1989 Sukhumi Riots - The University Controversy

The University Controversy

The issue of university had always been very sensitive in Abkhazia. Sukhumi State University was established in 1978 as a part of the concessions towards the Abkhaz secessionist demands, which in its turn was triggered by the Georgian national mobilization in defense of their language and culture. The University had three – Abkhaz, Georgian, and Russian – sectors. However, Georgian students repeatedly complained of discrimination at the hands of their Abkhaz and Russian lectors and administration. Soon after the April 9 events, Georgian students at Abkhaz State University launched a hunger strike, demanding that the Georgian-language sector of their institution be spun off and transformed into a branch of Tbilisi State University. The students' demand was part of a larger Georgian campaign aimed at reviving or establishing separate Georgian cultural institutions in Abkhazia which would be free of any Soviet influence. Earlier, this had led to the division of the Sukhumi soccer team and the theater along ethnic lines. The student movement acquired a widespread support among the Georgian population of Abkhazia, with ethnic Georgian lectors and schoolteachers, and the Sukhumi Subtropics Institute researchers joining them in a strike. The university issue, however, required Tbilisi's approval, and the authorities were reluctant to concede. On May 14, 1989, however, Gumbaridze's government gave in to public pressure and ordered to establish the new Sukhumi branch of Tbilisi State University, leaving the Abkhaz and Russian sectors under the administration of Sukhumi State University. Yet, Abkhaz responded angrily and launched a series of mass demonstrations immediately after the decision. They promptly organized a sit-in in an attempt to block the Georgian preparations for admissions examinations for their new university. Foreseeing the possibility of violence, local officials began a campaign to collect hunting weapons from the population. At the same time, the Abkhaz activists from the recently established nationalist organization Aydgylara ("Popular Forum") filed a complaint to Moscow, reporting that the university crisis was fueled by the Georgian "informals" as anti-Soviet oppositionists were then known. A special commission Supreme Soviet of the USSR launched an investigation of the university dispute in early July and concluded that the Georgian government had no legal right to authorize the new university, prompting an acute reaction in Georgia. Despite that conclusion, and threats by the Abkhaz, the Georgians went ahead with a new entrance exam for the university that was scheduled to be administered on July 15.