Zviad Konstantines dze Gamsakhurdia (; ; 31 March 1939 – 31 December 1993) was a Georgian politician, human rights activist, dissident, professor of English language studies and American literature at Tbilisi State University, and writer who became the first democratically elected President of Georgia in May 1991.
A prominent exponent of Georgian nationalism and pan-Caucasianism, Zviad Gamsakhurdia was involved in Soviet dissident movement from his youth. His activities attracted attention of authorities in the Soviet Union and Gamsakhurdia was arrested and imprisoned numerous times. Gamsakhurdia co-founded the Georgian Helsinki Group, which sought to bring attention to human rights violations in the Soviet Union.
He organized numerous pro-independence protests in Georgia, one of which in 1989 was suppressed by the Soviet Army, with Gamsakhurdia being arrested. Eventually, a number of underground political organizations united around Zviad Gamsakhurdia and formed the Round Table—Free Georgia coalition, which successfully challenged the ruling Communist Party of Georgia in the 1990 elections. Gamsakhurdia was elected as the President of Georgia in 1991, gaining 87% of votes in the election. Despite popular support, Gamsakhurdia found significant opposition from the urban intelligentsia and former Soviet nomenklatura, as well as from his own ranks. In early 1992 Gamsakhurdia was overthrown by warlords Tengiz Kitovani, Jaba Ioseliani and Tengiz Sigua, two of which were formerly allied with Gamsakhurdia. Gamsakhurdia was forced to flee to Chechnya, where he was greeted by Chechen president Dzhokhar Dudayev. His supporters continued to fight the post-coup government of Eduard Shevardnadze. In September 1993, Gamsakhurdia returned to Georgia and tried to regain power. Despite initial success, the rebellion was eventually crushed by government forces with the help of the Russian military. Gamsakhurdia was forced into hiding in Samegrelo, a Zviadist stronghold. He was found dead in early 1994 in controversial circumstances. His death remains uninvestigated to this day.
After the civil war ended, the government continued to suppress Gamsakhurdia's supporters, even with brutal tactics. After Eduard Shevardnadze was overthrown during the 2003 Rose Revolution, Gamsakhurdia was rehabilitated by the president Mikheil Saakashvili.
Early life and education
Zviad Konstantinovich Gamsakhurdia was born in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on 31 March 1939; Konstantine held nationalist views and was imprisoned in the 1920s, but evaded the Stalinist purges and became influential as a historical novelist. He and his circle of fellow writers promoted Georgian culture and ethnic particularism in the Soviet centre. Zviad was raised in an intellectual setting, which encouraged attention to traditional Georgian history, culture and national identity.
At 16, Gamsakhurdia established an underground nationalist youth group called Gorgasliani.
After his release, he continued studying Western languages and literature at Tbilisi State University, eventually graduating with a degree in philology and becoming a lecturer of English language and American literature at Tbilisi State University in 1963.
Human rights activism
In the 1970s, Gamsakhurdia and his dissident intellectual circle began making contact with Russian dissidents and with the Western press. In mid-1974, he co-founded a Human Rights Defense Group with Kostava and others; in 1977 they established the Georgian branch of the Helsinki Rights Watch Group. It worked with the Moscow Helsinki Group and other Helsinki Groups throughout the country, all set up to monitor the Soviet implementation of the 1975 Helsinki Agreement, which was co-signed by Leonid Brezhnev and called for protection of human rights such as freedom of thought, conscience, religion and national self-determination. Gamsakhurdia was also active in the underground network of samizdat publishers, contributing to a wide variety of underground political periodicals. In their publications, Gamsakhurdia and Kostava denounced corruption, treatment of cultural heritage, the prison system, deportation of Meskhetian Muslims, and other controversies. Although he was frequently harassed and occasionally arrested for his dissidence, for a long time Gamsakhurdia avoided serious punishment, probably as a result of his family's prestige and political connections.
