THE ABKHAZIAN–GEORGIAN CONFLICT AND THE ISSUE OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS

Abstract

In November 2003, mass protests against electoral fraud toppled Eduard Shevardnadze's government in Georgia leading to the inauguration of a new generation of politicians, most having little memory of the Soviet past and a Western education. International mass media transmitted the images of victorious masses in this bloodless coup known as the ‘Rose Revolution’. The future president of Georgia, 36-year-old Mikheil Saakashvili, announced the arrival of a new era in Georgian history, pledging to establish the rule of law, boost the country's democratic credentials, and restore Georgia's sovereignty over the country's entire territory. The population showed euphoric confidence in his ability to fulfil these promises. Coups and the ousting of a government was not a new phenomenon for the South Caucasian republic. Power succession in Georgia usually involved turbulence, unlike the peaceful pattern found in neighbouring Azerbaijan and Armenia. Still, this ‘revolution’ was considered to be something very special, and many expectations, locally and internationally, were connected to it. Evidently, it was not the format of change that was so important, but rather the symbolic meaning ascribed to it, and the indication that a new revolutionary wave had evolved that would drastically change the geopolitical map of Eurasia. The Caucasus and Georgia have become the most dynamic and contentious areas, where many seeds of the future regional order have taken root. Ethnic relations and ethnic conflicts played and continue to play a decisive role in this process. Since the end of the 1980s, ethno-territorial conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia have become the most conspicuous aspect of Georgia's new political reality, damaging stability, developmental prospects and economic self-sufficiency. A particularly sensitive issue is that of Abkhazia, due mainly to an immense number of forced migrants, ethnic Georgians who greatly outnumbered the Abkhazians prior to the conflict but are now displaced, living with the hope of returning to their homes in Abkhazia. However, the constellation of a number of factors makes it less probable that this conflict will be resolved any time soon.