- published: 25 Mar 2012
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Abkhazia
Abkhazia (Abkhaz: Аҧсны́ Apsny, IPA /apʰsˈnɨ/; Georgian: აფხაზეთი Apkhazeti; Russian: Абхазия Abkhaziya) is a disputed territory on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.
Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny. This status is recognised by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru, Tuvalu and Vanuatu and also by the partially recognised states of South Ossetia, Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Georgian government and the majority of the world's governments consider Abkhazia a part of Georgia's territory. Under Georgia's official designation it is an autonomous republic, called the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, whose government sits in exile in Tbilisi. On 28 August 2008, the Parliament of Georgia passed a resolution declaring Abkhazia a "Russian-occupied territory".
The status of Abkhazia is a central issue of the Georgian–Abkhazian conflict. The wider region formed part of the Soviet Union until 1991. As the Soviet Union began to disintegrate towards the end of the 1980s, ethnic tensions grew between Abkhaz and Georgians over Georgia's moves towards independence. This led to the 1992–1993 War in Abkhazia that resulted in a Georgian military defeat, de facto independence of Abkhazia and the mass exodus and ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population from Abkhazia. In spite of the 1994 ceasefire agreement and years of negotiations, the status dispute has not been resolved, and despite the long-term presence of a United Nations monitoring force and a Russian-dominated Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) peacekeeping operation, the conflict has flared up on several occasions. In August 2008, the sides again fought during the South Ossetia War, which was followed by the formal recognition of Abkhazia by Russia, the annulment of the 1994 cease fire agreement and the termination of the UN and CIS missions.[citation needed]
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Adjara
Adjara (Georgian: აჭარა [at͡ʃʼara] (
listen)), officially the Autonomous Republic of Adjara (აჭარის ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა [at͡ʃʼaris avtʼɔnɔmiuri rɛspʼublikʼa] ( listen)), is an autonomous republic of Georgia.
Adjara is located in the southwestern corner of Georgia, bordered by Turkey to the south and the eastern end of the Black Sea. Adjara is a home to the Adjar ethnic subgroup of Georgians.
Adjara is also known as Ajara, Adzhara, Ajaria, Adjaria, Adzharia, Achara, Acharia and Ajaristan. It was the Adjarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Adjar ASSR) under the Soviet Union.
Adjara has been part of Colchis and Caucasian Iberia since ancient times. Colonized by Greeks in the 5th century BC, the region fell under Rome in the 2nd century BC. It became part of the region of Egrisi before being incorporated into the unified Georgian Kingdom in the 9th century AD. The Ottomans conquered the area in 1614. The people of Adjara converted to Islam in this period. The Ottomans were forced to cede Adjara to the expanding Russian Empire in 1878.
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Anacopia
New Athos (Abkhaz: Афон Ҿыц, Afon Ch'yts; Georgian: ახალი ათონი, Akhali Atoni; Russian: Новый Афон, Novy Afon) is a town in the Gudauta raion of Abkhazia, situated some 22 km from Sukhumi by the shores of the Black Sea. The town was previously known under the names Nikopol, Acheisos, Anakopia, Nikopia, Nikofia, Nikopsis, Absara, Psyrtskha. New Athos Cave is one of the tourist attractions of Abkhazia.
A large ancient Greek port town of Anacopia was recorded there in the 3rd century. Its ruins are still visible. In the 5th century, Georgians built a fortress on the top of the Iverian Mountain. Anacopia was the capital of the Abkhazian princedom in the orbit of the Byzantine Empire and then of the Abkhazian Kingdom after the archon Leon II declared himself a king in the late 8th century. Later, the capital was moved to Kutaisi.
Anacopia was ceded to Byzantine Empire by Demetre in 1033 but was retaken by Georgians in 1072 among the other territories Georgia gained as a result of the Empire's defeat at Manzikert at the hands of Seljuks.
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Armenia
Armenia
i/ɑrˈmiːniə/ (Armenian: Հայաստան Hayastan [hɑjɑsˈtɑn]), officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն, Hayastani Hanrapetut’yun, [hɑjɑstɑˈni hɑnɾɑpɛtuˈtʰjun]), is a landlocked, mountainous country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the south.
A former republic of the Soviet Union, Armenia is a unitary, multiparty, democratic nation-state with an ancient and historic cultural heritage. The Kingdom of Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its religion, in the early years of the 4th century (the traditional date is 301 AD). The modern Republic of Armenia recognizes the Armenian Apostolic Church, the world's oldest national church, as the country's primary religious establishment. Armenians have their own unique alphabet invented by Mesrob Mashtots in 406 AD.
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Astana
Astana (Russian/Kazakh: Астана, formerly known as Akmola (Kazakh: Ақмола / Aqmola, until 1998), Целиноград / Tselinograd until 1992) and Akmolinsk (Russian: Акмолинск, until 1961), is the capital and second largest city (after Almaty) of Kazakhstan, with an officially estimated population of 708,794 as of 1 August 2010. It is located in the north-central portion of Kazakhstan, within Akmola Province, though administrated separately from the province as a federal city area.
The current mayor of Astana is Imangali Tasmagambetov. He was appointed on 4 April 2008.
The word Astana in Kazakh literally means Capital but the word itself originates from Persian Astane (Persian: آستانه means "sublime threshold," "royal porte" implying a royal capital city or a holy shrine town, (from the Persian verb Istadan (آستان) 'to stand' (in respect)), and literally means "threshold" (royal or sacred, where people stand in respect or awe),[citation needed] implying where the court is seated (the capital city) or the body of a sacred person is interred (a shrine town). The city of Turkistan in Kazakhstan that hosts the body of the saint Ahmad Yasavi is also called the "astana" as is the city of Mashhad in Iran that is the burial place of the 8th Shiite Imam Reza. In fact, long before becoming the new capital of Kazakhstan, the city was "an astana," a burial ground of a saint, hence the old name of the city, Ak Mola (Ақмола), "white mausoleum."
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Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (
i/ˌæzərbaɪˈdʒɑːn/ AZ-ər-by-JAHN; Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Respublikası) is the largest country in the Caucasus region located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bounded by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, while having a short borderline with Turkey to the northwest.
Azerbaijan has an ancient and historic cultural heritage. Aside from having been the first Muslim-majority country to have operas, theater and plays, Azerbaijan today is among the Muslim-majority countries where support for secularism and tolerance is the highest. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world, was established in 1918, but was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920. Azerbaijan regained independence in 1991. Shortly thereafter, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, neighboring Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, its surrounding territories and the enclaves of Karki, Yukhary Askipara, Barkhudarly and Sofulu. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which emerged in Nagorno-Karabakh, continues to be not diplomatically recognized by any nation and the region is still considered a de jure part of Azerbaijan, despite being de facto independent since the end of the war. Azerbaijan has come under repeated international criticism for its record on human rights.
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Budapest
Budapest (
/ˈbuːdəpɛst/, /ˈbuːdəpɛʃt/ or /ˈbʊdəpɛst/; Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈbudɒpɛʃt] ( listen); names in other languages) is the capital and the largest city of Hungary, the largest in East-Central Europe and the seventh largest in the European Union. It is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre, sometimes described as the primate city of Hungary. According to 2011 Census, Budapest had 1.74 million inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2.1 million due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter Area is home to 3.3 million people. The city covers an area of 525 square kilometres (202.7 sq mi) within the city limits. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the river Danube with a unification on 17 November 1873 of west-bank Buda and Óbuda with east-bank Pest.
The history of Budapest began with Aquincum, originally a Celtic settlement that became the Roman capital of Lower Pannonia.Hungarians arrived in the territory in the 9th century. Their first settlement was pillaged by the Mongols in 1241-42. The re-established town became one of the centres of Renaissance humanist culture in the 15th century. Following the Battle of Mohács and nearly 150 years of Ottoman rule, development of the region entered a new age of prosperity in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Budapest became a global city after the 1873 unification. It also became the second capital of Austria-Hungary, a great power that dissolved in 1918. After the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, when Hungary lost 72% of its former territory, culturally and economically the country became wholly Budapest-dominated. The capital dominates the country both by the size of its population—which dwarfs those of Hungary's other cities Budapest was the focal point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919, Operation Panzerfaust in 1944, the Battle of Budapest of 1945, and the Revolution of 1956.
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Bulgaria
Coordinates: 42°45′N 25°30′E / 42.75°N 25.5°E / 42.75; 25.5
Bulgariai/bʌlˈɡɛəriə/ (Bulgarian: България, IPA: [bɤ̞ɫˈɡarijɐ]), is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and the Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south and the Black Sea to the east. With a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), Bulgaria is Europe's 14th-largest country. Its location has made it a historical crossroad for various civilisations and as such it is the home of some of the earliest metalworking, religious and other cultural artifacts in the world.
Prehistoric cultures began developing on Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period. Its ancient history was marked by the presence of the Thracians, and later by the Greeks and Romans. The emergence of a unified Bulgarian ethnicity and state dates back to the First Bulgarian Empire, which dominated most of the Balkans and functioned as a cultural hub for Slavic peoples during the Middle Ages. With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396, its territories came under Ottoman rule for nearly five hundred years. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 resulted in the Third Bulgarian State, recognised in 1908. The following years saw several conflicts with its neighbours, which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in both World Wars. In 1946 it became a Communist republic with a single-party system until 1989, when the Communist Party allowed multi-party elections. After 1990 Bulgaria transitioned to democracy and a market-based economy.
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Bzyb River
The Bzyb (Abkhaz: Бзыҧ, Georgian: ბზიფი, Russian: Бзыбь) is one of the two largest rivers of Abkhazia, along with the Kodori and the twelfth longest river in Georgia. The river valley has rich biodiversity of herbaceous garden plants, particularly in the gorge section in the upper reaches where the most prominent and colourful bellflower Campanula mirabilis with profuse growth of 100 flowers per plant is given the name, the "Queen of the Abkhazian flora."
The Bzyb River basin located in the zone of humid subtropics of the Caucasus Mountains. The Bzyb is first among Abkhazia's rivers with respect to length (110 km (68 mi)), and second after the Kodori with respect to average annual discharge (96 m3/s (3,400 cu ft/s)) and drainage basin area (1,510 km2 (580 sq mi)). At its entrance in the mouth of the Black Sea it splits into two estuary channels.
Clays, marls, dolomites, and sandstones are encountered at the Bzyb River which flows down from a height of (2,300 m (7,500 ft)) in the western part of the Caucasus Major near 43°17′47″N 41°13′49″E / 43.29639°N 41.23028°E / 43.29639; 41.23028 and flows into the Black Sea at 43°11′18″N 40°16′52″E / 43.18833°N 40.28111°E / 43.18833; 40.28111 in two branches. Its valley borders the Bzyb Range, Gagra Range and some other ranges of Caucasus Major. The Bzyb River separates Arabika from the adjacent Bzyb Range, an outstanding karst area with many deep caves. An upper tributary of the river is the Jimsa River which flows in the area of the mountain of the same name. The Bzyb’ basin has the Lake Ritsa, which forms the headwaters of the Iupshara River. A road from the Black Sea to Lake Ritsa runs along this valley.
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Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia (for endonyms, see below), is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, which contain Europe's highest mountain, Mt. Elbrus. Politically, the Caucasus region is separated between northern and southern parts.
The northern portion of the Caucasus is known as the Ciscaucasus and the southern portion as the Transcaucasus.
The Ciscaucasus contains the larger majority of the Greater Caucasus Mountain range, also known as the Major Caucasus mountains. It includes Southwestern Russia and northern parts of Georgia and Azerbaijan.
The Transcaucasus is bordered on the north by Russia, on the west by the Black Sea and Turkey, on the east by the Caspian Sea, and on the south by Iran. It includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands. All of Armenia, Azerbaijan (excluding the northern parts) and Georgia (excluding the northern parts) are in South Caucasus.
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Caucasus Mountains
The Caucasus Mountains are a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region (Turkish: Kafkas Dağları Azerbaijani: Qafqaz dağları Armenian: Կովկասյան լեռներ Georgian: კავკასიონი Chechen: Kavkazan lämnaš Russian: Кавказские горы).
The Caucasus Mountains include:
The Greater Caucasus Range extends from the Caucasian Natural Reserve in the vicinity of Sochi on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea, generally trending east-southeast and reaching nearly to Baku on the Caspian Sea, while the Lesser Caucasus runs parallel to the greater range, at a distance averaging about 100 km (62 mi) south. The Meskheti Range is a part of the Lesser Caucasus system. The Greater and Lesser Caucasus ranges are connected by the Likhi Range, which separates the Kolkhida Lowland from the Kura-Aras Lowland. In the southeast are the Talysh Mountains. The Lesser Caucasus and the Armenian Highland constitute the Transcaucasian Highland. The highest peak in the Caucasus range is Mount Elbrus in the Greater Caucasus, which rises to a height of 5,642 metres (18,510 ft) above sea level. Mountains near Sochi will host part of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
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Chechnya
The Chechen Republic ( /ˈtʃɛtʃɨn/; Russian: Чече́нская Респу́блика, Chechenskaya Respublika; Chechen: Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika), commonly referred to as Chechnya (/ˈtʃɛtʃniə/; Russian: Чечня́, Chechnya; Chechen: Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria (English: Land of Minerals), is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny. Population: 1,268,989 (2010 Census).
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Chechen-Ingush ASSR was split into two: the Republic of Ingushetia and the Chechen Republic. The latter proclaimed the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, which sought independence. Following the First Chechen War with Russia, Chechnya gained de facto independence as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Russian federal control was restored during the Second Chechen War. Since then there has been a systematic reconstruction and rebuilding process, though sporadic fighting continues in the mountains and southern regions of the republic.
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Department of State
The United States Department of State (DoS), often referred to as the State Department, is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries. The Department was created in 1789 and was the first executive department established.
The Department is headquartered in the Harry S. Truman Building located at 2201 C Street, NW, a few blocks from the White House in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The Department operates the diplomatic missions of the United States abroad and is responsible for implementing the foreign policy of the United States and U.S. diplomacy efforts.
The Department is led by the Secretary of State, who is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate and is a member of the Cabinet. The current Secretary of State is Hillary Clinton. The Secretary of State is the first Cabinet official in the order of precedence and in the presidential line of succession.
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Gagra district
Gagra District is a district of Abkhazia. It corresponds to the Georgian district by the same name. In medieval times, it was known as the southern part of Sadzen. It is located in the western part of Abkhazia, and the river Psou serves as a border with Krasnodar Kray of Russia. Its capital is Gagra, the town by the same name. The population of the Gagra town zone in 1989 was 77,079, but this number dropped dramatically following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the 1992-1993 war in Abkhazia, (including the ethnic cleansing of Georgians), to 37,002 at the time of the 2003 census. Ethnic Armenians now constitute a plurality in the district.
In December 2002, Grigori Enik was appointed Head of the State Customs Committee , he was succeeded by Valeri Bganba. On 25 May 2006, Bganba was released from office by President Bagapsh upon his own request, and succeeded by Astamur Ketsba. In turn, after the election of Alexander Ankvab, on 6 September 2011 Ketsba was dismissed upon his own request and temporarily replaced by his deputy Teimuraz Kapba. On 15 November, Grigori Enik, who had previously headed the Presidential Administration, was appointed Acting Head of Gagra District. On 28 May 2012, Enik was permanently appointed.
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Gali (town)
Gali (Georgian: გალი; Abkhaz: Гал, Gal) is a town in Georgia, 77 km southeast to Sukhumi in region Abkhazia. It is the centre of Gali District and was previously in the UN security zone prior to the Russian veto of the UMOMIG Mission in 2009.
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Georgia (country)
Georgiai/ˈdʒɔrdʒə/ (Georgian: საქართველო Sakartvelo, IPA: [sɑkʰɑrtʰvɛlɔ] ( listen)) is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of Georgia is Tbilisi. Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 km² and its population is almost 4.7 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy.
During the classical era independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century. A unified Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 11th–12th centuries. At the beginning of the 19th century, Georgia was annexed by the Russian Empire. After a brief period of independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia was occupied by Soviet Russia in 1921, becoming the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic and part of the Soviet Union. After independence in 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil unrest and economic crisis for most of the 1990s. This lasted until the Rose Revolution of 2003, after which the new government introduced democratic and economic reforms.
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Gudauta
Gudauta (Abkhaz: Гәдоуҭа, Gwdowtha; Georgian: გუდაუთა, Gudauta; Russian: Гудаута, Gudauta) is a town in Abkhazia and a centre of the eponymous district. It is situated on the Black Sea, 37 km northwest to Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia.
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 was then transferred to Ugolnye Kopi, 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 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".
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Gudauta district
Gudauta district is a district of Abkhazia, Georgia’s breakaway republic. It corresponds to the eponymous Georgian district. Its capital is Gudauta, the town by the same name. The population of the district is 34,869 according to the 2003 census, down from 57,334 in 1989.
On 16 June 2003, President Ardzinba assented to Lev Shamba's request for dismissal and replaced him with First Deputy Minister for Education Beslan Dbar.
On 29 March 2005, newly elected President Sergei Bagapsh replaced Beslan Dbar as the Head of Gudauta's Administration by Daur Vozba. During the February 2011 assembly elections, Daur Vozba failed to be re-elected by a margin of 92 votes.Sergei Bagapsh appointed Valerii Malia as his successor on 23 February. On 17 February, during its first session, the new Gudauta District assembly elected Roman Bazba its chairman, with 22 out of 29 votes, and Fyodor Sakania its Deputy Chairman.
On 1 November 2011, Abkhazia's Prosecutor General announced that he had initiated criminal proceedings against former Administration Head Daur Vozba, for abuse of power. Vozba is alleged to have signed a decree on 11 August 2006, handing over two most valuable plots of coastal land to two individuals, which would have required authorisation by the Cabinet of Ministers.
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Gulripsh district
Gulripsh district is a district of Abkhazia, Georgia’s breakaway republic. It corresponds to the eponymous Georgian district. Its capital is Gulripsh, the town by the same name. Until the August 2008 Battle of the Kodori Valley, the north-eastern part of Gulripsh district was part of Upper Abkhazia, the corner of Abkhazia controlled by Georgia until the Battle of the Kodori Valley during the August 2008 South Ossetia War. Upper Abkhazia was home to 1,956 of the district's 19,918 inhabitants, most of whom were ethnic Svans (a subgroub of the Georgian people). Most of these fled before the battle and have not yet returned.
Of note is the Dranda Cathedral sitting over a shrine built by Justinian in 551. The medieval principality of Dal-Tsabal was centered in the district. Abkhazia's main airport, Sukhumi Dranda Airport, is also located in Gulripsh district.
On 18 December 2002, President Ardzinba released Adgur Kharazia as Administration Head and appointed him as Minister for Agriculture and Food.
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Guria
Guria (Georgian: გურია) is a region (mkhare) in Georgia, in the western part of the country, bordered by the eastern end of the Black Sea. The region has a population of 143,357 (2002) and Ozurgeti is a regional capital.
Guria is bordered by Samegrelo to the north-west, Imereti to the north, Samtskhe-Javakheti to the east, Ajaria to the south, and the Black Sea to the west. The province has an area of 2,003 km².
Guria is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude.
Guria consists of three administrative districts:
The toponym "Guria" is first attested in the c. 800 Georgian chronicle of Pseudo-Juansher.
Guria first appears c. 1352 as a fief of the house of Vardanidze-Dadiani; and after 1463 it became a sovereign principality independent of the Kingdom of Georgia under a branch of that house, known thereafter by the name of Gurieli. The principality, comprising modern Guria and much of Adjara with the city of Batumi, was subsequently reduced in size and devastated in a series of conflicts with the Ottoman Empire. A Russian protectorate was established by the treaty concluded on June 19, 1810 between the Gurieli Mamia V and the empire, and in 1829, during the regency for the last prince, the Gurieli David, the principality was annexed by Russia.
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Gyachrypsh
Gyachrypsh (Abkhaz: Гьачрыҧшь, G'achryphsh; Georgian: ლესელიძე, Leselidze; Russian: Гечрипш) is a village in Abkhazia. Formerly named Yermolovka and then Leselidze, the village is located on the shores of the Black Sea and is 14 kilometers from the city of Gagra. It is a station on the Abkhazian railroad.
In ancient times, early Abkhazians settled on the site of Gyachrypsh. In the 7th century, Abkhazian Prince Gech owned the land, and from that time Gyachrypsh held the name of Gechripsh. The names Gechkuaj and Gechiler were also in use at that time.
At the end of the 19th century, the village started to become a resort, and it was renamed Yermolovka (Russian: Ермоловкa).
In 1944, Gyachripsh was named after the World War II general Konstantin Leselidze. After the War, the village developed into a resort. In Leselidze (Georgian: ლესელიძე, Russian: Леселидзе), the new name of the city, normal resort village features developed. In 1975, a statue of K. N. Leselidze was installed.
In 1992, the settlement was renamed Gyachrypsh.
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Imereti
Imereti (Georgian: იმერეთი) is a province in Georgia situated along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni river. It consists of the following Georgian administrative-territorial units:
The province's main city is Kutaisi; other urban industrial centers include Samtredia, Chiatura (manganese production centre), Tkibuli (coal mining centre), Zestaponi (known for metals production), Khoni, and Sachkhere. Traditionally, Imereti is an agricultural region, known for its mulberries and grapes.
The 800,000 Imeretians speak a Georgian dialect; they are one of the local culture-groups of the ethnically subdivided Georgian people.
In late antiquity and early Middle Ages the ancient western Georgian kingdom of Egrisi existed on the territory of Imereti. Its king declared Christianity as an official religion of Egrisi in 523 AD. In 975-1466 Imereti was part of the united Georgian Kingdom. Since its disintegration in the 15th century, Imereti was an independent kingdom.
In the 17th-18th centuries the kingdom of Imereti suffered frequent invasions by the Turks and recognized to patronage of Ottoman Empire until 1810, when it was occupied and annexed by the Russian Empire. The last King of Imereti was Solomon II (1789-1810).
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Ingushetia
The Republic of Ingushetia (Russian: Респу́блика Ингуше́тия, Respublika Ingushetiya; Ingush: ГӀалгӀай Мохк Ğalğaj Moxk) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic), located in the North Caucasus region with its capital at Magas. In terms of area, the republic is the smallest of Russia's federal subjects except for the two federal cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. It was established on June 4, 1992 after the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was split in two. The republic is home to the indigenous Ingush, a people of Vainakh ancestry. Population: 412,529 (2010 Census).
The name "Ingushetia" is derived from an ancient village of Ongusht (renamed in 1859 to Tarskaya and in 1944 transferred to North Ossetia) and the Georgian ending -eti, all together meaning "(land) where the Ingush live".
Ingushetia is one of Russia's poorest and most restive regions. The ongoing military conflict in neighboring Chechnya has occasionally spilled into Ingushetia, and the republic has been destabilized by corruption, a number of high-profile crimes (including kidnapping and murder of civilians by government security forces), anti-government protests, attacks on soldiers and officers, Russian military excesses and a deteriorating human rights situation.
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Istanbul
Istanbul (Turkish: İstanbul) is the largest city in Turkey, forming the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population of 13.4 million, the city is at the center of the second-largest urban area in Europe after Moscow, and among the world's largest cities by population within city limits. Istanbul's vast area of 5,343 square kilometers (2,063 sq mi) is coterminous with Istanbul Province, of which the city is considered capital. Straddling the Bosphorus—one of the world's busiest waterways—in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, Istanbul is a transcontinental city, with one third of its population living in Asia but its commercial and historical center in Europe.
Founded around 660 BC as Byzantium on the Seraglio Point, the city now known as Istanbul developed to become one of the most significant cities in history. For nearly sixteen centuries following its reestablishment as Constantinople in 330 AD, it served as the capital of four empires — the late classical Roman Empire (330–395), the Eastern Roman ("Byzantine") Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). It was instrumental in the advancement of Christianity during Roman and Byzantine times, before the Ottomans conquered the city in 1453 and transformed it into an Islamic stronghold from which the last caliphate ruled. Although the Republic of Turkey established its capital elsewhere, in Ankara, remnants of Istanbul's previous central role still remain highly visible across the city, with palaces and imperial mosques lining its hills.
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Kabardino-Balkaria
The Kabardino-Balkar Republic (Russian: Кабарди́но-Балка́рская Респу́блика, Kabardino-Balkarskaya Respublika; Kabardian: Къэбэрдей-Балъкъэр Республикэ; Karachay-Balkar: Къабарты-Малкъар Республика), or Kabardino-Balkaria (Russian: Кабарди́но-Балка́рия, Kabardino-Balkariya), is a federal subject of Russia (a republic) located in the North Caucasus. Population: 859,939 (2010 Census).
The republic is situated in the North Caucasus mountains, with plains in the northern part.
Kabardino-Balkaria is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude.
Major rivers include:
There are about a hundred lakes in the republic, none of which are large. Just over half (fifty-five) are located between the Baksan and Malka Rivers, the largest each of an area of no more than 0.01 square kilometers (0.0039 sq mi). Some of the lakes are:
Other major mountains include:
Kabardino-Balkaria's natural resources include molybdenum, tungsten, and coal.
The republic has a continental type climate.
Population: 859,939 (2010 Census); 901,494 (2002 Census); 759,586 (1989 Census).
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Kakheti
Kakheti (Georgian: კახეთი) is a historical province in Eastern Georgia. It is bordered by the small mountainous province of Tusheti and the Greater Caucasus mountain range to the north, Russian Federation to the Northeast, Azerbaijan to the Southeast, and the Georgian province of Kartli to the west. Kakheti is geographically divided into the Inner Kakheti to the east of Tsiv-Gombori mountain range and the Outer Kakheti to the west of it. The major river of the eastern part is Alazani, while that of the western part is the Iori.
The Georgian David Gareja monastery complex is partially located in this province and is subject to a border dispute between Georgian and Azerbaijani authorities.
Beyond the modern-day administrative subdivision into the districts, Kakheti has traditionally been subdivided into four parts: Inner Kakheti (შიგნით კახეთი, Shignit Kakheti) along the right bank of the Alazani River, Outer Kakheti (გარე კახეთი, Gare Kakheti) along the middle Iori River basin, Qiziki (ქიზიყი) between the Alazani and the Iori, and Thither Area (გაღმა მხარი, Gaghma Mkhari) on the left bank of the Alazani. It also includes the medieval region of Hereti whose name has fallen into gradual oblivion since the 15th century.
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Karachay-Cherkessia
The Karachay–Cherkess Republic (or Karachay–Circassian Republic) (Russian: Карача́ево-Черке́сская Респу́блика, Karachayevo-Cherkesskaya Respublika; Karachay-Balkar: Къарачай-Черкес Республика; Kabardian: Къэрэшей-Шэрджэс Республикэ), or Karachay–Cherkessia (or Karachay–Circassia) (Карача́ево-Черке́ссия, Karachayevo-Cherkessiya) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). Population: 477,859 (2010 Census).