Despite being an insider in the Georgian Writers' Union, Gamsakhurdia was expelled from the Union on 1 April 1977 after they had received information from the prosecutor's office about his illegal dissident activities. Later that month, Gamsakhurdia was arrested along with Kostava; Following their imprisonment, the Georgian Helsinki Group ceased to exist. Unlike Gamsakhurdia, Kostava did not recant and remained in prison until 1987, and Gamsakhurdia's reputation suffered. Following his release, Gamsakhurdia returned to his literary work and organizing. He continued his dissident activity, contributing to samizdat periodicals and campaigning for the release of Kostava. He was placed under house arrest from 19821983 for his campaigning on Kostava's behalf. In the spring of 1985, the Georgian Helsinki Group was restarted the dissident movement, which had been gaining steam, was strengthened by new leadership. Gamsakhurdia was attacked in the press as the authorities attempted to undermine the nationalist movement. In the context of glasnost, the nationalist discourse among the intelligentsia was heightened, but still sharply divided on the issue of independence.
In 1988, Gamsakhurdia became one of the founders of the Society of Saint Ilia the Righteous (SSIR), a religious-political organization which became the basis for his own political movement. Through the SSIR and the Helsinki Group, which was transformed into the Georgian Helsinki Union party in September 1989, Gamsakhurdia took part in organizing almost all of the mass protest actions demanding the independence in late 1980s.
The central Soviet government responded by the significant changes in the Georgia's leadership, replacing its heads Jumber Patiashvili and Zurab Chkheidze. The new leadership chose a more conciliatory approach towards the opposition. The opposition leaders arrested during the 9 April tragedy, including Zviad Gamsakhurdia, were released from prison and given a greater role in the decision-making. In recognition of his enormous popularity, Gamsakhurdia was brought into negotiations with the new Soviet Georgian leader Givi Gumbaridze over impeding legislation in the Georgia's Supreme Soviet. It passed a number of measures demanded by the opposition, paving path towards the independence. Gamsakhurdia's organizations soon gained support in almost all Georgian institutions and Gamsakhurdia played a prominent role in their decisions to break their ties with the Kremlin. In February 1990, the Georgian sports association announced that it was breaking off the Soviet championships, holding its own championships with a goal of sending its team to international competitions. The ceremonies inaugurating the independent Georgian games began with Gamsakhurdia's opening remarks. The Georgian trade union organization broke off all-Union trade union organization, while the republican Komsomol declared independence from the Communist Party and all-Union Komsomol, later dissolving itself, being replaced by the new youth groups. Through political strikes, mass demonstrations, hunger strikes and vigils, the opposition led by Gamsakhurdia forced the Soviet leadership to make concessions on many issues.
Head of Georgia
Rise to power
The progress of democratic reforms was accelerated and led to Soviet Georgia's first democratic multiparty elections, held on 28 October 1990. On 11–13 March 1990, during the meetings of pro-independence opposition parties of the Soviet Georgia in the Tbilisi Philharmonic Hotel in order to establish the "coordinating council", a split became evident in the pro-independence opposition, with two groups having different visions for the path towards independence. Gamsakhurdia and his followers argued that opposition had to come to power first through winning official elections to the Supreme Soviet and then declare independence through peaceful means, using existing legal procedures. Meanwhile, the second faction, led by Giorgi Chanturia's National Democratic Party and Irakli Tsereteli's National Independence Party, argued that Georgia needed to "win freedom before achieving independence". They argued for electing an alternative representative body and boycotting the official elections, claiming that taking part in the official elections would only serve to "legitimize the colonial status of Georgia within the Soviet system". In April, Gamsakhurdia's Helsinki Union left the forum and joined by the Monarchist Party, the Saint Ilya the Just Society, the Merab Kostava Society and