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Line 85: Upon taking office, Gamsakhurdia was faced with major economic and political difficulties, especially regarding Georgia's relations with the Soviet Union. A key problem was the position of [[Ethnic minorities in Georgia (country)|Georgia's many ethnic minorities]] (making up 30% of the population). Although minority groups had participated actively in Georgia's return to democracy, they were underrepresented in the results of the October 1990 elections with only nine of 245 deputies being non-Georgians. Even before Georgia's independence, the position of national minorities was contentious and led to outbreaks of serious inter-ethnic violence in Abkhazia during 1989.{{refnec|date=October 2023}} According to [[George Khutsishvili]], the nationalist slogan "Georgia for the Georgians" launched by Gamsakhurdia's followers, part of the [[Round Table—Free Georgia]] coalition, "played a decisive role" in "bringing about Bosnia-like inter-ethnic violence."<ref name="hrw1992" /><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://open.bu.edu/handle/2144/3502 |language=en-US|title=Intervention in Transcaucasus|last=Khutsishvili |first=George|publisher=Perspective|volume=4|issue=3|date= February–March 1994|journal=[[Boston University]]}}</ref> While Gamsakhurdia may not have actually used the slogan, he supported it,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nodia |first=Ghia |author-link=Ghia Nodia|date=1997-12-31 |title=Causes and Visions of Conflict in Abkhazia |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4qr0m8wn |language=en|editor-first1=Edward W. |editor-last1=Walker|editor-first2=Alexandra |editor-last2=Wood|editor-first3=A. Sasha |editor-last3=Radovich|journal=Berkeley Program in Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies|publisher=UC Berkeley}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Toft |first=Monica Duffy|author-link= Monica Toft|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nhdYhb0SjYwC&newbks=0&hl=en |title=The Geography of Ethnic Violence: Identity, Interests, and the Indivisibility of Territory |date=2003 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-12383-7 |language=en|quote=The individual who came the closest to fitting this description is Zviad Gamsakhurdia, an outspoken Georgian chauvinist. [...] Although it could be argued that Gamsakhurdia in fact stirred nationalist passions among Georgians prior to his ouster, more than eight months passed between his ouster and the firing of the first shots in the Abkhaz civil war. [...] His earlier dissident writings often invoked the peril of the Georgian nation and blamed both Moscow and the minorities for the destruction of its land, language, and culture. So his slogan “Georgia for the Georgians” was interpreted as a battle cry for the suppression of minorities.}}</ref> and his ethnoreligious [[chauvinism]], [[Georgian nationalism|nationalism]], and [[xenophobia]] stirred ethnic tensions in the country.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zakharov |first=Nikolay |title=Post-Soviet racisms |last2=Law |first2=Ian |date=2017 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-47691-3 |series=Mapping global racisms |location=London|p=118}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=De Facto States: The Quest for Sovereignty |url=https://www.routledge.com/De-Facto-States-The-Quest-for-Sovereignty/Bahcheli-Bartmann-Srebrnik/p/book/9781138990616 |chapter=The Abkhazians A national minority in their own homeland|first=Edward |last=Mihalkanin|publisher=Routledge |language=en|p=148|quote=Gamsakhurdia’s increasingly xenophobic rule exhibited an intolerance and violence that rejected the political participation of 'minorities' that had lived as neighbours of the Georgians for centuries.|isbn=9781138990616|year=2016|editor-first1=Tozun|editor-last1= Bahcheli|editor-first2=Barry |editor-last2=Bartmann |editor-first3=Henry |editor-last3=Srebrnik }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Elbakidze |first=Marina |date=2008 |title=Multi-Ethnic Society in Georgia: A Pre-Condition for Xenophobia or an Arena for Cultural Dialogue? |url=https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/aeer/article/view/319 |journal=Anthropology of East Europe Review |language=en |volume=26 |issue=1 |page=38|quote=The independent Georgia of the post-Soviet era, led by President Zviad Gamsakhurdia (1991), began to build a new state based on a mono-ethnic principle. The extreme nationalist position of the government and of certain sections of society is well illustrated by popular slogans of the time such as ‘Georgia only for the Georgians’ (Dzhavakhishvili & Frichova 2005). Against the background of the drive for independence, chauvinist rhetoric and extremist nationalism led to tensions in relations between ethnic groups and later to armed conflict in Southern Ossetia. The vast majority of ethnic minority citizens who emigrated from Georgia between the declaration of independence and the present day left the country at precisely this time. |issn=2153-2931}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Georgia and the Russian Aggression|first=Diana|last= Janse|author-link=Diana Janse |url=https://www.ui.se/forskning/centrum-for-osteuropastudier/sceeus-report/georgia-and-the-russian-aggression/ |access-date=2023-10-07 |website=www.ui.se |language=en|quote=Nationalistic and xenophobic sentiments ran high and Georgia’s then president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, was calling for a Georgia for the (ethnic) Georgians.|publisher=[[Swedish Institute of International Affairs]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Tsereteli |first=Mamuka |chapter=Georgia as a geographical pivot |date=2014|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315818207-5 |title=The Making of Modern Georgia, 1918–2012 |pages=74–93 |publisher=Routledge|editor-first=Stephen |editor-last=Jones|editor-link=Stephen F. Jones|quote=Gamsakhurdia took an overly hostile position towards minorities, showing little concern for accommodation of their claims and interests. [...] Nationalists, led by former Soviet dissident Zviad Gamsakhurdia, formed the first government in post-Soviet Georgia. Their negative policies toward national minorities led in large part to their failure to gain international recognition. The decision to abolish South Ossetian autonomy in 1990, justified by the fear of territorial autonomies and their use by the Kremlin, triggered the first ethnic clashes and the de facto secession of the region.}}</ref> ====Human rights violations criticism==== | |||