There are 172 rivers on the territory of the republic. Major rivers include:
There are approximately 130 lakes in the republic.
The landscape of the republic is mostly mountainous (~80% of the territory). Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe, is situated on the border with the Kabardino-Balkar Republic.
Karachay–Cherkessia's natural resources include gold, coal, clays, and more.
Karachay–Cherkess Autonomous Oblast was created on January 12, 1922. It was split into Karachay Autonomous Oblast and Cherkess National District on April 26, 1926. Cherkess National District was elevated to an autonomous oblast status on April 30, 1928. In 1943, Karachay Autonomous Oblast was abolished and the Karachay population was deported to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan accused of collaboration with the Nazis. Most of the Karchay territory was split between Stavropol Krai and the Georgian SSR. The remaining territory populated by the Cherkessians was known as Cherkess Autonomous Oblast until January 9, 1957 when it was re-established into Karachay–Cherkess Autonomous Oblast in its former borders due to the re-habilitation of the Karachay. On July 3, 1991, the autonomous oblast was elevated to the status of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Karachay–Cherkessia (under the jurisdiction of the Russian SFSR). With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the words "Autonomous Soviet Socialist" was dropped from the name.
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Khevi
Khevi (Georgian: ხევი) is a small historical-geographic area in northeastern Georgia. It is included in the modern-day Kazbegi district, Mtskheta-Mtianeti region (mkhare). Located on the northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus mountains, it comprises three gorges of the rivers Truso, Tergi (Terek) and Snostsq’ali.
The landscape of Khevi is dominated by alpine meadows dotted with rhododendron, mountain passes and waterfalls, and the Mount Kazbek (locally known as Mkinvartsveri, i.e. “ice-capped”), a dormant 5047-meter high volcano. The area is a popular tourist destination. It is a part of the projected Khevi-Aragvi Biosphere Reserve. Among the important cultural sites of Khevi are the Gergeti Trinity Church (fourteenth century), Garbani Church (ninth to tenth century), Sioni Basilica (ninth century) and castle, Betlemi Monastery Complex (ninth to tenth century), and Sno fortress.
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Kodori Gorge
Coordinates: 43°05′N 41°45′E / 43.083°N 41.75°E / 43.083; 41.75
The Kodori Valley (also known as the Kodori Gorge, Abkhaz: Кәыдырҭа; Georgian: კოდორის ხეობა; Russian: Кодорское ущелье) is a river valley in Abkhazia, Georgia's breakaway autonomous republic. The valley's upper part, populated by Svans, was the only corner of the post-1993 Abkhazia, directly controlled by the central Georgian government, which officially styles the area as Upper Abkhazia (Geo. ზემო აფხაზეთი, Zemo Abkhazeti). On August 12, 2008, Russo–Abkhazian forces gained control of the Upper Kodori Valley, previously controlled by Georgia.
The Upper Kodori Valley, the principal part of Upper Abkhazia, lies in the upper reaches of the Kodori River in northeastern portion of Abkhazia, about 40 miles inside an official administrative boundary of the region with the rest of Georgia. It is about 20 miles down the coast from Abkhazia's capital Sukhumi. At an elevation of 1,300 to 3,984 meters, the area covers a range of landscapes from coniferous mountain forest to intermittent snow cover.
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Kodori Valley
Coordinates: 43°05′N 41°45′E / 43.083°N 41.75°E / 43.083; 41.75
The Kodori Valley (also known as the Kodori Gorge, Abkhaz: Кәыдырҭа; Georgian: კოდორის ხეობა; Russian: Кодорское ущелье) is a river valley in Abkhazia, Georgia's breakaway autonomous republic. The valley's upper part, populated by Svans, was the only corner of the post-1993 Abkhazia, directly controlled by the central Georgian government, which officially styles the area as Upper Abkhazia (Geo. ზემო აფხაზეთი, Zemo Abkhazeti). On August 12, 2008, Russo–Abkhazian forces gained control of the Upper Kodori Valley, previously controlled by Georgia.
The Upper Kodori Valley, the principal part of Upper Abkhazia, lies in the upper reaches of the Kodori River in northeastern portion of Abkhazia, about 40 miles inside an official administrative boundary of the region with the rest of Georgia. It is about 20 miles down the coast from Abkhazia's capital Sukhumi. At an elevation of 1,300 to 3,984 meters, the area covers a range of landscapes from coniferous mountain forest to intermittent snow cover.
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Krasnodar Krai
Krasnodar Krai (Russian: Краснода́рский край, Krasnodarsky kray) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the Southern Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Krasnodar. Population: 5,226,647 (2010 Census).
Krasnodar Krai encompasses the western part of the Forecaucasus and a part of the northern slopes of Caucasus Major. Krasnodar Krai borders, clockwise from the west, Ukraine—from which it is separated by the Strait of Kerch and the Sea of Azov—Russia's Rostov Oblast, Stavropol Krai, and the Karachay–Cherkess Republic, and Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia. The krai territory encircles the Republic of Adygea. Krasnodar Krai's southern border is formed by what is left of Russia's Black Sea coast, with the most important port (Novorossiysk) and resort (Sochi) in this part of the country.
Geographically, the area is split by the Kuban River into two distinct parts. The southern, seaward third (Circassia) is the western extremity of the Caucasus range, lying within the Crimean Submediterranean forest complex ecoregion; the climate is Mediterranean or, in the south-east, subtropical. The northern two-thirds lies on the Pontic Steppe and shares continental climate patterns. The largest lake is Abrau in the wine-making region of Abrau-Dyurso.
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Kutaisi
Kutaisi (Georgian: ქუთაისი; ancient names: Aea/Aia, Kutatisi, Kutaïssi) is Georgia's second largest city and the capital of the western region of Imereti. It is 221 km to the west of Tbilisi.
Kutaisi is located along both banks of the Rioni River. The city lies at an elevation of 125–300 meters (410–984 feet) above sea level. To the east and north-east, Kutaisi is bounded by the Northern Imereti Foothills, to the north by the Samgurali Range, and to the west and the south by the Colchis Plain.
Kutaisi is surrounded by deciduous forests to the northeast and the northwest. The low-lying outskirts of the city have a largely agricultural landscape. Because of the many gardens in the city centre and the high leafy trees alongside the sidewalks of its streets and boulevards, Kutaisi is painted in bright green in the spring and in yellow-red in the autumn. In the springtime, when the snow starts to melt in the nearby mountains, the storming Rioni River in the middle of the city is heard far beyond its banks.
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Lechkhumi
Lechkhumi (Georgian: ლეჩხუმი Lečxumi) is a historic province in northwestern Georgia which comprises the area along the middle basin of the Rioni and Tskhenistskali and also the Lajanuri river valley. Now part of the Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti region, it corresponds roughly to the present day Tsageri district as well as parts of districts of Tsq'altubo and Ambrolauri. It is bordered by Mingrelia to the west, Svaneti to the north, Racha to the east, and Imereti to the south.
The area has been inhabited since the Neolithic Age and was later dominated by the so-called Colchian culture. The first recorded history of the area dates back to the early medieval period. The contemporary historic sources call the land Takveri, a name gradually being replaced by a term Lechkhumi. The province is usually identified with Scymnia mentioned by Procopius (sixth century AD) as a dependency of the Lazican kings [1]. Within the unified Georgian feudal state (between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries), Takveri/Lechkhumi was subordinated consecutively to the dukes (eristavi) of Svaneti and Racha. On the breakup of the Kingdom of Georgia, the province came under the Kingdom of Imereti, 1455. Through incessant feudal warfare, the nobles from the Chikovani (Chikvani) family were eventual winners and established themselves as semi-independent Lords of Lechkhumi (Georgian: Lechkhumis Tavi). In 1714, Bejan Chikovani became Prince of Mingrelia and assumed the dynastic name of Dadiani. Thus, these two western Georgian polities united under the princes of Mingrelia.
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Meskheti
Meskheti, also known as Meskhetia, (Georgian: მესხეთი) is in a mountainous area of Moschia and is a province in southwestern Georgia. The ancient Georgian tribes of Meskhi (or Moschi) and Mosiniks were the indigenous population of this region. A majority of the modern Georgian population (Meskhs) of Meskheti are descendants of these ancient tribes. The Mosiniks (or Mossynoeci) were one of the inventors of iron metallurgy. In the 2nd millennium-4th century BC Meskheti was a part of the Georgian Kingdom of Diaokhi, in the 4th century BC-6th century AD - part of the Kingdom of Iberia. In the 10th-15th centuries this region was a part of the united Georgian Kingdom. In the 16th century Meskheti was occupied and annexed by the Ottoman Empire. In 1829-1917 the region was a part of Tbilisi Governate (Tiflisskaia Gubernia), in 1918-1921 part of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, and in 1921-1990 part of the Georgian SSR. Since 1990 Meskheti (Samtskhe-Javakheti region) has been a province of the republic of Georgia.
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Nakhchivan
The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (Azerbaijani: Naxçıvan Muxtar Respublikası) is a landlocked exclave of Azerbaijan. The region covers 5,500 km² and borders Armenia (221 km) to the east and north, Iran (179 km) to the south and west, and Turkey (15 km) to the northwest.
Nakhchivan has a long history dating back to the Neolithic period. After over a thousand years of Armenian rule - interrupted by periods of Arab and Turkic rule - Nakhchivan became part of the Safavid dynasty of Persia in the sixteenth century. After the last Russo-Persian War and the Treaty of Turkmenchay, the Nakhchivan khanate passed into Imperial Russian possession in 1828. The region has been the scene of much bloodshed between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, who both claim the region.
After the February Revolution, Nakhchivan and its surrounding region were under the authority of the Special Transcaucasian Committee of the Russian Provisional Government and subsequently of the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic. When the TDFR was dissolved in May 1918, Nakhchivan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Zangezur (today the Armenian province of Syunik), and Qazakh were heavily contested between the newly formed and short-lived states of the Democratic Republic of Armenia (DRA) and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR). In June 1918, the region came under Ottoman occupation. The Ottomans proceeded to massacre 10,000 Armenians and razed 45 of their villages to the ground. Under the terms of the Armistice of Mudros, the Ottomans agreed to pull their troops out of the Transcaucasus to make way for British occupation. Control of the region passed between British and Armenian occupiers.
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NATO
Coordinates: 50°52′34.16″N 4°25′19.24″E / 50.8761556°N 4.4220111°E / 50.8761556; 4.4220111
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO ( /ˈneɪtoʊ/ NAY-toh; French: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique Nord (OTAN)), also called the (North) Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia, joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries participate in NATO's Partnership for Peace, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programs. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the world's defence spending.
For its first few years, NATO was not much more than a political association. However, the Korean War galvanized the member states, and an integrated military structure was built up under the direction of two U.S. supreme commanders. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, which formed in 1955. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the organization's goal was "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down." Doubts over the strength of the relationship between the European states and the United States ebbed and flowed, along with doubts over the credibility of the NATO defence against a prospective Soviet invasion—doubts that led to the development of the independent French nuclear deterrent and the withdrawal of the French from NATO's military structure in 1966.
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Nauru
Coordinates: 0°31′38″S 166°56′12″E / 0.527288°S 166.936724°E / -0.527288; 166.936724
Nauru (Englishi/nɑːˈuːruː/ nah-OO-roo), officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, 300 kilometres (186 mi) to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just 21 square kilometres (8.1 sq mi). With just over 9,322 residents, it is the second least-populated country after Vatican City.
Settled by Micronesian and Polynesian people, Nauru was annexed and claimed as a colony by the German Empire in the late 19th century. After World War I, Nauru became a League of Nations mandate administered by Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. During World War II, Nauru was occupied by Japanese troops, who were bypassed by the Allied advance across the Pacific. After the war ended, it entered into trusteeship again. Nauru gained its independence in 1968.
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Nauru was a "rentier state". Nauru is a phosphate rock island, with rich deposits close to the surface, which allow for simple strip mining operations; moreover, it has some phosphate reserves which are presently (as of 2011) not economically viable for extraction. Nevertheless, this island was a major exporter of phosphate starting in 1907, when the Pacific Phosphate Company began mining there, through the formation of the British Phosphate Commission in 1919, and continuing after independence. This returned to Nauru full control of its minerals under the Nauru Phosphate Corporation, until the deposits ran out during the 1980s. For this reason, Nauru briefly boasted the highest per-capita income enjoyed by any sovereign state in the world during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
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New Athos
New Athos (Abkhaz: Афон Ҿыц, Afon Ch'yts; Georgian: ახალი ათონი, Akhali Atoni; Russian: Новый Афон, Novy Afon) is a town in the Gudauta raion of Abkhazia, situated some 22 km from Sukhumi by the shores of the Black Sea. The town was previously known under the names Nikopol, Acheisos, Anakopia, Nikopia, Nikofia, Nikopsis, Absara, Psyrtskha. New Athos Cave is one of the tourist attractions of Abkhazia.
A large ancient Greek port town of Anacopia was recorded there in the 3rd century. Its ruins are still visible. In the 5th century, Georgians built a fortress on the top of the Iverian Mountain. Anacopia was the capital of the Abkhazian princedom in the orbit of the Byzantine Empire and then of the Abkhazian Kingdom after the archon Leon II declared himself a king in the late 8th century. Later, the capital was moved to Kutaisi.
Anacopia was ceded to Byzantine Empire by Demetre in 1033 but was retaken by Georgians in 1072 among the other territories Georgia gained as a result of the Empire's defeat at Manzikert at the hands of Seljuks.
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Nicaragua
Nicaragua (i/ˌnɪkəˈrɑːɡwə/ nik-ə-RAH-gwə), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (Spanish: República de Nicaragua [reˈpuβlika ðe nikaˈɾaɣwa] ( listen)), is the largest country in the Central American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to the east. The country's physical geography divides it into three major zones: Pacific lowlands; wet, cooler central highlands; and the Caribbean lowlands. On the Pacific side of the country are the two largest fresh water lakes in Central America—Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua. Surrounding these lakes and extending to their northwest along the rift valley of the Gulf of Fonseca are fertile lowland plains, with soil highly enriched by ash from nearby volcanoes of the central highlands. Nicaragua's abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems contribute to Mesoamerica's designation as a biodiversity hotspot.
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Ochamchira
Ochamchira (Abkhaz: Очамчыра, Ochamchyra; Georgian: ოჩამჩირე, Ochamchire; Russian: Очамчира, Ochamchira) is a seaside city on the Black Sea coast of Abkhazia, Georgia, and a centre of the eponymous district.
According to the 1978 population census, Ochamchira had 18,700 residents. After the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict of 1992-93, Ochamchira experienced a significant population decline due to ethnic cleansing of Georgians. Most of the internally displaced persons who were affected by the conflict have yet to return to the city. Ochamchira lies along the left bank of the Ghalidzga (Aaldzga) River at an elevation of five meters above sea level. The city is located 53 kilometers southeast of Sukhumi and 351 kilometers to the northwest of Tbilisi. Ochamchira's climate is humid subtropical, with mild winters and hot summers. The average annual temperature is 13.6 degrees Celsius. January's average temperature is 4.5 degrees Celsius while the average temperature in July is 23 degrees Celsius. Average annual precipitation is approximately 1300mm.
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Ochamchira district
Ochamchira district is a district of the Republic of Abkhazia. Its capital is Ochamchira, the town by the same name. The district is smaller than the Ochamchire district in the de jure subdivision of Georgia, as some of its former territory is now part of Tkvarcheli district, formed by de facto Abkhaz authorities in 1995. The population of the Ochamchira district is 24,629 according to the 2003 census. Until the August 2008 Battle of the Kodori Valley, some mountainous parts of the district were still under Georgian control, as part of Upper Abkhazia.
After Sergei Bagapsh became president in 2005, he appointed Vladimir Atumava to succeed Appolon Dumaa on 21 February 2005. 22 February 2007 Atumava was released from office and temporarily replaced by his deputy Ramaza Jopua. On 3 April Daur Tarba became the new head of the administration. On 18 December 2008, Tarba asked to be released from office, and he was replaced by Murman Jopua, who had until then been vice head. The new vice head is Zurab Kajaia. Tarba went on to become chairman of United Abkhazia.
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Persian Empire
The Achaemenid Empire (/ækəˈmɛnɪˌdi/; Old Persian: Parsā, name of ruling dynasty: Haxāmanišiya) (c. 550–330 BCE), sometimes known as First Persian Empire, was an Iranian empire in Southwest Asia, founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation. It expanded to eventually rule over significant portions of the ancient world which at around 500 BCE stretched from the Indus Valley in the east, to Thrace and Macedon on the northeastern border of Greece making it the biggest empire the world had yet seen. The Achaemenid Empire would eventually control Egypt as well. It was ruled by a series of monarchs who unified its disparate tribes and nationalities by constructing a complex network of roads.
Calling themselves the Parsa after their original Aryan tribal name Parsua, Persians settled in a land which they named Parsua, bounded on the west by the Tigris River and on the south by the Persian Gulf. This became their heartland for the duration of the Achaemenid Empire. It was from this region that eventually Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II of Persia) would advance to defeat the Median, the Lydian, and the Babylonian Empires, opening the way for subsequent conquests into Egypt and Asia minor.
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Pitsunda
Pitsunda (Abkhaz: Пиҵунда, Georgian: ბიჭვინთა, Bichvinta; Russian: Пицунда) is a resort town in Gagra district of Abkhazia.
The town was founded by the Greeks in the 5th century BC as a trade colony Pityus (Ancient Greek: Pityus, Πιτυοῦς, genitive Pityuntos, Πιτυοῦντος) or Pitiunt. Excavations guided by Andria Apakidze unearthed remains of three 4th-century churches and a bath with superb mosaic floors. The former "Great Pityus" harbour is now a mere lake within the town. Saint John Chrysostom was exiled there and died near the shore in 407. Like Dioskurias, remained under Roman control within the Diocese of Pontus until the 7th century. The city passed under Abasgian control and became one of the major political and religious centres of the kingdom of Egrisi (Lazica). An archbishopric of Pitiunt was instituted in 541. In medieval Georgia, the town's name was spelled as Bichvinta. At the end of the 10th century, King Bagrat III of Georgia built there the Pitsunda Cathedral which survives to this day and contains vestiges of wall-painting from the 13th and the 16th centuries. Bichvinta also served as the seat of the Georgian Orthodox Catholicate of Abkhazia until the late 16th century when Abkhazia came under the Ottoman hegemony. It is still a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church. In the late 13th century, the area housed a short-lived Genoese trade colony called Pezonda.
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Pshavi
Pshavi (Georgian: ფშავი) is a small historic-geographic area in Georgia, included in today’s Mtskheta-Mtianeti region and laying chiefly on the southern foothills of the Greater Caucasus mountains along Aragvi River and the lower Iori River. The Pshavs, who are locally called the Pshaveli, speak a Georgian dialect and are Georgian Orthodox. Their history, traditions and customs are similar to those of other eastern Georgian mountaineers, particularly the Khevsurs.
The popular Georgian poet Luka Razikashvili (1861-1915), best known by his pen name Vazha-Pshavela (i.e., "a lad from Pshavi"), was born in this province, in the picturesque village of Chargali.
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Racha
Racha (also Ratcha, Georgian: რაჭა, Račʼa) is a highland area in western Georgia, located in the upper Rioni river valley and hemmed in by the Greater Caucasus mountains. Under Georgia’s current subdivision, Racha is included in the Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti region (mkhare) as the municipalities of Oni and Ambrolauri.
Racha occupies 2,854 km2 in the north-eastern corner of western Georgia. Spurs of the Greater Caucasus crest separates Racha from the Georgian historical regions of Svaneti and Lechkhumi on the north-west and from Imereti on the south, while the main Caucasus ridge forms a boundary with Russia’s North Ossetia. On the east, Racha is bordered by breakaway South Ossetia, officially part of Georgia’s Shida Kartli region.
Racha had been part of Colchis and Caucasian Iberia since ancient times and its main town Oni was said to have been founded by King Parnajom of Iberia in the 2nd century BC. Upon creation of the unified Georgian kingdom in the 11th century, Racha became one of the duchies (saeristavo) within it. Rati of the Baghvashi family was the first duke (eristavi) appointed by King Bagrat III. Descendants of Rati and his son Kakhaber, eponymous father of Racha’s ruling dynasty of Kakhaberisdze, governed the province until 1278. In 1278 King David VI Narin abolished the duchy during his war against the Mongols. In the mid-14th century, the duchy was restored under the rule of the Tcharelidze family.
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Romania
Romania (i/roʊˈmeɪniə/ roh-MAY-nee-ə; dated: Roumania; or Rumania;Romanian: România [romɨˈni.a] ( listen)) is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and east, and Bulgaria to the south.
At 238,400 square kilometers (92,000 sq mi), Romania is the ninth largest country of the European Union by area, and has the seventh largest population of the European Union with over 19 million people. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, the tenth largest city in the EU with about two million people.
The Kingdom of Romania emerged when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were united under Prince Alexander Ioan Cuza in 1859. Independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared on 9 May 1877, and was internationally recognized the following year. At the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania. Greater Romania emerged into an era of progression and prosperity that would continue until World War II. By the end of the War, many north-eastern areas of Romania's territories were occupied by the Soviet Union, and Romania forcibly became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact.
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Russia
Russiai/ˈrʌʃə/ or /ˈrʊʃə/ (Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), also officially known as the Russian Federation (Russian: Российская Федерация, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə] ( listen)), is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, and the US state of Alaska by the Bering Strait. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the eighth most populous nation with 143 million people. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning nine time zones and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources and is the largest producer of oil and natural gas globally. Russia has the world's largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's fresh water.
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Sochi
Sochi (Russian: Сочи; IPA: [ˈsotɕɪ]) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for 145 kilometers (90 mi) along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a permanent population of 343,285; up from 328,809 recorded in the 2002 Census, making it Russia's largest resort city.
Sochi will host the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games in 2014, as well as the Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix from 2014 until at least 2020. It is also one of the host cities for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Sochi has a humid subtropical climate with mild winters (average +11 °C (52 °F) during the day and +4 °C (39 °F) at night in the period from December to March) and comfortable summers (average +24 °C (75 °F) during the day and +16 °C (61 °F) at night period from May to October).
At 145 kilometers (90 mi), Greater Sochi claims to be the longest city in Europe. Other sources using the Caucasus Mountains as the Europe-Asia divide place Sochi in Southwest Asia as it falls on the southern (Asian) side of the Greater Caucasus.
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South Ossetia
South Ossetia ( /əˈsɛtiə/ə-SET-ee-ə or /ɒˈsiːʃə/o-SEE-shə; Ossetic: Хуссар Ирыстон, Xussar Iryston; Georgian: სამხრეთ ოსეთი, Samxret Oseti; Russian: Южная Осетия, Yuzhnaya Osetiya) or Tskhinvali Region (Georgian: ცხინვალის რეგიონი, Tsxinvalis regioni; Russian: Цхинвальский регион, Tskhinvalskiy region) is a disputed region and partly recognized state in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.
South Ossetians declared independence from Georgia in 1990, calling themselves the Republic of South Ossetia. The Georgian government responded by abolishing South Ossetia's autonomy and trying to retake the region by force. This led to the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War. Georgian fighting against those controlling South Ossetia occurred on two other occasions, in 2004 and 2008. The last conflict led to the 2008 South Ossetia war, during which Ossetian and Russian forces gained full, de facto control of the territory of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast.
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Soviet
The Soviet Union (Russian: Советский Союз, tr. Sovetsky Soyuz), officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR; Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик, tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik; IPA: [sɐˈjus sɐˈvʲetskʲɪx sətsɨəlʲɪˈstʲitɕɪskʲɪx rʲɪsˈpublʲɪk] ( listen); abbreviated СССР, SSSR), was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.
The Soviet Union was a single-party state ruled by the Communist Party from its foundation until 1990. A union of 15 subnational Soviet republics, the Soviet state was structured under a highly centralized government and economy.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 caused the downfall of the Russian Empire. Following the Russian Revolution, there was a struggle for power between the Bolshevik party, led by Vladimir Lenin, and the anti-communist White movement. In December 1922, the Bolsheviks won the civil war, and the Soviet Union was formed with the merger of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.
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Soviet Union
The Soviet Union (Russian: Советский Союз, tr. Sovetsky Soyuz), officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR; Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик, tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik; IPA: [sɐˈjus sɐˈvʲetskʲɪx sətsɨəlʲɪˈstʲitɕɪskʲɪx rʲɪsˈpublʲɪk] ( listen); abbreviated СССР, SSSR), was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.
The Soviet Union was a single-party state ruled by the Communist Party from its foundation until 1990. A union of 15 subnational Soviet republics, the Soviet state was structured under a highly centralized government and economy.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 caused the downfall of the Russian Empire. Following the Russian Revolution, there was a struggle for power between the Bolshevik party, led by Vladimir Lenin, and the anti-communist White movement. In December 1922, the Bolsheviks won the civil war, and the Soviet Union was formed with the merger of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.
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Stavropol Krai
Stavropol Krai (Russian: Ставропо́льский край, Stavropolsky kray) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai). Its administrative center is the city of Stavropol. Population: 2,786,281 (2010 Census).
Stavropol Krai encompasses the central part of the Fore-Caucasus and most of the northern slopes of Caucasus Major. It borders on Rostov Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, the Republic of Kalmykia, the Republic of Dagestan, the Chechen Republic, the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, the Kabardino-Balkar Republic, and the Karachay–Cherkess Republic.
Stavropol is traversed by the northeasterly lines of equal latitude and longitude.
According to the 2010 Census, the population of the krai is 2,786,281; up from 2,735,139 recorded in the 2002 Census and further up from 2,410,379 recorded in the 1989 Census. The population of the krai is concentrated in the Kuban River and the Kuma River drainage basin, which used to be traditional Cossack land (see History of Cossacks). The Kuban Cossacks are now generally considered to be ethnic Russians, even though they are still an important minority in their own right in this area. Other notable ethnic groups include the Armenians (mostly Christian Hamsheni) and Greeks who have been settling here since at least the 18th century.
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Sukhumi
Sukhumi (Abkhaz: Аҟәа, Aqwa; Georgian: სოხუმი, Sokhumi; Russian: Сухум or Сухуми, Sukhum or Sukhumi) is the capital of Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. The city suffered heavily during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in the early 1990s.
In Abkhaz, the city is known as Аҟәа (Aqwa) which according to native tradition signifies water. In Georgian, the city is known as სოხუმი (Sokhumi) or აყუ (Aqu), in Megrelian as აყუჯიხა (Aqujikha), and in Russian as Сухум (Sukhum) or Сухуми (Sukhumi).
