Giorgi Karkarashvili
Encyclopedia
Giorgi Karkarashvili (born October 31, 1966) is a Georgian
politician and retired Major General
who served as Georgia's Minister of Defense from May 1993 to March 1994. A former Soviet army
captain, he was a high-profile military commander during the civil war
and wars against the secessionists in Abkhazia
and South Ossetia
in the 1990s. A gunshot wound received in the 1995 attack in Moscow left him severely disabled. He was member of the Parliament of Georgia
from 1999 to 2004. He is currently member of the opposition movement Our Georgia – Free Democrats
led by Irakli Alasania
.
, then-Soviet Georgia, Karkarashvili graduated from the Tbilisi Artillery School in 1987 and served in the Soviet military in East Germany, Afghanistan, and Georgia until January 1991 when he resigned as a captain and recruited the Georgian deserters from the Soviet army into the paramilitary unit Tetri Artsivi ("White Eagle") which was soon integrated into the National Guard of Georgia
. Karkarashvili became commander of the Guard in Tbilisi. He took part in fighting against the South Ossetian militias in the yearly months of 1991 and was promoted to colonel.
In December 1991, Karkarashvili joined the Tengiz Kitovani
-led rebellious faction of military in a violent coup against President
Zviad Gamsakhurdia
and headed a storm of the government’s building which ended in Gamsakhurdia’s flight from Tbilisi in January 1992. Karkarashvili then commanded a force of the post-coup regime – the Military Council – which operated against Gamsakhurdia’s supporters in western Georgia and commanded a march of the National Guard detachment into Abkhazia in a show of force to deter secessionist sentiments in the area. When fighting resumed in South Ossetia in May 1992, Karkarashvili was put in command of Georgian forces which recovered several ethnic Georgian villages, winning to its 26-years old commander the rank of major-general. He soon resigned, citing dissatisfaction with Shevardnadze’s acceptance of Russian-proposed terms of the peace settlement.
. His televised address broadcast (in Russian) by the local Sukhumi channel on August 25, 1992, in which warned the secessionist leaders that “if 100,000 Georgians die, then all 97,000 [Abkhazians] on your side will be killed” sparked much controversy. His words have been cited in different forms in different sources and received by the Abkhaz side as a threat to cleanse the region of its Abkhaz populace. Years later, in a February 2009 interview to a Tbilisi-based Maestro TV, Karkarashvili claimed that the televised address was edited to make it appear he threatened to destroy the Abkhaz. “By the way Alexander Ankvab
, who is now prime minister of Abkhazia, was present there when my address was being recorded and he can confirm my words,” he added, explaining that Ankvab was arrested by the Georgian forces, but soon released upon his own instruction.
Karkarashvili commanded the Georgian forces throughout the war in Abkhazia. He suffered the first major setback at Gagra
in October 1992, when the Abkhaz forces and the allied North Caucasian militants under Shamil Basayev
’s command took that town in a surprise attack, repulsing Karkarashvili’s hastily organized counterattack. The battle took life of Karkarashvili’s younger brother Gocha. Karkarashvili was able to defend Sukhumi until September 1993, when the beleaguered Georgian troops – now suffering in-fighting between rivaling factions – retreated from much of Abkhazia.
i armies to be models on which to build the Georgian military.
From October to November 1993, Karkarashvili took command of the government forces in a brief civil war reincited by Gamsakhurdia’s attempt to regain power. In February 1994, he resigned his position in the government, citing Shevardnadze’s decision to bring Georgia into the Commonwealth of Independent States
, legalize the Russian military bases in Georgia, and to appoint Igor Giorgadze
to state security ministry. He was later implicated in an embezzlement scandal and accused of supplying classified military information to the Abkhaz and Russian commanders during the war.
. Early on January 25, 1995, Karkarashvili and his former deputy Major-General Paata Datuashvili were assaulted by three masked gunmen near the Academy dormitory in Moscow. Datuashvili was killed on the spot. Karkarashvili – heavily wounded in head – survived, but was permanently disabled and left in wheelchair. The most popular explanation of the attack was that it was ordered by those interested in elimination of key witnesses of the 1991 coup and the Abkhaz war.
