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1989, April 9 A large pro-independence demonstration in Tbilisi is crushed by the Soviet troops leaving 20 people dead. As a result, the Communist regime in Georgia is dramatically discredited and pro-independence national movement takes political initiative.
1989, July 16 There are skirmishes between the Georgian and the Abkhaz in the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia. The immediate trigger is the protest of the Abkhaz against the opening of a branch of Tbilisi University in Sukhumi, the general background – Georgian opposition to Abkhaz demands of increasing the level of autonomy of Abkhazia or seceding from Georgia.
1989, November 23 First violent clashes take place between Georgian and Ossetian nationalist activists in the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast. The latter demand the increase of the level of autonomy of South Ossetia or joining the North Ossetian Republic in Russia, while the former oppose the existence of the Ossetian autonomy.
1990, October 28 The Round Table, a nationalist coalition led by former dissident Zviad Gamsakhurdia, wins the multiparty parliamentary elections thus ending the Communist rule; in November, Gamsakhurdia becomes chairman of parliament.
1990, December 9 Regional elections that are held in South Ossetia without an authorization from Tbilisi elect a new regional council which declares the creation of the South Ossetian Republic.
1990, December 11 The Supreme Council of Georgia abolishes South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast. Skirmishes.
1991, March 31 Referendum overwhelmingly supports independence of Georgia.
1991, April 9 Parliament declares secession from the Soviet Union.
1991, May 26 Gamsakhurdia is elected president by 87 per cent of vote.
1991, September Elections to the Supreme Soviet of Abkhazia are held based on a power-sharing agreement leading to the creation of a regional parliament that can only make principal decisions if the Georgian and Abkhaz groups of deputies come to an agreement.
1992, December 22 Fighting erupts between government troops and opposition militias in downtown Tbilisi.
1992, January 6 Gamsakhurdia flees and power is taken by the Military Council consisting of Tengiz Kitovani and Jaba Ioseliani, the leaders of the National Guard and Mkhedrioni (the Riders), two victorious militias.
1992, March Eduard Shevardnadze, the former Communist leader of Georgia (1972-85) and the foreign minister of the Soviet Union (1985-90; 1991) returns to Georgia. He is appointed head of the newly created State Council.
1992, June 24 In the Russian city of Dagomys, an agreement is reached on ceasefire in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, to be monitored by the three-partite Georgian-Ossetian-Russian peacekeeping force.
1992, August After Georgian troops enter Abkhazia with a declared aim to protect the railway and highways, fighting erupts between them and local separatist forces.
1992, October Parliamentary elections lead to the creation of Parliament with no clear majority party but generally supportive of Eduard Shevardnadze. In a separate vote, Shevardnadze is elected, uncontested, chairman of Parliament and head of state.
1993, May Tengiz Kitovani and Jaba Ioseliani resigned from their formal positions in the government thus signifying the strengthening of Eduard Shevardnadze’s influence.
1993, September The war in Abkhazia ends in the defeat of the Georgian forces. The ethnic Georgian population is being driven out of Abkhazia.
1993, October After Georgian troops leave Abkhazia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia’s supporters escalate their insurgency in western Georgia aiming to depose Eduard Shevardnadze’s government. Shevardnadze seeks military assistance from Russia and makes a statement on joining the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
1993, November Supporters of Zviad Gamsakhurdia in western Georgia are defeated.
1993, November Constituent assembly of the Citizens’ Union of Georgia, the new ruling party headed by Eduard Shevardnadze, is held in Tbilisi.
1993, December 31 Zviad Gamsakhurdia was found dead in a village in western Georgia. The official version is suicide, though his supporters allege he was murdered.
1994, March Georgian Parliament ratifies a decision to join the CIS.
1994, May 14 A Russia-brokered ceasefire agreement is signed between the Georgian government and Abkhaz separatists. Russian troops serving under the aegis of the CIS troops become the peacekeeping force, with UN Observers Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) mandated to monitor the peacekeeping operation.
1994, September A new program of economic reforms based on recommendations of the International Monetary Fund starts with liberalizing prices for bread, public transport and fuel.
1994, December 3 Giorgi Chanturia, a popular leader of the National Democratic Party, is assassinated.
1995, January Tengiz Kitovani is arrested while leading a group of armed volunteers, ostensibly to regain Abkhazia by force.
1995, August 24 New Constitution is adopted that in the main follows the US model of separation of the executive and legislative powers, though with a somewhat greater role of the president.
1995, August 29 Eduard Shevardnadze survives an assassination attempt. Igor Giorgadze, the minister of security with Russian connections, is charged with masterminding the attempt in cooperation with leaders of Mkhedrioni militia. Giorgadze flees to Russia, more than 200 members of Mkherdioni are arrested. The paramilitary organization Mkhedrioni banned in September.
1995, September 15 Georgia and Russia sign an agreement on four Russian military bases being stationed in Georgia for 25 years. There is an understanding that Georgian Parliament will only ratify the agreement if Russia helps Georgia solve the Abkhaz and South Ossetian issues. The agreement was never ratified.