The etymology of the name Sokhumi is disputed. The medieval Georgian sources knew the town as Tskhumi (ცხუმი). Later, under the Ottoman control, the town was known in Turkish as Suhum-Kale, which can be derived from the earlier Georgian form Tskhumi or can be read to mean 'water-sand fortress'. Tskhumi in turn is supposed to be derived from the Svan language word for 'hot', or the Georgian word for 'hornbeam tree'. The competing etymologies have been used as putative evidence in the argument over the ethnicity of Sukhumi's historical inhabitants.[citation needed]
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Sukhumi district
Sukhumi district is a district of Abkhazia, Georgia’s breakaway republic. It corresponds to the eponymous Georgian district. Its capital is Sukhumi, the town by the same name, which is also the capital of entire Abkhazia. The population of the district is 11,747 according to the 2003 census. The city of Sukhumi is a separate administrative entity with more than 40,000 inhabitants.
According to 2003 census, the population of the district included:
The district's main settlements are:
On 2 April 2003, President Ardzinba dismissed Lev Avidzba and appointed State Security Service Chairman Zurab Agumava as acting District Head.
On 21 February 2007, before the local elections, President Bagapsh temporarily prolonged Vladimir Avidzba tenure as Head of the District Administration. After Avidzba was re-elected, he was permanently re-appointed on 21 March.
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Tbilisi
Tbilisi (Georgian: თბილისი [tʰb̥ilisi] ( listen)) is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi (ტფილისი) and it was officially known as Tpilisi (in Georgian) or Tiflis (in Russian) until 1936. The city covers an area of 726 km2 (280 sq mi) and has 1,480,000 inhabitants.
Founded in the 5th century by Vakhtang Gorgasali, the monarch of Georgia's precursor Kingdom of Iberia, Tbilisi has served, with various intervals, as Georgia's capital for nearly 1500 years and represents a significant industrial, social, and cultural center of the country. Located near the southeastern edge of Europe, Tbilisi's proximity to lucrative east-west trade routes often made the city a point of contention between various rival empires throughout history and the city's location to this day ensures its position as an important transit route for global energy and trade projects. Tbilisi's varied history is reflected in its architecture, which is a mix of medieval, classical, and Soviet structures.
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Tkvarcheli
Tkvarcheli (Abkhaz: Тҟəарчал, Tqwarchal; Georgian: ტყვარჩელი, Tqvarcheli; Russian: Ткуарчал or Ткварчели, Tkuarchal or Tkvarcheli) is a town in Abkhazia. It is situated on the river Ghalidzga (Aaldzga) and the railroad connects it with Ochamchira.
Tkvarcheli was given town-status on 9 April 1942 as the coal-mining (that had started in its vicinity in 1935) grew in importance during the World War II as the major coal mines of Donbass were temporarily lost to the Germans.
During the War in Abkhazia (1992-3), Tkvarcheli withheld, through Russian humanitarian and military aid, an uneasy siege by the Georgian forces. Since 1995 it is the centre of the newly formed Tkvarcheli district. On 27 September 2008, President Sergei Bagapsh awarded it the honorary title of Hero City.
The coal-mining has been the town's main industry ever since although now the Soviet mines are closed and coal is quarried only by the Abkhaz-Turkish Tamsaş company using the open pit method. Tamsaş's tax payments account for 75% of the Tkvarcheli district's budget, however the company was criticised for neglecting environmental requirements. Construction of a new cement plant is planned now, its output to be used for the Olympic construction projects in Sochi. Georgia regards all this investment as illegal, in clear violation of the 1996 CIS restrictions and has arrested several vessels, loaded with coal from Tkvarcheli, in its territorial waters, a measure that has reportedly brought Tamsaş to the verge of bankruptcy.
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Tkvarcheli district
Tquarchal district is a district of the Republic of Abkhazia. It has no equivalent Georgian district, as it was newly formed in 1995 from parts of Ochamchira District and Gali District, centered around its eponymous capital, Tkvarcheli (Abkhaz: Тҟәарчал Tqvarchal, Russian: Ткуарчал Tquarchal). The population of the district is 14,477 according to the 2003 census. Of note is Bedia Cathedral located within the district.
According to 2003 census, the population of the district included:
The coal-mining carried out by the Turkish Tamsaş company is the district's main industry and source of income as Tamsaş's tax payments account for 75% of its budget. The company was criticised for neglecting environmental requirements. Construction of a new cement plant is planned now, its output to be used for the Olympic construction projects in Sochi.
On 27 March 2003, Valeri Kharchilava announced at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers that he wanted to resign. On 31 March 2003, First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Daur Arshba was appointed the new Administration Head.
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Tori (Georgia)
Tori (Georgian: თორი) is a historic region in central Georgia, now part of the Samtskhe-Javakheti region, together with Javakheti and Meskheti. It borders on Trialeti to the east, Imereti to the northwest and Shida Kartli to the northeast. The province chiefly lay in what is now known as the Borjomi Gorge. In medieval Georgia, Tori was in hereditary possession of the Gamrekeli (Toreli) family. The name "Tori" went obsolete in the 15th century. Around the same time, it became a hereditary fiefdom of the Avalishvili family.
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Transnistria
Transnistria (also called "Trans-Dniestr" or "Transdniestria") is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine. Since its declaration of independence in 1990, and especially after the War of Transnistria in 1992, it is governed as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR, also known as "Pridnestrovie"), a state with limited recognition which claims the territory to the east of the river Dniester, the city of Bender and its surrounding localities located on the west bank. The Republic of Moldova does not recognize the secession and considers the territories controlled by the PMR to be part of Moldova's autonomous region of Stînga Nistrului ("Left Bank of the Dniester").
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Trialeti
Trialeti (Georgian: თრიალეთი) is a mountainous area in central Georgia. In Georgian its name means "a place of wandering". The Trialeti Range is a part of the greater Trialeti Region.
Coordinates: 41°30′N 44°10′E / 41.5°N 44.167°E / 41.5; 44.167
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Turkey
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.
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Tusheti
Coordinates: 42°30′N 45°30′E / 42.5°N 45.5°E / 42.5; 45.5
Tusheti (Georgian: თუშეთი) is a historic region in northeast Georgia.
Located on the northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, Tusheti is bordered by the Russian republics of Chechnya and Dagestan to the north and east, respectively; and by the Georgian historic provinces Kakheti and Pshav-Khevsureti to the south and west, respectively. The population of the area is mainly ethnic Georgians called Tushs or Tushetians (Georgian: tushebi).
Historically, Tusheti comprised four mountain communities of the Alazani Valley. These are Tsova, Gometzari, Chaghma and the Piriq’iti Tusheti (formerly known as Pharsman's Tusheti). Included in the present day Akhmeta raioni, Kakheti region, Georgia, the area comprises ten villages with Omalo being the largest.
The area is thought to have long been inhabited by the Tush, a subgroup of Georgians, which themselves divide into two groups- the Chagma-Tush (Georgian name, used for Tush who speak the local Georgian dialect) and Tsova-Tush (Nakh-speaking Tush, better known as Bats or Batsbi). It is uncertain whether ethnic Georgians were there first or whether Bats were. There are two major theories on the origins of the Bats (with various variations).
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Tuvalu
Tuvalu (i/tuːˈvɑːluː/ too-VAH-loo or /ˈtuːvəluː/ TOO-və-loo), formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls spread out from 6° to 10° south. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. Its population of 10,544 makes it the third-least populous sovereign state in the world, with only Vatican City and Nauru having fewer inhabitants. In terms of physical land size, at just 26 square kilometres (10 sq mi) Tuvalu is the fourth smallest country in the world, larger only than the Vatican City at 0.44 km2 (0.17 sq mi), Monaco at 1.98 km2 (0.76 sq mi) and Nauru at 21 km2 (8.1 sq mi).
The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesian people. In 1568 Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña sailed through the islands and is understood to have sighted Nui during his expedition in search of Terra Australis. In 1819 the island of Funafuti was named Ellice's Island; the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands after the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay (1812–1876). The islands came under Britain's sphere of influence in the late 19th century, when the Ellice Islands were declared a British protectorate by Captain Gibson, R. N. of HMS Curaçao between 9th and 16 October 1892. The Ellice Islands were administered as British protectorate by a Resident Commissioner from 1892 to 1916 as part of the British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT), and later as part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony from 1916 to 1974.
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Ukraine
Ukraine (i/juːˈkreɪn/ yew-KRAYN; Ukrainian: Україна, transliterated: Ukrayina, [ukrɑˈjinɑ]; Russian: Украина; Crimean Tatar: Ukraina) is a country in Central and Eastern Europe. Ukraine borders the Russian Federation to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after the Russian Federation.
According to a popular and well established theory, the medieval state of Kievan Rus was established by the Varangians in the 9th century as the first historically recorded East Slavic state which emerged as a powerful nation in the Middle Ages until it disintegrated in the 12th century. By the middle of the 14th century, Ukrainian territories were under the rule of three external powers—the Golden Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Kingdom of Poland. After the Great Northern War (1700–1721) Ukraine was divided between a number of regional powers and, by the 19th century, the largest part of Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire with the rest under Austro-Hungarian control. A chaotic period of incessant warfare ensued, with several internationally recognized attempts at independence from 1917 to 1921, following World War I and the Russian Civil War. Ukraine emerged from its own civil war, and on December 30, 1922 Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic became one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian SSR's territory was enlarged westward during the civil war shortly before, and after World War II, and further south in 1954 with the Crimea transfer. In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the founding members of the United Nations.
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Vanuatu
Vanuatu (Englishi/ˌvɑːnuːˈɑːtuː/ vah-noo-AH-too or /vænˈwɑːtuː/ van-WAH-too; Bislama IPA: [vanuaˈtu]), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (French: République de Vanuatu, Bislama: Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some 1,750 kilometres (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 500 kilometres (310 mi) northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.
Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesian people. The first Europeans to visit the islands were the members of a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Fernandes de Queirós who arrived in Espiritu Santo in 1605. In the 1880s France and the United Kingdom claimed parts of the country, and in 1906 they agreed on a framework for jointly managing the archipelago as the New Hebrides through a British–French Condominium. An independence movement arose in the 1970s, and the Republic of Vanuatu was created in 1980.
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Venezuela
Venezuela (i/ˌvɛnɨˈzweɪlə/ VEN-ə-ZWAY-lə), officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela [repuˈβlika βoliβaˈɾjana ðe βeneˈswela]), is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south. Its northern coastline of roughly 2,800 kilometres (1,700 mi) includes numerous islands in the Caribbean Sea, and in the north east borders the northern Atlantic Ocean. Caribbean islands such as Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Curaçao, Bonaire, Aruba and the Leeward Antilles lie near the Venezuelan coast. Venezuela's territory covers around 916,445 square kilometres (353,841 sq mi) with an estimated population of 29,105,632. Venezuela is considered a state with extremely high biodiversity, with habitats ranging from the Andes mountains in the west to the Amazon Basin rainforest in the south, via extensive llanos plains and Caribbean coast in the center and the Orinoco River Delta in the east.
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Voronezh
Voronezh (Russian: Воро́неж; IPA: [vɐˈronʲɪʂ]) is a city and the administrative center of Voronezh Oblast, Russia, located on both sides of the Voronezh River, 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) from where it flows into the Don. It is an operating center of the Southeastern Railway (connecting European Russia with Ural and Siberia, as well as Caucasus and Ukraine), as well as the center of the Don Highway (Moscow—Rostov-on-Don). Population: 889,989 (2010 Census preliminary results).
The Voronezh River was first mentioned in the Hypatian Codex in 1177, but human settlement on the site is attested since the Stone Age by archeological finds. Recent findings may push the city's foundation date as far back as the 4th century CE. The current official version, however, states that the present city was founded in 1585 by Feodor I as a fort protecting the Russian state from the raids of Crimean and Nogay Tatars. The city is named for the river, itself named for an earlier city destroyed by the Mongol invasion, whose name in turn was borrowed from a place name in the Principality of Chernigov, derived from the Slavic personal name Voroneg.
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Zugdidi
Zugdidi (Georgian: ზუგდიდი; Mingrelian: ზუგიდი, literally "big hill") is a city in the Western Georgian historical province of Samegrelo (Mingrelia). It is situated in the north-west of that province. The city is located 318 kilometres west of Tbilisi, 30 km. from Black sea coast and 30 km. from Egrisi range. 100–110 metres above sea level. As of 2007, it had a population of 75,900. The city is a capital of the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region which combines Samegrelo (Mingrelia) and Svaneti.
The name "Zugdidi" means "big/great hill" in Laz-Mingrelian (Colchian) language. Architectural sights of this city are Queen's palace and Niko's palace (now the Dadiani Palace museums. both of XIXth cent.), Blachernae St. Virgin (1825-30 y.) and Mantskhvar-kari (X-XIVth cent.) Churches. There are also an old Botanical Garden (Queen's Garden) and the city boulevard.
Historically Zugdidi was a capital of principality of Mingrelia (Odishi) until 1867, when the principality was abolished by the Russian Empire. In 1993 there was an administration of first President of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia.
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Abkhaz people
The Abkhaz or Abkhazians (Abkhaz: Аҧсуа, Apswa) are a Caucasian ethnic group, mainly living in Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. A large Abkhaz diaspora population resides in Turkey, the origins of which lie in the emigration from the Caucasus in the late 19th century known as muhajirism. Many Abkhaz also live in other parts of the former Soviet Union, particularly in Russia and Ukraine.
The Abkhaz language belongs to the Northwest Caucasian languages group. Classical sources speak of several tribes dwelling in the region, but their exact identity and location remains controversial. The Abasgoi and Apsilai of the Graeco-Roman authors are considered as the predecessors of modern-day Abkhaz.
The integration of various smaller ethnic subgroups into the modern-day Abkhaz people was basically completed by the late 10th century, but some of these groups were deprived of their homeland when the Russian conquest of northwestern Caucasus forced them to become muhajirun and emigrate to the Ottoman possessions.
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Alexander Ankvab
Aleksandr Ankvab (Abkhaz: Алеқсандр Анқәаб, Russian: Александр Золотинскович Анкваб; born December 26, 1952) is an Abkhaz politician and businessman who has been President of Abkhazia since 2011. Under President Sergei Bagapsh, he previously served as Prime Minister from 2005 to 2010 and Vice-President from 2010 to 2011.
In the 4 October 2004 presidential election, Ankvab supported Bagapsh's candidacy following his own exclusion by the Central Election Commission; he was subsequently appointed as Prime Minister by Bagapsh in February 2005.
Ankvab was appointed acting President of Abkhazia after President Bagapsh underwent an operation on May 21, 2011. Following the operation, Bagapsh died on May 29, 2011 and Ankvab served as Acting President until winning election in his own right later in 2011.
Ankvab survived six attempts on his life from 2005 to 2012, last time as a president on February 22, 2012, when his convoy was ambushed in Abkhazia, killing two of his guards.
Born in the Abkhazian capital Sukhumi, Ankvab graduated with a degree in law from the Rostov State University in southern Russia and worked in the Komsomol, the Justice Ministry of the Abkhaz ASSR, and the Interior Ministry of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic until his resignation in 1990.
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Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians (Armenian: հայեր, Armenian pronunciation: [hɑˈjɛɾ]) are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.
The largest concentration is in Armenia, having a nearly homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian. Because of wide-ranging and long-lasting diaspora, an estimated total of 3 million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry live outside of Armenia. As a result of the Armenian Genocide, a large number of survivors fled to many countries throughout the world, most notably the Russian Empire, the Near East, the United States, France, Iran, Georgia and other parts of Europe (see Armenian diaspora).
Christianity began to spread in Armenia soon after Jesus's death, due to the efforts of two of his apostles, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew In the early 4th century, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion. Most Armenians adhere to the Armenian Apostolic Church, a non-Chalcedonian church, which is also the world's oldest national church.
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Arrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon' (ca. AD 86 - 160), known in English as Arrian[pronunciation?] (Ἀρριανός), and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman (ethnic Greek) historian, public servant, military commander and philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period. As with other authors of the Second Sophistic, Arrian wrote primarily in Attic (Indica is in Herodotus' Ionic dialect, his philosophical works in Koine Greek) .
Anabasis of Alexander is perhaps his best known work and is generally considered one of the best sources on the campaigns of Alexander the Great, not to be confused with Anabasis, then best-known work of the Athenian military leader and author Xenophon from the 4th century BC. Arrian is also considered as one of the founders of a primarily military-based focus on history. His other works include Discourses of Epictetus and Indica.
Arrian was born of Greek ethnicity in the coastal town of Nicomedia (present-day Izmit), the capital of the Roman province of Bithynia, in what is now north-western Turkey, about 70 km from Byzantium (later Constantinople, now Istanbul). He studied philosophy in Nicopolis in Epirus, under the Stoic philosopher Epictetus, and wrote two books about the philosopher's teachings. At the same time he entered the Imperial service, and served as a junior adviser on the consilium of Gaius Avidius Nigrinus, governor of Achaea and a close friend of the future Emperor Hadrian, around 111-114. Very little is known about his subsequent career - though it is probable that he served in Gaul and on the Danube frontier, and possible that he was in Baetica and Parthia - until he held the office of Consul in 129 or 130. In 131 he was appointed governor of the Black Sea province of Cappadocia and commander of the Roman legions on the frontier with Armenia. It was unusual at this time for a Greek to hold such high military command.
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Bagrat Shinkuba
Bagrat Uasyl-ipa Shinkuba, (Abkhaz: Баграҭ Уасыл-иҧа Шьынқәба; Russian: Баграт Васильевич Шинкуба) (Born 12 May 1917, Chlou, Ochamchira District, Georgia — died 25 February 2004) was an Abkhaz writer, poet, historian, linguist and politician. He studied history and languages of Abkhaz, Adyghe and Ubykh people. His novel "The Last of the Departed" is dedicated to the tragic destiny of Ubykh nation, which became extinct along a hundred of years.
In 1958—1978 he was the Chairman of the Supreme Council Presidium of the Abkhaz Autonomous Republic.
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Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon (Hangul: 반기문; Hanja: 潘基文; born 13 June 1944) is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he graduated from university, accepting his first post in New Delhi, India. In the foreign ministry he established a reputation for modesty and competence .
Ban was the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea from January 2004 to November 2006. In February 2006, he began to campaign for the office of Secretary-General. Ban was initially considered to be a long shot for the office. As foreign minister of South Korea, however, he was able to travel to all of the countries that were members of the United Nations Security Council, a maneuver that turned him into the front runner.
On 11 October 2006, he was elected to be the eighth Secretary-General by the United Nations General Assembly and officially succeeded Annan on 1 January 2007. Ban has led several major reforms regarding peacekeeping and UN employment practices. Diplomatically, Ban has taken particularly strong views on Darfur, where he helped persuade Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to allow peacekeeping troops to enter Sudan; and on global warming, pressing the issue repeatedly with former U.S. President George W. Bush. Ban has received strong criticism from OIOS, the UN internal audit unit, stating that the secretariat, under Ban's leadership, is "drifting into irrelevance".
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Belarusians
Belarusians (Belarusian: беларусы, biełarusy, Russian: белорусы, byelorusy) are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. There are over 8 million people who associate themselves with the Belarusian nationality today.
Belarusians also form minorities in neighboring Poland (especially in the Podlaskie Voivodeship), Russia and Lithuania. At the beginning of 20th century Belarusians constituted a majority in the regions around Smolensk.[citation needed]
Noticeable numbers have emigrated to the United States, Brazil and Canada in the early 20th century. During Soviet times, many Belarusians were deported or migrated to various regions of the USSR, including Siberia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
Since the breakup of the USSR several hundred thousand have emigrated to the European Union, United States, Canada and Russia.
The most spoken language in Belarus is Russian, principally spoken by 72% of the population, while the other official language, Belarusian, is only used by 11.9% in every day life. Statistical data shows that Belarusian is fluently communicated, read and written by 29.4%, while 52.5% of the population can communicate and read in Belarusian. Belarusian is a language of the Eastern Slavic group.
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Chechnya
The Chechen Republic ( /ˈtʃɛtʃɨn/; Russian: Чече́нская Респу́блика, Chechenskaya Respublika; Chechen: Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika), commonly referred to as Chechnya (/ˈtʃɛtʃniə/; Russian: Чечня́, Chechnya; Chechen: Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria (English: Land of Minerals), is a federal subject of Russia (a republic). It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny. Population: 1,268,989 (2010 Census).
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Chechen-Ingush ASSR was split into two: the Republic of Ingushetia and the Chechen Republic. The latter proclaimed the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, which sought independence. Following the First Chechen War with Russia, Chechnya gained de facto independence as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Russian federal control was restored during the Second Chechen War. Since then there has been a systematic reconstruction and rebuilding process, though sporadic fighting continues in the mountains and southern regions of the republic.
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Colchis
In ancient geography, Colchis or Kolkhis (Georgian and Laz: კოლხეთი, ḳolkheti or "ḳolkha"; Ancient Greek: Κολχίς, Kolkhís) was an ancient Georgianstatekingdom and region in Western Georgia, which played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the Georgian nation.
The Kingdom of Colchis contributed significantly to the development of medieval Georgian statehood after its unification with the eastern Georgian Kingdom of Iberia. The term Colchians is used as the collective term for early Georgian tribes which populated the eastern coast of the Black Sea.
In Greek mythology, Colchis was the home of Aeëtes and Medea and the destination of the Argonauts; Colchis is also thought to be the possible homeland of the Amazons. Its geography is mostly assigned to what is now the western part of Georgia and encompasses the present-day Georgian provinces of Samegrelo, Imereti, Guria, Adjara, Abkhazeti, Svaneti, Racha; the modern Turkey’s Rize, Trabzon and Artvin provinces (Lazistan, Tao-Klarjeti); and the modern Russia’s Sochi and Tuapse districts. The Colchians were probably established on the Black Sea coast by the Middle Bronze Age.
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Crater lake
A crater lake is a lake that forms in a volcanic crater or caldera, such as a maar; less commonly and with lower association to the term a lake may form in an impact crater caused by a meteorite, or in an artificial explosion caused by humans. Sometimes lakes which form inside calderas are called caldera lakes, but often this distinction is not made. Crater lakes covering active (fumarolic) volcanic vents are sometimes known as volcanic lakes, and the water within them is often acidic, saturated with volcanic gases, and cloudy with a strong greenish color. Lakes located in dormant or extinct volcanoes tend to have fresh water, and the water clarity in such lakes can be exceptional due to the lack of inflowing streams and sediment.
Lava lakes, a rare phenomenon where a volcanic crater can sustainably contain a significant volume of molten lava, are discussed in a separate article.
Crater lakes form as precipitation within the rim fills the created depression. The water level rises until an equilibrium is reached between the rate of incoming and outgoing water. Sources of water loss singly or together, may include evaporation, subsurface seepage, and in places, surface leakage or overflow when the lake level reaches the lowest point on its rim. At such a saddle location, the upper portion of the lake is contained only by its adjacent natural volcanic dam; continued leakage through or surface outflow across the dam can erode its included material, thus lowering lake level until a new equilibrium of water flow, erosion and rock resistance is established. If the volcanic dam portion erodes rapidly or fails catastrophically, the occurrence produces a breakout or outburst flood. With changes in environmental conditions over time, the occurrence of such floods is common to all natural dam types.
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Daniel Ortega
José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (Spanish pronunciation: [xo̞ˈse̞ ðaˈnje̞l o̞rˈte̞ɣa saˈβe̞ðɾa]; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguan politician. He is the current President of Nicaragua (since 2007), a position he has held previously between 1985 and 1990. A leader in the socialist Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN), his policies in government have seen the implementation of leftist reforms across Nicaragua.
Born into a working class family, from an early age Ortega developed a hatred of the ruling President Anastasio Somoza Debayle, who was widely seen as a dictator, and became involved in the underground movement to oppose Somoza's regime. Joining the Sandinistas, he also travelled to Cuba to receive training in guerilla warfare from Fidel Castro's Marxist-Leninist government. After the Nicaraguan Revolution resulted in the overthrow and exile of the Somoza's government in 1979, Ortega became a member of the ruling multipartisan Junta of National Reconstruction and was later elected president, serving from 1985 to 1990. At the time a Marxist-Leninist, his first period in office was characterized by a controversial program of land reform, wealth redistribution and literacy programs. Such leftist reforms damaged U.S. economic interests in the country, gaining hostility from the U.S.'s governing Reagan administration, who funded a right wing militia, the Contras, to overthrow Ortega's government.
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Dmitry Gulia
Dmitry Gulia (Abkhaz: Дырмит Иасыф-иҧа Гәлиа; 9 February 1874 – 7 April 1960) was an Abkhazian Soviet writer and poet, considered to be one of the founders of Abkhaz literature.
Dmitry Iosifovich Gulia was born in the village of Uarcha in the modern Gulripsh District of Abkhazia to a peasant family. Gulia studied at a teacher seminary in the city of Gori. In 1892 together with Konstantin Machavariani he compiled Abkhaz alphabet based on Cyrillic characters. In his poetry collection (1912) the poet expressed the hopes of Abkhaz people for the beautiful future and hatred towards any injustice. In 1921 Gulia organized and headed the first Abkhaz theater group. He was an editor of the first Abkhaz newspaper Apsny (Abkhazia). His diverse activities reached the culmination in the Soviet times. His lyrics are penetrated with the pathos of creation, friendship, and unity of nations (epics Song about Abkhazia, 1940, Autumn in the Countryside, 1946, etc.). Gulia wrote the first Abkhaz novella, Under Someone Else's Sky (1919). In the novel Kamachich (1940), he depicted the life of Abkhazians during the czarism and joyless destiny of a woman. Gulia's role in Abkhaz culture development is enormous. He authored works on language, history, and ethnography of the Abkhaz, chrestomathies and textbooks. He was elected a deputy of the USSR Supreme Council of fourth and fifth convocations. He was awarded the Order of Lenin. He held in the newspaper Apsny, that he created, a weekly rubric about abkhazian dominoes.
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Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (Russian: Дми́трий Анато́льевич Медве́дев, tr. Dmitriy Anatolyevich Medvedev; IPA: [ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪˈdvʲedʲɪf] (
listen); born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician who has been Prime Minister of Russia since 2012. He previously served as President of Russia from 2008 to 2012.
Born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. He defended his dissertation in 1990 and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed to Saint Petersburg State University, where he taught civil and Roman law until 1999. Medvedev's political career began as the election campaign manager and later an adviser of St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. During this time, Medvedev befriended Vladimir Putin. In November 1999, Medvedev was hired in the Russian presidential administration, where he worked as deputy chief of staff. In the 2000 Presidential elections, Medvedev was Putin's campaign manager. On 14 November 2005, Medvedev was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister and was tasked with overseeing National Priority Projects. He also worked as the Chairman of Gazprom's board of directors, a post which he held until 2008.
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Eduard Kokoity
Eduard Dzhabeyevich Kokoity (born 31 October 1964) is the former President of South Ossetia. His term in office lasted just over ten years, beginning December 2001 and ending December 2011.
