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| April 19, George Hewitt -
Obituaries, The Independent -Vladislav Ardzinba, who died after
suffering for almost a decade from a mysterious and increasingly
debilitating illness, was a wartime leader and the first president of
Abkhazia. He was born in May 1945 in the village of Lower Eshera (just
north of Abkhazia's capital, Sukhum), where his father taught history.
He worked at Moscow's Oriental Institute under Yevgenij Primakov, who,
as Russian Foreign Minister, was later to play a role in the post-war
Georgian-Abkhazian negotiating process.
The thesis which earned Ardzinba his doctorate in 1986 was later
published as "Rituals and Myths of Ancient Anatolia" (in Russian). The
death in 1988 of Georgij Dzidzarija, director of the Abkhazian Research
Institute, resulted in Ardzinba being invited to return to his homeland
as Dzidzarija's successor, a post he retained until 1996.
As a leading local academic, Ardzinba was chosen in 1989 both as a
deputy to Abkhazia's Supreme Soviet (becoming chairman in 1990) and as
a people's deputy (as well as deputy to the USSR Supreme Soviet), which
gave him national prominence. This was at a time when nationalism was
rising in Georgia, in which, since 1931, Abkhazia had been an
autonomous republic. A number of ethnic minorities in Georgia
recognised the danger, and fatal clashes took place in July that year
both in Abkhazia and southern Georgia's Azerbaijani-populated region.
Ardzinba attracted attention and respect for the beautiful Russian in
which he articulated the grievances and aspirations of the Abkhazians
and other ethnic minorities across the USSR in the Palace of People's
Deputies, established by Mikhail Gorbachev during perestrojka. The
speeches in the Palace were broadcast live, drawing huge audiences
fascinated by this experiment in openness (glasnost). Ardzinba quickly
became the main individual focus for Georgian abuse as the figurehead
of the Abkhazians' determination not to support Georgia's push for
independence through fear of what that independence would mean for the
very physical survival of their nation, reduced to a 17.8 per cent
minority in their historical homeland by 1989. His appearance in London
at the 1990 Caucasian Colloquium cased some discomfort amongst the
Georgian delegation. |
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Ardzinba articulated the grievances of ethnic minorities across the USSR
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When the Military Council, which had ousted Georgia's first
post-communist President, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, in a coup in January
1992, abrogated all Soviet legislation, reinstating the pre-Soviet 1921
constitution in which Abkhazia's state-legal relations were undefined,
Abkhazia felt itself in a constitutional vacuum and so reinstated in
turn its own 1925 constitution on 23 July. This codified the treaty
linking the Republic [sic] of Abkhazia to Georgia, prior to its 1931
demotion.
The draft of a parallel treaty to link post-Soviet Abkhazia and
Georgia was tabled for discussion by the Abkhazian parliament on 14
August 1992. But hopes for peaceful coexistence with Georgia under
Eduard Shevardnadze, who had returned to head the state council in
March, were dashed when that very morning Georgia's National Guard
crossed the River Ingur, sparking the bloody war that ended in
Georgia's defeat on 30 September 1993. Magnanimously, Ardzinba
responded to Yeltsin's plea to allow Shevardnadze safe-passage out of
Abkhazia.
Despite many setbacks, Ardzinba proved to be an inspirational leader
during those months from Gudauta in northern Abkhazia, the war-time
home of the legitimate authority. The war left the country de facto
independent from Georgia, but with a devastated infrastructure and
economy; 4 per cent of the small Abkhazian population perished.
Ardzinba promulgated a new constitution on 26 November 1994 and became
the republic's first president. Boris Yeltsin's government had already
demonstrated a pro-Georgian bias, and Ardzinba's refusal to sign
Yeltsin's order to attack Chechnya at the end of the year will not have
helped Abkhazia's cause. For the rest of the 1990s Ardzinba had to
steer a careful course, avoiding renewed hostilities, rejecting
concessions that would alienate fellow-Abkhazians, and not offending
the Kremlin.
In 1997 Primakov arranged for Ardzinba to visit Tbilisi for talks
with Shevardnadze, though there was no break-through. Ardzinba was
elected (unopposed) to a second presidential term on 3 October 1999
and, exasperated by Tbilisi's constant stonewalling in the
negotiations, declared Abkhazia independent on 12 October.
It was not long before the first signs of his illness (some slurring
of speech and difficulty coordinating movement) began to appear.
Treatment over the years in Moscow and Israel failed to reverse the
deterioration, and Ardzinba was seen less often, eventually
disappearing from view and becoming wheelchair-bound. Though he saw out
his term, his deputy Raoul Khadzhimba eventually fulfilled presidential
duties. The fact that the head of the presidential bodyguard fell ill
at the same time as Ardzinba and soon died gave rise to intense
speculation as to what might have been the cause.
Until illness struck, Ardzinba was a man of boundless energy.
However, he was not exactly tolerant of contrary opinions, and this led
to problems: at home he did not encourage the formation of an
opposition and had differences of opinion with Parliament, whilst some
visiting Western politicians and diplomats did not always take kindly
to being lectured, when they came to listen and be heard. There were
also questions about the control of the country's economic levers.
Nevertheless, Ardzinba's place in Abkhazia's history as war-leader and
deliverer of its independence cannot be erased. He lived to welcome
Russia's recognition of Abkhazia on 26 August 2008 with the words: "The
dreadful times are past; the difficult times now begin."
......... George Hewitt
Vladislav Gregor'evich Ardzinba, hittologist, philologist,
historian, politician: born Lower Eshera (Abkhazia) 14 May 1945; PhD
1986; director of the Abkhazian Research Institute 1988-96; Deputy
Supreme Soviet of Abkhazia 1989; USSR People's Deputy and USSR Supreme
Soviet Deputy 1989; chairman, Supreme Soviet of Abkhazia 1990;
President of Abkhazia 1994-99 and 1999-2004; married 1972 Svetlana
Iradionovna Dzhergenia (one daughter); died Moscow 4 March 2010.
Source: The Independent |
