Security sector change in Georgia during this period were can be divided into two stages. The first is the period between 1985 and 1991, when numerous paramilitary forces emerged out of the Georgian independence process. The second phase runs briefly between 1990 and 1991, during which independence Georgia started to create new regular armed forces while the Soviet armed forces ceased to exist.
3.3.1 The evolution of paramilitaries affiliated with independence movement leaders
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The first phase in this period is marked by the emergence and flourish of various non-state paramilitary forces and their leaders. Since the late 1980s, numerous political associations were created among the Georgian intelligentsia. Several dissident nationalist leaders formed small paramilitary groups since the 1980s. For instance, supporters of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, a nationalist movement leader and the first president of independent Georgia, formed a paramilitary group called ‘Zviadists’. Those paramilitary forces initially were small in size in 1989–91 and acted “as the private bodyguards or thugs for political personalities and their entourage” (Demetriou, 2002, p. 23). Those militia groups include the Zviadists, a group of supporters of Gamsakhurdia. The Merab Kostava Society also had an armed wing, led by Vaja Adamia, a Gamsakhurdia loyalist. Several other paramilitary forces such as the White Legion and the Forest Brothers were organised by ethnic Georgians, mainly consisting of volunteer civilians who were enthusiastic supporters of Gamsakhurdia.
The Mkhedrioni was not affiliated to any political leader, yet it was one of the most notable and influential paramilitary forces of the post-independent period. Established in 1989 by Ioseliani, the Mkhedrioni had approximately 5,000 members. The Mkhedrioni emerged in 1988 as an illegal armed formation with some links to the Communist nomenclature. Gaining influence in the political scene and criminal activities, the Mkhedrioni and its leader Ioseliani became significant actors in Georgian politics and society in independent Georgia. Those militias consisted of dozens of units of varying size, from a few hundred to several thousands of people (Darchiashvili, 2003a). By the time of the independence, Georgian political elites were mostly heading their own paramilitary forces. By early 1990, one estimates the total number of 60,000 volunteers in such paramilitary groups (Woff, 1993, p. 309).
3.3.2 The creation of Georgian security sector institutions
During the Soviet times, Georgia did not have a national army as all the Soviet republics were prohibited from creating their own military forces.13 However, as
13 Georgia had had a national army until 1956, when Khrushchev banned all national units in the Soviet
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the independence movement started to gain momentum in the late 1980s, some Georgian independence movement leaders gathered armed supporters and formed paramilitary forces (Darchiashvili, 2005, pp. 5–6).
Following the independence, some security sector institutions started to emerge. One such institution is the National Guards. In November 1990, a law was adopted to ban drafting of Georgian youth to the Soviet Army. In December, the Law on Internal Troops - National Guards was adopted. The Supreme Council of Georgia established the National Guard on 20 December 1990 as the interior troops (Darchiashvili, 2003a, p. 32). The intention was to transform the National Guard to a regular army at a later stage. The National Guard absorbed some paramilitary forces and armed wings of the Georgian nationalist movement14 (Woff, 1993, p. 71). Kitovani, an independence movement leader and an elected member of the Supreme Council, led the National Guard as a commander. Although some former Soviet officers of Georgian origin joined the guard, most of them volunteered.
The draft into the National Guard began in February 1991. By next spring, the National Guard had some 12,000 officers and enlisted soldiers (Darchiashvili, 1997a). The National Guards at this time was more of paramilitary forces rather than a regular military. Besides the National Guard, there were also a number of other state paramilitary forces in Georgia during this period. In September 1990, for instance, the Mkhedrioni gained legal status and registered as a rescue service. There were also about half legal or illegal paramilitaries with a few thousands of poorly armed and trained recruits (Darchiashvili, 1997a).
During this period, security sector institutions other than the armed forces were also created. The Ministry of Defense was created in 1991. The Information- Intelligence Service was created in the same year. Gamsakhurdia’s government merged the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) with the Committee of State Security of Georgia. The creation of those new security sector institutions was accompanied by the President’s various reform efforts targeted at the disbandment of the two most influential paramilitary forces: the Mkhedrioni and
14 One of such paramilitary groups is While Eagle, which had parted from the Mkhedrioni and headed by
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the National Guard. In 1991, Gamsakhurdia ordered the Mkhedrioni to disband and arrested its leader, Ioseliani. In the same year, Gamsakhurdia dismissed the National Guard leader, Kitovani. Neither of the paramilitary forces obeyed the orders, and they remained under the de facto control of their leaders.
Table 2 Major security agencies during the Gamsakhurdia period, 1990 - 1991
Non-state Quasi-state State
Forest Brothers
Merab Kostava Society
White Legion
Zhviadists
Ajara paramilitary forces
Mkhedrioni
National Guards
Committee of State
Security (merged with the MIA)
Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Internal
Affairs
Internal Troops (affiliated
to the MIA)