THE IDEA OF A UNITED CAUCASUS IN GEORGIAN POLITICAL THINKING AFTER THE ABKHAZIA WAR

Abstract

In 1991, four sovereign states emerged in the Caucasus: Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Chechnya. In addition, the Ingush and Circassians aspired to independence.

Immediately after the declaration of independence by Georgia and Chechnya, the process of rapprochement between their presidents Zviad Gamsakhurdia and Dzhokhar Dudayev began. The main reason for integration was the ideas of a united Caucasus.

At that time, the agenda included the Grozny-Tbilisi highway and the Grozny-Pot oil pipeline projects, as well as the issue of creating a multi-ethnic peacekeeping military unit of the Caucasus, etc. In a word, mutual integration processes of the Caucasian states have begun.

In parallel with all this, the Russian state faced the task of which consisted in the official Moscow maintaining control over the Caucasus. For this, it was necessary to create foci of conflict between the Caucasian nations In order for Russia to rule this region on the principle of "disconnect and conquer."

Obviously, the attempt to implement the idea of a united Caucasus in any form should be stopped. To achieve this goal, the ethnic majority living in Georgia could be very fruitful and involvement of other Caucasian ethnic groups in this conflict. And so it happened: in the summer of 1992, the war in Abkhazia started with the organization of the Russian special services.

In the war of Abkhazia, in the face of the armed units of Georgia, along with the Russian regular army and special-purpose units, Abkhazian and several other Caucasian band formations were represented. At the same time, the Russian-Abkhazian side was helped by the "Confederation of Mountainous Peoples of the Caucasus" created by the structures of the Soviet state in 1991.

The war ended with the defeat of the Georgian side and the ethnic cleansing of the Georgian-speaking population of Abkhazia. This circumstance should have caused the destruction of the idea of a unified Caucasus in the Georgian society. However, despite all this, as our research has shown, this has not happened. The reason for this was that the progressive forces understood from the beginning what the war in Abkhazia was and who was managing these processes.

Key words: War in Abkhazia; Georgi; Chechnya; united Caucasus; Eduard Shevardnadze;