Eduard Kokoity (Ossetic: Кокойты Джабейы фырт Эдуард, Kokojty Džabejy fyrt Eduard; Russian: Эдуард Джабеевич Кокойты; Georgian: ედუარდ ჯაბეს ძე კოკოითი, Eduard Jabes dze K'ok'oiti; surname also rendered as Kokoyty or Kokoiti or in a Russified version as Kokoyev) was born in Tskhinvali, in the Georgian SSR, a part of the Soviet Union at the time. He was a member, and champion, of the Soviet Union's national wrestling team. Prior to 1989, he was the First Secretary of the Tskhinvali branch of the Komsomol, the Young Communist League. He moved to Moscow in 1992, where he became a businessman, after learning about capitalism. In 2001, he moved back to South Ossetia.
Kokoity was elected president, at the age of 38, with a majority in the presidential elections of November–December 2001. In the first round of the elections on 18 November 2001, he collected 45% of the vote, with Stanislav Kochiev collecting 24%, and incumbent Lyudvig Chibirov collecting 21%. In the Second and final round, he won 53% of the vote to Stanislav Kochiev's 40% on 6 December. Kokoity assumed office on 18 December 2001.
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Eduard Shevardnadze
Eduard Shevardnadze (Georgian: ედუარდ შევარდნაძე [ɛduard ʃɛvardnad͡zɛ]; born 25 January 1928) is a former Soviet, and later, Georgian statesman from the height to the end of the Cold War. He served as President of Georgia from 1995 to 2003, and as First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party (GPC, the de facto leader of Soviet Georgia), from 1972 to 1985. Shevardnadze was responsible for many top decisions on Soviet foreign policy in the Gorbachev Era. He was forced to retire in 2003 as a consequence of the bloodless Rose Revolution.
Shevardnadze's political career started in the late 1940s as a leading member of his local Komsomol organisation. He was later appointed its Second Secretary, and even First Secretary. His rise up the Georgian Soviet hierarchy continued until 1961 when he was demoted after he insulted a senior official. After spending two years in obscurity, Shevardnadze's returned as a First Secretary of a Tbilisi city district, and was able to charge the Tbilisi First Secretary at the time for corruption. His anti-corruption work quickly garnered the interest of the Soviet government, and Shevardnadze was appointed to First Deputy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR. He would later become the head of the internal affairs ministry and was able to charge First Secretary (leader of Soviet Georgia) Vasil Mzhavanadze for corruption charges.
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Edvard Shevardnadze
Eduard Shevardnadze (Georgian: ედუარდ შევარდნაძე [ɛduard ʃɛvardnad͡zɛ]; born 25 January 1928) is a former Soviet, and later, Georgian statesman from the height to the end of the Cold War. He served as President of Georgia from 1995 to 2003, and as First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party (GPC, the de facto leader of Soviet Georgia), from 1972 to 1985. Shevardnadze was responsible for many top decisions on Soviet foreign policy in the Gorbachev Era. He was forced to retire in 2003 as a consequence of the bloodless Rose Revolution.
Shevardnadze's political career started in the late 1940s as a leading member of his local Komsomol organisation. He was later appointed its Second Secretary, and even First Secretary. His rise up the Georgian Soviet hierarchy continued until 1961 when he was demoted after he insulted a senior official. After spending two years in obscurity, Shevardnadze's returned as a First Secretary of a Tbilisi city district, and was able to charge the Tbilisi First Secretary at the time for corruption. His anti-corruption work quickly garnered the interest of the Soviet government, and Shevardnadze was appointed to First Deputy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Georgian SSR. He would later become the head of the internal affairs ministry and was able to charge First Secretary (leader of Soviet Georgia) Vasil Mzhavanadze for corruption charges.
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Emzar Kvitsiani
Emzar Kvitsiani (born April 25, 1961, Chkhalta, Abkhaz ASSR, Georgian SSR, USSR) was a Georgian presidential representative in the Kodori Gorge.
A former envoy of Eduard Shevardnadze in the gorge, he declared disobedience to president Mikheil Saakashvili who succeeded Shevardnadze after the Rose Revolution. When government forces came to Kodori gorge to disarm Kvitsiani and roughly 200 supporters, they were met with armed resistance. Kvitsiani opened fire on the Special Forces, who were jointly commanded by the Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili and Defence Minister Irakli Okruashvili. In the aftermath of the operation, Kvitsiani fled the scene, leaving a considerable amount of weapons behind, including Russian Igla and Strela anti-aircraft guns. It is suspected that Kvitsiani received these weapons and other support from Abkhaz separatists, who are themselves well supported by Russia. Kvitsiani is wanted by Georgian Police, who have offered a reward of 100,000 Lari (approximately 60,000 USD) to whoever provides information concerning his whereabouts or helps police capture the militiaman.
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Fazil Iskander
Fazil Abdulovich Iskander (Russian: Фази́ль Абду́лович Исканде́р; born 6 March 1929, Sukhumi, USSR) is arguably the most famous Abkhaz writer, renowned in the former Soviet Union for his vivid descriptions of Caucasian life, mostly written in Russian. He has written various stories, most famously "Zashita Chika", which star a crafty and likable young boy named "Chik".
The most famous intellectual of Abkhazia, he first became well known in the mid-1960s along with other representatives of the "young prose" movement like Yury Kazakov and Vasily Aksyonov, especially for what is perhaps his best story,Sozvezdie kozlotura (1966), variously translated as "The Goatibex Constellation," "The Constellation of the Goat-Buffalo," and "Constellation of Capritaurus." It is written from the point of view of a young newspaperman who returns to his native Abkhazia, joins the staff of a local newspaper, and is caught up in the publicity campaign for a newly produced farm animal, a cross between a goat and a West Caucasian tur (Capra caucasica); a "remarkable satire of Lysenko's genetics and Khrushchev's agricultural campaigns, it was harshly criticized for showing the Soviet Union in a bad light."
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Georgian people
The Georgians (Georgian: ქართველები, kartvelebi) are Caucasian ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America.
The majority of Georgians are Eastern Orthodox Christian and largely adhere to the national autocephalous Georgian Orthodox Church, which originated in the 4th century. There are also Georgian Catholic and Muslim communities in Tbilisi and Adjara.
The Georgian people went through a complex process of nation-formation and currently comprise a diverse set of geographic subgroups, each with its characteristic traditions, manners, dialect and, in the case of Mingrelians and Svans, language. The Georgian language, with its own alphabet and long written tradition going back to the 5th century, is the language of literacy and education of all Georgians living in Georgia as well as the official language of the country. Georgian, Mingrelian and Svan, together with Laz spoken by the related Laz people form the Kartvelian language family.
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Georgians
The Georgians (Georgian: ქართველები, kartvelebi) are Caucasian ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America.
The majority of Georgians are Eastern Orthodox Christian and largely adhere to the national autocephalous Georgian Orthodox Church, which originated in the 4th century. There are also Georgian Catholic and Muslim communities in Tbilisi and Adjara.
The Georgian people went through a complex process of nation-formation and currently comprise a diverse set of geographic subgroups, each with its characteristic traditions, manners, dialect and, in the case of Mingrelians and Svans, language. The Georgian language, with its own alphabet and long written tradition going back to the 5th century, is the language of literacy and education of all Georgians living in Georgia as well as the official language of the country. Georgian, Mingrelian and Svan, together with Laz spoken by the related Laz people form the Kartvelian language family.
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Giorgi Baramia
Giorgi Baramia (Georgian: გიორგი ბარამია) (February 25, 1966) is a Georgian diplomat and the chairman of the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia (-in exile) since June 15, 2009.
Born in Sukhumi, Abkhaz ASSR, Georgian SSR, Baramia graduated from the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture of Georgia in 1987 and worked as an agronomist and later as a tax official in Abkhazia from 1988 to 1993. The secessionist war in Abkhazia forced him to leave his homeland in 1993. He worked for the Abkhaz government-in-exile and for Georgia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2009, including being a consul in Thessaloniki, Greece (2007—2009). In June 2009, he was elected a chairman of the Tbilisi-based Abkhazian government-in-exile, succeeding on this post Malkhaz Akishbaia.
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Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes (Greek: Ἕλληνες, [ˈelines]), are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and other regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world.
Greek colonies and communities have been historically established in most corners of the Mediterranean, but Greeks have always been centered around the Aegean Sea, where the Greek language has been spoken since antiquity. Until the early 20th century, Greeks were uniformly distributed between the Greek peninsula, the western coast of Asia Minor, Pontus, Egypt, Cyprus and Constantinople; many of these regions coincided to a large extent with the borders of the Byzantine Empire of the late 11th century and the Eastern Mediterranean areas of the ancient Greek colonization.
In the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), a large-scale population exchange between Greece and Turkey transferred and confined Christians from Turkey, except Constantinople (effectively ethnic Greeks) into the borders of the modern Greek state and Cyprus. Other ethnic Greek populations can be found from southern Italy to the Caucasus and in diaspora communities in a number of other countries. Today, most Greeks are officially registered as members of the Greek Orthodox Church.
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Hereti
The Kingdom of Hereti (Georgian: ჰერეთის სამეფო, heretis samepo) was a Georgian kingdom in the medieval Caucasus on the Georgian-Albanian frontier. Nowadays it roughly corresponds to the southeastern corner of Georgia's Kakheti region and a portion of Azerbaijan's northwestern districts.
The area was inhabited in earliest times by Hers (referred to as Èrs as well), Sujs, Tchilbs, and Lbins. Collectively called Hers (Heretians), these tribes came under the rule of the Iberian kingdom in the 5th century BC.
With its decline, the area was gradually incorporated into the Iberian kingdom forming one of its duchies (saeristavo) in the 5th century and its peoples were eventually assimilated into the Georgians proper. It was when the name Hereti first appeared in the Georgian sources. According to traditional accounts, the name of the province originated from the legendary patriarch Heroes, the son of Thargamos, who founded the city of Hereti (later known as Khoranta) at the Alazani River.
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Ingushetia
The Republic of Ingushetia (Russian: Респу́блика Ингуше́тия, Respublika Ingushetiya; Ingush: ГӀалгӀай Мохк Ğalğaj Moxk) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic), located in the North Caucasus region with its capital at Magas. In terms of area, the republic is the smallest of Russia's federal subjects except for the two federal cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. It was established on June 4, 1992 after the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was split in two. The republic is home to the indigenous Ingush, a people of Vainakh ancestry. Population: 412,529 (2010 Census).
The name "Ingushetia" is derived from an ancient village of Ongusht (renamed in 1859 to Tarskaya and in 1944 transferred to North Ossetia) and the Georgian ending -eti, all together meaning "(land) where the Ingush live".
Ingushetia is one of Russia's poorest and most restive regions. The ongoing military conflict in neighboring Chechnya has occasionally spilled into Ingushetia, and the republic has been destabilized by corruption, a number of high-profile crimes (including kidnapping and murder of civilians by government security forces), anti-government protests, attacks on soldiers and officers, Russian military excesses and a deteriorating human rights situation.
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Javier Solana
Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga, KOGF (Spanish pronunciation: [fɾanˈθisko xaˈβjer soˈlana ðe maðaˈɾjaɣa], born 14 July 1942) is a Spanish physicist and Socialist politician. After serving in the Spanish government under Felipe González (1982–1995) and Secretary General of NATO (1995–1999), he was appointed the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary General of the Council of the European Union and Secretary-General of the Western European Union and held these posts from October 1999 until December 2009.
Solana was born in Madrid, Spain. He comes from a well-known Spanish family, being the grand nephew of Spanish League of Nations disarmament chief, diplomat, writer and European integrationist Salvador de Madariaga (Javier's grandfather, Rogelio de Madariaga y Castro and Salvador de Madariaga were cousins). His father was a chemistry professor, Luis Solana San Martín, who died when Javier was nineteen. His mother, Obdulia Madariaga Pérez, died in 2005. Javier is the third of five children. His older brother Luis was once imprisoned for his political activities opposing the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, subsequently became a distinguished leader in the Spanish telecommunications industry and was one of the first socialist members of the Trilateral Commission.
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Joseph Kobzon
Iosif (Joseph) Davydovich Kobzon (Russian: Иосиф Давыдович Кобзон; born September 11, 1937) is a Russian singer, known for his crooner style.
Kobzon was born to Jewish parents in the mining town of Chasiv Yar, in the Donbass region of Ukraine.
As a boy he demonstrated a talent for singing, winning numerous regional singing contests. He reached the national finals on two separate occasions, appearing in concerts dedicated to Joseph Stalin - a significant honour at the time.
Despite his talent for singing, Kobzon went on to technical school to study geology and mining, as this was considered a lucrative vocation in the Soviet Union following the Second World War. However, in 1956, following his contact with professional music instructors in the Soviet Army, he decided that music would be his preferred vocation.
In 1958 Kobzon officially started his singing career in Moscow, and enrolled to study at the Gnessin Institute. In the next few years he made valuable contacts in Moscow's entertainment world, and was eventually given a chance by composer Arkady Ostrovski to perform some of his music.
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Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин; born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Джугашвили; 18 December 1878 – 5 March 1953) was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution in Russia in 1917 and later held the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. While the office of the General Secretary was officially elective and not initially regarded as the top position in the Soviet state, Stalin managed to use it to consolidate more and more power in his hands after the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924 and gradually put down all opposition groups within the Communist Party. This included Leon Trotsky, a socialist theorist and the principal critic of Stalin among the early Soviet leaders, who was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929. Whereas Trotsky was an exponent of permanent revolution, it was Stalin's concept of socialism in one country that became the primary focus of Soviet politics.
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Lado Gurgenidze
Vladimer "Lado" Gurgenidze (Georgian: ვლადიმერ (ლადო) გურგენიძე) was born on 7 December 1970 in Tbilisi, Georgia. Lado has received an MBA degree from Goizueta Business School of Emory University (Georgia, USA) in 1993, following his undergraduate studies at Middlebury College (Vermont, USA) and Tbilisi State University.
Lado Gurgenidze is a career banker. After a decade spent at several investment banks in Eastern Europe and London. Lado returned to his native Georgia following the Rose Revolution and spearheaded, as Executive Chairman and CEO, the turnaround of Bank of Georgia. During Lado’s three-year tenure Bank of Georgia’s Total Assets and Net Income increased by 854% and 1,779%, respectively. As its market share grew from 18% to 34%, Bank of Georgia became the leading universal bank in Georgia and in the region, with market capitalisation exceeding US$ 900 million at the time of Lado’s departure (up from US$30 million at the time of his arrival). Under Lado’s leadership Bank of Georgia became the first Georgian entity and the second bank from former Soviet Union to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange (November 2006), also the first-ever Georgian entity to issue international Eurobonds (February 2007) and obtain credit rating from all three major rating agencies (Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch Ratings). During Lado’s tenure, more than 100 institutional investors became shareholders of Bank of Georgia’s and the bank’s free float reached 94%. In 2000 Lado established the first Georgian full-service investment bank, Galt & Taggart Securities, where he served as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board (2004–2007). Lado also served as the member of the Supervisory Board of the Georgian Stock Exchange from 2004 until 2007. Under Lado’s management Bank of Georgia became the first Georgian bank to receive Euromoney Award for excellence; Bank of Georgia was also named as the Best Bank in Georgia by the Banker in 2006 and 2007.
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Lavrenti Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (Georgian: ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია, Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria; Russian: Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия; 29 March 1899 – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician, Marshal of the Soviet Union and state security administrator, chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus (NKVD) under Joseph Stalin during World War II, and Deputy Premier in the postwar years (1946–1953).
Beria was the longest lived and most influential of Stalin's secret police chiefs, wielding his most substantial influence during and after World War II. He simultaneously administered vast sections of the Soviet state and served as de facto Marshal of the Soviet Union in command of the NKVD field units responsible for anti-partisan operations on the Eastern Front during World War II, as well as for acting as barrier troops and the apprehension of thousands of "turncoats, deserters, cowards and suspected malingerers". Beria administered the vast expansion of the Gulag labor camps and was primarily responsible for overseeing the secret defense institutions known as sharashkas, critical to the war effort. He also played the decisive role in coordinating the Soviet partisans, developing an impressive intelligence and sabotage network behind German lines. He attended the Yalta Conference with Stalin, who introduced him to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt as "our Himmler". After the war, he organized the communist takeover of the countries of Central Europe and Eastern Europe. Beria's uncompromising ruthlessness in his duties and skill at producing results culminated in his success in overseeing the Soviet atomic bomb project. Stalin gave it absolute priority and the project was completed in under five years in no small part due to Soviet espionage against the West organized by Beria's NKVD.
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Lavrenty Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (Georgian: ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია, Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria; Russian: Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия; 29 March 1899 – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician, Marshal of the Soviet Union and state security administrator, chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus (NKVD) under Joseph Stalin during World War II, and Deputy Premier in the postwar years (1946–1953).
Beria was the longest lived and most influential of Stalin's secret police chiefs, wielding his most substantial influence during and after World War II. He simultaneously administered vast sections of the Soviet state and served as de facto Marshal of the Soviet Union in command of the NKVD field units responsible for anti-partisan operations on the Eastern Front during World War II, as well as for acting as barrier troops and the apprehension of thousands of "turncoats, deserters, cowards and suspected malingerers". Beria administered the vast expansion of the Gulag labor camps and was primarily responsible for overseeing the secret defense institutions known as sharashkas, critical to the war effort. He also played the decisive role in coordinating the Soviet partisans, developing an impressive intelligence and sabotage network behind German lines. He attended the Yalta Conference with Stalin, who introduced him to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt as "our Himmler". After the war, he organized the communist takeover of the countries of Central Europe and Eastern Europe. Beria's uncompromising ruthlessness in his duties and skill at producing results culminated in his success in overseeing the Soviet atomic bomb project. Stalin gave it absolute priority and the project was completed in under five years in no small part due to Soviet espionage against the West organized by Beria's NKVD.
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Laz people
The Laz (Lazi (ლაზი) or Lazepe (ლაზეფე) in Laz; Lazlar in Turkish; Lazi (ლაზი) or Č’ani (ჭანი) in Georgian) are an ethnic group native to the Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia. One of the chief tribes of ancient kingdom of Colchis, the Laz were initially early adopters of Christianity, and most of them subsequently converted to Sunni Islam during Ottoman rule of Caucasus in the 16th century.
The Laz of Turkey form two principal groups. One of these is indigenous to the eastern Black Sea province formerly known as Lazistan (modern Rize and Artvin provinces). The other group fled the Russian expansion later in the 19th century and settled in Adapazarı, Sapanca, Yalova and Bursa, in western and eastern parts of the Black Sea and Marmara regions, respectively. The Laz speak the Laz language, related to Mingrelian, Georgian and Svan (Kartvelian languages). Laz identity in Georgia has largely merged with a Georgian identity and the meaning of "Laz" is seen as merely a regional category, and are mainly concentrated in Ajaria.
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Leonid Lakerbaia
Leonid Lakerbaia (Abkhaz: Леонид Ла́крба, born 1 January 1947 in Kutaisi) is the Prime Minister of Abkhazia (since 27 September 2011) and chairman of the socio-political movement Aitaira (since 2001). Before becoming Prime Minister, Lakerbaia was Vice-Premier and First Vice-Premier in the government of President Bagapsh (since 24 February 2005) and he was Minister for Foreign Affairs from 29 June 1995 until 31 July 1996 under President Ardzinba. Lakerbaia was nominated by the People's Party to stand in the 1999 Presidential election but was refused registration by the Central Election Commission, allowing President Vladislav Ardzinba to run unopposed for a second term.
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Manuel Coronel Kautz
Manuel Coronel Kautz is Nicaragua's current (as of December 2007[update]) vice minister of foreign relations. He is the son of deceased poet and author José Coronel Urtecho.
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Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: Михаи́л Серге́евич Горбачёв, tr. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov; IPA: [mʲɪxɐˈil sʲɪrˈɡʲejəvʲɪtɕ ɡərbɐˈtɕof] ( listen); born 2 March 1931) is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the Soviet Union, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991. He was the only general secretary in the history of the Soviet Union to have been born during the Communist rule.
Gorbachev was born in Stavropol Krai into a peasant Ukrainian–Russian family, and in his teens operated combine harvesters on collective farms. He graduated from Moscow State University in 1955 with a degree in law. While he was at the university, he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and soon became very active within it. In 1970, he was appointed the First Party Secretary of the Stavropol Kraikom, First Secretary to the Supreme Soviet in 1974, and appointed a member of the Politburo in 1979. Within three years of the deaths of Soviet Leaders Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko, Gorbachev was elected General Secretary by the Politburo in 1985. Before he reached the post, he had occasionally been mentioned in western newspapers as a likely next leader and a man of the younger generation at the top level.
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Mikheil Saakashvili
Mikheil Saakashvili (Georgian: მიხეილ სააკაშვილი, IPA: [mixɛil saakʼaʃvili]; born 21 December 1967) is a Georgian politician, the third and current President of Georgia and leader of the United National Movement Party.
Involved in national politics since 1995, he became president on 25 January 2004 after President Eduard Shevardnadze resigned in a November 2003 bloodless "Rose Revolution" led by Saakashvili and his political allies, Nino Burjanadze and Zurab Zhvania. He was re-elected in the Georgian presidential election on 5 January 2008. He is widely regarded as a pro-NATO and pro-USA leader who spearheaded a series of political and economic reforms. In 2010, he had a 67% approval rating despite being criticized by the opposition for his alleged authoritarian tendencies and electoral fraud.
Some non-Georgian sources spell Saakashvili's first name via the Russian version of the name Mikhail. In Georgia, he is commonly known as "Misha," a hypocorism for Mikheil.
Mikheil Saakashvili was born in Tbilisi, capital of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union, to a Georgian intelligentsia family. His father, Nikoloz Saakashvili, is a physician who practices medicine in Tbilisi and directs a local Balneological Center. His mother, Giuli Alasania, is a historian who lectures at Tbilisi State University.
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Mingrelians
The Mingrelians (Mingrelian: მარგალი, margali; Georgian: მეგრელები: megrelebi) are a subethnic group of Georgians[not in citation given][citation needed][citation needed][citation needed] that mostly live in Samegrelo (Mingrelia) region of Georgia. They also live in considerable numbers in Abkhazia and Tbilisi. In the pre-1930 Soviet census, the Mingrelians were afforded their own ethnic group (natsional'nost) category.
The Mingrelians speak the Mingrelian, and are mostly bilingual also in Georgian. Both these languages belong to the Kartvelian (South Caucasian) language family.
The Mingrelians are descendants of several Colchian tribes (Such as: Manraloi, Heniochi, Machelones, Macrones, Mossynoeci, Drilae, Zydretae) and constitute one of the building blocks of the unified Georgian nation that emerged after the kingdoms of the west (Colchis) and east (Iberia) were united under Christianity in the middle of the first millennium AD.[citation needed] Early in the Middle Ages, Mingrelian aristocracy and clergy, later followed by laymen, adopted the national Georgian tongue as a language of literacy and culture.[citation needed] After the fragmentation of the Kingdom of Georgia in the 15th century, Mingrelia was an autonomous principality until being annexed by the Russian Empire in the 19th century.
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Muhajir (Caucasus)
Circassians, the indigenous peoples of the Northwest Caucasus were cleansed from their homeland at the end of the Caucasian War by victorious Russia, which by its manner of suppression of the Caucasus directed at the Crimean Tartars and Circassians can be credited with "inventing the strategy of modern ethnic cleansing and genocide." The expulsion was launched even before the end of the war in 1864 and it continued into the 1870s, although it was mostly completed by 1867. The peoples involved were mainly the Circassians (Adyghe in their own language), Ubykhs, Abkhaz, and Abaza.
This expulsion involved an unknown number of people, perhaps numbering hundreds of thousands. The Russians had come to refer to them as mountain-people (горцы, górtsy). The Russian army rounded up people, driving them from their villages to ports on the Black Sea, where they awaited ships provided by the neighboring Ottoman Empire. The explicit Russian goal was to expel the groups in question from their lands. They were given a choice as to where to be resettled: in the Ottoman Empire or in Russia far from their old lands. Only a small percentage (the numbers are unknown) accepted resettlement within the Russian Empire.
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Mushki
The Mushki (Muški; Georgian: მესხები Meshebi, მუშქები Mushkebi, Meskhetians, Moschia) were an Iron Age people of Anatolia, known from Assyrian sources. They do not appear in Hittite records. Several authors have connected them with the Moschoi (Μόσχοι) of Greek sources and the Georgian tribe of the Meskhi. Josephus Flavius identified the Moschoi with the Biblical Meshech. Two different groups are called Muški in the Assyrian sources (Diakonoff 1984:115), one from the 12th to 9th centuries, located near the confluence of the Arsanias and the Euphrates ("Eastern Mushki"), and the other in the 8th to 7th centuries, located in Cappadocia and Cilicia ("Western Mushki"). Assyrian sources identify the Western Mushki with the Phrygians, while Greek sources clearly distinguish between Phrygians and Moschoi.
Identification of the Eastern with the Western Mushki is uncertain, but it is of course possible to assume a migration of at least part of the Eastern Mushki to Cilicia in the course of the 10th to 8th centuries, and this possibility has been repeatedly suggested, variously identifying the Mushki as speakers of a Georgian, Armenian or Anatolian idiom. The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture notes that "the Armenians according to Diakonoff, are then an amalgam of the Hurrian (and Urartians), Luvians and the Proto-Armenian Mushki (or Armeno-Phrygians) who carried their IE language eastwards across Anatolia."
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Ossetians
The Ossetians (Ossetic: ирæттæ, irættæ) are an Iranic ethnic group of the Caucasus Mountains, indigenous to the region known as Ossetia. They speak Ossetic, an Iranian language of the Eastern branch of the Indo-European languages family, with most also fluent in Russian as a second language. The Ossetians are mostly Eastern Orthodox Christian, with a Muslim minority.
The Ossetians mostly populate Ossetia, which is politically divided between North Ossetia–Alania in Russia, and South Ossetia, which since the 2008 South Ossetia war has been de-facto independent from Georgia.
The Russian geographic name "Ossetia" and the corresponding ethnic designation "Ossetians" comes from a Georgian root.
The Russians originally called the Ossetians Yas (ясы, connected with Iazyges).
In Late Antiquity, records became much more diffuse and the Iazyges generally ceased to be mentioned as a tribe. In the Middle Ages an East Iranian people appeared in Eastern-Europe, the Jazones. The Jazones, or Jász, an Ossetic people who migrated to Hungary, are first mentioned in Hungarian records in the year 1318, and their name, spelled in Greek means "Jasons" (Ιάσωνες). The Jász in Hungary maintained their language until the 18th century. While they have become linguistically Hungarian, descendants in the Jász area of Hungary still maintain some original culture and have folk consciousness of their origins.
