Kote Abkhazi
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Prince Konstantine "Kote" Abkhazi (Georgian: კონსტანტინე [კოტე] აბხაზი) (November 17, 1867-May 19, 1923), was a Georgian military officer and politician. During the Imperial Russian rule, he was a general in the tsar's army, and a recognized leader of the liberal nobility of Georgia. After the Sovietization of Georgia, he emerged as one of the leaders of an underground anti-Soviet movement. In 1923, he was arrested and executed by the Soviet security police.
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[edit] Early life and career
Kote (Konstantine) Abkhazi was born in the village of Kardenakhi, Kakheti, Georgia (then part of Imperial Russia) to a wealthy aristocratic family,[1] the son of Prince Nikoloz (Niko) Abkhazi and Princess Nino née Chavchavadze, the sister of the prominent Georgian writer and public figure Ilia Chavchavadze.
Abkhazi graduated from the Tbilisi Cadet Corps and the St. Petersburg Military Academy and joined the Russian army in 1890. Later, he was actively involved in Georgia's public life and sponsored several social and economic projects, including the construction of the Kakhetian railway between 1906 and 1913. In 1913, he was elected the marshal of Georgian nobility, but he was mobilized to an active service with the outbreak of the World War I in 1914. Being promoted to major general in 1914, he commanded an artillery brigade from 1914 to 1916.
[edit] Revolution
Returning to Georgia, he was reelected the marshal and helped find the National Democratic Party of Georgia in 1917. Under his leadership, Georgian nobility declared its property national. Abkhazi was involved in the establishment of Tbilisi State University in February 1918 and in the proclamation of independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in May 1918. He was elected to the Constituent Assembly of Georgia in 1919, and became a chairman of the National Democratic Party in 1920. Early in 1921, Georgia was occupied by Soviet Russia's Red Army, forcing the Georgian government to flee the country. Abkhazi stayed in Georgia, however, and joined the underground movement Committee for Independence of Georgia where he headed its Military Center. He guided the organization of guerrilla groups in Pshavi-Khevsureti, and Kakheti (1921-23). However, in March 1923, Abkhazi and 14 other members of the Military Center (Alexandre Andronikashvili, Varden Tsulukidze, Giorgi Khimshiashvili, Rostom Muskhelishvili, Mikheil Zandukeli, Simon Bagrationi-Mukhraneli, Parnaoz Karalashvili, Iason Kereselidze, Ivane Kutateladze, Simon Chiabrishvili, Alexandre Machavariani, Elizbar Gulisashvili, Levan Klimiashvili and Dimitri Chrdileli) were arrested by the GPU, and were shot for anti-Soviet activities on May 19, 1923. He is quoted to have said prior to the execution:
- I’m dying with joy, because I’m given a honor to be sacrificed for Georgia. My death will bring victory to Georgia!
Abkhazi’s son, Nicholas (died 1987) and his Shanghai-born spouse Peggy Pemberton Carter (died 1994) moved to Canada and, beginning from 1946, built a well-known "Abkhazi Garden" at Vancouver Island, Victoria, British Columbia.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ The Princes Abkhazi descended from the Anchabadze dynasty of Abkhazia whose member fled the Ottoman hegemony over Abkhazia to Kakheti, where they were enfeoffed, in 1654, by King Teimuraz I with an estate at Kardebakhi, formerly a possession of the extinct line of the Vachnadze house. Their title was recognised by the Russian Senate in 1826, reconfirmed in 1850.
[edit] Literature
- (Georgian) U. Sidamonidze. Abkhazi, Konstantine. Encyclopedia "Sakartvelo", vol. I, Tbilisi, 1997: pp. 256-257
- (Georgian) Journal "Samshoblo", No: 21-22, Paris, 1937
- (Georgian) Journal "Mkhedari", Paris, No: 2, 1929, pp. 22-23
[edit] External links
- Mikaberidze, Alexander (ed., 2007). Abkhazi, Constantine. The Dictionary of Georgian National Biography.
