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Mkhedrioni
The Mkhedrioni was a paramilitary group in the Republic of Georgia, known for its high-profile involvement in the Georgian Civil War and the War in Abkhazia. It was outlawed since 1995 but subsequently reconstituted as the Union of Patriots political party. However, failing to secure registration, it soon faded into obscurity. Background Founded in 1989 by Jaba Ioseliani, the Mkhedrioni presented itself as the heir to historic Georgian guerrilla groups who fought Persia and Ottoman occupiers. The group's name literally means "horsemen", but in Georgian it has a meaning closer to "knights" (this alternative translation has occasionally been used). Each member of the organization would take an oath to defend Georgia's people, the Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church and Georgia's land, and wore a medallion with a scene of Saint George slaying the dragon on one side and the bearer's name and blood type on the other. The establishment of the Mkhedrioni took place as Georgia mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jaba Ioseliani
Jaba (or Dzhaba) Ioseliani (Georgian ჯაბა იოსელიანი; 10 July 1926 – 4 March 2003) was a Georgian politician, member of Parliament of Georgia, writer, thief-in-law and leader of the paramilitary organisation Mkhedrioni. Born in Khashuri, Georgia, Ioseliani majored in Oriental studies at Leningrad University but did not graduate. He staged a bank robbery in Leningrad in 1948, for which he served 17 years in a Soviet jail. Released in 1965, he later served another sentence for manslaughter. He eventually returned to his native Georgia and graduated from the Georgian Institute of Theater Arts, where he became a professor. He wrote a number of popular plays. Ioseliani rose to prominence as the leader of the Mkhedrioni, a heavily armed paramilitary group which he founded in 1989. He attempted to take control of large areas of Abkhazia and South Ossetia with the goal of defeating regional separatist elements. In February 1991, his organisation was outlaw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georgian Civil War
The Georgian Civil War lasted from 1991 to 1993 in the South Caucasian country of Georgia. It consisted of inter-ethnic and international conflicts in the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as the violent military ''coup d'état'' against the first democratically-elected President of Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, and his subsequent uprising in an attempt to regain power. While the Gamsakhurdia rebellion was eventually defeated, the South Ossetia and Abkhazia conflicts resulted in the de facto secession of both regions from Georgia. As a result, both conflicts have lingered on, with occasional flare-ups. Background Ethnic conflicts Ethnic minority separatist movements, primarily on the part of the Ossetians and the Abkhaz, demanded greater recognition in the new order of the early 1990s. Asserting its newly gained national prerogatives, Georgia responded with military attempts to restrain separatism forcibly. On January 5, 1991 Georgia's National Guard entered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
War In Abkhazia (1992–1993)
The War in Abkhazia was fought between Georgian government forces for the most part and Abkhaz separatist forces, Russian government armed forces and North Caucasian militants between 1992 and 1993. Ethnic Georgians who lived in Abkhazia fought largely on the side of Georgian government forces. Ethnic Armenians and Russians within Abkhazia's population largely supported the AbkhaziansAbkhazia Today. ''The International Crisis Group Europe Report N°176, 15 September 2006, page 5''. Retrieved on 30 May 2007. ''Free registration needed to view full report'' and many fought on their side. The separatists received support from thousands of North Caucasus and [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zviad Gamsakhurdia
Zviad Konstantines dze Gamsakhurdia ( ka, ზვიად გამსახურდია, tr; russian: Звиа́д Константи́нович Гамсаху́рдия, Zviad Konstantinovich Gamsakhurdiya; 31 March 1939 – 31 December 1993) was a Georgia (country), Georgian politician, dissident, scholar, and writer who became the President of Georgia#List of presidents of Georgia, first democratically elected President of Georgia in the post-Soviet era. A prominent exponent of Georgian nationalism, Zviad Gamsakhurdia was involved in Soviet dissidents, Soviet dissident movement from his early teens. In 1953, he was one of the founders of Gorgasliani, a nationalist group, which disseminated anti-Soviet proclamations in Tbilisi. His activities attracted attention of Soviet intelligence, and Gamsakhurdia was arrested and sent to imprisonment, although he was soon pardoned and released from jail. Gamsakhurdia co-founded the Georgian Helsinki Watch, Helsinki Group, which soug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georgian Mafia
The Georgian mafia ( ka, ქართული მაფია, tr) is regarded as one of the biggest, most powerful and influential criminal networks in Europe, which has produced the largest number of "thieves in law" in all former USSR countries and controls and regulates most of the Russian-speaking and fully controls Russia and Georgia mafia groups. They are very active in Russia and Europe. The Georgian mafia has two major criminal clans from Tbilisi and Kutaisi. Georgia always had a disproportionately high number of crime bosses and still has a majority of the 700 or so still operating in the post-Soviet space and western Georgia (Kutaisi Clan) is particularly well represented. In many of its rules or "laws", the Georgian mafia parallels the Sicilian Mafia. History Soviet period Georgia is a small Eurasian state with a population of about four million, of whom two thirds are Georgians, and the national minorities are mainly Russian, Armenian, and Azeri. The geographical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georgia (country)
Georgia (, ; ) is a transcontinental country at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is part of the Caucasus region, bounded by the Black Sea to the west, by Russia to the north and northeast, by Turkey to the southwest, by Armenia to the south, and by Azerbaijan to the southeast. The country covers an area of , and has a population of 3.7 million people. Tbilisi is its capital as well as its largest city, home to roughly a third of the Georgian population. During the classical era, several independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia, such as Colchis and Iberia. In the early 4th century, ethnic Georgians officially adopted Christianity, which contributed to the spiritual and political unification of the early Georgian states. In the Middle Ages, the unified Kingdom of Georgia emerged and reached its Golden Age during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Thereafter, the kingdom decl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gamsakhurdia's Government In Exile
