Georgia's previously lost territories – such as Adjara – were recovered, and also incorporated into

16740-537: Was deposed by the Rose Revolution , after Georgian opposition and international monitors asserted that 2 November parliamentary elections were marred by fraud. The revolution was led by Mikheil Saakashvili , Zurab Zhvania and Nino Burjanadze , former members and leaders of Shevardnadze's ruling party. Mikheil Saakashvili was elected as President of Georgia in 2004. Following the Rose Revolution,

16875-486: 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

17010-492: Was elected as head of state in that year's elections , later as president in 1995 . During the War in Abkhazia (1992–1993) , roughly 230,000 to 250,000 Georgians were expelled from Abkhazia by Abkhaz separatists and North Caucasian militants (including Chechens). Around 23,000 Georgians fled South Ossetia. By 1994, Georgia was facing a severe economic crisis, with bread rations and shortages of electricity, water and heat. In 2003, Shevardnadze (who won re-election in 2000)

17145-602: Was elected president in the first presidential election with 86.5% of the vote on a turnout of over 83%. Gamsakhurdia was soon deposed in a bloody coup d'état , from 22 December 1991 to 6 January 1992. The coup was instigated by part of the National Guard and a paramilitary organization called " Mkhedrioni " ("horsemen"). The country then became embroiled in a bitter civil war , which lasted until December 1993. Simmering disputes within two regions of Georgia; Abkhazia and South Ossetia , between local separatists and

17280-399: Was horrific. After the fall of Sukhumi, the only region in Abkhazia which maintained its large ethnic Georgian population was Gali . The ethnic composition of Gali differed from that of the rest of Abkhazia. The region was mainly populated by ethnic Georgians and had never experienced military activity during the war. At the beginning of 1994, Abkhaz separatists, confronted by the reality of

17415-402: Was neither Georgian nor Abkhaz land but God's, they were shot by a confederate soldier. Another priest, an ethnic Abkhaz who was forced to shoot father Andria, was killed. Approximately 120 inhabitants of the village were massacred. Thomas Goltz , a war correspondent who visited Abkhazia during the war, recalls that Russian MIG-29s dropped 500 kilograms of vacuum bombs which mainly targeted

17550-587: Was soon defeated and the revolutionaries were arrested en masse . The First World War a few years later was a disaster for Gagra, destroying the tourist trade on which it depended. The Russian Revolution shortly afterwards saw the Bolsheviks take over the town; despite a brief French attempt to repel them during the Russian Civil War , the town was firmly incorporated into the new Soviet Union within Georgian SSR. Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin issued

17685-483: Was still small; in 1866, a census recorded that 336 men and 280 women, mostly local families or army officers and their dependents, lived in Gagra. The town suffered badly in the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878 , when Turkish troops invaded, destroyed the town and expelled the local population. Russia won the war, however, and rebuilt Gagra again. In 1904 the town was discovered by Duke Alexander of Oldenburg ,

17820-477: Was taken prisoner by Abkhaz separatists, gave the following account of her captivity to Andrei Nekrasov: I lived in Abkhazia 15 years ago, in the small town of Akhaldaba, Ochamchire district. Abkhaz attacked our village on September 16th, 1993. It was impossible to hide anywhere from the bullets which rained down on us ... The Russian Cossacks approached me and started to beat me. One of these Russian Cossacks approached me and asked me if I have ever had sex with

17955-538: Was the town market which was hit with great precision. Eighteen people were killed that day. There were always lots of people in the market. On July 27, 1993, a Russian-brokered trilateral agreement on a ceasefire and principles for resolving the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict was signed. Once again the Georgian military started to withdraw all of its heavy artillery, tanks, and many of its troops from Sukhumi. The Abkhaz separatists and their allies were bound by

18090-550: Was to be required to pass "important legislation" to ensure that key decisions would not be taken without approval from both Abkhaz and Georgian deputies and each side would hold veto power in principle. The elections to the Abkhazian Supreme Soviet were held in September and October 1991. However, the power-sharing agreement soon proved to be unsustainable and broke down. Ethnic Abkhaz Vladislav Ardzinba

18225-462: Was waged on the civilian population of Sukhumi after its downfall. During the storming of the city, close to 1,000 people perished as Abkhaz formations overran the streets of the city. The civilians trapped in the city were taken from their houses, basements, and apartment buildings. In Tamaz Nadareishvili's book Genocide in Abkhazia , the eyewitness interviews of the IDPs include the following account by

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