other opposition groups, it established the "Round Table — Free Georgia" ("Mrgvali Magida — Tavisupali Sakartvelo") coalition. Led by Gamsakhurdia, the coalition argued for a peaceful transition, citing the example of Baltic republics. A second faction meanwhile set its own alternative elections for the "National Congress", which it imagined as a "transitional legislative body" of national liberation movement to achieve independence. However, with the absence of Round Table and later withdrawal of People's Front party, its claims on being an alternative legislative body representing "the will of the Georgian people" was undermined. Two of the best-known radical groups, the National Democratic Party of Georgia led by Gia Tchanturia and the Party for the National Independence of Georgia headed by Irakli Tsereteli, continued to oppose all "official " institutions including any manifestation of a Supreme Soviet. In early 1990 they urged the selection of a completely new representative body, the National Congress, and to boycott the elections. The justification for this decision was that to participate under existing conditions would be inherently unfair and would only serve to legitimize a continuation of what they described as the "colonial status" of Georgia within the Soviet system. Most other political groups, however, including more moderate political organizations such as the Rustaveli Society and the Popular Front as well as Gamsakhurdia's organizations, did not participate in the National Congress elections and concentrated instead on gaining control of the Supreme Soviet (see below). The elections, with a turnout that was probably below the minimum set by the organizers, created a body that was dominated by Tsereteli and Tchanturia."</ref>
Gamsakhurdia's Round Table coalition run on the ardently pro-independence platform in the October election. Gamsakhurdia campaigned tirelessly, often travelling to distant parts of Georgia in one day and holding large rallies at sports arenas. The Round Table coalition secured a convincing victory, with 64% of the vote, as compared with the Georgian Communist Party's 29.6%. Gamsakhurdia himself won his own race in a Tbilisi district with over 70 percent of the vote. On 14 November 1990, Zviad Gamsakhurdia was elected by an overwhelming majority as chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia, which made him de facto head of Georgia, albeit not a sovereign country yet. Gamsakhurdia was voted as Georgia's new leader with 238 votes in favor to 5 against.
In April 1991, Gamsakhurdia was among six candidates who registered for the presidential election. The election was held on 26 May, in a free and democratic environment. On 28 May 1991, the state newspaper "Republic of Georgia" released preliminary results, showing Gamsakhurdia's lead by a large margin, with Gamsakhurdia securing 86.52% of votes, while Valerian Advadze, who took second position, securing 7.52% of votes. On 3 June, the Central Election Commission approved a summery protocol of the election, with 86.5%, that is, 2 565 362 out of 3 594 810 voters, supporting Zviad Gamsakhurdia.
Programme
According to Stephen F. Jones, a historian and specialist on Russian and Eurasian studies, Gamsakhurdia promoted the concept of pan-Caucasian unity, "Caucasian House". Gamsakhurdia favored regional cooperation between peoples of the Caucasus and considered concepts such as a common economic zone, a "Caucasian Forum" (a regional United Nations) and an alliance against foreign interference. "Caucasian House" was based on the idea of shared Ibero-Caucasian languages and common tribal and cultural identity among autochthonous Caucasian nations, such as Chechens, Circassians, Abkhazians and Georgians. An allegiance between Gamsakhurdia and Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev was seen as pivotal to its success.
Gamsakhurdia was a deeply religious person. He believed that existing societal problems, including crime, resulted from the destruction of faith, decline of morality, and the abandonment and degradation of spiritual ideals. Gamsakhurdia thought that Georgia's political struggle for independence involved not only "national and political goals", but also "a moral revival based on religious faith and conscience".
Gamsakhurdia and his supporters believed in a strong presidential system. They argued that to overcome the challenges, the country needed a strong president elected by universal suffrage. These views were shared by most Georgians.
