RESOLUTION OF THE PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY-PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ABKHAZIA on legal assessment of the annexation of Abkhazia by Georgia in 1918-1921

The Parliament of the Republic of Abkhazia states that the Historical Note on Legal Assessment of the Annexation of Abkhazia by Georgia in 1918-1921 contains materials approved by the commission established by the Parliament of the Republic of Abkhazia. The materials, based on historical records covering the events of 1918-1921 in Abkhazia and the South Caucasus, suggest several fundamental conclusions regarding the legal assessment of the events and interstate documents adopted during that particular period.

Making the legal assessment of the events of 1918-1921 in Abkhazia, the People’s Assembly of Abkhazia resolves:

1. To take into consideration the Historical Note on Legal Assessment of the Annexation of Abkhazia by Georgia in 1918-1921, covering the events of 1918-1921 in Abkhazia, and regard this document as essential part of the Resolution.

 2. To acknowledge the deployment of Georgian Armed Forces in Abkhazia in May-June 1918 as:

a) act of military expansion and aggression against the sovereign state of Abkhazia and its people;

b) incursion of the armed forces of the neighbor state into the territory of another state;

â) act of illegal intervention and occupation being in violation of the international law.

3. To denounce the Treaty of June 8-11, 1918, between the People’s Assembly of Abkhazia and the Constituent Assembly of Georgia as forced on Abkhazia under the circumstances of occupation and following annexation of Abkhazia by Georgia.

4. To consider that the violent actions of the Government and Armed Forces of Georgia in Abkhazia led to the dissolution of the legitimate authority, People’s Council of Abkhazia, on August 15, 1918, and the total military and political annexation of Abkhazia.

5. To recognize as illegitimate the State institutions established in Abkhazia by Georgian military administration in the course of the occupation of Abkhazia by Georgia in 1918-1921 and to invalidate all documents adopted by the mentioned institutions.

6. To void the Act on the Autonomy of Abkhazia of March 20, 1919, adopted in violation of all previous interstate documents under the pressure of external forces and against the background of occupation and annexation.

7. To denounce the Statute on the Autonomous Government of Abkhazia, unilaterally adopted by the Constituent Assembly of Georgia and aimed at the final annexation of Abkhazia and its integration with Georgia. This document has no legal force as it was adopted in violation of the will of the people of Abkhazia and the international law during the annexation and occupation of the territory of Abkhazia.

8. To recognize as void Article 107 of the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Georgia of February 21, 1921, announcing the autonomy of Abkhazia, as adopted against the will of the people of Abkhazia during the occupation and annexation of the territory of Abkhazia.

9. To acknowledge that Abkhazia, occupied by Georgia in 1918-1921, maintained its de jure sovereignty and international personality in compliance with the peremptory rule of the international law.

10. To acknowledge that the people of sovereign Abkhazia continued the uncompromising struggle against the Georgian occupants, the annexation and dictatorship of the Georgian Government throughout the occupation period of 1918-1921. The three-year occupation and the annexation of Abkhazia ended after the Georgian invaders were driven out of Abkhazia. A new legitimate government, established in March 1921, was recognized by the people of Abkhazia and the neighbor states, including Georgia. The People’s Assembly – Parliament of the Republic of Abkhazia brings this fact to the notice of the Parliaments and Governments of all states.

N. Ashuba,

Speaker, People’s Assembly of the Republic of Abkhazia

Sukhum, 9 August 2006.

(Respublika Abkhazia, #91, 15-16 August 2006)