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Tbilisi Poised for New Conflicts With Rebel Regions - part 1

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  • Tbilisi Poised for New Conflicts With Rebel Regions - part 1

    Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press
    September 1, 2004

    Tbilisi Poised for New Conflicts With Rebel Regions


    CONFLICT WITH ABKHAZIA IS CREATING STRAINS IN GEORGIA'S ALLIANCE WITH
    TURKEY, WHICH HAS INFLUENTIAL ABKHAZ EMIGRE COMMUNITY, MANY MEMBERS
    OF WHICH HAVE RETURNED TO ABKHAZIA

    SOURCE: GEORGIANS STRIKE AT TURKS. -- Tbilisi Is Irritated by
    Assistance That Ankara Is Giving to Abkhazia. By Oleg Kasimov. Noviye
    Izvestia, Aug. 4, 2004, p. 4. Condensed text:


    . . . A certain amount of tension arose last Saturday [July 31] in
    relations between Georgia and Turkey. The reason was an incident in
    the coastal waters of Abkhazia. A Georgian coast guard cutter fired
    on a Turkish freighter that had crossed into Georgian territorial
    waters and was headed for Sukhumi. The vessel was damaged, but the
    Georgians did not succeed in detaining it. Abkhazia's minister of
    security, Mikhail Tarba, declared yesterday that Abkhazia would
    henceforth sink all Georgian ships entering the region's waters. The
    minister said that, if necessary, aircraft would be used.

    Somewhat earlier, the Abkhaz leadership also announced a halt to
    the negotiating process with Tbilisi. The announcement was made the
    day after the self-proclaimed republic's armed forces completed
    training exercises that involved 15,000 people, including reservists.
    The maneuvers were regarded in Tbilisi as preparations for a
    large-scale war with Georgia. Under these circumstances, Turkey chose
    to respond with silence to the incident involving its ship. There are
    reasons for that: Turkey and Georgia, together with Azerbaijan,
    currently form a politico-military axis that serves as a
    counterbalance to another geopolitical structure in the region -- the
    triangle formed by Russia, Armenia and Iran. With support from
    Washington, Ankara is pushing for rapid completion of the
    Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which will carry Caspian oil to
    world markets by way of Georgia and Turkey. In addition, Ankara is
    helping Georgia to develop its military. It is no mere coincidence
    that a platoon of Georgian peacekeepers has been serving in Kosovo
    since 1999 as part of a Turkish battalion.

    However, the unresolved Abkhaz problem is creating nervousness in
    the two countries' relations. Turkey recognizes Georgia's territorial
    integrity and rejects Sukhumi's attempts to secede from that
    Transcaucasian republic. But at the same time, it closes its eyes to
    the fact that its cargo ships regularly violate Georgia's maritime
    border and deliver food and manufactured goods -- which the Georgians
    regard as contraband -- to Abkhazia. Georgia's security services have
    even given Ankara a list of Turkish vessels (19 altogether) that
    regularly travel between Abkhazia and Turkey, but they have received
    no response. Many experts are of the opinion that Ankara's stance on
    the Abkhaz problem is heavily influenced by the Abkhaz community
    living in Turkey. It consists of roughly 400,000 descendants of
    muhajirs -- the name that was given in the Ottoman Empire to persons
    of Abkhaz descent who fled to the empire during the Caucasus War in
    the 19th century. Most of them adopted Islam in Turkey.

    In the early 1990s, the Abkhaz authorities appealed to these people
    to return to their historical homeland, promising them housing and
    free education. At the same time, it was decided to build two
    mosques, one in Sukhumi and the other in Gudauta. At first the
    repatriation process progressed rapidly: Hundreds of muhajir families
    returned to Abkhazia from Turkey. The number of citizens in the
    autonomous republic who professed Islam rose sharply; according to
    recent surveys, 49.3% of residents consider themselves Christians,
    while 28.7% call themselves Muslims. Ankara is now closely following
    the situation in Abkhazia, emphasizing its concern for the muhajir
    families who have moved to the autonomous republic. With Ankara's
    tacit consent, Turkish ships regularly deliver fuel and food to the
    region. Ankara is financing the establishment of schools there that
    use Turkish as the language of instruction. In June, the Turkish
    ambassador to Georgia visited the region and said that Ankara is "not
    indifferent to the processes unfolding in Abkhazia."

    It goes without saying that, in its confrontation with the Georgian
    authorities, Sukhumi is banking on the Abkhaz lobby in Turkey, which
    is attempting to influence the policies of official Ankara. Last
    October, Sukhumi received a visit from former Turkish Finance
    Minister Zekiriat Emizel, who is of Abkhaz descent. He assured the
    unrecognized republic's leaders that he was using his political
    influence to try to turn Turkish public opinion and the attention of
    the Turkish government toward Abkhazia's problems.
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