Regions and territories: Ajaria

A mountainous semi-autonomous region of Georgia, Ajaria is situated on the Black Sea coast on Georgia's southwestern border with Turkey.
Its narrow band of coastal lowland has a lush sub-tropical climate while high in the mountains there can be snow for six months of the year.
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The port in the capital, Batumi, is used for the shipment of oil from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Its oil refinery handles Caspian oil from Azerbaijan which arrives by pipeline to Supsa port and is transported from there to Batumi by rail.
Batumi is also an important gateway for the shipment of goods heading into Georgia, Azerbaijan and landlocked Armenia. The Ajarian capital is a centre for shipbuilding and manufacturing. Ajaria has good land for growing tea, citrus fruits and tobacco.
History
The people of Ajaria are ethnically Georgian and the region also has a substantial Russian-speaking population. Under Ottoman rule from the 17th until the 19th century Islam predominated. The word Ajarian came to mean a Georgian Muslim.

Tensions erupt on the internal border between Georgia and Ajaria
In 1878 Ajaria was annexed by Russia and, following the Bolshevik revolution, incorporated into Georgia as an autonomous republic within the USSR. Under Stalin, Islam, like Christianity, was ruthlessly repressed. Nowadays about half the population professes the Islamic faith.
Unlike the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Ajaria has been spared major violence and ethnic unrest since Georgia became independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The region was led between 1991 and May 2004 by Aslan Abashidze, who maintained close ties with Moscow. Election results gave him at least 90% of the vote every time and he ruled in what many observers described as an autocratic style.
Aslan Abashidze ousted

Former Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze stepped down and fled
After Eduard Shevardnadze was overthrown as Georgian president and the results of the November 2003 Georgian parliamentary elections were annulled, a state of emergency was declared in Ajaria. Its leadership refused to recognise the full authority of Mikhail Saakashvili as Georgian president.
In May 2004, Mr Abashidze claimed that Georgian forces were preparing to invade. His forces blew up bridges connecting the region with the rest of Georgia. Mr Saakashvili ordered the Ajarian leader to comply with the Georgian constitution and start disarming or face removal.
Large numbers of demonstrators took to the streets of Batumi. In an echo of events in Tbilisi the previous autumn, Mr Abashidze resigned.
Russia then agreed to close its military base at Batumi, which it said it had done by November 2007. The base was a source of great tension between Moscow and Tbilisi.

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Territory: Ajaria
Status: Autonomous region within Georgia
Population: 400,000
Capital: Batumi
Major languages: Georgian, Russian
Major religions: Islam, Christianity
Natural resources: Citrus fruit, tobacco, tea
Industry: Oil refining, shipping, manufacturing, wine-making

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When former autocratic leader Aslan Abashidze left the country following a showdown with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, his post was abolished.
In subsequent elections to the Ajarian assembly, Mr Saakashvili's party won 28 of the 30 seats. Their campaign promises included working to improve living standards and stamp out corruption. There were allegations of vote-rigging from Mr Saakashvili's former allies, the Republican Party, after they won less than 15 per cent of the vote.
Legislation passed by the Georgian parliament after the elections gives the assembly powers over local affairs. It states that the head of the region's government is nominated by the Georgian president who also has powers to dissolve the assembly and government and to overrule local authorities on issues where the constitution of Georgia is contravened.
Analysts believe that having moved to reassert control in Ajaria, the Georgian leadership will be determined to retain it.

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The Ajarian authorities operate TV and radio networks in the region.
Reporters Without Borders, the media rights body, reported in 2004 that two private Georgian TV stations had been banned from operating in Ajaria. It added that five journalists had been physically assaulted.
Television
Adjara TV - operated by Ajarian authorities
Channel 25 - private
Radio
Radio Adjara - operated by Ajarian authorities