Batumi is the second-largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest, 20 kilometers north of the border with Turkey. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of the Caucasus. Much of Batumi's economy revolves around tourism and gambling, but the city is also an important seaport and includes industries like shipbuilding, food processing and light manufacturing. Since 2010, Batumi has been transformed by the construction of modern high-rise buildings, as well as the restoration of classical 19th-century edifices lining its historic Old Town.
Adjara or Achara, officially known as the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, is a political-administrative region of Georgia. It is in the country's southwestern corner, on the coast of the Black Sea, near the foot of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, north of Turkey. It is an important tourist destination and includes Georgia's second most populous city of Batumi as its capital. About 350,000 people live on its 2,880 km2 (1,110 sq mi).
Aslan Abashidze is the former leader of the Ajarian Autonomous Republic in western Georgia. He served in this capacity from 18 August 1991 to May 5, 2004. He resigned under the pressure of the central Georgian government and mass opposition rallies during the 2004 Adjara crisis, and has since lived in Moscow, Russia. On January 22, 2007, the Batumi city court found him guilty of misuse of office and embezzlement of GEL 98.2 million in state funds, and sentenced him to 15 years' imprisonment in absentia. He also faces a charge of murder of his former deputy, Nodar Imnadze, in 1991.
The flag of Georgia, also known as the five-cross flag, is one of the national symbols of Georgia. Originally a banner of the medieval Kingdom of Georgia, it was repopularised in the late 20th and early 21st centuries during the Georgian national revival.
In vexillography, the canton is a rectangular emblem placed at the top left of a flag, usually occupying up to a quarter of a flag's area. The canton of a flag may be a flag in its own right. For instance, British ensigns have the Union Jack as their canton, as do their derivatives such as the national flags of Australia and New Zealand.
The subdivisions of Georgia are autonomous republics, regions, and municipalities.
Kobuleti is a city in Adjara, western Georgia, situated on the eastern coast of the Black Sea. It is the seat of Kobuleti Municipality and a seaside resort, visited annually by Georgians and many former Soviet Union residents. It is especially popular with Armenian tourists. It was known as Çürüksu during Ottoman rule.
Levan Varshalomidze is a Georgian politician and the Chairman of the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara from 2004 to 2012. He assumed office on 20 July 2004, following the resignation of Aslan Abashidze—who had run the region in defiance to the central government of Georgia—during the 2004 Adjara crisis.
Abkhazia is a region in the Caucasus that is under the effective control of the partially recognised self-declared Republic of Abkhazia. The de jure majority internationally recognized Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia claims to be its legitimate government.
The article refers to the history of Georgia's Autonomous Republic of Adjara.
The Adjara crisis, also known as the Adjarian revolution or the Second Rose Revolution, was a political crisis in Georgia's Adjaran Autonomous Republic, then led by Aslan Abashidze, who refused to obey the central authorities after President Eduard Shevardnadze's ouster during the Rose Revolution of November 2003. The crisis threatened to develop into military confrontation as both sides mobilized their forces at the internal border. However, Georgia's post-revolutionary government of President Mikheil Saakashvili managed to avoid bloodshed and with the help of Adjaran opposition reasserted its supremacy. Abashidze left the region in exile in May 2004 and was succeeded by Levan Varshalomidze.
The Adjarians, also known as Muslim Georgians, are an ethnographic group of Georgians indigenous to Adjara in south-western Georgia. Adjarian settlements are also found in the Georgian provinces of Guria, Kvemo Kartli, and Kakheti, as well as in several areas of neighbouring Turkey.
Memed Abashidze was a Georgian politician, writer and public benefactor. An eminent leader of Muslim Georgian community of Adjarians, he was a major proponent of pro-Georgian orientation in Adjara and one of the architects of the region's autonomy within Georgia. He became a victim of Joseph Stalin’s Great Purge.
The coat of arms of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara is a shield divided in two by a wavy line. In the center is a red smaller shield of the Lesser Arms of Georgia, bearing a silver horseman with a golden halo mounted on a silver horse and slaying a silver dragon with a golden-tipped, silver-shafted spear. The upper sector of the main shield bears a golden fortress on a green field and the lower one contains three golden coins on blue field.
The Republican Party of Georgia, commonly known as the Republicans, is a political party in Georgia active since 1978. Until March 2016, the party was a part of the Georgian Dream coalition that won the 2012 election, defeating the United National Movement. Currently it is in opposition to Georgian Dream as part of the UNM-led Strength Is in Unity coalition.
Legislative elections were held in Adjara, an autonomous republic within Georgia, on October 1, 2012. Adjara elected its 18-member parliament, Supreme Council, in the region's 6th local legislative election since Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
The Georgian route S2, also known as Senaki-Poti-Sarpi , is a "road of international importance" within the Georgian road network which runs from Senaki via Poti, Kobuleti, and Batumi to the border with Turkey near Sarpi (Adjara) with a length of 119 kilometres (74 mi). After crossing the Georgian-Turkish border the highway continues as D.010 to Trabzon. The S2 highway is part of European E60, E70, E97 and Asian AH5 routes and is mostly built as a 2-lane road through villages, towns and cities. Part of the highway has been upgraded in recent years to a single carriageway with hard shoulder bypassing residential communities.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Batumi, Georgia.
Kolkhoba is an annual festival held each year at the end of August or the beginning of September in the southwestern part of Adjara, an autonomous republic of Georgia. Finding its roots in ancient folklore, the modern celebration of the festival dates back to 1978, at a time when Soviet authorities sought to encourage Laz nationalism.
The national emblem of the Adjarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was adopted in 1922 by the government of the Adjarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The emblem is identical to the emblem of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.
"Republic of Batumi", 1919–1920
