By Jonathan Steele in Moscow
2 April 1991
Georgia moved a step closer to secession from the Soviet Union yesterday as official results showed a huge majority had voted for independence in Sunday’s referendum.
The central election commission in Tbilisi said that according to preliminary data on a 95% turnout, 99% voted yes to the question “Do you agree that Georgia’s state independence should be restored on the basis of the act of independence of 26 May 1918?”
This was Georgia’s position under a Menshevik government before Lenin’s Bolsheviks overturned the act of independence and incorporated the republic into the Soviet Union.
The three Baltic republics held their own referendums this past winter. In each case majorities voted in favour of independence, but not by such a huge proportion.
There is almost no Russian minority in Georgia and if the first results are confirmed, it will mean that even the Armenian and Azerbaijani minorities there have opted for leaving the Soviet Union.
“The referendum shows how strongly we feel about independence, but achieving it is another matter,” said Gudja Khundadze, a spokesman for Georgia’s parliament.
“It will be very difficult now for Gorbachev to keep Georgia in the Soviet Union. We might be the first, or one of the first, to leave.”
Fifteen countries sent observers to watch the polls but some fraud probably cannot be ruled out. Opposition to independence is strongest among the Ossetians in South Ossetia, where Georgian militants have been attacking villages. The Abkhazian minority on the Black Sea coast also wants to stay in the Soviet Union. Most of them seem to have boycotted the referendum.
In spite of yesterday’s result, President Gorbachev is insisting that every republic, including Georgia, follow the law on secession which requires a long period of negotiation and a referendum with official observers from Moscow. He does not accept Sunday’s referendum as more than a piece of social research.
Nevertheless, the result is likely to increase Georgians’ determination and make it harder to keep them in the Soviet Union by force.
“For the last 70 years, monsters have been ruling Georgia,” Jansug Charkviani, a well-known local poet, said. “It is better to die standing up than to live on your knees.”
Asked about the fears of some non-Georgians about their future in an independent state ruled by the republic’s nationalist president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Mr Charkviani said tolerance would be vital: “If there are conflicts now with various nationalities, it is the fault of the Kremlin. This question can be resolved only when Georgia becomes independent.”
In Moscow, the Supreme Soviet voted for the first time to impose a state of emergency in part of the Soviet Union. It called for special powers to be given to the army and police in South Ossetia to protect the people from Georgian attacks. The new pro-independence Georgian leaders no longer recognise the area’s autonomy.
Georgia joins breakaway republics
By John Rettie
10 April 1991
The Georgians yesterday proclaimed the restoration of the independence they lost in 1921, when the Red Army marched into the capital, Tbilisi, and imposed Bolshevik rule.
Approved unanimously by the parliament in Tbilisi, the declaration puts the republic on a par with Estonia and Latvia, if not quite yet with Lithuania, which has claimed complete independence. In Georgia, however, President Zviad Gamsakhurdia warned that genuine independence would still have to be worked for: “We realise that this act of independence is not a de facto withdrawal from the Soviet Union.”
skip past newsletter promotion
Sign up to This is Europe
The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment
Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
after newsletter promotion
Demonstration in support of Georgian president Zviad Gamsakhurdia, September 1991. Photograph: Georges DeKeerle/Sygma/Getty ImagesGeorgia finds it’s still in the union
7 June 1991
Paulette Farsides in Tbilisi finds a Soviet republic feigning independence while its own nationalists are split over the future
The Georgian capital, Tbilisi, is still covered with pictures of Zviad Gamsakhurdia who won 88% of the vote in the presidential elections on 26 May.
The pictures carry captions including a poem extolling the greatness of Georgia and, in Russian (for the numerous ethnic minorities), a reassuring message that the Soviet republic has a proud history of multiculturalism.
Georgia, along with the Baltic republics, Armenia, and Moldavia, has not signed the new union treaty and the crimson-white-and-black flag of the short-lived Georgian Republic of 1918 to 1921 hangs from every official building, as though Soviet rule was a distant memory.
But then Georgia has always been different. Partly perhaps, thanks to its most famous son, Joseph Stalin, it never suffered intense Russification. In the late 1970s, Eduard Shevardnadze was party chief here and presided over a liberal regime.
Georgian society remains deeply traditional with strict codes of conduct and honour. People sometimes confide: “We consider ourselves European but this is really Asia.” Everyone knows who is from the “best families” in this close-knit society.
With glasnost, the previously underground nationalist movement burgeoned in the form of various groups led by dissidents including Mr Gamsakhurdia.
Now, the Communist party has virtually collapsed to be replaced by an ‘independent’ Communist party, whose leader, Jimi Mikhaladze, is best known for his guitar playing prowess. The nationalist movement has split down the middle.
In a country where patriotism is the highest possible virtue and people uninhibitedly express a love for their country that foreigners can only wonder at, Mr Gamsakhurdia’s credentials are impeccable. His dissident activities have earned him a respect which he is not slow to draw on, and his evident popularity is making it difficult for the opposition to argue its case – that Mr Gamsakhurdia is a dictator who is indulging the Georgian people in a fantasy of independence.
Rumours are circulating that only Georgian speakers will receive higher education in the new Georgia, which if true would virtually exclude the Abkhazian minority.
The government has so far confirmed only that all those who have roots in Georgia from before 1921 will definitely receive citizenship.
Georgi Hendrauer is a Congress member whose name was included in a list of enemies recently broadcast on television. “People voted for Gamsakhurdia in a moment of political hysteria,” he said. “How can an occupied country have its own president? It isn’t natural for 88% of the people to choose one man. It’s a hangover from totalitarianism.”
The only point of agreement between the government and the opposition is that the desire of the autonomous region of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to join the RSSR is the work of agents at the Kremlin. “This crisis comes from Moscow to diminish our national movement. We must fight against them and defend our security,” says Mr Gamsakhurdia.
But Valerian Advadze, who ran against Mr Gamsakhurdia in the presidential elections said: ‘The Kremlin knows it can rely on Gamsakhurdia to stir things up, then they will come in like saviours. ‘He will never bring us independence.’