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| | Contested Borders in the Caucasus : Chapter I (3/4) |
 | | Abkhazia (Apsny, "a Country of the Soul" in the Abkhaz language, Abkhazeti in Georgian), an autonomous republic in Georgia situated on the Black Sea coast, had, as of 1 January 1990, a population of 537,000, of which 44% were Georgians, 17% Abkhaz, 16% Russians and 15% Armenians. |
 | | Georgian outrage at the Abkhaz demands was expressed in unsanctioned meetings organized by "informal movements" across the republic, which combined anti-communist and anti-Soviet slogans with calls to "punish" the Abkhaz and abolish their autonomy. |
 | | In December 1990, Vladislav Ardzinba, whom the Georgian leaders had accused of fanning Abkhaz separatism and of belonging to the Soyuz Group - a group of hardline deputies to the Soviet parliament - was elected chairman of the Abkhazian Supreme Soviet. |
| poli.vub.ac.be /publi/ContBorders/eng/ch0103.htm (4062 words) |
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