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Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire or Turkish Empire or Sublime Ottoman State or sometimes also referred to as Turkey (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه Devlet-i ʿAliyye-yi ʿOsmâniyye (also عثمانلى دولتى Osmanlı Devleti),Modern Turkish: Osmanlı Devleti or Osmanlı İmparatorluğu) was a Turkish empire which lasted from 27 July 1299 to 1 November 1922, when the Sultanate was abolished.
The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and longest lasting empires in history; such that the Ottoman State, its politics, conflicts, and cultural heritage in a vast geography provide one of the longest continuous narratives. During the 16th and 17th centuries, in particular at the height of its power under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the empire was one of the most powerful states in the world – a multinational, multilingual empire that stretched from the southern borders of the Holy Roman Empire to the outskirts of Vienna, Royal Hungary (modern Slovakia) and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the north to Yemen and Eritrea in the south; from Algeria in the west to Azerbaijan in the east; controlling much of southeast Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. At the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states, some of which were later absorbed into the empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries.
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Ottoman Turkey
The Ottoman Empire or Turkish Empire or Sublime Ottoman State or sometimes also referred to as Turkey (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه Devlet-i ʿAliyye-yi ʿOsmâniyye (also عثمانلى دولتى Osmanlı Devleti),Modern Turkish: Osmanlı Devleti or Osmanlı İmparatorluğu) was a Turkish empire which lasted from 27 July 1299 to 1 November 1922, when the Sultanate was abolished.
The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and longest lasting empires in history; such that the Ottoman State, its politics, conflicts, and cultural heritage in a vast geography provide one of the longest continuous narratives. During the 16th and 17th centuries, in particular at the height of its power under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the empire was one of the most powerful states in the world – a multinational, multilingual empire that stretched from the southern borders of the Holy Roman Empire to the outskirts of Vienna, Royal Hungary (modern Slovakia) and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the north to Yemen and Eritrea in the south; from Algeria in the west to Azerbaijan in the east; controlling much of southeast Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. At the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states, some of which were later absorbed into the empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries.
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Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (23 AD – August 25, 79 AD), better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian. Spending most of his spare time studying, writing or investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field, he wrote an encyclopedic work, Naturalis Historia, which became a model for all such works written subsequently. Pliny the Younger, his nephew, wrote of him in a letter to the historian Tacitus:
Pliny is referring to the fact that Tacitus relied on his uncle's now missing work on the History of the German Wars. Pliny the Elder died on August 25, 79 AD, while attempting the rescue by ship of a friend and his family from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that had just destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The prevailing wind would not allow his ship to leave the shore. His companions attributed his collapse and death to toxic fumes; but they were unaffected by the fumes, suggesting natural causes.
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Raul Khadjimba
Raul Hajimba (Abkhaz: Рауль Ҳаџьымба; born 1958) is a politician from Abkhazia, leading the oppositional Forum of the National Unity of Abkhazia. Until 28 May 2009 Khajimba served as Vice President following the power-sharing agreement reached with current president Sergei Bagapsh to end the crisis that followed the October 2004 presidential election. Even though Khajimba had joined the government, the parties that had supported him did not and he was seen as the informal head of the opposition. During the second half of May 2009 a group of opposition parties expressed sharp criticism of government policy and on 28 May Khajimba resigned, stating that he shared the criticism. Khajimba again competed with Bagapsh for the Presidency in the 12 December 2009 election, which he lost in the first round with a 15,32% second place.
Before becoming Vice President Khajimba had served as Prime Minister and as Minister of Defence of Abkhazia under Abkhazia's first President Vladislav Ardzinba.
A former KGB agent, Khadjimba had previously served as both deputy prime minister (2001–2002) and defence minister (since 12 December 2002), before succeeding Gennady Gagulia as Prime Minister on 22 April 2003. He remained Prime Minister until October 2004. He had also served as head of the Abkhaz security service from 1999 to 2001.
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RIAN
Russian International News Agency (RIA Novosti) (in Russian: Российское агентство международных новостей «РИА Новости») is of the largest Russian news agencies. It is state-owned with its HQ in Moscow and about 80 bureaus abroad.
The agency publishes news and analysis of social-political, economic, scientific and financial subjects on the Internet and via e-mail in the main European languages, as well as in Persian, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic. It has a correspondent network in the Russian Federation, CIS and over 40 non-CIS countries. Its clients include the presidential administration, Russian government, Federation Council, State Duma, leading ministries and government departments, administrations of Russian regions, representatives of Russian and foreign business communities, diplomatic missions, and public organizations.
The current editor-in-chief and general director of the agency is Svetlana Mironyuk.
RIA Novosti’s history dates back to June 24, 1941, when by a resolution of the USSR Council of People’s Commissars and the Communist Party Central Committee, “On the Establishment and Tasks of the Soviet Information Bureau”, the Soviet Information Bureau (Sovinformburo) was set up under the USSR Council of People’s Commissars and the Central Committee. Its main task was to oversee work to cover international, military events and the events of the country’s domestic life in periodicals and on the radio (from October 14, 1941, to March 3, 1942, was based in Kuibyshev – modern-day Samara).
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Richard Lugar
Richard Green "Dick" Lugar (born April 4, 1932) is the senior United States Senator from Indiana and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the Senate in 1976, he is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and was its chairman from 1985 to 1987 and 2003 to 2007. Much of Lugar's work in the Senate is toward the dismantling of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons around the world. Before his election to the United States Senate, Lugar served as mayor of Indianapolis, Indiana.
Lugar is currently the third most senior senator, behind only Daniel Inouye and Patrick Leahy. He is also the longest-serving Senator in Indiana's history, and is the most senior Republican member of the Senate. In 2012, however, he lost the Republican primary for a seventh term and his service in the Senate will end in January 2013.
Lugar was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of Bertha (née Green) and Marvin Lugar. He attended the public schools of Indianapolis. During this time he attained the Boy Scouts' highest rank: Eagle Scout. Later, he became a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America. He graduated first in his class at Shortridge High School in 1950 and from Denison University in 1954 where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi. He went on to attend Pembroke College, Oxford, England, as a Rhodes Scholar, and received a second Bachelors and an MA degree in 1956. He served in the United States Navy from 1956 to 1960; one of his assignments was as an intelligence briefer for Admiral Arleigh Burke. He achieved the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade.
wn.com/Richard_Lugar -
Sergei Bagapsh
Sergei Uasyl-ipa Bagapsh (Abkhaz: Сергеи Уасыл-иҧа Багаҧшь; March 4, 1949 – May 29, 2011) was the second President of the Republic of Abkhazia. He was Prime Minister from 1997 to 1999 and was later elected as President in 2005. He was re-elected in the 2009 presidential election. He died on May 29, 2011, at the age of 62, from complications of surgery.
Sergei Bagapsh was born on March 4, 1949 at Sukhumi in the Georgian SSR. Throughout most of his life, he had lived in Abkhazia. In his youth, Bagapsh was a member of the Georgian basketball team. Bagapsh graduated from the Georgian State University of Subtropical Agriculture in Sukhumi. During his studies he worked first, in a wine cooperative and later as a security guard for the state bank. In 1972, he fulfilled his military service, worked as the head of a sovkhoz following which he became instructor with the Abkhazian regional committee of the Komsomol. In 1978, Bagapsh became responsible for information in the central committee of the Komsomol's Georgian branch and in 1980, first secretary of the Abkhazian regional committee. In 1982, Sergei Bagapsh became secretary general of the communist party in the Ochamchira district. After the fall of communism, Bagapsh became a businessman and the representative of the Abkhazian government in Moscow. From 1995 until 1997, Bagapsh was First Vice-Premier of Abkhazia. On 9 November 1995, Bagapsh was seriously wounded in an attack.
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Sergey Lavrov
Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (Russian: Серге́й Ви́кторович Лавро́в, born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat who has been the Foreign Minister of Russia since 2004. His nomination to the Foreign Minister office were approved by two Russian presidents: (in 2008 by Medvedev, and in 2012 by Putin).
Prior to that, Lavrov was a Soviet diplomat and Russia's ambassador to the United Nations from 1994 to 2004. Lavrov speaks Russian, English, French and Sinhala.
Lavrov was born in Moscow to an Armenian father from Tbilisi and Russian mother from Georgia. He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) in 1972. Lavrov was sent as a Soviet diplomat to Sri Lanka, where he worked until 1976. He then returned to Moscow and worked in the Department of International Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In 1981, he was sent as a senior adviser to the Soviet mission at the United Nations in New York City, and worked there until 1988. He worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until 1994, when he returned to work in the United Nations, this time as the Permanent Representative of Russia. While in the latter position, he was President of the United Nations Security Council in December 1995, June 1997, July 1998, October 1999, December 2000, April 2002, and June 2003.
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Sergey Shamba
Sergei Shamba (Abkhaz: Сергеи Шамба) is a former Prime Minister of Abkhazia, from 13 February 2010 until 27 September 2011. Before becoming Prime Minister, Shamba had been the long-time Minister for Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia - from 7 May 1997, with a half-year interruption in 2004, both under President Vladislav Ardzinba and his successor Sergei Bagapsh.
Sergei Shamba was born on 15 March 1951 in Gudauta. He entered politics at the age of 24[citation needed]. Until February 1992, Shamba was the head of Aidgylara, which played a leading role in Abkhazia's struggle for independence. During the 1992-1993 War in Abkhazia, he served as First Deputy Minister of Defence.
On 7 May 1997, Shamba became Minister for Foreign Affairs, succeeding Konstantin Ozgan. Throughout his time as foreign minister, it often fell to Shamba to defend Abkhazia's separation from Georgia in the international media. He has been a strong supporter of Abkhazian independence, and has flatly opposed any attempts at reunification with Georgia. Though he has headed several Abkhaz delegations to United Nations-sponsored talks with Georgia, Abkhazia has failed to receive any international recognition.
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Shamil Basayev
Shamil Salmanovich Basayev (Russian: Шамиль Салманович Басаев; 14 January 1965 – 10 July 2006) was a Chechen militant Islamist and a leader of the Chechen rebel movement.
Starting as a field commander in the Transcaucasus, Basayev led guerrilla campaigns against Russian forces for years, as well as launching mass-hostage takings of civilians, with his goal being the withdrawal of Russian soldiers from Chechnya. Beginning in 2003, Basayev used the nom de guerre and title of Emir Abdallah Shamil Abu-Idris. In 1997–1998 he also served as vice-Prime minister of Chechnya in Maskhadov's government.
Basayev was considered by some to be the undisputed leader of the radical wing of the Chechen insurgency. He was responsible for numerous guerrilla attacks on security forces in and around Chechnya as well as terrorist attacks on civilians, most notoriously the attack on a school in Beslan, located in North Ossetia, which led to the deaths of more than 385 people, most of them children and the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis. ABC News described him as "one of the most-wanted terrorists in the world".
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Strabo
Strabo,,[pronunciation?], also written Strabon (Greek: Στράβων; 64/63 BC – ca. AD 24), was a Greek geographer, philosopher and historian.
Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus (modern Amasya, Turkey), a city that he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea. His mother was Georgian. Pontus had recently fallen to the Roman Republic, and although politically he was a proponent of Roman imperialism, Strabo belonged on his mother's side to a prominent family whose members had held important positions under the resisting regime of King Mithridates VI of Pontus.
Strabo's life was characterized by extensive travels. He journeyed to Egypt and Kush, as far west as coastal Tuscany and as far south as Ethiopia in addition to his travels in Asia Minor and time spent in Rome. Travel throughout the Mediterranean and Near East, especially for scholarly purposes, was popular during this era and was facilitated by the relative peace enjoyed throughout the reign of Augustus (27 BC – AD 14). He moved to Rome in 44 BC, and stayed there, studying and writing, until at least 31 BC. In 29 BC, on his way to Corinth (where Augustus was at the time), he visited the island of Gyaros in the Aegean Sea. Around 25 BC, he sailed up the Nile until reaching Philae, after which point there is little record of his proceedings until 17 AD.
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Svante Cornell
Svante E. Cornell (born 1975) is a Swedish scholar specializing on politics and security issues in Eurasia, especially the South Caucasus, Turkey, and Central Asia. He is a director and co-founder of the Stockholm-based Institute for Security and Development Policy, and Research Director of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program (CACI), a Joint Center affiliated with the ISDP and Johns Hopkins University-School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Cornell studied at the Department of the International Relations, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey. He earned a Ph.D. in Peace and Conflict Studies from Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden.
From 2002–03 served as the course Chair of the Caucasus Area Studies at the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. Department of State. From 2003–07, Cornell served as Associate Professor in East European Studies at Uppsala University. He also briefly taught at the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences.
Aside from his positions at the ISDP and CACI, he holds the position of Associate Research Professor at Johns Hopkins University-SAIS and Associate Professor (part-time) in Government at Uppsala University.
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Tamaz Nadareishvili
Tamaz Nadareishvili (Georgian: თამაზ ნადარეიშვილი) (19 July 1954 – 31 August 2004) was a Georgian politician who served as head of the Council of Ministers of Abkhazia, a government-in-exile for the breakaway province.
Nadareishvili was a great grandson of the famous Abkhaz prince Shervashidze. Born and raised in Sukhumi, Nadareishvili attended Sukhumi University, graduated in the early 1980s, and settled down to life as an academic writer.
During the break-up of the Soviet Union, Nadareishvili became involved in Georgian National Liberation movement. After the war in Abkhazia, Georgia, Nadareishvili was elected by fellow Georgian refugees as the head of an exile government. In the 1990s he served at times in the Georgian parliament, continuing to draw support from refugees, to whom he helped distribute government aid.
As head of the Council, Nadareishvili loudly supported military action to retake Abkhazia. Allegations were made claiming him being involved in paramilitary operations on the Abkhaz/Georgia administrative border. The Forest Brothers under Dato Shengelia and the White Legion under Zurab Samushia were both allegedly associated with the Supreme Council.[citation needed]
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Tatars
Tatars (Tatar: Tatarlar / Татарлар, sometimes spelled Tartars) are a Turkic people, numbering around 7 million. The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of 5.5 million, 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan, 1 million in the republic of Bashkortostan and other 2.5 million in different regions of Russia. Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine.
The Tatars originated with the Tatar confederation in the north-eastern Gobi desert in the 5th century. After subjugation in the 9th century by the Khitans, they migrated southward. In the 13th century Mongol Empire, they were subjugated under Genghis Khan and reassigned once again particularly by his son Jochi. Under the leadership of his grandson Batu Khan, they moved westwards, forming part of the Golden Horde which dominated the Eurasian steppe during the 14th and 15th centuries. In Europe, they were assimilated by the local populations or their name spread to the conquered peoples: Kipchaks, Kimaks and others; and elsewhere with Uralic-speaking peoples, as well as with remnants of the ancient Greek colonies in the Crimea and Caucasians in the Caucasus.
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Tengiz Kitovani
Tengiz Kitovani (Georgian: თენგიზ კიტოვანი) (born June 9, 1938) is a retired Georgian politician and military commander with high-profile involvement in the Georgian Civil War early in the 1990s when he commanded the National Guard of Georgia and served as a Defense Minister until being gradually sidelined by Eduard Shevardnadze who had earlier been invited to lead the nation after a successful coup d'etat launched by Kitovani and his allies against President Zviad Gamsakhurdia.
Born in Tbilisi, Kitovani graduated from the Tbilisi Fine Arts Academy and taught at a boarding school in the town of Tetritsq'aro, and then worked as a main painter for the Tbilisi State Advertising Bureau between 1967 and 1969.
Kitovani entered the national politics early in 1990 when the independence movement reached its climax in then-Soviet Georgia. Elected to the Supreme Council of Georgia the same year, he was closely associated with Zviad Gamsakhurdia, a Soviet-era dissident who went on to become the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council and eventually the President of Georgia in 1991. In December 1990, Gamsakhurdia decreed the creation of the National Guard of Georgia and appointed Kitovani as its head. However, the two men collided in August 1991, when Gamsakhurdia sacked him as National Guard commander. Kitovani subsequently claimed that Gamsakhurdia was intending to disband the National Guard, and had been ordered to do so by the leaders of the Moscow Putsch who had briefly taken power in the Soviet Union, but did not produce the documents he claimed to possess confirming this. Kitovani refused to accept his dismissal and left Tbilisi with most of his troops to entrench himself in the Rkoni Gorge. This was the beginning of the end for Gamsakhurdia, whose inflexible politics forced many of his former supporters into opposition.
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Tusheti
Coordinates: 42°30′N 45°30′E / 42.5°N 45.5°E / 42.5; 45.5
Tusheti (Georgian: თუშეთი) is a historic region in northeast Georgia.
Located on the northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, Tusheti is bordered by the Russian republics of Chechnya and Dagestan to the north and east, respectively; and by the Georgian historic provinces Kakheti and Pshav-Khevsureti to the south and west, respectively. The population of the area is mainly ethnic Georgians called Tushs or Tushetians (Georgian: tushebi).
Historically, Tusheti comprised four mountain communities of the Alazani Valley. These are Tsova, Gometzari, Chaghma and the Piriq’iti Tusheti (formerly known as Pharsman's Tusheti). Included in the present day Akhmeta raioni, Kakheti region, Georgia, the area comprises ten villages with Omalo being the largest.
The area is thought to have long been inhabited by the Tush, a subgroup of Georgians, which themselves divide into two groups- the Chagma-Tush (Georgian name, used for Tush who speak the local Georgian dialect) and Tsova-Tush (Nakh-speaking Tush, better known as Bats or Batsbi). It is uncertain whether ethnic Georgians were there first or whether Bats were. There are two major theories on the origins of the Bats (with various variations).
wn.com/Tusheti -
Ukrainians
Ukrainians (Ukrainian: Українці, Ukrayintsi, [ukrɑˈjinʲtsʲi]) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens. According to some dictionary definitions, a descriptive name for the "inhabitants of Ukraine" is Ukrainian or Ukrainian people.Russians and Belarusians are considered the closest relatives of Ukrainians, while Rusyns are either considered another closely related group, or an ethnic subgroup of Ukrainians.
Ethnonym Ukrainians became widely accepted only in the 20th century, so modern Ukrainians identify their ancestry with differently named historical Slavic groups, who are often called Ukrainians too, in retrospect. The oldest recorded ethnonyms used for Ukrainian ancestors are Rusy, Rusyny, and Rusychi (from term Rus'). From the 9th to 12th centuries those names applied to the population of Kievan Rus', as the united state of Rusy is restrospectively called. Similar names were adopted by the proto-Russian and proto-Belarusian inhabitants of the northern principalities of Rus', reflecting the common origin of all those East Slavic peoples.
wn.com/Ukrainians -
Vazgen I
His Holiness Vazgen I (also Vasken I, Armenian: Վազգեն Ա, born Levon Garabed Baljian; September 20, 1908–August 18, 1994) was the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church between 1955 and 1994, in one of the longest reigns of the Armenian Catholicoi. A native of Romania, he began his career as a philosopher, before becoming a Doctor of Theology and a member of the local Armenian clergy. The leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church hierarchy in Romania, he became Catholicos during the 1950s, moving to the Soviet Union and residing in the Armenian SSR. Vazgen I led the Armenian Church during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and was the first Catholicos in newly-independent Armenia.
Vazgen was born in Bucharest to a family belonging to the Armenian-Romanian community. His father was a shoemaker and his mother was a schoolteacher. The young Levon Baljian did not initially pursue the Church as a profession, instead graduating from the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Philosophy and Letters. After graduation, he became a philosopher and published a series of scholarly articles.
wn.com/Vazgen_I -
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Пу́тин; IPA: [vɫɐˈdʲimʲɪr vɫɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ ˈputʲɪn] ( listen); born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician who has been the President of Russia since 7 May 2012. Putin previously served as President from 2000 to 2008 and as Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000, and again from 2008 to 2012. Putin also serves as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when president Boris Yeltsin resigned in a surprising move. Putin won the 2000 presidential election; in 2004 he was re-elected for a second term lasting until 7 May 2008.
Because of constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was ineligible to run for a third consecutive presidential term. After his successor Dmitry Medvedev won the 2008 presidential election, Putin was nominated by Medvedev to be Russia's Prime Minister; Putin took office on 8 May 2008 and a period of so-called "tandemocracy" followed. In September 2011, Putin and Medvedev agreed he should seek a third, non-consecutive term in the 2012 presidential election, which he won in the first round on 4 March 2012.
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Vladimir Socor
Vladimir Socor (born 3 August 1945 in Bucharest) is a political analyst of East European affairs for the Jamestown Foundation and its Eurasia Daily Monitor, currently residing in Munich, Germany. Socor's main specialization focuses on the political affairs and the ethnic conflicts of the former Soviet republics and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
He is the son of Matei Socor, who, as head of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company-was involved in the communist regime's propaganda apparatus, according to the findings of the Tismăneanu Commission.
Vladimir Socor graduated from the Russian School in Bucharest, received a B.A. in History from the University of Bucharest, and after leaving Romania legally in 1972, he received a M.Phil. in East European History from Columbia University in 1977.
He worked as an analyst for the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Institute in Munich (1983–1994) and at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, D.C. (1995–2002). Between 2002 and 2004, Socor worked as a senior fellow at the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies in Washington, D.C. Since 2000, he has contributed articles to the European edition of The Wall Street Journal.
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Vladislav Ardzinba
Vladislav Ardzinba (Abkhaz: Владислав Арӡынба, May 14, 1945 – March 4, 2010) was the first President of Abkhazia. A historian by education, 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.
He 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[citation needed]. After graduating from the Historical Department of the Sukhumi Pedagogical Institute, Ardzinba studied at the Tbilisi State University where he received a doctoral degree[citation needed]. He then worked for eighteen years in Moscow specialising in ancient Middle Eastern civilizations under Yevgeniy Primakov, then head of the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow, and later Russian foreign and Prime Minister[citation needed]. 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[citation needed]. From there, he was involved closely with national issues, including Abkhazia, and quickly emerged as one of the most active proponents of the Abkhaz secessionist cause. While a deputy to the USSR Supreme Soviet, Ardzinba, himself an orthodox Communist, 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.
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Women in Abkhazia
Abkhazian women or Abkhaz women, particularly those of older age, are traditionally portrayed as peacemakers, decision makers, and mediators in times of combat and conflict. Despite of this distinction and character, female Abkhazians are underrepresented in the "councils of elders" of Abkhazian society. The Women in Abkhazia only have a marginal in number within the showground of Abkhazian politics. At present, the Abkhazian females are more active as participants in the realm of business and in activities related to establishing organizations for women in their country.
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Yury Luzhkov
Yury Mikhaylovich Luzhkov (Russian: Ю́рий Миха́йлович Лужко́в) (born 21 September 1936) is a Russian politician who was the Mayor of Moscow from 1992 to 2010. He was also vice-chairman and one of the founders of the ruling United Russia party.
During Luzhkov's time, Moscow's economy improved and he presided over large construction projects in the city, including the building of a new financial district. At the same time, he was accused of corruption, bulldozing historic buildings, and poor handling of traffic, as well as the city's smog crisis during the 2010 Russian wildfires. On 28 September 2010, Luzhkov was fired from his post by a decree issued by President Dmitry Medvedev, in response for allegedly insulting Medvedev through a scathing letter.
Yury Mikhaylovich Luzhkov was born on 21 September 1936 in Moscow. His father, Mikhail Andreyevich Luzhkov, moved to Moscow from a small village in Tver Oblast in the 1930s.
Luzhkov married his first wife, Marina Bashilova, in 1958, and had two sons with her, Mikhail and Alexander. Bashilova died from liver cancer in 1989. He met his second wife, Yelena Baturina, 27 years his junior, in 1987. They married in 1991. Baturina is a Russian businesswoman and Russia's only female billionaire. She is the joint 1075th richest person in the world. They have two daughters, Elena (born 1992) and Olga (born 1994), and maintain a home in London. Luzhkov frequently appears in public at different festivals and celebrations, and is an enthusiastic promoter of the city. His hobbies include tennis and bee-keeping. His support for physical fitness is well known, and a statue of the mayor in tennis garb was erected recently in a Moscow park.
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Zviad Gamsakhurdia
Zviad Gamsakhurdia (Georgian: ზვიად გამსახურდია, (March 31, 1939 — December 31, 1993) was a dissident, scientist and writer, who became the first democratically elected President of the Republic of Georgia in the post-Soviet era. Gamsakhurdia is the only Georgian President to have died whilst formally in office.
Zviad Gamsakhurdia was born in the Georgian capital Tbilisi in 1939, in a distinguished Georgian family; his father, Academician Konstantine Gamsakhurdia (1893–1975), was one of the most famous Georgian writers of the 20th century. Perhaps influenced by his father, Zviad received training in philology and began a professional career as a translator and literary critic.