Policies
Domestic policy
Upon Gamsakhurdia taking office in November 1990, one of the first laws passed by the Georgia's Supreme Council under his leadership renamed the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic into the "Republic of Georgia" and restored the state hymn, flag and seal of the Georgia's First Republic. The new Supreme Council declared a "transitional period" towards the independence, a period during which the newly elected government was to prepare the political-legal and economic foundations to the sovereign existence of Georgia.</ref> The Supreme Council appointed Tengiz Sigua, a member of an opposition Rustaveli Society, as the chairman of the Georgian Council of Ministers (later renamed into a post of prime minister). Gamsakhurdia made efforts to root out the influence of mafia from the Soviet-era institutions like KGB, military and police. His one of the first conflicts with Mikhail Gorbachev occurred over designating a candidate who would become the head of Georgian KGB. Gamsakhurdia also took steps to create a new military structure independent from the Soviet control. In December 1990, the Georgia's Supreme Council adopted the law which ended Soviet military draft in Georgia. As a result, only 10 percent of eligible draftees responded to call-up, the lowest percentage among all Soviet republics. Instead, in January 1991 the Georgia's Supreme Council approved the legislation which created the National Guard of Georgia. The first military parade was held on Independence Day in 1991, with 10,000 soldiers of the National Guard taking their oath of service in front of President Zviad Gamsakhurdia at Boris Paichadze Stadium. Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, through the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Anatoly Lukyanov, instructed Gamsakhurdia to ban the creation of the Guard. The official newspaper of the Soviet Army, Krasnaya Zvezda, published an article mocking the National Guard entitled "Mr. Prefects and Mr. Guardsmen".
Georgia held a referendum on restoring its pre-Soviet independence on 31 March 1991 in which 98.9% of those who voted declared in its favour. The Georgian parliament passed a declaration of independence on 9 April 1991, in effect restoring the 1918–1921 Georgian sovereign state. However, it was not recognized by the Soviet Union and although a number of foreign powers granted early recognition, universal recognition did not come until the following year. Romania became the first country to recognize the Georgian independence, on 26 August 1991.<!---->
In August 1991, Georgia created a national bank and the legislature committed Georgia to issue its own currency in the future. In September 1991, the law on privatization was passed after long discussions on how to prevent "party-economic mafia" (a term used by Gamsakhurdia to refer to Communist Party leaders and administrators at various levels who controlled shadow economy of the Soviet Georgia) from becoming the primary beneficiary. On 3 May 1991, Gamsakhurdia issued a decree implementing fixed prices for some basic goods and lifting the national 5-percent sales tax on some food and services.<!---->
The first steps towards the abolition of death penalty in Georgia came during the government of Gamsakhurdia on 20 March 1991, when the Georgian Supreme Council removed this possible punishment for four economic offences not involving the use of violence. Thus, Georgia became a first former Soviet republic to take steps to abolish the death penalty.
He spoke out against allowing the Meskhetian Turk community, who previously lived in the Meskheti region before being deported to Uzbekistan by Stalin, from returning to their homeland, despite huge pogroms in the Uzbek SSR forcing them to flee. Many of those who managed to return during his administration were forced back into exile.
Foreign policy
During his rule, Gamsakhurdia maintained that Georgia would not sign New Union Treaty or interrepublican economic treaty. Georgia under Gamsakhurdia was among six Soviet republics, along with Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, and Armenia, that rejected the New Union Treaty in July 1991. Gamsakhurdia called for a boycott of the 1991 Soviet Union referendum on preserving the Union and the Georgia's Supreme Council voted to do so. Gamsakhurdia remarked that "the USSR law on referendum violates the sovereignty of the Republic of Georgia, because with this law the destiny of Georgia would be decided not by its citizens, but by citizens of all union republics in the Soviet Union". In response to the Soviet referendum, Georgia's Supreme Council appointed the 1991 Georgian independence referendum. On 15 June 1991, in an interview to Saarländischer Rundfunk, Gamsakhurdia said that Georgia sought an eventual membership in the European Community and the United Nations, while it would develop relations with the USSR as a foreign state.
In response to the Soviet crackdown on the pro-independence movement in Lithuania in January 1991, Zviad Gamsakhurdia led a pro-Lithuania rally in Tbilisi, saying that "it is impossible to preserve an empire by democratic means" and urging the opposition to Kremlin.