Gia Karkarashvili
|
Major General Giorgi Karkarashvili |
|
|---|---|
| Born | October 31, 1966 |
| Allegiance |
 Georgia
|
| Service/branch | Georgian Army |
| Rank |  |
| Commands held | Georgian Armed Forces |
| Battles/wars |
Georgian Civil War 1991–1992 South Ossetia War War in Abkhazia (1992–1993) |
Giorgi (Gia) Karkarashvili (Georgian: გიორგი [გია] ყარყარაშვილი) (born October 31, 1966) is a Georgian politician and retired Major General who served as Georgia's Minister of Defense from May 1993 to March 1994. A former Soviet army captain, he was a high-profile military commander during the civil war and wars against the secessionists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the 1990s. A gunshot wound received in the 1995 attack in Moscow left him severely disabled. He was member of the Parliament of Georgia from 1999 to 2004. He is currently member of the Our Georgia – Free Democrats party led by Irakli Alasania.
Born in Tbilisi, then-Soviet Georgia, Karkarashvili graduated from the Tbilisi Artillery School in 1987 and served in the Soviet military in East Germany, Afghanistan, and Georgia until January 1991 when he resigned as a captain and recruited the Georgian deserters from the Soviet army into the paramilitary unit Tetri Artsivi ("White Eagle") which was soon integrated into the National Guard of Georgia. Karkarashvili became commander of the Guard in Tbilisi. He took part in fighting against the South Ossetian militias in the early months of 1991 and was promoted to colonel.
In December 1991, Karkarashvili joined the Tengiz Kitovani-led rebellious faction of military in a violent coup against President Zviad Gamsakhurdia and headed a storm of the government’s building which ended in Gamsakhurdia’s flight from Tbilisi in January 1992. Karkarashvili then commanded a force of the post-coup regime – the Military Council – which operated against Gamsakhurdia’s supporters in western Georgia and commanded a march of the National Guard detachment into Abkhazia in a show of force to deter secessionist sentiments in the area. When fighting resumed in South Ossetia in May 1992, Karkarashvili was put in command of Georgian forces which recovered several ethnic Georgian villages, winning to its 26-year-old commander the rank of major-general. He soon resigned, citing dissatisfaction with Shevardnadze’s acceptance of Russian-proposed terms of the peace settlement.
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