Despite (or perhaps because of) the country's association with Joseph Stalin, Soviet rule in Georgia was particularly harsh during the 1950s and sought to restrict Georgian cultural expression. In 1955, Zviad Gamsakhurdia established a youth underground group which he called the Gorgasliani (a reference to the ancient line of Georgian kings) which sought to circulate reports of human rights abuses. In 1956, he was arrested during demonstrations in Tbilisi against the Soviet policy of de-stalinization and was arrested again in 1958 for distributing anti-communist literature and proclamations. He was confined for six months to a mental hospital in Tbilisi where he was diagnosed as suffering from "psychopathy with decompensation", thus perhaps becoming an early victim of what became a widespread policy of using psychiatry for political purposes.
wn.com/Zviad_Gamsakhurdia
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Unreported World - Abkhazia, Valley of the Lost (31-10-2008)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 24:02
- Updated: 16 Nov 2012
On the Abkhazian-Russian conquest of the (Georgian held) Kodori Gorge, in the shadow of the 2008 South Ossetian conflict. Highlighting the displacement of (Georgian) civilians, and the contradictory stories of Abkhazian authorities. www.channel4.com Channel4 wrote: "Fighting in Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia grabbed the headlines in the summer of 2008. But Unreported World reveals that in Georgia's other breakaway republic, Abkhazia, a tragedy was secretly unfolding. Arriving in Abkhazia, reporter Aidan Hartley and director Alex Nott hear reports of fierce fighting taking place in the Kodori Gorge, high in the Caucasus mountains. After being forced back at checkpoints by militia commanders, the team talk their way onto a helicopter taking mainly Russian journalists on a government organised trip to the valley. [....]"
http://wn.com/Unreported_World_Abkhazia,_Valley_of_the_Lost_31-10-2008
People & Power - Abkhazia: A forgotten country - 13 May 09 - Part 1
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 11:28
- Updated: 05 Nov 2012
Nationalists in Abkhazia have always underpinned claims for its independence, by citing a distinct history, culture and political identity. What lies behind Abkhazia's bid for independence? And could it lead to another war and yet more pressure on Saakashvili?
http://wn.com/People_Power_Abkhazia_A_forgotten_country_13_May_09_Part_1
Abkhazia by Angela Pataraya (2010)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:42
- Updated: 20 Nov 2012
Republic of Abkhazia - Abkhazia is situated on the Eastern coast of the Black sea, bordering Russia in the North and North Caucasus along the Caucasus Mountains Range and Georgia in the East. Abkhazia is divided into seven administrative districts: Gagra, Gudauta, Sukhum, Ochamchira, Gulripsh, Tquarchal and Gal. Due to its mountainous nature, Abkhazia has many rivers and lakes, and rich fertile soil. The climate is very mild, averaging around 15 degrees Celsius. Higher elevations experience a more varied climate, with significant snow and even glaciers in some parts. The capital city is Sukhum (Aqw'a in Abkhaz) which lies on the Black Sea coast. Read more www.abkhazworld.com www.abkhazia.travel
http://wn.com/Abkhazia_by_Angela_Pataraya_2010
Abkhazia. Georgia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:38
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
To your attention a short video report from my trip in Abkhazia - fantastic and very beautiful country on the Black Sea coast. It was "Golden Ring Tour" of the country: Stalin's Summer Residence, Gagra, Pitsunda, Lake Riza, Novo-Afonsky Сhurch and caves. Clear sea and air, and unique nature.
http://wn.com/Abkhazia_Georgia
Between Zugdidi and Abkhazia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:14
- Updated: 12 Oct 2012
The film by Tiko Bukia, Zugdidi, Samegrelo, Georgia.
http://wn.com/Between_Zugdidi_and_Abkhazia
People & Power - Abkhazia: A forgotten country - 13 May 09 - Part 1 - Hot Latest News
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 11:28
- Updated: 16 Oct 2012
Nationalists in Abkhazia have always underpinned claims for its independence, by citing a distinct history, culture and political identity. What lies behind Abkhazia's bid for independence? And could it lead to another war and yet more pressure on Saakashvili? - Hot Latest News - Watch more on fastlatestnews.com
http://wn.com/People_Power_Abkhazia_A_forgotten_country_13_May_09_Part_1_Hot_Latest_News
A village in Abkhazia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:16
- Updated: 17 Oct 2012
Ordinary people from an Abkhazian village speak about their lives, share their problems, and recall the past. The film has been made by the studio ABREC (Abkhazia Reconsidered) and produced by the Eyewitness Studio.
http://wn.com/A_village_in_Abkhazia
Abkhazia Apsuan people are related to Georgian people ? 80 % apsuan family names are georgian
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:23
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
Anthropological History of Abkhazians Abkhazians are the most explored group in anthropological point of view within in Caucasus populations. There are studies in their somatology (Bunak,1946; Djanberidze, 1956; 1963; Abdushelishvili, 1964; Voronov et. al, 1987; Kvicinia, 2007; Bitadze, 2007; Bitadze et. al, 2008), craniology (Bogdanov, 1879; Abdushelishvili, 1955; 1964; Aleksejev, 1974), blood genetic markers (Voronov, 1985; Robert E. Ferrell et. al, 1985; Voronov and et. al, 1987), dermatogliphics (Ladaria, 1975, Heet, 1980; Heet, Aslanishvili, 1986), odontology (Kochiev, 1971; Kashibadze, 1988; 2006, Aksjanova, 1987), physical status (Kvicinia, 1982; Miklashevskaia et. al, 1982; Miklashevskaia, 1987). Abkhazians talk Abkhazian-Adigian language of Iberian-Caucasian languages and the coexistence; close cultural, political and economic relations connected them with Georgia and Georgians. According to G. Djanberidze, anthropological data show, that Abkhazians were connected with Georgian group more, than with the Adigians and considered Abkhazians as one of the Georgian groups moved to Adigian language. According to Aleksejev "joining of Abkhazians to the family of Adirian language occurred, apparently, comparatively late and didn't have much influence on their ethnic history" Georgian anthropologists (Abdushelishvili, 1955; Abdushelishvili, 1964; Djanberidze, 1956; 1963) consider Abkhazians as the "Black sea" (BS) variation of "kolkhian" (KD) tape, though all of them have ...
http://wn.com/Abkhazia_Apsuan_people_are_related_to_Georgian_people_?_80_apsuan_family_names_are_georgian
Abkhazia under Russia's wing
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:08
- Updated: 30 Oct 2012
www.euronews.com When Alexander Ankvab won presidential elections in 2011 after the death of his predecessor, Abkhazia was still recognised by only a few countries - Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and some islands in the Pacific, as well as some entities that are only partially recognised themselves. The rest of the international community considers Abkhazia a region of Georgia - integrated into it in 1931, under Stalin. Georgia's independence from the disintegrated Soviet Union came in 1992. Georgian troops entered Abkhazia to prevent it from separating. After a bloody war, most Georgians left by 1993. Only 20 percent of the region's inhabitants were fully ethnic Abkhaz. In 1999, Abkhazia formally declared its independence. Since then its population of around 250000 has lived under an international embargo, their economy completely Dependant on Russia. They use the rouble and Russian passports. In August 2008, Georgia tried to take another pro-Russian separatist region by force, South Ossetia, and Russia went to war over it. Abkhazia took advantage of this to send its forces into the Kodori Gorge, strategic border territory that had been under Georgian control, and a weak point if it came to invasion of Georgia. In September 2008, Russia began pulling its troops out of some of Georgia, but they stayed in Abkhazia. Later Russia recognised Abkhazia as independent and said it would protect its borders, with opposition voices saying this is de-facto Russian occupation. Find us ...
http://wn.com/Abkhazia_under_Russia's_wing
Russian FEDERAL SECURITY BORDER GUARDS train in ABKHAZIA for SOCHI GAMES
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:33
- Updated: 18 Nov 2012
Russian FEDERAL SECURITY BORDER GUARDS train in ABKHAZIA for SOCHI GAMES Kodori Gorge, Abkhazia November 17, 2012 -Video from RIA Novosti (Видео с Российское агентство международных новостей) The Russian Federal Security Service's border guard service conducted large-scale exercises in mountains of Abakhazia near Sochi on Saturday. The Sochi-2012 drills in the Kodori Gorge are part of efforts to ensure the security of the border near the resort ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics. The maneuvers also involved Emergency and Interior Ministry staff. 1. Various of military exercises. 00:00 - 07:16 2. Views of mountains. 07:17 - 07:53 .´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ CLICK HERE to view all the Videos/photos we've uploaded: www.youtube.com .´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸
http://wn.com/Russian_FEDERAL_SECURITY_BORDER_GUARDS_train_in_ABKHAZIA_for_SOCHI_GAMES
Georgia seeks closer ties with Abkhazia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:21
- Updated: 10 Oct 2012
Georgia's newly elected government says it wants to build closer ties with the country's lost territory - the breakaway republic of Abkhazia. But the Abkhazian government's political and economic dependence on Russia, which has soured relations with Georgia, has proven to be a major setback. Robin Forestier-Walker reports from Sukhumi, Abkhazia's capital.
http://wn.com/Georgia_seeks_closer_ties_with_Abkhazia
Artsakh 3:0 Abkhazia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:11
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
Artsakh's national football teams second game First play Abkhazia 1-1 Artsakh
http://wn.com/Artsakh_30_Abkhazia
Abkhazia and Sochi district are Georgia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:40
- Updated: 29 Oct 2012
Sochi is georgian town because "i " suffix is widely used in Georgian language and nearly all Georgian cities end with it. EG Tbilisi, Qutaisi, Rustavi etc.. Question - What suffix does Sochi has? Sochi in Georgian language means FIR-TREE. The Sanigs,The Heniochi, The Apsilae where georgian ancient tribes. The Apsilae camed into contact with abaza tribe, and formed apsuas. In 1897 the majority of Sochi district where georgians, and in the town itself they formed 95 % of the population (see this video about this issue): www.youtube.com (Ethnic makeup of Abkhazia georgians where a majority in 1897 in Abkhazia and Sochi) and here are some more informations on Abkhazia and its history www.docstoc.com Also here are some other recomanded videos: www.youtube.com www.youtube.com The circassian population called UBIKH wich also lived there is no more, because of the russian opression.
http://wn.com/Abkhazia_and_Sochi_district_are_Georgia
People & Power - Abkhazia: A forgotten country - 13 May 09 - Part 2 - Hot Latest News
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 11:20
- Updated: 08 Aug 2012
Nationalists in Abkhazia have always underpinned claims for its independence, by citing a distinct history, culture and political identity. What lies behind Abkhazia's bid for independence? And could it lead to another war and yet more pressure on Saakashvili? - Hot Latest News - Watch more on fastlatestnews.com
http://wn.com/People_Power_Abkhazia_A_forgotten_country_13_May_09_Part_2_Hot_Latest_News
armenians have rights to claim Abkhazia...
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:14
- Updated: 15 Aug 2012
http://wn.com/armenians_have_rights_to_claim_Abkhazia
Abkhazia: (non-)recognition. Alexander Aksakov.
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:23
- Updated: 28 Sep 2012
Abkhazia: (non-)recognition. Documentary photography project about everyday life and struggle for recognition of Abkhazia. To learn more and donate, please, visit: www.abkhazia.alexanderaksakov.com
http://wn.com/Abkhazia_non-recognition_Alexander_Aksakov
Abkhazian Trap
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 134:12
- Updated: 20 Oct 2012
www.abkhazia.com Abkhazian Trap. Abkhazia Institute for Social and Economic Research
http://wn.com/Abkhazian_Trap
I Like Flags #1: Abkhazia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:23
- Updated: 22 Nov 2012
Comment, like and share 8D If you know a flag you'd like me to talk about; comment! Thanks for watching.
http://wn.com/I_Like_Flags_1_Abkhazia
Anonymus Georgia Russia's plan with separatist region of Abkhazia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:25
- Updated: 19 Nov 2012
the truth
http://wn.com/Anonymus_Georgia_Russia's_plan_with_separatist_region_of_Abkhazia
Abkhazia - The bloody season
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 49:35
- Updated: 13 Oct 2012
www.abkhazia.com Abkhazia - The bloody season. Abkhazia Institute for Social and Economic Research
http://wn.com/Abkhazia_The_bloody_season
Georgia wants to build closer ties with Abkhazia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:21
- Updated: 29 Oct 2012
Georgia's newly elected government says it wants to build closer ties with the country's lost territory - the breakaway republic of Abkhazia. But the Abkhazian government's political and economic dependence on Russia, which has soured relations with Georgia, has proven to be a major setback. Robin Forestier-Walker reports from Sukhumi, Abkhazia's capital. Source, credit to Aljazeera- www.aljazeera.com FAIR USE NOTICE: This video has been posted to further advance our understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, Technological, democratic, scientific, and social justice issues which constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 USC Section 107 for research and educational purposes.
http://wn.com/Georgia_wants_to_build_closer_ties_with_Abkhazia
History of the principality of Abkhazia Non georgian sources
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:18
- Updated: 03 Oct 2012
Period 2000BC -- 100BC Today's territory of Abkhazia is part of Western Georgian kingdom of Colchis, with capital Aee (Kutaisi - Kuta-Aee (Stone-Aee)). Territory populated by Georgian Chans (Laz-Mengrelians) and Svans. According to all historians of the time like Strabo (map on the left by F. Lasserre, French Strabo expert), Herodotus, and Pseudo-Skilak - Colchis of this period is populated solely by the Colkhs (Georgians). The same Georgian culture existed throughout Colchis. This is seen through archaeological findings in Abkhazia that are exactly the same as in the rest of western Georgia, with its capital in central Georgian city of Kutaisi. The fact that the centre of Colchian culture was Kutaisi is also seen in the Legend of Jason and the Argonauts (Golden Fleece). They travel through town and river of Phasis (modern day Poti / Rioni, in Mengrelia), to the city of Aee (Kutaisi -- in Imereti), where the king of Colchis reigns, to obtain the Golden Fleece (method of obtaining gold by Georgian Svans where fleece is placed in a stream and gold gets caught in it). Strabo in his works Geography XI, II, 19 clearly shows that Georgian Svan tribes ruled the area of modern day Abkhazia -- "... in Dioscurias (Sukhumi)...are the Soanes, who are superior in power, - indeed, one might almost say that they are foremost in courage and power. At any rate, they are masters of the peoples around them, and hold possession of the heights of the Caucasus above Dioscurias (Sukhumi). They ...
http://wn.com/History_of_the_principality_of_Abkhazia_Non_georgian_sources
photo: AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais
20 Nov 2012
Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling President Barack Obama's whirlwind tour of southeast Asia and meetings with dignitaries will have to walk a tightrope between either appearing to endorse military juntas or truly being committed to ongoing pro-democracy movements. Specifically at issue is Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi, a democratic advocate...(size: 5.0Kb)
photo: AP / Sebastian D'souza
21 Nov 2012
MUMBAI, India - India executed the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 terror attack on Mumbai early Wednesday, India's home ministry said. Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani citizen, was one of 10 gunmen who rampaged through the streets of India's financial capital in November 2008, killing 166 people. Kasab was hung at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday at a jail in...(size: 4.5Kb)
photo: AP / Emilio Morenatti
22 Nov 2012
A new battle is underway in Pakistan with its powerful military front-and-centre, but the fight is not against armed insurgents or ideological extremists - this opponent is a muscle-flexing Supreme Court. For the first time in decades, the military's iron grip over the South Asian country has been challenged, and it remains to be seen if it will...(size: 23.7Kb)
photo: AP / Melanie Gouby
21 Nov 2012
Hundreds of government soldiers and police in the Democratic Republic of Congo have surrendered to rebels at a stadium in Goma, Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri has reported from the scene. The M23 rebel group, believed to be backed by Rwanda seized the strategic, provincial capital of Goma in eastern Congo on Tuesday, home to more than 1 million...(size: 18.7Kb)
photo: UN / Logan Abassi
21 Nov 2012
A report by the UN says global attempts to curb emissions of CO2 are falling well short of what is needed to stem dangerous climate change. The UN's Environment Programme says greenhouse gases are 14% above where they need to be in 2020 for temperature rises this century to remain below 2C. The authors say this target is still technically...(size: 3.5Kb)
Sun Sentinel
22 Nov 2012
TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgia's new prime minister aims to change the constitution to boost his powers before a presidential vote next year, he said on Thursday, but will not try to impeach rival President Mikheil Saakashvili. Bidzina Ivanishvili won power in a parliamentary election last month that ended Saakashvili's nine-year political dominance...(size: 3.8Kb)
US News
22 Nov 2012
By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASVILI, Associated Press TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia's new prime minister said Thursday he would move quickly to expand the Cabinet's powers, a change that would take away even more influence from the ex-Soviet nation's beleaguered pro-Western president. Bidzina Ivanishvili, an eccentric billionaire philanthropist who...(size: 4.4Kb)
Novosti
17 Nov 2012
TBILISI, November 17 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia will never return to the CIS, a loose association of post-Soviet states, Foreign Minister Maya Pandzhikidze said on Saturday. “Georgia only wants to join two associations: the EU and NATO. This is the focus...(size: 1.6Kb)
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| Republic of Abkhazia
Аҧсны Аҳәынҭқарра (Аҧсны) (Abkhaz)
Apsny Ahwyntkarra (Apsny) Республика Абхазия (Абхазия) (Russian) Respublika Abkhaziya (Abkhaziya) აფხაზეთი (Georgian) Apkhazeti |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Anthem: Аиааира (Abkhaz) ("Aiaaira") ("Victory") |
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 Abkhazia (orange), and Georgia proper (grey)
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| Capital (and largest city) |
Sukhumi 43°00′N 40°59′E / 43°N 40.983°E / 43; 40.983 |
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| Official language(s) | Abkhaz1 and Russian | |||||
| Demonym | Abkhaz, Abkhazian | |||||
| Government | Unitary republic | |||||
| - | President | Alexander Ankvab | ||||
| - | Prime Minister | Leonid Lakerbaia | ||||
| Legislature | People's Assembly | |||||
| Partially recognised independence from Georgia and the Soviet Union[1][2][3] | ||||||
| - | Georgian annulment of all Soviet-era laws and treaties | 20 June 1990 | ||||
| - | Declaration of sovereignty2 | 25 August 1990 | ||||
| - | Georgian declaration of independence | 9 April 1991 | ||||
| - | Dissolution of Soviet Union | 26 December 1991 | ||||
| - | New Constitution | 26 November 1994 | ||||
| - | Constitutional referendum | 3 October 1999 | ||||
| - | Act of state independence3 | 12 October 1999 | ||||
| - | First international recognition4 | 26 August 2008 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 8,660 km2 3,343 sq mi |
||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | 2011 census | 240,705 (disputed) | ||||
| - | Density | 28/km2 72.5/sq mi |
||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2009 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $500 million[4] | ||||
| Currency | Abkhazian apsar, Russian ruble5 (RUB) |
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| Time zone | MSK (UTC+3) | |||||
| Drives on the | Right | |||||
| Calling code | +7-840/940[5] | |||||
| 1 | The Russian language is recognised as a language of state and other institutions (art. 6 of the Constitution) and is widely used. | |||||
| 2 | Annulled by Georgia immediately thereafter. | |||||
| 3 | Establishing retro-actively de jure independence since the 1992–1993 war. | |||||
| 4 | By Russia. Followed by 5 other UN states since. | |||||
| 5 | De facto currency, several Abkhazian apsar commemorative coins have been issued. The apsar is on a fixed exchange rate, pegged to the Russian ruble (1 = 0.10 apsar). | |||||
Abkhazia (Abkhaz: Аҧсны́ Apsny, IPA /apʰsˈnɨ/; Georgian: აფხაზეთი Apkhazeti; Russian: Абхазия Abkhaziya) is a disputed territory on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.
Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny.[6][7][8][9][10] This status is recognised by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru, Tuvalu and Vanuatu[11][12] and also by the partially recognised states of South Ossetia, Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh.[13]
The Georgian government and the majority of the world's governments consider Abkhazia a part of Georgia's territory.[14] Under Georgia's official designation it is an autonomous republic, called the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, whose government sits in exile in Tbilisi. On 28 August 2008, the Parliament of Georgia passed a resolution declaring Abkhazia a "Russian-occupied territory".[15][16]
The status of Abkhazia is a central issue of the Georgian–Abkhazian conflict. The wider region formed part of the Soviet Union until 1991. As the Soviet Union began to disintegrate towards the end of the 1980s, ethnic tensions grew between Abkhaz and Georgians over Georgia's moves towards independence. This led to the 1992–1993 War in Abkhazia that resulted in a Georgian military defeat, de facto independence of Abkhazia and the mass exodus and ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population from Abkhazia. In spite of the 1994 ceasefire agreement and years of negotiations, the status dispute has not been resolved, and despite the long-term presence of a United Nations monitoring force and a Russian-dominated Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) peacekeeping operation, the conflict has flared up on several occasions. In August 2008, the sides again fought during the South Ossetia War, which was followed by the formal recognition of Abkhazia by Russia, the annulment of the 1994 cease fire agreement and the termination of the UN and CIS missions.[citation needed]
Contents |
Naming[link]
The Abkhazians call their state Аҧсны (Apsny), which means “the land of the Apsians” (-ny is a locative suffix). The Russian Абхазия (Abkhazia) is adapted from the Georgian აფხაზეთი (Apkhazeti).[citation needed] In Mingrelian, Abkhazia is known as აბჟუა (Abzhua)[17] or სააფხაზო (saapkhazo).[18]
History[link]
Main article: History of Abkhazia
Early history[link]
Between the 9th and 6th centuries BC, the territory of modern Abkhazia was part of the ancient Georgian[19][20][21] kingdom of Colchis ("Kolkha").[22] This kingdom was subsequently absorbed in 63 BC into the Kingdom of Egrisi, known to Byzantine authors as "Lazica" and to the Persians as "Lazistan", named after the Laz tribe.[23][24]
Between 1000 and 550 BC, Greeks established trade colonies along the coast of the Black Sea, in particular at Pitiunt and Dioscurias, which was to become the capital of modern day Abkhazia. They encountered local warlike tribes who they called Heniochi.[citation needed] Classical authors described various peoples living in the region and the great multitude of languages they spoke.[citation needed] Arrian, Pliny and Strabo have given accounts of the Abasgoi[25] (generally considered ancestors of the modern Abkhazians) and Moschoi[26] (generally considered as ancestors of Meskhetians) peoples somewhere in modern Abkhazia on the eastern shore of the Black Sea.
The Roman Empire conquered Egrisi in the 1st century AD and ruled it until the 4th century, following which it regained a measure of independence, but remained within the Byzantine Empire's sphere of influence. Although the exact time when the population of Abkhazia was converted to Christianity has not been determined, it is known that the Metropolitan of Pitius participated in the First Ecumenical Council in 325 in Nicaea.[citation needed]
Abkhazia, or Abasgia in classic sources,[citation needed] formerly part of Colchis and later of Egrisi (Lazica) until the late 690s, was a princedom under Byzantine authority. Anacopia was the princedom's capital. The country was mostly Christian with the archbishop's seat in Pityus.[22] An Arab incursion into Abkhazia was repelled by Leon I jointly with his Egrisian and Kartlian allies in 736.
After acquiring Egrisi via a dynastic union in the 780s[27] Abkhazia became the dominant power in the region and the Kingdom of Abkhazia, also known as the Kingdom of Egrisi or the Kingdom of the Abkhaz, was established. During this period the Georgian language replaced Greek as the language of literacy and culture.[28] The kingdom flourished between 850 and 950 when it annexed significant parts of Eastern Georgia including Tbilisi. A period of unrest ensued, which ended as Abkhazia and eastern Georgian states were unified under a single Georgian monarchy, ruled by King Bagrat III (who was buried in the Monastery of Bedia in the Tkvarcheli district of Abkhazia) at the end of the 10th century and the beginning of the 11th century.
In the 16th century, after the break-up of the Georgian Kingdom, an autonomous Principality of Abkhazia emerged, ruled by the Shervashidze dynasty (also known as Sharvashidze, or Chachba).[citation needed] Since the 1570s, when the Ottoman navy occupied the fort of Tskhumi, Abkhazia came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire and Islam. Under Ottoman rule, the majority of Abkhazians were converted to Islam. The principality retained a degree of autonomy under the Ottomans, and then Russian rule, but it was eventually absorbed into the Russian Empire in 1864.[22]
Abkhazia within the Russian Empire and Soviet Union[link]
In the beginning of the 19th century while the Russians and Ottomans were vying for control of the region, the rulers of Abkhazia shifted back and forth across the religious divide.[citation needed] The first attempt to enter into relations with Russia was made by Keilash Bey in 1803, shortly after the incorporation of eastern Georgia into the expanding Tsarist empire (1801). However, the pro-Ottoman orientation prevailed for a short time after his assassination by his son Aslan-Bey on 2 May 1808.[citation needed] On 2 July 1810, the Russian Marines stormed Suhum-Kale and had Aslan-Bey replaced with his rival brother, Sefer-Bey (1810–1821), who had converted to Christianity and assumed the name of George. Abkhazia joined the Russian Empire as an autonomous principality. However, George’s rule, as well as that of his successors, was limited to the neighbourhood of Suhum-Kale and the Bzyb area.[citation needed] The next Russo-Turkish war strongly enhanced the Russian positions, leading to a further split in the Abkhaz elite, mainly along religious divisions. During the Crimean War (1853–1856), Russian forces had to evacuate Abkhazia and Prince Michael (1822–1864) seemingly switched to the Ottomans.[citation needed]
Later on, the Russian presence strengthened and the highlanders of Western Caucasia were finally subjugated by Russia in 1864.[citation needed] The autonomy of Abkhazia, which had functioned as a pro-Russian "buffer zone" in this troublesome region, was no longer needed by the Tsarist government and the rule of the Shervashidze came to an end; in November 1864, Prince Michael was forced to renounce his rights and resettle in Voronezh.[citation needed] Abkhazia was incorporated into the Russian Empire as a special military province of Suhum-Kalem which was transformed, in 1883, into an okrug as part of the Kutais Guberniya. Large numbers of Muslim Abkhazians, said to have constituted as much as 40% of the Abkhazian population, emigrated to the Ottoman Empire between 1864 and 1878 with other Muslim population of Caucasus, a process known as Muhajirism.
Large areas of the region were left uninhabited and many Armenians, Georgians, Russians and others subsequently migrated to Abkhazia, resettling much of the vacated territory.[29] According to Georgian historians, Georgian tribes (namely the Mingrelians and Svans) had populated Abkhazia since the time of the Colchis kingdom.[30]
The Russian Revolution of 1917 led to the creation of an independent Georgia (which included Abkhazia) in 1918. Georgia's Menshevik government had problems with the area through most of its existence despite a limited autonomy being granted to the region. In 1921, the Bolshevik Red Army invaded Georgia and ended its short-lived independence. Abkhazia was made a Socialist Soviet Republic (SSR Abkhazia) with the ambiguous status of a treaty republic associated with the Georgian SSR.[31][32] In 1931, Joseph Stalin made it an autonomous republic (Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic or in short Abkhaz ASSR) within the Georgian SSR.[22] Despite its nominal autonomy, it was subjected to strong direct rule from central Soviet authorities. Under the rule of Stalin and Beria Abkhaz schools were closed.[33][34][35] Russians also moved into Abkhazia in great numbers. Later, in the 1950s and 1960s, Vazgen I and the Armenian church encouraged and funded the migration of Armenians to Abkhazia.[citation needed] Currently, Armenians are the second largest minority group in Abkhazia (closely matching the Georgians), although their numbers decreased dramatically from 77,000 in the 1989 census to 45,000 in the 2003 census (see the Demographics).
The oppression of the Abkhaz was ended after Stalin's death[22] and Beria's execution, and the Abkhaz were given a greater role in the governance of the republic.[22] As in most of the smaller autonomous republics, the Soviet government encouraged the development of culture and particularly of literature.
Abkhazia in post-Soviet Georgia[link]
Main article: Georgian–Abkhaz conflict
As the Soviet Union began to disintegrate at the end of the 1980s, ethnic tensions grew between the Abkhaz and Georgians over Georgia's moves towards independence. Many Abkhaz opposed this, fearing that an independent Georgia would lead to the elimination of their autonomy, and argued instead for the establishment of Abkhazia as a separate Soviet republic in its own right. The dispute turned violent on 16 July 1989 in Sukhumi. Sixteen Georgians are said to have been killed and another 137 injured when they tried to enroll in a Georgian University instead of an Abkhaz one. After several days of violence, Soviet troops restored order in the city and blamed rival nationalist paramilitaries for provoking confrontations.