Zviadists was an informal name (often used pejoratively by political opponents) of supporters of the former Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who was overthrown and killed during the Georgian Civil War of 1991–1993. President Zviad Gamsakhurdia was ousted in a bloody coup that destroyed the center of Tbilisi between 20 December 1991 and 6 January 1992. Zviad Gamsakhurdia's supporters, the Zviadists staged mass demonstrations against the post-coup government led by the former Communist leader Eduard Shevardnadze in various parts of Georgia and organized armed groups which prevented the government forces from taking control of Samegrelo, the ex-President's home province. Skirmishes between pro- and anti-Gamsakhurdia forces lasted throughout 1992 and 1993 and developed into a full-scale civil war with Gamsakhurdia's return to Western Georgia in September 1993. Zviadist rebels were defeated and Gamsakhurdia was probably murdered on 31 December 1993. Gamsakhurdia's body was reco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Car Bomb
A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided into two main categories: those used primarily to kill the occupants of the vehicle (often as an assassination) and those used as a means to kill, injure or damage people and buildings outside the vehicle. The latter type may be parked (the vehicle disguising the bomb and allowing the bomber to get away), or the vehicle might be used to deliver the bomb (often as part of a suicide bombing). It is commonly used as a weapon of terrorism or guerrilla warfare to kill people near the blast site or to damage buildings or other property. Car bombs act as their own delivery mechanisms and can carry a relatively large amount of explosives without attracting suspicion. In larger vehicles and trucks, weights of around 7,000 pounds (3,200 kg) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parliament Of Georgia
The Parliament of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს პარლამენტი, tr) is the supreme national legislature of Georgia. It is a unicameral parliament, currently consisting of 150 members; of these, 120 are proportional representatives and 30 are elected through single-member district plurality system, representing their constituencies. According to the 2017 constitutional amendments, the Parliament will transfer to fully proportional representation in 2024. All members of the Parliament are elected for four years on the basis of universal human suffrage. The Constitution of Georgia grants the Parliament of Georgia a central legislative power, which is limited by the legislatures of the autonomous republics of Adjara and Abkhazia. History The idea of limiting royal power and creating a parliamentary-type body of government was conceived among the aristocrats and citizens in the 12th century Kingdom of Georgia, during the reign of Queen Tamar, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eduard Shevardnadze
Eduard Ambrosis dze Shevardnadze ( ka, ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე}, romanized: ; 25 January 1928 – 7 July 2014) was a Soviet and Georgian politician and diplomat who governed Georgia for several non-consecutive periods from 1972 until his resignation in 2003 and also served as the final Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1985 to 1990. Shevardnadze started his political career in the late 1940s as a leading member of his local Komsomol organisation. He was later appointed its Second Secretary, then its First Secretary. His rise in the Georgian Soviet hierarchy continued until 1961 when he was demoted after he insulted a senior official. After spending two years in obscurity, Shevardnadze returned as a First Secretary of a Tbilisi city district, and was able to charge the Tbilisi First Secretary at the time with corruption. His anti-corruption work quickly garnered the interest of the Soviet government and Shevardnadze ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chechen Republic Of Ichkeria
The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (; ce, Нохчийн Республик Ичкери, Nóxçiyn Respublik Içkeri; russian: Чеченская Республика Ичкерия; abbreviated as "ChRI" or "CRI") was a ''de facto'' state that controlled most of the former Checheno-Ingush ASSR. On 30 November 1991, a referendum was held in Ingushetia in which the results dictated its separation from the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, joining the Russian Federation instead as a constituent republic. The First Chechen War of 1994–96 resulted in the victory of the separatist forces. After achieving de facto independence from Russia in 1996, gangs arose over the country which the government put a large effort to crack down upon. In November 1997 Chechnya was proclaimed an Islamic republic. A Second Chechen War began in August 1999 and officially ended in April 2009 after several years of insurgency. In October 2022, Ukraine's parliament voted to recognize the Chechen Republic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zviadists
Zviadists was an informal name (often used pejoratively by political opponents) of supporters of the former Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who was overthrown and killed during the Georgian Civil War of 1991–1993. President Zviad Gamsakhurdia was ousted in a bloody coup that destroyed the center of Tbilisi between 20 December 1991 and 6 January 1992. Zviad Gamsakhurdia's supporters, the Zviadists staged mass demonstrations against the post-coup government led by the former Communist leader Eduard Shevardnadze in various parts of Georgia and organized armed groups which prevented the government forces from taking control of Samegrelo, the ex-President's home province. Skirmishes between pro- and anti-Gamsakhurdia forces lasted throughout 1992 and 1993 and developed into a full-scale civil war with Gamsakhurdia's return to Western Georgia in September 1993. Zviadist rebels were defeated and Gamsakhurdia was probably murdered on 31 December 1993. Gamsakhurdia's body was rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
