Jump to content

Draft:Battle of the Georgian Television and Radio Building

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Battle of the Georgian Television and Radio Building
Part of the Georgian Civil War
Date24 June 1992
Location
Tbilisi, Georgia
Result State Council victory
Belligerents
Georgia (country) National Disobidience Committee (Zviadists)[1] Georgia (country) State Council
Commanders and leaders
Georgia (country) Valter Shurgaia Georgia (country) Tengiz Kitovani
Georgia (country) Eduard Shevardnadze
Strength
300 men
One tank
Two armored peronnel carriers
304 automatic rifles[2][3]		 Unknown number of guardsmen
Casualties and losses
2 to 40 deaths[2]
25 to 100 injuries[2]


The Battle of the Georgian Television and Radio Building was a battle during the Georgian Civil War. The supporters of ousted President Zviad Gamsakhurdia seized the Tbilisi Television and Radio Building (current First Channel building) in an attempt to launch the rebellion against the post-coup government of Eduard Shevardnadze and the State Council, but they were surrounded and defeated by the State Council troops.

Background

[edit]

Zviad Gamsakhurdia was elected as the first president of Georgia in May 1991. However, the internal discord led to the National Guard of Georgia splitting into pro- and anti-Gamsakhurdia factions after its commander Tengiz Kitovani declared disobedience to Gamsakhurdia in August 1991. The conflict eventually led to the rebel factions of the National Guard, aided by a group of paramilitary organizations such as Mkhedrioni of Jaba Ioseliani, staging a coup in Tbilisi against President Gamsakhurdia. This struggle, known as the Tbilisi War, would eventually lead to the president fleeing the capital in early January 1992 and a new government, the Military Council, taking over. This council was replaced by the State Council led by the new leader Eduard Shevardnadze in March 1992.[4]

Initially, Gamsakhurdia and his supporters tried to establish holdout in Mingrelia (Western Georgia), Gamsakhurdia's home region and his support base. However, on 29 January, the forces of the Military Council advanced in Mingrelia and captured Zugdidi, the capital of the province and Gamsakhurdia's stronghold, after which his supporters announced switching to a partisan war and resistence.[5]

Battle

[edit]

Ten days before the rebellion, the rebels managed to infiltrate some military units and win over some troops.[3] They hoped to take advantage of the fact that Shevardnadze was leaving Georgia for Dagomys to sign the ceasefire agreement on ending the South Ossetia war.[2] On 24 June, at 3:30 AM, they entered #2052 Operational Regiment of the Internal Troops on the Kakheti highway. They deceived the guard that they were there based on the emergency notifications and managed to enter the military base without any complications. They took 304 automatic rifles, one tank, two armored personel carriers and cars with them and left the base. Moreover, they asked the internal troops to come with them too based on supposed emergency orders. They managed to enter the Saburtalo district of Tbilisi without any complications, even though the State Council intelligence managed to intercept the information about the rebellion, including its epicenter. The Television Building was defended by only 5 men and the rebels managed to take it without any complications on 6:00 AM. From this time until 8:00 AM, the rebels used radio to send calls for popular uprising, saying that Shevardnadze supposedly fled the country, Sigua and Kitovani were under arrest and Ioseliani was dead.[3] They also sent the message: "the legitimate government has been reinstated. The red junta is nearing its end".[1] The Zviadist forces started to celebrate in Western Georgia and attacked some posts of the State Council, which resulted in some injuries and deaths. However, the rebels' expectations of the popular uprising, with tens of thousands gathering in the nearby territories to support the rebellion, did not come to fruition.[3]

The rebels did not manage to send the TV appeals due to State Council cutting electricity to the building, and later the Council managed to stop the radio transmitters too. By 1:00 PM, its troops encircled the building.[3] The National Guard of Georgia gave ultimatum to the rebels to surrender, and after the passing of the deadline stormed the building.[2]

The State Council managed to arrest 50 rebels, including their leader Valter Shurgaia, but others managed to escape due to extremely disorganized actions of the State Council forces. Moreover, they managed to recover only 90 automatic rifles, despite the rebels escaping the building without any weapons, because the building was looted after the battle by the Mkhedrioni and ordinary citizens.[2]

Aftermath

[edit]

The incident has been described as the biggest challenge faced by Shevardandze since his assumption of the leadership of the State Council and the first attempt by Zviadists to regain power after the exile of Gamsakhurdia. The incident delayed the Dagomys meeting for some hours, but afterwards Shevardnadze proceeded to fly to Dagomys and sign the ceasefire agreement.[1][2]

The US State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler reiterated the US support for Eduard Shevardnadze and his ruling council despite it being unelected.[6]

There were conflicting reports on casualities, ranging from 2 to 40 deaths and 25 to 100 injuries.[2]

The crisis in Tbilisi had its influence on the events in Abkhazia, Georgia's autonomous republic. Vladislav Ardzinba, a separatist leader of the autonomous republic, used the opportunity to remove the ethnic Georgian Interior Minister of the republic Givi Lominadze from his office using the armed forces. Lominadze was dismissed from his position by Ardzinba in May, but Lominadze argued that this action was abuse of power and that the decision lacked the approval of the Georgian Interior Minister, despite requiring it by the legislation.[7] The Abkhaz National Guard, a mono-ethnically Abkhaz armed formation created by Ardzinba under his personal control, stormed the building of the Interior Ministry and beat up Lominadze and his two deputies.[7][2] Instead of him, ethnic Abkhaz Alexander Ankvab was appointed to the position.[7]

Meanwhile, the Georgian Civil War threatened to spill over into Sukhumi as the local Zviadists were planning to take over the building which served as the headquarters for the "National Unity Council"[7], a Georgian organization in Abkhazia which they perceived as being loyal to Shevardnadze.[8] Ultimately, they backed off their plans after the rebellion in Tbilisi failed. However, Ardzinba used the opportunity to enact "emergency measures" and put his armed forces in the buildings of the Supreme Soviet and Council of Ministers of the autonomous republic, as well as in highways, streets and squares. The faction of the Georgian deputies in the Abkhazian Supreme Soviet accused Ardzinba of establishing "dictatorship and totalitarian regime" by forcing the governmental bodies to work under bayonet of troops and announced boycotting the sessions of the Soviet in protest.[7]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "Georgia coup try crushed by Shevardnadze loyalists". Tulsa World. 24 June 1992.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Georgian uprising". United Press International. 24 June 1992.
  3. ^ a b c d e "ბრძოლა ტელევიზიის შენობისთვის - 1992 წლის 24 ივნისი". ინდიგო. 24 June 2022.
  4. ^ "Shevardnadze Named Head of New Government". Greensboro. 10 March 1992. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  5. ^ "Ex-President's Strongholds Seized in Georgia". Washington Post. 1992-01-29. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  6. ^ "Troops crush coup attempt in Georgia". Tampa Bay Times. 25 June 1992.
  7. ^ a b c d e Papaskiri 2007, pp. 350–351.
  8. ^ Papaskiri 2007, pp. 344–345.

Sources

[edit]
This page will be placed in the following categories if it is moved to the article namespace.
Categories:
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Draft:Battle_of_the_Georgian_Television_and_Radio_Building&oldid=1293325406"