Returning to Georgia, Karkarashvili kept a lower profile and worked for the Public Defender
’s office in Tbilisi from 1998 to 1999. In November 1999, he was elected to the Parliament of Georgia on the New Rights party ticket. As a member of pro-Shevardnadze election bloc, Karkarashvili ran for the parliament again in November 2003. The protests over the elections resulted in Shevardnadze’s resignation in the Rose Revolution
and in the snap parliamentary elections which brought Karkarashvili to the Parliament as a majoritarian for Tbilisi’s Isani constituency in March 2004. He resigned his seat over health problems in November 2005.
between Georgia and Russia. He produced a report in which he accused the Georgian government for having mismanaged military operations. In February 2009, he joined a political group of Irakli Alasania, Georgia’s former UN envoy, who withdrew into opposition to President Mikheil Saakashvili
.
In May 2009, Karkarashvili’s name was implicated by the retired officer Gia Ghvaladze, arrested in connection with the failed army mutiny
as an alleged sympathizer with the coup plot. Karkarashvili rejected any links with the mutiny and released video footage showing him talking with the certain Melikidze who allegedly was trying to persuade him to take part in the mutiny. The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs expressed its gratitude to Karkarashvili for information provided by him as it helped to arrest Melikidze and prevent an assassination attempt on Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili
.
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
politician and retired Major General
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
who served as Georgia's Minister of Defense from May 1993 to March 1994. A former Soviet army
Soviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...
captain, he was a high-profile military commander during the civil war
Georgian Civil War
The Georgian Civil War consisted of inter-ethnic and intranational conflicts in the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia , as well as the violent military coup d'etat of December 21, 1991 - January 6, 1992 against the first democratically elected President of Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia and his...
and wars against the secessionists in Abkhazia
Abkhazia
Abkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...
and South Ossetia
South Ossetia
South Ossetia or Tskhinvali Region is a disputed region and partly recognized state in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic....
in the 1990s. A gunshot wound received in the 1995 attack in Moscow left him severely disabled. He was member of the Parliament of Georgia
Parliament of Georgia
Parliament of Georgia is the supreme legislature of Georgia. It is unicameral and has 150 members, known as deputies, from which 75 members are proportional representatives and 75 are elected through single-member district plurality system, representing their constituencies...
from 1999 to 2004. He is currently member of the opposition movement Our Georgia – Free Democrats
Our Georgia – Free Democrats
Our Georgia – Free Democrats is a political party in Georgia chaired by Irakli Alasania; it was founded on 16 July 2009. The party is currently in opposition to the government led by Mikheil Saakashvili and his United National Movement....
led by Irakli Alasania
Irakli Alasania
Irakli Alasania is a Georgian politician and former diplomat. He was Georgia’s Ambassador to the United Nations from September 11, 2006, until December 4, 2008. His previous assignments include Chairman of the Government of Abkhazia and the President of Georgia’s aide in the Georgian-Abkhaz talks...
.
Early career
Born in TbilisiTbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
, then-Soviet Georgia, Karkarashvili graduated from the Tbilisi Artillery School in 1987 and served in the Soviet military in East Germany, Afghanistan, and Georgia until January 1991 when he resigned as a captain and recruited the Georgian deserters from the Soviet army into the paramilitary unit Tetri Artsivi ("White Eagle") which was soon integrated into the National Guard of Georgia
National Guard of Georgia
The National Guard of Georgia is a military structure within the Georgian Armed Forces and has a department status within the Ministry of Defense. It is tasked with responding to external threats, civil disturbances, and natural disasters...
. Karkarashvili became commander of the Guard in Tbilisi. He took part in fighting against the South Ossetian militias in the yearly months of 1991 and was promoted to colonel.
In December 1991, Karkarashvili joined the Tengiz Kitovani
Tengiz Kitovani
Tengiz Kitovani is a retired Georgian politician and military commander with high-profile involvement in the Georgian Civil War early in the 1990s when he commanded the National Guard of Georgia and served as a Defense Minister until being gradually sidelined by Eduard Shevardnadze who had...