In March 1990, Georgia declared sovereignty, unilaterally nullifying treaties concluded by the Soviet government since 1921 and thereby moving closer to independence. The Republic of Georgia boycotted the 17 March 1991 all-Union referendum on the renewal of the Soviet Union called by Mikhail Gorbachev; however, 52.3% of Abkhazia's population (almost all of the ethnic non-Georgian population) took part in the referendum and voted by an overwhelming majority (98.6%) to preserve the Union.[36][37] Most ethnic non-Georgians in Abkhazia later boycotted a 31 March referendum on Georgia’s independence, which was supported by a huge majority of Georgia's population. Within weeks, Georgia declared independence on 9 April 1991, under former Soviet dissident Zviad Gamsakhurdia. Under Gamsakhurdia, the situation was relatively calm in Abkhazia and a power-sharing agreement was soon reached between the Abkhaz and Georgian factions, granting to the Abkhaz a certain over-representation in the local legislature.[38]
Gamsakhurdia's rule was soon challenged by armed opposition groups, under the command of Tengiz Kitovani, that forced him to flee the country in a military coup in January 1992. Former Soviet foreign minister and architect of the disintegration of the USSR Eduard Shevardnadze replaced Gamsakhurdia as president, inheriting a government dominated by hard-line Georgian nationalists. He was not an ethnic nationalist but did little to avoid being seen as supporting his administration's dominant figures and the leaders of the coup that swept him to power.[citation needed]
On 21 February 1992, Georgia's ruling Military Council announced that it was abolishing the Soviet-era constitution and restoring the 1921 Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Georgia. Many Abkhaz interpreted this as an abolition of their autonomous status, although the 1921 constitution contained a provision for the region's autonomy.[39] On 23 July 1992, the Abkhaz faction in the republic's Supreme Council declared effective independence from Georgia, although the session was boycotted by ethnic Georgian deputies and the gesture went unrecognised by any other country. The Abkhaz leadership launched a campaign of ousting Georgian officials from their offices, a process which was accompanied by violence. In the meantime, the Abkhaz leader Vladislav Ardzinba intensified his ties with hardline Russian politicians and military elite and declared he was ready for a war with Georgia.[40]
The Abkhazian War[link]
Main article: War in Abkhazia
In August 1992, the Georgian government accused Gamsakhurdia's supporters of kidnapping Georgia's Interior Minister and holding him captive in Abkhazia. The Georgian government dispatched 3,000 troops to the region, ostensibly to restore order. The Abkhaz were relatively unarmed at this time and the Georgian troops were able to march into Sukhumi with relatively little resistance[41] and subsequently engaged in ethnically based pillage, looting, assault, and murder.[42] The Abkhaz units were forced to retreat to Gudauta and Tkvarcheli.
The Abkhaz military defeat was met with a hostile response by the self-styled Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus, an umbrella group uniting a number of movements in the North Caucasus, including elements of Circassians, Abazins, Chechens, Cossacks, Ossetians and hundreds of volunteer paramilitaries and mercenaries from Russia, including the then little-known Shamil Basayev, later a leader of the anti-Moscow Chechen secessionists. They sided with the Abkhaz separatists to fight against the Georgian government. In the case of Basayev, it has been suggested that when he and the members of his battalion came to Abkhazia, they received training by the Russian Army (though others dispute this), presenting another possible motive.[43] Regular Russian forces also reportedly sided with the secessionists.[citation needed] In September, the Abkhaz and Russian paramilitaries mounted a major offensive against Gagra after breaking a cease-fire, which drove the Georgian forces out of large swathes of the republic. Shevardnadze's government accused Russia of giving covert military support to the rebels with the aim of "detaching from Georgia its native territory and the Georgia-Russian frontier land". 1992 ended with the rebels in control of much of Abkhazia northwest of Sukhumi.
The conflict was in stalemate until July 1993, when Abkhaz separatist militias launched an abortive attack on Georgian-held Sukhumi. They surrounded and heavily shelled the capital, where Shevardnadze was trapped. The warring sides agreed to a Russian-brokered truce in Sochi at the end of July, but it collapsed in mid-September 1993 after a renewed Abkhaz attack. After ten days of heavy fighting, Sukhumi was taken by Abkhazian forces on 27 September 1993. Shevardnadze narrowly escaped death, after vowing to stay in the city no matter what. He was forced to flee when separatist snipers fired on the hotel where he was staying. Abkhaz, North Caucasian militants, and their allies committed numerous atrocities[44] against the city's remaining ethnic Georgians, in what has been dubbed the Sukhumi Massacre. The mass killings and destruction continued for two weeks, leaving thousands dead and missing.
The Abkhaz forces quickly overran the rest of Abkhazia as the Georgian government faced a second threat: an uprising by the supporters of the deposed Zviad Gamsakhurdia in the region of Mingrelia (Samegrelo). Only a small region of eastern Abkhazia, the upper Kodori gorge, remained under Georgian control (until 2008). In the chaotic aftermath of defeat almost all ethnic Georgians fled the region, escaping an ethnic cleansing initiated by the victors. Many thousands died; it is estimated that on each side there were about 4,000 casualties, both military and civilian.[44]
During the war, gross human rights violations were reported on both sides (see Human Rights Watch report).[44] Georgian troops have been accused of having committed looting[41] and murders "for the purpose of terrorising, robbing and driving the Abkhaz population out of their homes"[44] in the first phase of the war (according to Human Rights Watch), while Georgia blames the Abkhaz forces and their allies for the ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia, which has also been recognised by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Summits in Budapest (1994),[45] Lisbon (1996)[46] and Istanbul (1999).[47]
Of about 200,000–240,000 Georgian refugees, some 60,000 Georgian refugees subsequently returned to Abkhazia's Gali district between 1994 and 1998, but tens of thousands were displaced again when fighting resumed in 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 and those migrating seasonally in accordance with agricultural cycles.[48] The human rights situation remained precarious for a while in the Georgian-populated areas of the Gali district. The United Nations and other international organisations have been fruitlessly urging the Abkhaz de facto 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."[49] Key officials of the Gali district are virtually all ethnic Abkhaz, though their support staff are ethnic Georgian.[50]
Post-war Abkhazia[link]
Main article: Georgian–Abkhaz conflict
On 3 October 2004 presidential elections were held in Abkhazia. In the elections, Russia evidently supported Raul Khadjimba, the prime minister backed by the ailing outgoing separatist President Vladislav Ardzinba. Posters of Russia's President Vladimir Putin together with Khadjimba, who, like Putin, had worked as a KGB official, were everywhere in Sukhumi.[citation needed] Deputies of Russia's parliament and Russian singers, led by Joseph Kobzon, a deputy and a popular singer, came to Abkhazia campaigning for Khadjimba.
However Raul Khadjimba lost the elections to Sergei Bagapsh. The tense situation in the republic led to the cancellation of the election results by the Supreme Court. After that a deal was struck between former rivals to run jointly – Bagapsh as a presidential candidate and Khadjimba as a vice presidential candidate. They received more than 90% of the votes in the new election.[citation needed]
In July 2006, Georgian forces launched a successful police operation against the rebelled administrator of the Georgian populated Kodori Gorge, Emzar Kvitsiani. Kvitsiani had been appointed by the previous president of Georgia Edvard Shevardnadze and refused to recognise the authority of president Mikheil Saakashvili, who succeeded Shevardnadze after the Rose Revolution. Although Kvitsiani escaped capture by Georgian police, the Kodori Gorge was brought back under the control of the central government in Tbilisi.
Sporadic acts of violence continued throughout the postwar years. Despite the peacekeeping status of the Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia, Georgian officials routinely claimed that Russian peacekeepers were inciting violence by supplying Abkhaz rebels with arms and financial support. Russian support of Abkhazia became pronounced when the Russian ruble became the de facto currency and Russia began issuing passports to the population of Abkhazia.[51] Georgia has also accused Russia of violating its airspace by sending helicopters to attack Georgian-controlled towns in the Kodori Gorge. In April 2008, a Russian MiG – prohibited from Georgian airspace, including Abkhazia – shot down a Georgian UAV.[52][53]
On 9 August 2008, Abkhazian forces fired on Georgian forces in Kodori Gorge. This coincided with the 2008 South Ossetia war where Russia decided to support the Ossetian separatists who had been attacked by Georgia.[citation needed] The conflict escalated into a full-scale war between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Georgia. On 10 August 2008 an estimated 9,000 Russian troops entered Abkhazia ostensibly to reinforce the Russian peacekeepers in the republic. About 1,000 Abkhazian troops moved to expel the residual Georgian forces within Abkhazia in the Upper Kodori Gorge.[54] By 12 August the Georgian forces and civilians had evacuated the last part of Abkhazia under Georgian government control. Russia recognised the independence of Abkhazia on 26 August 2008.[55][56] Moreover, on 17 November 2008, the Abkhaz parliament ratified a bill that authorised the construction of a Russian military base in Abkhazia in 2009.[citation needed]
Since independence was recognised by Russia a series of controversial agreements were made between the Abkhazian government and the Russian Federation that leased or sold a number of key state assets and relinquished control over the borders. In May 2009 several opposition parties and war veteran groups protested against these deals complaining that they undermined state sovereignty and risked exchanging one colonial power (Georgia) for another (Russia).[57] The Vice President, Raul Khadjimba, resigned on 28 May saying he agreed with the criticism the opposition had made.[58] Subsequently, a conference of opposition parties nominated Raul Khadjimba as their candidate in the December 2009 Abkhazian presidential election won by Sergei Bagapsh.
International status[link]
Main article: International recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
Main article: Foreign relations of Abkhazia
The Russian Federation and Nicaragua officially recognised Abkhazia after the 2008 South Ossetia War. Venezuela recognised Abkhazia in September 2009.[59][60] In December 2009, Nauru recognised Abkhazia, reportedly in return for $50 million in humanitarian aid from Russia.[61] The unrecognised republic of Transnistria and the partially recognised republic of South Ossetia have recognised Abkhazia since 2006. Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria all belong to the Community for Democracy and Human Rights, a group that attempts to further the cause of unrecognised states that came from the former Soviet Union. Abkhazia is also a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO). A majority of sovereign states recognise Abkhazia as an integral part of Georgia and support its territorial integrity according to the principles of international law, although Belarus has expressed sympathy toward the recognition of Abkhazia.[62][63] The United Nations has been urging both sides to settle the dispute through diplomatic dialogue and ratifying the final status of Abkhazia in the Georgian constitution.[44][64] However, the Abkhaz de facto government considers Abkhazia a sovereign country even if it is recognised by few other countries. In early 2000, then-UN Special Representative of the Secretary General Dieter Boden and the Group of Friends of Georgia, consisting of the representatives of Russia, the United States, Britain, France, and Germany, drafted and informally presented a document to the parties outlining a possible distribution of competencies between the Abkhaz and Georgian authorities, based on a core respect for Georgian territorial integrity. The Abkhaz side, however, has never accepted the paper as a basis for negotiations.[65] Eventually, Russia also withdrew its approval of the document.[66] In 2005 and 2008, the Georgian government offered Abkhazia a high degree of autonomy and possible federal structure within the borders and jurisdiction of Georgia.
On 18 October 2006, the People's Assembly of Abkhazia passed a resolution, calling upon Russia, international organisations, and the rest of the international community to recognise Abkhaz independence on the basis that Abkhazia possesses all the properties of an independent state.[67] The United Nations has reaffirmed "the commitment of all Member States to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognised borders" and outlined the basic principles of conflict resolution which call for immediate return of all displaced persons and for non-resumption of hostilities.[68]
Georgia accuses the Abkhaz secessionists of having conducted a deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing of 200,000–240,000 Georgians[citation needed], a claim supported by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) (Budapest, Lisbon and Istanbul declaration).[69] The UN Security Council has avoided use of the term "ethnic cleansing" but has affirmed "the unacceptability of the demographic changes resulting from the conflict".[70] On 15 May 2008 United Nations General Assembly adopted a non-binding resolution recognising the right of all refugees (including victims of reported “ethnic cleansing”) to return to Abkhazia and their property rights. It "regretted" the attempts to alter pre-war demographic composition and called for the "rapid development of a timetable to ensure the prompt voluntary return of all refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes."[71]
On 28 March 2008, the President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili unveiled his government's new proposals to Abkhazia: the broadest possible autonomy within the framework of a Georgian state, a joint free economic zone, representation in the central authorities including the post of vice-president with the right to veto Abkhaz-related decisions.[72] The Abkhaz leader Sergei Bagapsh rejected these new initiatives as "propaganda", leading to Georgia's complaints that this skepticism was "triggered by Russia, rather than by real mood of the Abkhaz people."[73]
On 3 July 2008, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly passed a resolution at its annual session in Astana, expressing concern over Russia’s recent moves in breakaway Abkhazia. The resolution calls on the Russian authorities to refrain from maintaining ties with the breakaway regions “in any manner that would constitute a challenge to the sovereignty of Georgia” and also urges Russia “to abide by OSCE standards and generally accepted international norms with respect to the threat or use of force to resolve conflicts in relations with other participating States.”[74]
Russian involvement[link]
During the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, the Russian authorities and military supplied logistical and military aid to the separatist side.[44] Today, Russia still maintains a strong political and military influence over separatist rule in Abkhazia. Russia has also issued passports for the citizens of Abkhazia since 2000 (as the Abkhazian passports cannot be used for international travel) and subsequently paid retirement pensions and other monetary benefits. More than 80% of the Abkhazian population received Russian passports by 2006. As Russian citizens living abroad, Abkhazians do not pay Russian taxes or serve in the Russian Army.[75][76] About 53,000 Abkhazian passports have been issued as of May 2007.[77]
Moscow, at certain times, had hinted that it might recognise Abkhazia and South Ossetia when the Western countries recognised the independence of Kosovo suggesting it created a precedent. Following Kosovo's declaration of independence the Russian parliament released a joint statement reading: "Now that the situation in Kosovo has become an international precedent, Russia should take into account the Kosovo scenario...when considering ongoing territorial conflicts."[78] Initially Russia continued to delay recognition of both of these republics. However, on 16 April 2008, the outgoing Russian president Vladimir Putin instructed his government to establish official ties with South Ossetia and Abkhazia, leading to Georgia's condemnation of what it described an attempt at "de facto annexation"[79] and criticism from the European Union, NATO, and several Western governments.[80]
Later in April 2008, Russia accused Georgia of trying to exploit the NATO support in order to control Abkhazia by force, and announced it would increase its military in the region, pledging to retaliate militarily to Georgia’s efforts. The Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze had said Georgia will treat any additional troops in Abkhazia as "aggressors".[81]
In response to the Georgian invasion of South Ossetia, the Federal Assembly of Russia called an extraordinary session for 25 August 2008 to discuss recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.[82] Following a unanimous resolution that was passed by both houses of the parliament, calling on the Russian president to recognise independence of the breakaway republics,[83] Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, officially recognised both on 26 August 2008.[84][85] Russian recognition[86] was condemned by NATO nations, OSCE, and European Council nations[87][88][89][90][91] due to "violation of territorial integrity and international law".[90][92] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stated that sovereign states have to decide upon the recognition of independence.[93]
Russia has started work on the establishment of a naval base in Ochamchire by dredging the coast to allow the passage of their larger naval vessels.[94] As a response to the Georgian sea blockade of Abkhazia, in which Georgian coast guard had been detaining ships heading to and from Abkhazia, Russia began patrolling the Black Sea to protect ships and detaining ships from Georgia trespassing in Abkhazian waters.[95]
The extent of Russian influence in Abkhazia has caused some to say Abkhazia is under full Russian control, but they still prefer Russian influence over Georgian.[96][97][98][99]
International involvement[link]
The UN has played various roles during the conflict and peace process: a military role through its observer mission (UNOMIG); dual diplomatic roles through the Security Council and the appointment of a Special Envoy, succeeded by a Special Representative to the Secretary-General; a humanitarian role (UNHCR and UNOCHA); a development role (UNDP); a human rights role (UNHCHR); and a low-key capacity and confidence-building role (UNV). The UN’s position has been that there will be no forcible change in international borders. Any settlement must be freely negotiated and based on autonomy for Abkhazia legitimised by referendum under international observation once the multi-ethnic population has returned.[100] According to Western interpretations the intervention did not contravene international law since Georgia, as a sovereign state, had the right to secure order on its territory and protect its territorial integrity.
The OSCE has increasingly engaged in dialogue with officials and civil society representatives in Abkhazia, especially from NGOs and the media, regarding human dimension standards and is considering a presence in Gali. OSCE expressed concern and condemnation over ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia during the 1994 Budapest Summit Decision[101] and later at the Lisbon Summit Declaration in 1996.[102]
The USA rejects the unilateral secession of Abkhazia and urges its integration into Georgia as an autonomous unit. In 1998 the USA announced its readiness to allocate up to $15 million for rehabilitation of infrastructure in the Gali region if substantial progress is made in the peace process. USAID has already funded some humanitarian initiatives for Abkhazia. The USA has in recent years significantly increased its military support to the Georgian armed forces but has stated that it would not condone any moves towards peace enforcement in Abkhazia.
On 22 August 2006, Senator Richard Lugar, then visiting Georgia's capital Tbilisi, joined the Georgian politicians in criticism of the Russian peacekeeping mission, stating that "the U.S. administration supports the Georgian government’s insistence on the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from the conflict zones in Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali district."[103]
On 5 October 2006, Javier Solana, the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union, ruled out the possibility of replacing the Russian peacekeepers with the EU force."[104] On 10 October 2006, EU South Caucasus envoy Peter Semneby noted that "Russia's actions in the Georgia spy row have damaged its credibility as a neutral peacekeeper in the EU's Black Sea neighbourhood."[105]
On 13 October 2006, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution, based on a Group of Friends of the Secretary-General draft, extending the UNOMIG mission until 15 April 2007. Acknowledging that the "new and tense situation" resulted, at least in part, from the Georgian special forces operation in the upper Kodori Valley, the resolution urged the country to ensure that no troops unauthorised by the Moscow ceasefire agreement were present in that area. It urged the leadership of the Abkhaz side to address seriously the need for a dignified, secure return of refugees and internally displaced persons and to reassure the local population in the Gali district that their residency rights and identity will be respected. The Georgian side is "once again urged to address seriously legitimate Abkhaz security concerns, to avoid steps that could be seen as threatening and to refrain from militant rhetoric and provocative actions, especially in upper Kodori Valley."
Calling on both parties to follow up on dialogue initiatives, it further urged them to comply fully with all previous agreements regarding non-violence and confidence-building, in particular those concerning the separation of forces. Regarding the disputed role of the peacekeepers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Council stressed the importance of close, effective cooperation between UNOMIG and that force and looked to all sides to continue to extend the necessary cooperation to them. At the same time, the document reaffirmed the "commitment of all Member States to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognised borders."[106]
The HALO Trust, an international non-profit organisation that specialises in the removal of the debris of war, has been active in Abkhazia since 1999 and has completed the removal of land-mines in Sukhumi and Gali districts. It plans to finish its operations in 2007/2008 and to declare Abkhazia a "mine impact free" territory.[107]
The main NGO working in Abkhazia is the France-based international NGO Première-Urgence (PU):[108] PU has been implementing rehabilitation and economical revival programmes to support the vulnerable populations affected by the frozen conflict for almost 10 years.
International recognition[link]
Main article: International recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
Abkhazia was an unrecognised state for most of its history. The following is a list of political entities that formally recognise Abkhazia.
- UN non-member states
South Ossetia recognised Abkhazia on 17 November 2006.[13]
Transnistria recognised Abkhazia on 17 November 2006.[13]
Nagorno-Karabakh recognised Abkhazia on 17 November 2006.[109]
- UN member states
Russia recognised Abkhazia on 26 August 2008 after the 2008 South Ossetia war.[110]
Nicaragua recognised Abkhazia on 5 September 2008.[111]
Venezuela recognised Abkhazia on 10 September 2009.[112]
Nauru recognised Abkhazia on 15 December 2009.[113]
Vanuatu recognised Abkhazia on 23 May 2011.[114]
Tuvalu recognised Abkhazia on 18 September 2011.[115]
Geography and climate[link]
Main article: Geography and climate of Abkhazia
Abkhazia covers an area of about 8,600 km2 (3,320 sq mi) at the western end of Georgia.[116][117] The Caucasus Mountains to the north and the northeast divide Abkhazia and the Russian Federation. To the east and southeast, Abkhazia is bounded by the Georgian region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti; and on the south and southwest by the Black Sea.
Abkhazia is extremely mountainous. The Greater Caucasus Mountain Range runs along the region's northern border, with its spurs – the Gagra, Bzyb and Kodori ranges – dividing the area into a number of deep, well-watered valleys. The highest peaks of Abkhazia are in the northeast and east and several exceed 4,000 meters (13,123 ft) above sea level. The landscapes of Abkhazia range from coastal forests and citrus plantations, to eternal snows and glaciers to the north of the region. Although Abkhazia's complex topographic setting has spared most of the territory from significant human development, its cultivated fertile lands produce tea, tobacco, wine and fruits, a mainstay of the local agricultural sector.
Abkhazia is richly irrigated by small rivers originating in the Caucasus Mountains. Chief of these are: Kodori, Bzyb, Ghalidzga, and Gumista. The Psou River separates the region from Russia, and the Inguri serves as a boundary between Abkhazia and Georgia proper. There are several periglacial and crater lakes in mountainous Abkhazia. Lake Ritsa is the most important of them.
The world's deepest known cave, Krubera (Voronja) Cave ("The Crows' Cave", in English), is located in Abkhazia's western Caucasus mountains. The latest survey (as of September 2006) has measured the vertical extent of this cave system as 2,158 meters (7,080 ft) between its highest and lowest explored points.[118]
Because of Abkhazia's proximity to the Black Sea and the shield of the Caucasus Mountains, the region's climate is very mild. The coastal areas of the republic have a subtropical climate, where the average annual temperature in most regions is around 15 °C (59 °F). The climate at higher elevations varies from maritime mountainous to cold and summerless. Abkhazia receives high amounts of precipitation, but its unique micro-climate (transitional from subtropical to mountain) along most of its coast causes lower levels of humidity. The annual precipitation vacillates from 1,100–1,500 mm (43.3–59.1 in) along the coast 1,700–3,500 mm (66.9–137.8 in) in the higher mountainous areas. The mountains of Abkhazia receive significant amounts of snow.
There are two border crossings into Abkhazia. The southern border crossing is at the Inguri bridge, a short distance from the Georgian city of Zugdidi. The northern crossing ("Psou") is in the town of Gyachrypsh. Owing to the ongoing security situation, many foreign governments advise their citizens against travelling to Abkhazia.[119]
Government and administration[link]
Main article: Politics of Abkhazia
Government of the Republic of Abkhazia[link]
Main articles: Government of the Republic of Abkhazia and Elections in Abkhazia
Abkhazia is a presidential republic, and the last President of Abkhazia was Sergei Bagapsh. Bagapsh came to power following the deeply divisive October 2004 presidential election. The next election was held on 12 December 2009. Bagapsh was re-elected as President with 59.4% of the total vote.[120] Alexander Ankvab, his vice president, was appointed acting president after the former president's death on 29 May 2011.[121]
Legislative powers are vested in the People's Assembly, which consists of 35 elected members. The last parliamentary elections were held on 4 March 2007. Ethnicities other than Abkhaz (Armenians, Russians and Georgians) are believed to be under-represented in the Assembly.[50]
Most refugees from the 1992–1993 war (mainly ethnic Georgians) have not been able to return and have thus been excluded from the political process.[122]
Abkhazian officials have stated that they have given the Russian Federation the responsibility of representing their interests abroad.[123]
Government in exile: Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia[link]
Main article: Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia
The Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia is a government in exile that Georgia recognises as the legal government of Abkhazia. This pro-Georgian government maintained a foothold on Abkhazian territory, in the upper Kodori Valley from July 2006 until it was forced out by fighting in August 2008. This government is also partly responsible for the affairs of some 250,000 IDPs, forced to leave Abkhazia following the War in Abkhazia and ethnic cleansing that followed.[124][125] The current Head of the Government is Giorgi Baramia.
During the War in Abkhazia, the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia (at the time the Georgian faction of the "Council of Ministers of Abkhazia") left Abkhazia after the Abkhaz separatist forces took control of the region’s capital Sukhumi and relocated to Georgia’s capital Tbilisi where it operated as the Government of Abkhazia in exile for almost 13 years. During this period, the Government of Abkhazia in exile, led by Tamaz Nadareishvili, was known for a hard-line stance towards the Abkhaz problem and frequently voiced their opinion that the solution to the conflict can be attained only through Georgia's military response to secessionism.[citation needed] Later, Nadareishvili's administration was implicated in some internal controversies and had not taken an active part in the politics of Abkhazia[citation needed] until a new chairman, Irakli Alasania, was appointed by President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, his envoy in the peace talks over Abkhazia.
Administrative divisions of Abkhazia[link]
Main article: Administrative divisions of Abkhazia
The Republic of Abkhazia is divided into 7 raions named after their centres: Gagra, Gudauta, Sukhumi, Ochamchira, Gulripsh, Tkvarcheli and Gali. These districts are the same as under the Soviet Union, except that the Tkvarcheli district was created only in 1995 from parts of the Ochamchira and Gali districts.
The President of the Republic appoints districts' heads from those elected to the districts' assemblies. There are elected village assemblies whose heads are appointed by the districts' heads.[50]
The Administrative subdivision of Abkhazia used by Georgia is identical to the one outlined above, except for the new Tkvarcheli district.
Military[link]
Main articles: Military of Abkhazia and Abkhazian Air Force
The Abkhazian Armed Forces are the military of the Republic of Abkhazia. The basis of the Abkhazian armed forces was formed by the ethnically Abkhaz National Guard formed early in 1992. Most of the weapons come from the former Russian airborne division base in Gudauta.[citation needed] The Abkhazian military is primarily a ground force but includes small sea and air units. Russia has at present around 1,600 troops stationed in Abkhazia.[126]
The Abkhazian Armed Forces are composed of:
- The Abkhazian Land Forces with a permanent force of around 5,000, but with reservists and paramilitary personnel this may increase to up to 50,000 in times of military conflict. The exact numbers and the type of equipment used remain unverifiable.
- The Abkhazian Navy that consists of three divisions based in Sukhumi, Ochamchira and Pitsunda, but the Russian navy patrols their waters.[127]
- The Abkhazian Air Force, a small unit consisting of a few fighter aircraft and helicopters.
Economy[link]
The economy of Abkhazia is heavily integrated with Russia and uses the Russian ruble as its currency. Tourism is a key industry and, according to the Abkhaz de facto authorities, almost a million tourists (mainly from Russia) came to Abkhazia in 2007.[128] Although Russia has established a visa regime with Georgia, Russian passport-holders do not require a visa to enter Abkhazia. Holders of European Union passports require an Entry Permit Letter issued by the de facto Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sukhumi, against which a visa will be issued upon presentation of the Letter to the MFA.[129] According to the US-based organisation Freedom House, the region continues to suffer considerable economic problems owing to widespread corruption, the control by criminal organisations of large segments of the economy, and the continuing effects of the war.[130]
Abkhazia has experienced a modest economic upswing since the 2008 South Ossetia war and after Russia's recognition of Abkhazia's independence. About half of Abkhazia's state budget is financed with aid money from Russia.[131]
Agriculture[link]
Abkhazia's fertile land and abundance of agricultural products, including tea, tobacco, wine and fruits (especially tangerines), have secured a relative stability in the sector. Electricity is largely supplied by the Inguri hydroelectric power station located on the Inguri River between Abkhazia and Georgia proper and operated jointly by Abkhaz and Georgians.
