Government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in Exile

The Government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG) continued to function as the government in exile (National Government of Georgia, NGG) after the Soviet Russian Red Army invaded Georgia and the Bolsheviks took over the country early in 1921.

The elected Menshevik-dominated government of Georgia chaired by Noe Zhordania decided to leave the country after the war with the Soviets was irreversibly lost. At the last session of the Constituent Assembly of Georgia held in Batumi on March 18 1921, the deputies voted for the exile of the government. On the same day, the members of the government, several deputies of the Constituent Assembly, a few military officers and their families went aboard the ship "Ernest Renan" and sailed first to Istanbul, Turkey, and then to France whose government granted the Georgian émigrés a political asylum.

Using Georgian state funds, the government bought a 5-ha domain surrounding a small "castle" (actually, a hunting lodge) in Leuville-sur-Orge, a small town located near Paris. Leuville was declared as an official residence of the government in exile. Although the émigrés experienced permanent shortage of money, Zhordania's government maintained close contacts with the still popular Menshevik party and other anti-Soviet organizations in Georgia, and thus presented a certain nuisance value for the Soviet authorities. The NGG encouraged and helped the Committee for Independence of Georgia, an inter-party bloc in Georgia, in its struggle against the Bolshevik regime, which culminated in the 1924 August Uprising. Prior to the revolt, Noe Khomeriki, the Minister of Agriculture in exile, Benia Chkhikvishvili, the former mayor of Tbilisi, and Valiko Jugheli, the former commander of the People’s Guard, secretly returned to Georgia, but were arrested and shortly executed by the Soviet secret police, Cheka.

The NGG attempted on numerous occasions to bring the Georgian affairs to international attention. Several memoranda, urging for the support of the Georgian independence cause, were sent to the British, French, and Italian governments as well as the League of Nations which adopted two resolutions, in 1922 and 1924, in support of Georgia's sovereignty. Although the struggle of Georgian Social Democracy garnered widespread sympathy among the Socialist circles of Europe, the hopes of the Georgian émigrés that the Great Powers intended to help had begun to vanish. A heavy loss was sustained by the Georgian emigration when Karlo Chkheidze committed suicide in 1926 and Noe Ramishvili, the most energetic Georgian émigré politician and Minister of the Interior in Zhordania’s government, was assassinated by a Bolshevik spy in 1930.

With the emigration of Zhordania's government and the establishment of the Georgian SSR, the question of recognition arose for the foreign states that had de jure recognized the independence of Georgia before the Soviet takeover. Some countries, particularly Liberia and Mexico, recognized the DRG when its government was already in exile, on March 28, 1921 and May 12, 1921, respectively. The NGG continued to be recognized for some time as "the legitimate Government of Georgia" by Belgium, the United Kingdom, France and Poland. [Stefan Talmon (1998), "Recognition of Governments in International Law", p. 289-290. Oxford University Press, ISBN 0198265735.] The NGG was able to maintain a legation in Paris until 1933 when it was closed as a result of the Franco-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of 29 November 1932. The NGG and its chief ally in Europe, the International Committee for Georgia, the president of which was Jean Martin, director of "Journal de Genève", later launched a campaign against the admission of the Soviet Union into the League of Nations, which nevertheless took place in September 1934. Henceforth, the NGG effectively became defunct. [David Marshall Lang (1962). "A Modern History of Georgia", p. 258. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.]

The Soviet intelligence managed to heavily penetrate into the exiled government structures due largely to Lavrentiy Beria's personal intelligence network.

Heads of the National Government of Georgia in exile

*1921-1953 - Noe Zhordania (1868-1953)
*1953-1954 - Evgeni Gegechkori (1881-1954)

ee also

*Georgian emigration in Poland

References