This dyad belongs to the conflict Georgia: Government
Summary of conflict Georgia: Government
The dissolution of the Soviet Union gave rise to a struggle over government power in Georgia. Zviad Gamskhurdia won the first presidential elections. However, he was overthrown by an anti-government coalition dominated by the Mkhedrioni (Horsemen) and the National Guard in December 1991. Fighting between the Zviadists, the pro-Gamsakhurdia forces that fought for his return to power, and the new Georgian government ended after Gamsakhurdia’s death in 1993.
1991 The anti-government alliance topples Gamsakhurdia
Through the late 1980s, nationalist movements grew stronger in Soviet Georgia, and as nationalist passions intensified, politicians like Zviad Gamsakhurdia gained popularity through his anti-communist rhetoric and nationalist slogans. In 1990, Gamsakhurdia's pro-independence Round Table/Free Georgia coalition won over the communist alternatives in Georgia's first multi-party elections. On 9 April 1991, Georgia voted for independence from the Soviet Union, and following that development, Gamsakhurdia was elected president, gaining the vast majority of the votes.
Criticism towards Gamsakhurdia increased after the election, and anti-Gamsakhurdia movements accused the president of authoritarian rule and suppressing ethnic minorities. Tensions in the country intensified after the August coup attempt against the President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, which further destabilized the Soviet central government. The coup attempt in Moscow was followed by a series of demonstrations in Georgia, several of which ended in violence. On 11 September, nearly 30 opposition groups united and demanded President Gamsakhurdia's resignation. In the next few days, some of the opposition leaders were arrested for participating in protests against the president.
After nearly three-week-long demonstrations, the opposition staged a hunger strike outside the parliament on 21 September. Violent protests and an armed confrontation between rival factions for and against Gamsakhurdia caused the Georgian capital Tbilisi to split into two armed camps. Members of the anti-government alliance, which was made up mainly by the Mkhedrioni and a faction of the National Guard, seized a television station. Gamsakhurdia agreed to meet an opposition representative to talk about the hostilities on 22 September. However, the talks ended when a gun battle between opposition guardsmen and police loyal to Gamsakhurdia took place a few days later and left several people dead. A state of emergency was declared in Tbilisi by President Gamsakhurdia on 24 September, and a couple of unstable months followed.
The situation in Tbilisi escalated in December 1991. On 22 December, armed men from the anti-government alliance surrounded the presidential residency, forcing President Gamsakhurdia to seek refuge in the basement of the building. At least 50 people were killed in the days after Georgia formally gained its independence on 21 December, despite an attempt to agree upon a ceasefire on the 28 and 29 December.
On 2 January 1992, the opposition formed a military council, which later became the State Council led by former Soviet Minister Eduard Shevardnadze who returned to his homeland Georgia to become its new president. A few days later, President Gamsakhurdia was declared deposed as he fled to Armenia.
1992-1993 The Zviadists’ fight for Gamsakhurdia’s return
On 8 January 1992, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, in exile, stated that he was still the president of Georgia, and it did not take long before he mobilized his supporters, the Zviadists, against Georgia's new rulers. During the first half of 1992, Gamsakhurdia and his approximately 1500 men managed to keep some positions in western Georgia. The conflict de-escalated when Gamsakhurdia sought exile in Chechnya. He returned from Chechnya in September 1993 but died on 31 December.
A number of negotiations between the warring parties had been initiated during the course of the conflict, both between the Gamsakhurdia government and the anti-government alliance and between the Eduard Shevardnadze government and the Zviadists. The negotiations resulted in short ceasefires but left the incompatibility unsolved. Instead, the conflict ended after Gamsakhurdia's death on 31 December 1993.
Eduard Shevardnadze remained President of Georgia until 2003, when growing opposition against him forced him to resign from power.