Trade[link]
The exports and imports in 2006 were 627.2 and 3,270.2 million rubles respectively (appx. 22 and 117 million. US dollars) according to the Abkhazian authorities.[132]
Foreign investment[link]
Many Russian entrepreneurs and some Russian municipalities have invested or plan to invest in Abkhazia. This includes the Moscow municipality after the former Mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov, signed an agreement on economic cooperation between Moscow and Abkhazia. Both Abkhaz and Russian officials have announced their intentions to exploit Abkhazia's facilities and resources for the Olympic construction projects in Sochi, as the city will host the 2014 Winter Olympics. The Government of Georgia has warned against such actions, however,[133] and has threatened to ask foreign banks to close accounts of Russian companies and individuals that buy assets in Abkhazia.[134]
The CIS economic sanctions imposed on Abkhazia in 1996 are still formally in force although Russia announced on 6 March 2008 that it would no longer participate in them, declaring them "outdated, impeding the socio-economic development of the region, and causing unjustified hardship for the people of Abkhazia". Russia also called on other CIS members to undertake similar steps,[135] but met with protests from Tbilisi and lack of support from the other CIS countries.[136]
The European Union has allocated more than €20 million to Abkhazia since 1997 for various humanitarian projects, including the support of civil society, economic rehabilitation, help to the most vulnerable households and confidence building measures. The EU's single largest project is the repair and reconstruction of the Inguri power station.[137]
In April 2011, the Abkhazian government announced it had reached an agreement with Israeli companies to develop the country's mineral industry sector. Global CST company has promised to provide Abkhazia with non-offensive military technologies, security equipment, and medicine, as well as invest into the agricultural sector, tourism, and mining.[138]
Demographics[link]
Main article: Demographics of Abkhazia
According to the last census in 2011 Abkhazia has 240,705 inhabitants.[139]
The exact size of Abkhazia's population was unclear. According to the census carried out in 2003 it measured 215,972 people,[140] but this is contested by Georgian authorities. The Department of Statistics of Georgia estimated Abkhazia's population to be approximately 179,000 in 2003, and 178,000 in 2005 (the last year when such estimates were published in Georgia).[141] Encyclopædia Britannica estimates the population in 2007 at 180,000[142] and the International Crisis Group estimates Abkhazia's total population in 2006 to be between 157,000 and 190,000 (or between 180,000 and 220,000 as estimated by UNDP in 1998).[143]
Ethnicity[link]
The ethnic composition of Abkhazia has played a central role in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict and is equally contested. The demographics of Abkhazia were very strongly affected by the 1992–1993 War with Georgia, which saw the expulsion and flight of over half of the republic's population, measuring 525,061 in the 1989 census.[140]
The population of Abkhazia remains ethnically very diverse, even after the 1992–1993 War. At present the population of Abkhazia is mainly made up of ethnic Abkhaz, Georgians (mostly Mingrelians), Hamshemin Armenians, and Russians. Other nationalities include Ukrainians, Belarusians, Greeks, Ossetians, Tatars, Turks, and Roma.[144] Prior to the war, ethnic Georgians made up 45.7% of Abkhazia's population, however, by 1993, most Georgians and some Russians and Armenians had fled Abkhazia or had been ethnically cleansed.[142]
During the Soviet Union, the Russian, Armenian and Georgian population grew faster than the Abkhaz, due to the large-scale migration enforced especially under the rule of Joseph Stalin and Lavrenty Beria.[35]
Diaspora[link]
Thousands of Abkhaz, known as makhadjiri, fled Abkhazia for Ottoman Empire in the mid-19th century after resisting the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. Today, Turkey is home to the world's largest Abkhaz diaspora community. Size estimates vary – Diaspora leaders say 1 million people; Abkhaz estimates range from 150,000 to 500,000.[145][146] The Abkhazians in Turkey are almost exclusively Sunni Muslims.
Religion[link]
Main article: Religion in Abkhazia
| Religion in Abkhazia | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| religion | percent | |||
| Christianity |
|
60% | ||
| Islam |
|
16% | ||
| Paganism |
|
8% | ||
| Atheist or irreligious |
|
8% | ||
Most inhabitants of Abkhazia are Christian (Eastern Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic), Sunni Muslim or irreligious, but few people who declare themselves Christian or Muslim attend religious service.[147] The influence of traditional Abkhaz religion also remains strong among Christians, Muslims and non-believers. There is a very small number of adherents of Judaism, Jehovah's Witnesses and new religious movements.[148] The Jehovah's Witnesses organisation has officially been banned since 1995, though the decree is not currently enforced.[149]
According to the constitutions of both Abkhazia and Georgia, the adherents of all religions (as well as atheists) have equal rights before the law.[150]
According to a survey held in 2003, 60% of respondents identified themselves as Christian, 16% as Muslim, 8% as atheist or irreligious and 8% as adhering to the traditional Abkhazian religion or as Pagan.[148]
Culture[link]
Main article: Culture of Abkhazia
The written Abkhaz literature appeared relatively recently, in the beginning of the 20th century. However, Abkhaz share with other Caucasian peoples the Nart sagas – series of tales about mythical heroes. The Abkhaz alphabet was created in the 19th century. The first newspaper in Abkhaz, called Abkhazia and edited by Dmitry Gulia, appeared in 1917.
Arguably the most famous Abkhaz writers are Fazil Iskander, who wrote mostly in Russian and Bagrat Shinkuba a poet.
Football remains the most popular sport in Abkhazia. Other popular sports include basketball, boxing and wrestling.
Abkhazia has its own amateur Abkhazian football league since 1994. The league is not a part of any international football union.
Gallery of Abkhazia[link]
-
Gagra
-
Geg waterfall
-
View of Sukhumi 1
-
View of Sukhumi 2
-
Sukhumi quay
-
Sukhumi botanical garden front entrance
-
Chanba Dramatic theatre in Sukhumi
See also[link]
Main article: Outline of Abkhazia
- Armenians in Abkhazia
- Bibliography of Abkhazia
- Commonwealth of Unrecognized States
- Controversy over Abkhazian and South Ossetian independence
- Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia
- Land of Darkness
- Law enforcement in Abkhazia
- Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
- Self-determination
- South Ossetia
- Transnistria
- Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
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- ^ Population census in Abkhazia 2011
- ^ a b Population censuses in Abkhazia: 1886, 1926, 1939, 1959, 1970, 1979, 1989, 2003 (Russian) Georgian and Mingrelian figures have been conflated, as most of the "Georgians" were ethnically Mingrelian.
- ^ Statistical Yearbook of Georgia 2005: Population, Table 2.1, p. 33, Department for Statistics, Tbilisi (2005)
- ^ a b "Abkhazia." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online 9 September 2008.
- ^ Abkhazia Today. The International Crisis Group Europe Report N°176, 15 September 2006, page 9. Free registration needed to view full report[dead link]
- ^ Human Rights Watch (2011), Living in Limbo: The Rights of Ethnic Georgian Returnees to the Gali District of Abkhazia, Human Rights Watch, p. 9, ISBN 1-56432-790-6
- ^ Abkhazia's Diaspora: Dreaming of Home. Eurasianet.org (2009-03-08). Retrieved on 30 May 2011.
- ^ Circassians in Turkey rally for their rights. Hurriyetdailynews.com. Retrieved on 30 May 2011.
- ^ Hewitt, George (1998). The Abkhazians: a handbook. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 205. ISBN 978-0-312-21975-8.
- ^ a b Александр Крылов. ЕДИНАЯ ВЕРА АБХАЗСКИХ "ХРИСТИАН" И "МУСУЛЬМАН". Особенности религиозного сознания в современной Абхазии. Portal-credo.ru (2004-03-17). Retrieved on 30 May 2011.
- ^ Georgia: International Religious Freedom Report 2005. The United States Department of State. Retrieved 24 May 2007.
- ^ Constitution of the Republic of Abkhazia, art. 12 (Russian)
External links[link]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Abkhazia |
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Look up abkhazia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
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- Wikimedia Atlas of Abkhazia
- Crisis profile, Georgia, Abkhazia, S. Ossetia From Reuters Alertnet
- (English)/(Russian)/(Georgian) Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia. Official web-page
- (English)/(Russian)/(Turkish)/(Abkhaz) President of the Republic of Abkhazia. Official site
- (English)/(Russian)/(Abkhaz) Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia. Official Site
- (English) BBC Regions and territories: Abkhazia
- (Russian) State Information Agency of the Abkhaz Republic
- (English) Abkhazia Provisional Paper Money
- (Russian) Orthodox Churches of Abkhazia
- (Russian) Rest in Abkhazia
- (Russian) Archaeology and ethnography of Abkhazia. Abkhaz Institute of Social Studies. Abkhaz State Museum
- Articles about Abkhazia in the Caucasus Analytical Digest No. 7
- Abkhazia travel guide from Wikitravel
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
For the population of Georgia (country), see Demographics of Georgia (country).
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 Georgia 3,956,000[2] |
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Georgian (including Mingrelian and Svan), Russian (about 10% of the population)[2] |
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Predominantly † Eastern Orthodox Christianity |
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| Part of a series on |
| Georgians ქართველები |
|---|
The
Kartvelian people |
| Nation |
| Georgia |
| Ancient Kartvelian people |
| Iberians · Colchians |
| Subgroups |
| Mingrelians · Svans · Adjarians · Khevsurians · Tushetians · Chveneburi |
| Culture |
| Music · Media · Sport · Calligraphy · Cinema · Cuisine · Dances · Costume · Calendar · Mythology · Architecture |
| Language |
| Alphabet · Dialects · Grammar |
| Religion |
| Georgian Orthodox Church Christianity · Catholicism Islam · Judaism Saint Nino · Saint George |
| Symbols |
| Borjgali · Cross of Bolnisi · Grapevine cross · Cross of Saint George |
| History of Georgia |
The Georgians (Georgian: ქართველები, kartvelebi) are Caucasian ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America.
The majority of Georgians are Eastern Orthodox Christian and largely adhere to the national autocephalous Georgian Orthodox Church, which originated in the 4th century. There are also Georgian Catholic and Muslim communities in Tbilisi and Adjara.
The Georgian people went through a complex process of nation-formation and currently comprise a diverse set of geographic subgroups, each with its characteristic traditions, manners, dialect and, in the case of Mingrelians and Svans, language. The Georgian language, with its own alphabet and long written tradition going back to the 5th century, is the language of literacy and education of all Georgians living in Georgia as well as the official language of the country. Georgian, Mingrelian and Svan, together with Laz spoken by the related Laz people form the Kartvelian language family.
Located in Caucasus at the edge of Europe, the Georgian people have fought to protect their Christian identity in the face of immense pressure from the neighboring Muslim empires. By the early 11th century they formed a unified kingdom which emerged as a dominant regional power until it was weakened by internal divisions following the death of George V the Brilliant, the last of the great kings of Georgia. To ensure its survival as a Christian kingdom, the country was soon forced to forge an alliance with the Russian Empire, which was viewed as a replacement for the fallen Eastern Roman Empire, Georgia's traditional ally. Eventually being annexed by Russia in 1801, Georgians briefly regained national independence from 1918 to 1921, and finally, in 1991 from the Soviet Union.
Contents |
Etymology[link]
Georgians call themselves Kartvelebi (ქართველები), their land Sakartvelo (საქართველო), and their language Kartuli (ქართული). According to The Georgian Chronicles, the ancestor of the Kartvelian people was Kartlos, the great grandson of the Biblical Japheth. Ancient Greeks (Strabo, Herodotus, Plutarch, Homer, etc.) and Romans (Titus Livius, Cornelius Tacitus, etc.) referred to early eastern Georgians as Iberians (Iberoi in some Greek sources) and western Georgians as Colchians.[10]
Origins[link]
Most historians and scholars of Georgia as well as anthropologists, archaeologists and linguists tend to agree that the ancestors of modern Georgians inhabited the southern Caucasus and northern Anatolia since the Neolithic period.[11] Scholars usually refer to them as Proto-Kartvelian (Proto-Georgians such as Colchians and Iberians) tribes.[12] Some European historians of the 19th century (for example, Wilhelm von Humboldt and Paul Kretschmer) as well as Georgian scholars (R. Gordeziani, S. Kaukhchishvili and Z. Gamsakhurdia) came to the conclusion that Proto-Kartvelians might be related linguistically and culturally to the indigenous (pre-Indo-European) peoples of ancient Europe including the Etruscans, Pelasgians and Proto-Basques.
The Georgian people in antiquity have been known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Colchians and Iberians.[13][14] East Georgian tribes of Tibarenians-Iberians formed their kingdom in 7th century BCE. However, western Georgian tribes (Moschians, Suanians, Mingrelians and others) established the first Georgian state of Colchis before the foundation of the Iberian Kingdom in the east.[15] According to the numerous scholars of Georgia, the formations of these two early Georgian kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia, resulted in the consolidation and uniformity of the Georgian nation.[16]
Proto-Georgian tribes:
- The ancient Jewish chronicle by Josephus mentions Georgians as Iberes who were also called Thobel (Tubal).[17]
- Diauehi in Assyrian sources and Taochi in Greek, lived in the northeastern part of Anatolia, a region that was part of Georgia. This ancient tribe is considered by many scholars as ancestors of Georgians. The Georgians of today still refer to this region, which now belongs to present-day Turkey, as Tao-Klarjeti, ancient Georgian Kingdom. Some people there still speak Georgian.[18]
- Colchians in the ancient western Georgian Kingdom of Colchis. First mentioned in the Assyrian annals of Tiglath-Pileser I and in the annals of Urartian king Sarduri II. Also included western Georgian tribe of the Meskhetians.[15][19]
Both Colchians and Iberians played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the modern Georgian nation.[20][21]
According to the scholar of the Caucasian studies Cyril Toumanoff:
| “ | Colchis appears as the first Caucasian State to have achieved the coalescence of the newcomer, Colchis can be justly regarded as not a proto-Georgian, but a Georgian (West Georgian) kingdom ... It would seem natural to seek the beginnings of Georgian social history in Colchis, the earliest Georgian formation.[22] | ” |
Appearance[link]
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Georgians are classified as Caucasoids (Europoid or Europid),[23] and often have brown hair and brown eyes.[24] Georgians who have historically lived in alpine areas of less sunny western Georgia — especially Mingrelians and Svans- tend to have lighter features, with higher frequency of blond hair and light blue or green eyes.
Studies of human genetics suggest that Georgian Y-DNA typically belongs to Haplogroup J2, also found in Greece and Italy, as well as Haplogroup G.[25]
Culture[link]
Main article: Culture of Georgia (country)
Language and linguistic subdivisions[link]
Georgian is the primary language for Georgians of all provenance, including those who speak other Kartvelian languages: Mingrelians, Svans, and the Laz. The language known today as Georgian is a traditional language of the eastern part of the country which has spread to most of the present-day Georgia after the post-Christianization centralization in the first millennium AD — today Georgians regardless of their ancestral region use Georgian as their official language. The regional languages — Mingrelian and Svan — are languages of the west that were traditionally spoken in the pre-Christian Kingdom of Colchis, but later lost importance as the unified Georgian Kingdom emerged. Their decline is largely due to the capital of the unified kingdom, Tbilisi, being in the eastern part of the country — known as Iberia — effectively making the language of the east an official language of the Georgian monarch.
All of these languages comprise the Kartvelian language family along with the related language of the Laz people, which has speakers in both Turkey and Georgia.
Dialects of Georgian include Imeretian, Racha-Lechkhumian, Gurian, Adjarian, Imerkhevian (in Turkey), Kartlian, Kakhetian, Ingilo (in Azerbaijan), Tush, Khevsur, Mokhevian, Pshavian, Fereydan dialect in Iran in Fereydunshahr and Fereydan, Mtiuletian, Meskhetian.
Religion[link]
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| Georgian Statehood |
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Christianity, first preached by the Apostles Simon and Andrew in the 1st century, became the state religion of the Eastern Georgian Kingdom of Iberia in 327, although most of the Georgian population was already Christian.[26][27][28][29] The final conversion of Georgia to Christianity in 327 is credited to a Roman woman St. Nino of Cappadocia, a relative of the great martyr St. George, and Susanna, sister of the Patriarch of Jerusalem.[30] The Georgians' new faith, which replaced pagan beliefs, allied them permanently with the Eastern Roman Empire, while placing them on the front line of conflict between the Christian and Islamic worlds. As was true elsewhere, the Christian church in Georgia was crucial to the development of a written language, and most of the earliest written works were religious texts.Medieval Georgian culture was greatly influenced by Eastern Orthodoxy and the Georgian Orthodox Church, which promoted and often sponsored the creation of many works of religious devotion. These included churches and monasteries, works of art such as icons, and hagiographies of Georgian saints. In addition, many secular works of national history, mythology and hagiography were also written. Today, 83.9% of the Georgian population, most of whom are ethnic Georgian, practices Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
Cuisine[link]
The Georgian cuisine is specific to the country, but also contains some influences from other European culinary traditions, as well as those from the surrounding Western Asia. Each historical province of Georgia has its own distinct culinary tradition, such as Megrelian, Kakhetian, and Imeretian cuisines. In addition to various meat dishes, Georgian cuisine also offers a variety of vegetarian meals.
The importance of both food and drink to Georgian culture is best observed during a Caucasian feast, or supra, when a huge assortment of dishes is prepared, always accompanied by large amounts of wine, and dinner can last for hours. In a Georgian feast, the role of the tamada (toastmaster) is an important and honoured position.
In countries of the former Soviet Union, Georgian food is popular due to the immigration of Georgians to other Soviet republics, in particular Russia. In Russia all major cities have many Georgian restaurants and Russian restaurants often feature Georgian food items on their menu.[31]
Geographic subdivisions and subethnic groups[link]
Geographical subdivisions[link]
The Georgians have historically been classified into various subgroups based on the geographic region which their ancestors traditionally inhabited.
Even if a member of any of these subgroups moves to a different region, they will still be known by the name of their ancestral region. For example, if a Gurian moves to Tbilisi (part of the Kartli region) he will not automatically identify himself as Kartlian despite actually living in Kartli. This may, however, change if substantial amount of time passes. For example, there are some Mingrelians who have lived in the Imereti region for centuries and are now identified as Imeretian or Imeretian-Mingrelians.
Last names from mountainous eastern Georgian provinces (such as Kakheti, etc.) can be distinguished by the suffix –uri (ური), or –uli (ული). Most Svan last names typically end in –ani (ანი), Mingrelian in –ia (ია), -ua (უა), or -ava (ავა), and Laz in –shi (ში).
| Name | Name in Georgian | Geographical region | Dialect or Language |
|---|---|---|---|
| Imeretians | იმერელი imereli | Imereti | Imeretian dialect |
| Kartlians | ქართლელი kartleli | Kartli | Kartlian dialect |
| Megrelians | მეგრელი megreli | Megrelia | Megrelian language |
| Svans | სვანი svani | Svaneti | Svan language |
| Gurians | გურული guruli | Guria | Gurian dialect |
| Adjarians | აჭარელი achareli | Adjara | Adjarian dialect |
| Meskhetians | მესხი meskhi | Meskheti (Samtskhe) | Meskhian dialect |
| Lechkhumeli | ლეჩხუმელი lechkhumeli | Lechkhumi | Lechkhumian dialcet |
| Rachveli | რაჭველი rachveli | Racha | Rachian dialect |
| Kakhetians | კახელი kakheti | Kakheti | Kakhetian dialcet |
| Khevsurians | ხევსური khevsuri | Khevsureti | Khevsurian dialect |
| Tushi | თუში tushi | Tusheti | Tushetian dialect |
| Pshaveli | ფშაველი pshaveli | Pshavi | Pshavian dialect |
| Mokhevians | მოხევე mokheve | Khevi | Mokhevian dialect |
| Javakhians | ჯავახი javakhi | Javakheti | Javakhian dialect |
The 1897 Russian census (which accounted people by language), had Imeretian, Mingrelian and Svan languages separate from Georgian.[32] During the 1926 Soviet census, Mengrelians and Svans were accounted separately from Georgian.[33] Mingrelian and Svan languages are both Kartvelian languages and are closely related to the national Georgian.
Outside of modern Georgia[link]
Laz people also may be considered Georgian based on their geographic location and religion. According to the London School of Economics' anthropologist Mathijs Pelkmans,[34] Lazs residing in Georgia frequently identify themselves as "first-class Georgians" to show pride, while considering their Muslim counterparts in Turkey as "Turkified Lazs".[35]
| Subethnic groups | Name in Georgian | Settlement area | Language (other than Georgian) |
Approximate number | Difference(s) from mainstream Georgians (other than location) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shavshians | შავში shavshi |  Shavsheti |
Imerkhevian dialect ? | ||
| Klarjians | კლარჯი klarji | Klarjeti |
Imerkhevian dialect ? | ||
| Lazs | ლაზი lazi | Chaneti (Lazistan) |
Laz language | 50,000 (1970 est.)[36] | Religion: Muslim |
| Chveneburi | ჩვენებური chveneburi | Black Sea coast, Northwestern Turkey |
60,000 (1979)[37] | Religion: Muslim | |
| Ingilo | ინგილო ingilo |  Saingilo |
Ingiloan dialect | 12,000 | Religion: Muslim[citation needed] |
| Pereidneli (Fereydan Georgian) | ფერეიდნელი pereidneli |  Pereidani |
Fereidanian dialect |
Linguistic subdivisions[link]
| Georgian Alphabet | ||
|---|---|---|
|
ა ბ გ დ ე ვ ზ ჱ თ ი კ ლ მ ნ ჲ ო პ ჟ რ ს ტ ჳ უ ფ ქ ღ ყ შ ჩ ც ძ წ ჭ ხ ჴ ჯ ჰ ჵ ჶ ჷ ჺ ჸ ჹ ჼ ჻ |
||
The language known today as Georgian is a traditional language of the eastern part of the country which has spread to most of the present-day Georgia after the post-Christianization centralization in the first millennium AD — today Georgians regardless of their ancestral region use Georgian as their official language. The regional languages — Mingrelian and Svan — are languages of the west that were traditionally spoken in the pre-Christian Kingdom of Colchis, but later lost importance as the unified Georgian Kingdom emerged. Their decline is largely due to the capital of the unified kingdom, Tbilisi, being in the eastern part of the country — known as Iberia — effectively making the language of the east an official language of the Georgian monarch.
All of these languages comprise the Kartvelian language family along with the related language of the Laz people, which has speakers in both Turkey and Georgia.
Notes[link]
- ^ a b Ethnologue: Georgian
- ^ a b Central Intelligence Agency of United States (May 17, 2011). "CIA World Factbook:Georgia". The World Factbook (CIA). https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gg.html. Retrieved May 27, 2011.
- ^ Russian Census 2002: Population by ethnicity(Russian)
- ^ Ethnic Groups of Israel
- ^ Ukrainian Census 2001
- ^ 2001 Greek census
- ^ Azerbaijan Census 1999
- ^ Kazakhstan Census 2009
- ^ CIA — The World Factbook — Georgia — People — Religions — 2002 Census
- ^ Braund, David. Georgia in Antiquity: A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia, 550 BC-AD 562, pp. 17-18
- ^ The Georgians, David Marshal Lang, p 19
- ^ The Georgians, David Marshal Lang, p 66
- ^ Georgia A Sovereign Country of the Caucasus, Roger Rosen, p 18
- ^ The Making of the Georgian Nation, Ronald Grigor Suny, p.4
- ^ a b c Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p 80
- ^ Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p 58
- ^ The Complete Works, Jewish Antiquities, Josephus, Book 1, p 57
- ^ The Georgians, David Marshal Lang, p 58
- ^ The Georgians, David Marshal Lang, p 59
- ^ Charles Burney and David Marshal Lang, The Peoples of the Hills: Ancient Ararat and Caucasus, p. 38
- ^ Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p 57
- ^ CToumanoff. Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p 69,84
- ^ Blumenbach , De generis humani varietate nativa (3rd ed. 1795), trans. Bendyshe (1865). Quoted e.g. in Arthur Keith, Blumenbach's Centenary, Man, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (1940).
- ^ The New Book of Knowledge — Grolier, Encyclopedia G. Article: GEORGIA, Republic of, By Alec Rasizade
- ^ Sajantila, Aantti "DNA Diversity in Europe" Department of Human Molecular Genetics, National Public Health Institute. Helsinki, Finland:2009
- ^ The Church Triumphant: A History of Christianity Up to 1300, E. Glenn Hinson, p 223
- ^ Georgian Reader, George Hewitt, p. xii
- ^ Ethiopia, the Unknown Land: A Cultural and Historical Guide, by Stuart Munro-Hay, p. 234
- ^ Prayers from the East: Traditions of Eastern Christianity, Richard Marsh, p. 3
- ^ http://stnina.ca/stnina_life.html
- ^ Mack, Glenn R.; Surina, Asele (2005). Food Culture In Russia And Central Asia. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-32773-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=ABiJgVAPxs0C&printsec=frontcover.
- ^ (Russian) Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи 1897 г.
- ^ (Russian) ССР ГРУЗИЯ (1926 г.)
- ^ Dr Mathijs Pelkmans
- ^ Pelkmans,Mathijs. Defending the border: identity, religion, and modernity in the Republic of Georgia. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2006, pg. 80
- ^ Hewsen, Robert H.. "Laz - Orientation". World Culture Encyclopedia. http://www.everyculture.com/Russia-Eurasia-China/Laz-Orientation.html. "The census of 1945 cited 46,987 Laz speakers but did not count Turkish-speaking Laz and is certainly an undercount. The Soviet census of 1926—the last one in which the Laz are mentioned—listed 643 ethnic Laz in Ajaria and 730 Laz speakers. Catford (1970) estimated the total number of Laz at about 50,000, but there is no question that they are gradually becoming assimilated to the Turkish population at large."
- ^ Peter A. Andrews & Rüdiger Benninghaus (1989), Ethnic Groups in the Republic of Turkey, Vol. 1, p. 174. Reichert, ISBN 3-88226-418-7.
See also[link]
- Georgia
- Culture of Georgia
- Georgian language
- Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church
- History of Georgia
- Demographics of Georgia
- European American
- Georgian American
- List of Georgians
- Peoples of the Caucasus
- Chveneburi — Georgians in Turkey
- Georgians in Iran
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http://wn.com/Georgian_people
Related pages:
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http://cs.wn.com/Gruzíni
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http://ru.wn.com/Грузины
http://nl.wn.com/Georgiërs
http://pt.wn.com/Georgianos
http://pl.wn.com/Gruzini
http://fr.wn.com/Géorgiens
http://de.wn.com/Georgier
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_people
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
