Adjara- rather a territory with an autonomous statute, in Georgia

 

A republic or rather a territory with an autonomous statute, included in Georgia, situated in the south-west of this country at the border with Turkey. In it live mostly Adjarians, an ethnical branch of Muslim Georgians. 

The latent tensions between Adjara and the Tbilisi government reach a climax in 2003, after in power comes Mikhail Saakasvili who wants to shut down the corrupt regime imposed by the Adjarian leader Aslan Abasidze for the past 20 years.

The ruler of the self-proclaimed republic orders Adjarian militia to destroy three strategically placed bridges over the river Choloki that connected Adjara to Georgia in order to disrupt any physical or juridical tie to Georgia but this gesture brings the country on the verge of civil war.

The Adjarian separatist leader is forced by the Batumi demonstrations (the capital of the republic) from May 2004, which are orchestrated by the Georgian authorities, to run to Moscow, thereby reestablishing the constitutional order in the place, which wanted to become the second Abkhazia.

Even so, Adjara’s statute is still uncertain, the interreligious tensions remaining active, some influence groups form Ankara and Moscow having been accused of intervening in Georgia’s internal affairs.

Georgia is an unique case in the Caucasian region because it insists very much on Euro- Atlantic integration, on being accepted into NATO in spite of Russian threats.