Aslan Abashidze does not hurry to lift state of emergency in Adjaria

The head of Adjaria, Aslan Abashidze, will not lift the state of emergency in the autonomous region if Tbilisi refuses to accede to a series of demands made by Batumi. In particular, the Adjarian leader insists that the period for the preliminary voter registration before the parliamentary elections of March 28 be extended.

On Monday, March 22, the Georgian Central Election Commission refused to prolong the registration period, judging that the voters in Adjaria had had sufficient time already. At present, only 26 thousand voters are registered by the commission, although information at the commission's disposal indicates there are about 80 thousand voters in Adjaria, while Batumi claims there are 280 thousand of them.

Abashidze says he suspects the election commission is intentionally minimizing the number of voters in Adjaria so that the republic's interests, as represented by the Revival political party, will not be reflected in the Georgian parliament.

The state of emergency in Adjaria was implemented on November 23, 2003, in the context of the so-called "velvet rose revolution," and suspended during the Georgian presidential election on January 4, 2004. A curfew in Batumi was lifted on March 19.

In addition, Abashidze demands that the Georgian Prosecutor General's Office stop its criminal investigation against 10 of his close supporters, including State Security Minister Soso Gogitidze and his deputy, as well as against the leadership of the Adjarian Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Adjarian leader also demands that Tbilisi give its consent to the control of custom houses located on the Georgian territory by the autonomy's representatives.

Abashidze previously agreed with Mikhail Saakashvili that the custom house in Sarpi and the port of Batumi be controlled jointly with Adjarian customs officers.