The Caucasian Republic of Georgia is in chaos. Tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the government after national-conservative Prime Minister Iraq Kobachidze announced that the process of joining the European Union had been halted. Police reported that 107 people were arrested in Tbilisi city alone. According to witnesses, it was the largest protest in recent weeks.
The protests also target the government's increasingly authoritarian approach. The opposition is also talking about voter fraud and Russian interference in parliamentary elections at the end of October, in which the pro-Russian ruling party of Georgia dreams of winning an outright majority.
Georgia finds itself at the crossroads between Europe and Russia. The majority of the public supports reconciliation with the EU, while the ruling party is increasingly critical of Europe. Relations with its powerful neighbor to the north are difficult because the Kremlin sees Georgia's westward push as a threat. How did this happen?
Georgia in the Russian Empire
With the expansion of the Russian Empire, the area south of the main ridge of the Caucasus, which had belonged to Persia for centuries, also fell under Russian rule. In 1799, Russian troops occupied Tbilisi; in 1801, the Tsar issued a decree to annex Georgia. Moscow spent the next few decades conquering western Georgia.
While Russian rule opened Georgia to European influence—Paris was considered the “Paris of the East”—the empire pursued a policy of intensive Russification. Subsequently, Georgia's national liberation movement grew stronger, but failed to break Russian rule.
Georgia in the Soviet Union
With the collapse of tsarist rule and the rise of the Bolsheviks, Georgia, like Armenia and Azerbaijan, gained temporary independence and was recognized by Soviet Russia in 1920. The country's constitution is modeled after Switzerland. Of course, the independent Republic of Georgia remained an episode. In February 1921, the Red Army invaded and Georgia was once again incorporated into the Russian government, establishing the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.
The Soviet Union destroyed the former Georgian state. Tens of thousands of Georgians, mostly from the country's elite, were killed or deported to prison camps. The regions of South Ossetia and Adjara were granted broad autonomy, while Abkhazia separated completely from Georgia in 1931.
Starting in the 1970s, a new national movement emerged that opposed the Russification of Georgia and sought to protect the country's cultural identity. In the late 1980s, as Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika policies eased Soviet repression, conflicts between the nationalist opposition and Tbilisi's communist rulers grew increasingly intense.
In the spring of 1991, the Soviet Union was already on the verge of collapse. In the referendum announced on April 9, nearly 100% of the votes supported independence. The first president of the new republic, Svyad Gamsahurdia, pursued a strictly anti-Soviet approach and ensured that Georgia stayed away from the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
independence and secession
The Republic of Georgia has faced separatist movements from the beginning in the regions of Abkhazia, Adjara and South Ossetia. Georgian nationalism reinforced these aspirations as minority groups felt threatened. As early as 1991, the Autonomous Republic of Adjara in southwestern Georgia had largely escaped control of the Tbilisi government under the leadership of Aslan Abashidze; it was not until 2004 that he successfully ousted the Abachidze and reunited Adjara with the rest of the country's territories.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia are even more divided. The latter first declared independence in 1989, sparking armed conflict that was eventually quelled by Soviet troops. In 1990, South Ossetia again declared independence, leading to an invasion by Georgian paramilitary forces that was stopped by Soviet troops. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia withdrew its troops in 1992, leading to conflicts between Ossetians and Georgians.
In 1992, a war broke out between the separatist militias of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and the government's armed forces, and the following year the Georgian side suffered a devastating defeat due to the intervention of Russian troops. Ethnic cleansing ensued, culminating in the massacre of Sukhumi Georgian civilians. Almost all Georgian residents were expelled from Abkhazia. After the 1994 ceasefire, Russian peacekeepers commissioned by the CIS were stationed in Abkhazia and South Ossetia with the consent of Georgia.
Caucasus War 2008
In the summer of 2008, tensions between Georgia and the two breakaway regions led to the so-called Caucasus War. Georgian troops eventually entered South Ossetia in August, forcibly bringing the region back under the control of the Tbilisi government. Georgia is worried about the separation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and hopes to receive support from the West, especially the United States.
Russia responded to the Georgian offensive with military intervention, during which Georgian forces were completely driven out of South Ossetia. The five-day war partially spilled into Abkhazia and ended with negotiations between Georgia and Russia. The two countries severed diplomatic relations due to the war and have not yet restored them.
Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia after the war, late August 2008. Image source: Associated Press
After the war, Tbilisi insisted that the invasion of South Ossetia was a pre-emptive strike to deter a Russian offensive. An EU investigative committee concluded in 2009 that there was no evidence that Russian forces had launched a military attack, but that Russia had long incited conflict to expand its sphere of influence southward. Moscow, which declared in 2005 that Georgia had the right to join NATO and that its decision would be respected, blamed Georgia's rapprochement with the West for escalating the situation.
Russia has maintained regular troops in both regions since the Caucasus War. In accordance with international law, these facilities are located within the territory of Georgia. Russia also recognizes South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, although both regions still belong to Georgia under international law. So far, only a handful of countries have followed suit. In 2002, Russia began issuing passports to residents of the de facto states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Relations with NATO
Georgia joined the NATO-led North Atlantic Cooperation Council in 1992 and the Partnership for Peace in 1994. The first joint exercises with NATO were held in 2001; the following year, President Eduard Shevardnadze made his first formal request to join NATO. Since 2002, the United States has supported the construction of Georgia's weak armed forces and pushed Georgia to join NATO, which regards Washington as its closest security partner. The Western Defense Alliance offers the country the prospect of joining in the spring of 2008. Ten years later, that commitment was reaffirmed.
Then-Georgian Prime Minister Iraq Garibashvili (left) and then-NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at NATO headquarters in Brussels in 2023. Image: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
While popular support for NATO membership in Georgia remains high, Western concerns have grown – even as the prospect of NATO membership is reaffirmed in 2021. This is due to the decline in democratic and legal certainty caused by domestic political developments in Caucasus countries in recent years. Therefore, NATO requires democratic reforms in Tbilisi as a condition of its membership. On top of that, rapprochement with Russia under the current administration has led to a cooling of relations between the two countries. In 2023, then-Iraqi Prime Minister Garibashvili announced: “One of the reasons is that [den Ukrainekrieg] It's NATO; the expansion of NATO. What we see is the aftermath. ”
Reconciliation with the EU
Since 2009, Georgia has been linked to the EU through the so-called Eastern Partnership. Like the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) and the Black Sea Synergy, this project is also one of the EU's Eastern Policy projects. Since 2014, the country has also been a member of the Deep Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA). Since 2016, Georgia has signed an Association Agreement with the EU, which has greatly boosted Georgian exports.
On March 3, 2022, after Russia attacked Ukraine, Georgia applied to join the EU. It has been an official candidate since December 2013, together with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. However, before the country can join the EU, the European Commission calls for further comprehensive reforms, for example in the areas of justice and the fight against organized crime.
Crowds in Tbilisi celebrate Georgia's December 2023 EU candidate status. Image: trapezoid
Although the population overwhelmingly supports the EU – four-fifths of residents support joining by 2022 – it may be a long time before Georgia becomes a member. If that were to happen – at least since the start of the war in Ukraine, the current government has done a U-turn, become increasingly Eurosceptic and is seeking to get closer to Russia. As a result, the EU has also suspended reconciliation.