1995, September 25 A new Georgian currency Lari introduced.
1995, November 5 Parliamentary and presidential elections are held. Shevardnadze is elected president, while his party – the Citizens’ Union of Georgia – becomes the majority party in Parliament. Revival Union, a party of the leader of the Autonomous Republic of Achara, Aslan Abashidze, and the National Democratic Party, are also elected to Parliament.
1998, February 9 Shevardnadze survives another attempt on his life, this time blamed on supporters of former president Gamsakhurdia with Chechen connections.
1998, May Fighting breaks out in Abkhazia’s Gali District. Abkhaz troops suppress Georgian guerilla groups, while the Georgian population that had returned to the district flees again.
1999, April Georgia is admitted to the Council of Europe.
1999, October 31 New parliamentary elections lead to even stronger majority of the Citizens’ Union in Parliament. (Second round is held on November 14.) A bloc of parties led by Aslan Abashidze’s Revival party, and the Industialists’ party also join Parliament.
1999, November At the OSCE summit in Istanbul, Georgia and Russia sign an agreement whereby two of the four remaining Russian military bases in Vaziani (near Tbilisi) and Gudauta (Abkhazia) would withdraw until July 2000, while terms of withdrawal of the other two bases (in Batumi and Akhalkalaki) would be negotiated during 2000.
2000, April 9 Shevardnadze is re-elected president.
2001 June/July Russia hands over Vaziani military base to Georgia.
2001, October A group of Chechen fighters fleeing the war in Chechnya traverse to Abkhazia and, with support from local Georgian paramilitaries, engage in short-term clashes with Abkhaz troops. The latter successfully drive out the intruders.
2001, October 30 A raid of the Security Ministry forces on Rustavi-2, the most popular independent TV channel which was often critical of the Shevardnadze regime, leads to anti-government demonstrations. Zurab Zhvania, the reformist speaker of Parliament, resigns in solidarity with the protesters. Shevardnadze sacks the government but shortly reappoints everybody save for the two most powerful and popular ministers, those of internal affairs and security.
2001, September Mikheil Saakashvili, the reformist minister of justice, resigns from the Shevardnadze government and starts the National Movement, strongly oppositional to the government.
2002, February A US government representative says there are Al Qaida members in Pankisi.
2002 April The USA launches its “Train and Equip” program to prepare Georgian troops for counterterrorist operations.
2002, June 2 Local elections lead to humiliating defeat of the ruling party.
2002, November Saakashvili becomes the chairman of the Tbilisi city council.
2002, September 11 Russian President Vladimir Putin declares that Russia may invade Georgian unless it takes care of Chechen rebels that hide in Pankisi Gorge, which neighbors Chechnya.
2002, October Georgia starts an anti-terrorist operation in Pankisi that leads to the re-establishment of state control over the area.
2003, May Work begins on laying the Georgian section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline that would take Caspian oil from Azerbaijan to the Mediterranean coast in Turkey.
2003, November 2 Parliamentary elections are held with numerous irregularities noted by local and international observers. Large-scale protest demonstrations continue for three weeks and lead to the seizure of Parliament and the resignation of President Shevardnadze on November 23. The Supreme Court invalidates the election results in the party lists; MPs elected from constituencies retain their seats.
2004, January 4 Mikheil Saakashvili is elected president with overwhelming support (96 percent of the vote) in snap elections that were considered free and fair by internal and international observers. Zurab Zhvania is appointed prime minister.
2004, March 28 In the repeat partial parliamentary elections, the United National Movement (created on the basis of merger between Mikheil Saakashvili’s National Movement and the United Democrats led by Nino Burjanadze and Zurab Zhvania), gets 66 per cent of the vote. The only other group to overcome the 7-percent threshold was the bloc of the New Right and Industrialist parties.
2004, May 6 Mass protest rallies in the autonomous republic of Achara, supported by the Tbilisi government, lead to ouster of Aslan Abashidze, an authoritarian ruler of Achara.
2004, June Georgia is admitted to the European Neighborhood Program (ENP).
2004, August Tensions in South Ossetia lead to occasional fighting leaving more than 10 people dead. The crisis ends after Georgian government units take several strategic heights but withdraw some of the troops.
2005, February 3 Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania is found dead in an apartment in Tbilisi.
2005, May 9-10 US President George W. Bush visits Georgia proclaiming it the “beacon of democracy”.
2005, May Agreement signed with Russia on the withdrawal of the remaining military bases to be completed by the end of 2008.
2006, September Georgia enters Intensified Dialogue for membership in NATO.
2006, July Emzar Kvitsiani, former governor of the Georgian-administered Kodori Gorge, and his militiamen from the Monadire (Hunter) paramilitary unit start a mutiny in the Kodori Gorge. Georgian police units take control over the Gorge, Kvitsiani escapes.
2006 Nov/December The alternative government of South Ossetia led by Dimitri Sanakoyev is established in the village of Kurta following the 12 November elections in South Ossetia. It supports autonomous status for South Ossetia within Georgia.
2006, October 5 Municipal elections in Georgia lead to domination of United National Movement in all municipalities of Georgia.
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