-led rebellious faction of military in a violent coup against President
President of Georgia
The President of Georgia is the head of state, supreme commander-in-chief and holder of the highest office within the Government of Georgia. Executive power is split between the President and the Prime Minister, who is the head of government...
Zviad Gamsakhurdia
Zviad Gamsakhurdia
Zviad Gamsakhurdia was a dissident, scientist and writer, who became the first democratically elected President of the Republic of Georgia in the post-Soviet era...
and headed a storm of the government’s building which ended in Gamsakhurdia’s flight from Tbilisi in January 1992. Karkarashvili then commanded a force of the post-coup regime – the Military Council – which operated against Gamsakhurdia’s supporters in western Georgia and commanded a march of the National Guard detachment into Abkhazia in a show of force to deter secessionist sentiments in the area. When fighting resumed in South Ossetia in May 1992, Karkarashvili was put in command of Georgian forces which recovered several ethnic Georgian villages, winning to its 26-years old commander the rank of major-general. He soon resigned, citing dissatisfaction with Shevardnadze’s acceptance of Russian-proposed terms of the peace settlement.
Commander in Abkhazia
In August 1992, the rising tensions in Abkhazia escalated into armed conflict. Karkarashvili was put in command of the Georgian troops in the regional capital SukhumiSukhumi
Sukhumi is the capital of Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. The city suffered heavily during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in the early 1990s.-Naming:...
. His televised address broadcast (in Russian) by the local Sukhumi channel on August 25, 1992, in which warned the secessionist leaders that “if 100,000 Georgians die, then all 97,000 [Abkhazians] on your side will be killed” sparked much controversy. His words have been cited in different forms in different sources and received by the Abkhaz side as a threat to cleanse the region of its Abkhaz populace. Years later, in a February 2009 interview to a Tbilisi-based Maestro TV, Karkarashvili claimed that the televised address was edited to make it appear he threatened to destroy the Abkhaz. “By the way Alexander Ankvab
Alexander Ankvab
Alyksandr Zolotinska-ipa Ankvab is an Abkhaz politician and businessman who has been President of Abkhazia since 2011. Under President Sergei Bagapsh, he previously served as Prime Minister from 2005 to 2010 and Vice-President from 2010 to 2011....
, who is now prime minister of Abkhazia, was present there when my address was being recorded and he can confirm my words,” he added, explaining that Ankvab was arrested by the Georgian forces, but soon released upon his own instruction.
Karkarashvili commanded the Georgian forces throughout the war in Abkhazia. He suffered the first major setback at Gagra
Battle of Gagra
The Battle of Gagra was fought between Georgian forces and the Abkhaz secessionists aided by the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus militants from October 1 to October 6, 1992 during the War in Abkhazia...
in October 1992, when the Abkhaz forces and the allied North Caucasian militants under Shamil Basayev
Shamil Basayev
Shamil Salmanovich Basayev was a Chechen militant Islamist and a leader of the Chechen rebel movement.Starting as a field commander in the Transcaucasus, Basayev led guerrilla campaigns against the Russian troops for years, as well as launching mass-hostage takings of civilians, with his goal...
’s command took that town in a surprise attack, repulsing Karkarashvili’s hastily organized counterattack. The battle took life of Karkarashvili’s younger brother Gocha. Karkarashvili was able to defend Sukhumi until September 1993, when the beleaguered Georgian troops – now suffering in-fighting between rivaling factions – retreated from much of Abkhazia.
Minister of Defense
During the war in Abkhazia, the young general gained reputation of an energetic and dynamic commander, for which he was popular with the military. He was frequently critical of Shevardnadze's policies and displayed a tendency to independent decision-making. Nevertheless, in May 1993, Shevardnadze made him Minister of Defense, partly for his desire to sideline Tengiz Kitovani, the self-minded field commander and Karkarashvili’s predecessor as minister. Karkarashvili attempted to make the Georgian military more integrated and disciplined. He named the Russian and IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i armies to be models on which to build the Georgian military.
