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| 1918 Abkhazia coup attempt | |||||||
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| Part of the Abkhazia conflict (1918) | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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The coup plotters  White movement |
 Abkhaz People's Council | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Rostom Chkotua Ivane Marghania Anton Denikin |
Varlam Sharvashidze Giorgi Tukhareli Noe Zhordania | ||||||
The 1918 Abkhazia coup attempt was an armed coup d'état in Georgia's Abkhazia region, launched by the former deputies of the Abkhazian People's Council to remove its chairman Varlam Sharvashidze. The coup was backed by the White movement, although it ended with a failure and arrest of the coup plotters.
Coup[edit]
On 26 May 1918, Georgian Democratic Republic was proclaimed as a result of the dissolution of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic. Abkhazia's status within Georgia was confirmed by the 11 June treaty on autonomy signed with the Abkhaz People's Council, a representative body of the Abkhaz people formed in November 1917.[1] However, several other political currents also existed in Abkhazia during this time: pro-Ottoman orientation of Abkhaz nobles, who wanted to restore their rights with the help of Ottoman Empire, pro-Bolshevik orientation, and those who wanted to join the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus.[2] The pro-Ottoman orientation was represented by the famous Abkhaz nobles and deputies of APC, Aleksandr Sharvashidze, Mikheil Tarnava and Tatash Marshania. To gain the Ottoman support, they established connections with the Ottoman officials.
In June 1918, a Bolshevik rebellion broke out in Abkhazia, which was defeated by the Georgian army commanded by the general Giorgi Mazniashvili. However, on 27 June, in the back of the Georgian troops, an Ottoman force, consisting of Abkhazian Muhajirs, unexpectedly landed near the village of Tskurgili, an estate of Aleksandr Sharvashidze. However, the Georgian troops under the command of Mazniashvili managed to surround them and turned them back.[3] As per agreement with Georgia, the steps were taken to reorganize the APC to make the council more representative of the entire population of Abkhazia, expanding its composition to include members of the councils of other nationalities in Abkhazia. Also, the preparations began to hold the first elections to the Abkhaz People's Council. However, in August 1918, a new Ottoman force landed near the village of Dzhgerda and headed to the estate of Tatash Marshania. They clashed with the Georgian forces on several occasions but were defeated. Upon the initiative of the chairman of APC, Varlam Sharvashidze, those deputies who supported Ottoman forces were stripped of their rights, proclaimed as traitors and expelled from Abkhazia.[4]
After the Ottoman involvement did not produce any results, the pro-Ottoman deputies of APC under the leadership of Aleksandr Sharvashidze began to look for other allies. They asked the Volunteer Army for help.[5] The delegation was sent to White general Mikhail Alekseyev, asking to separate Abkhazia from Georgia. Meanwhile, Georgia's relations with the Volunteer Army soared in September 1918 as the conference in Yekaterinodar left the sides in disagreement on numerous issues, including that of the Sochi district. With the failure of negotiations, the threat of war loomed. White generals, who supported the "united and indivisible Russia", welcomed this support for Russia from the Abkhaz delegation, and asked the Georgian government to remove its troops not only from Sochi, but from Abkhazia too. However, the Volunteer army had no forces to solve the issue with military means at this time as they were involved in fierce battles in the Northern Caucasus with the Bolsheviks. In these circumstances, they supported the idea of staging armed coup attempt in Abkhazia.[6]
At the head of the armed putsch were Georgia's minister of Abkhazian affairs, Colonel Rostom Chkotua and district commissar Ivane Marghania. They were backed by the former deputies of the APC, Marshania, Tumanov and others, the main representatives of the pro-Turkish wing. On 9 October 1918, the Abkhaz cavalry headed by the Colonel Ivane Marghania broke into the meeting of the APC and demanded in an ultimatum from the APC to remove from his post its chairman, Varlam Sharvashidze. They wanted to appoint their candidate, Simon Ashkhatsava. However, Varlam Sharvashidze was able to contact the commanders of the Georgian army. The Georgian Colonel Giorgi Tukhareli swiftly launched operation and dislodged the rebels from the building of the APC. The plotters were all arrested and sent to the Metekhi Prison in Tiflis.[7]
The Georgian government reacted to the coup by suspending the activities of the APC with the support of its chairman Varlam Sharvashidze and other deputies, until the new elections were held to the Council in February 1919.[5] Varlam Shervashidze and others also demanded the arrest of the deputies tied to the plotters. Beniamin Chkhikvishvili was appointed as the temporary administrator of Abkhazia.[5] The arrested plotters were accused of treason, although with the British-supported White Russian intervention, they were released prior to the elections to the APC in December 1918, after negotiations in Baku between the representative of Allies, Colonel Claude Stokes and the diplomatic representative of Georgia to Azerbaijan, Grigol Alshibaia. To ease up the situation, the plotters were allowed to take part in the elections.[8]
References[edit]
- ^ Papaskiri 2007, p. 16.
- ^ Papaskiri 2007, p. 15.
- ^ Papaskiri 2007, pp. 18–20.
- ^ Papaskiri 2007, pp. 22–24.
- ^ a b c Jones 2014, p. 217.
- ^ Papaskiri 2007, pp. 26–27.
- ^ Papaskiri 2007, pp. 27–30.
- ^ Papaskiri 2007, pp. 30–32.
Sources[edit]
- Jones, Stephen (2014). The Making of Modern Georgia, 1918-2012: The First Georgian Republic and its Successors. Routledge. ISBN 9781317815938.
- Papaskiri, Zurab (2007). Studies from the historical past of modern Abkhazia. Vol. 2. Tbilisi: Sukhumi branch of Tbilisi State University.
- [1]