From October to November 1993, Karkarashvili took command of the government forces in a brief civil war reincited by Gamsakhurdia’s attempt to regain power. In February 1994, he resigned his position in the government, citing Shevardnadze’s decision to bring Georgia into the Commonwealth of Independent States
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....
, legalize the Russian military bases in Georgia, and to appoint Igor Giorgadze
Igor Giorgadze
Igor Giorgadze is a Georgian politician, a former Minister of State Security and the current leader of the `´Samartlianoba´´ Party.- Career :...
to state security ministry. He was later implicated in an embezzlement scandal and accused of supplying classified military information to the Abkhaz and Russian commanders during the war.
Assassination attempt and return to politics
In September 1994, Karkarashvili went to Moscow and enrolled into the Russian General Staff AcademyGeneral Staff Academy (Russia)
The General Staff Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was founded in 1936 in Moscow by Leonid Govorov. It was the senior Soviet and now Russian professional school for officers....
. Early on January 25, 1995, Karkarashvili and his former deputy Major-General Paata Datuashvili were assaulted by three masked gunmen near the Academy dormitory in Moscow. Datuashvili was killed on the spot. Karkarashvili – heavily wounded in head – survived, but was permanently disabled and left in wheelchair. The most popular explanation of the attack was that it was ordered by those interested in elimination of key witnesses of the 1991 coup and the Abkhaz war.
Returning to Georgia, Karkarashvili kept a lower profile and worked for the Public Defender
Public defender
The term public defender is primarily used to refer to a criminal defense lawyer appointed to represent people charged with a crime but who cannot afford to hire an attorney in the United States and Brazil. The term is also applied to some ombudsman offices, for example in Jamaica, and is one way...
’s office in Tbilisi from 1998 to 1999. In November 1999, he was elected to the Parliament of Georgia on the New Rights party ticket. As a member of pro-Shevardnadze election bloc, Karkarashvili ran for the parliament again in November 2003. The protests over the elections resulted in Shevardnadze’s resignation in the Rose Revolution
Rose Revolution
The "Revolution of Roses" was a change of power in Georgia in November 2003, which took place after having widespread protests over the disputed parliamentary elections...
and in the snap parliamentary elections which brought Karkarashvili to the Parliament as a majoritarian for Tbilisi’s Isani constituency in March 2004. He resigned his seat over health problems in November 2005.
Opposition
Karkarashvili came again to public attention after the August 2008 war2008 South Ossetia war
The 2008 South Ossetia War or Russo-Georgian War was an armed conflict in August 2008 between Georgia on one side, and Russia and separatist governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other....
between Georgia and Russia. He produced a report in which he accused the Georgian government for having mismanaged military operations. In February 2009, he joined a political group of Irakli Alasania, Georgia’s former UN envoy, who withdrew into opposition to President Mikheil Saakashvili
Mikheil Saakashvili
Mikheil Saakashvili is a Georgian politician, the third and current President of Georgia and leader of the United National Movement Party.Involved in the national politics since 1995, Saakashvili became president on 25 January 2004 after President Eduard Shevardnadze resigned in a November 2003...
.
In May 2009, Karkarashvili’s name was implicated by the retired officer Gia Ghvaladze, arrested in connection with the failed army mutiny
2009 Georgian attempted mutiny
The 2009 Georgian mutiny was a mutiny by a Georgian Army tank battalion based in Mukhrovani, Georgia, east of the capital Tbilisi on 5 May 2009. It is not yet known how many soldiers took part. Later that day, the Georgian Ministry of Interior announced that the mutineers had surrendered. Some of...
as an alleged sympathizer with the coup plot. Karkarashvili rejected any links with the mutiny and released video footage showing him talking with the certain Melikidze who allegedly was trying to persuade him to take part in the mutiny. The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs expressed its gratitude to Karkarashvili for information provided by him as it helped to arrest Melikidze and prevent an assassination attempt on Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili
Vano Merabishvili
Ivane Merabishvili is a Georgian politician who has served as the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs since December 18, 2004...
.