A POLITICIAN OF THE ERA OF CHANGE

Eduard Shevardnadze was one of the most iconic political figures in the waning years of the Soviet Union, and then he filled his name in the annals of independent statehood of his historical homeland. His prominent role in the shaping of a new face of the South Caucasus at the turn of Millennium - a process driven by a strategic alliance between Georgia and Azerbaijan as the leading regional power - is also unquestionable.

Historians have yet to fully and thoroughly study the political image of Eduard Shevardnadze, whose earthly course ended on 7 July 2014 in his hometown of Tbilisi.

A reformer or a destroyer?

Eduard Shevardnadze made a phenomenal political career in the Soviet times. He served as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Georgian Komsomol [the Communist Youth Movement] and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Georgian Communist Party, which proved to be crucial stages in his formation as a senior communist functionary. In addition, Shevardnadze was a graduate of the KGB school, which fact played an important role in his development as a politician who possessed the qualities of a leader combined with strong political acumen, the ability to find a way out of difficult situations in the context of political expediency, flexibility, and skills to successfully integrate into the new political realities. These qualities stood him in good stead in the second half of the 1980s, when Gorbachev initiated his "perestroika" that played a fatal role in the destiny of one of the world's superpowers.

It was during the "perestroika" years that Shevardnadze climbed to the top of imperial politics. Having become one of the closest associates of Mikhail Gorbachev, he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. Shevardnadze's efforts in arranging new world order were considerable. The rapid breakdown of the Soviet Union was accompanied by a policy of detente that culminated in the termination of the "cold war." During Shevardnadze's tenure in office, the historical Soviet-American agreements were signed including the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, which put an end to the arms race between the USSR and the USA. His role in the unification of Germany and the demolition of the Berlin Wall, as well as the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, was universally recognised too.

Because of his direct involvement in all of these events, Eduard Shevardnadze had a mixed reputation: some considered him an outstanding reformer who contributed to the elimination of Soviet totalitarianism, while others saw him as one of the destroyers of the great power and accused him of treason and surrender of the interests of the Soviet Union in the international arena. In any case, Shevardnadze's role in radically changing the political appearance of the one-sixth of the terrestrial parts of the world as well as the entire world situation at the end of the 20th century is undeniable.

The collapse of the Soviet Union impacted on the future career of Eduard Shevardnadze. Soon, he returned to his native Georgia, which at the time was experiencing - like several other former Soviet republics that had embarked on the path of state independence - the elements of freely interpreted democracy with all ensuing manifestations of political anarchy and lawlessness. After a military takeover that led to the overthrow of the regime of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Eduard Shevardnadze headed the interim governing body, the State Council. Later, he was formally elected president of Georgia. Thus began a new era of political activity of Shevardnadze - already as the leader of small but proud Georgia, which set itself to the task of building a free life and attaining its worthy place in the world community.

President of independent Georgia

Eduard Shevardnadze made a huge contribution to the stabilisation of the situation in Georgia, the establishment of public authorities, overcoming a civil war, and steering the country out of a severe economic crisis (because the absence of essential goods, water, light, and heating cannot be called otherwise). He did away with the arbitrariness of various militant groups and succeeded in disarming the Mkhedrioni organisation that took part in the overthrow of Gamsakhurdia.

However, Shevardnadze failed to achieve tangible results in solving the most important problem - the protection of the territorial integrity of Georgia. True, under his rule hostilities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia were mostly terminated, but the long-term peace providing for Tbilisi's sovereign control over these autonomous territories was out of reach. Moreover, hundreds of thousands of Georgian refugees who had fled the areas dominated by separatists that were supported by Yeltsin's Russia generated significant humanitarian problems.

The assessment of Shevardnadze's social and economic policy is also mixed. Transition from the socialist to a market economy was accompanied by the impoverishment of a large part of the population against the backdrop of an unprecedented enrichment of a handful of people. Corruption had acquired appalling proportions. Shevardnadze was also blamed for the fact that - in an attempt to preserve the value of the national currency, Lari, against the dollar when the former started to depreciate - he devastated the country's foreign exchange reserves. There are grounds to believe that he made this ill-advised step at the insistence of the Western financial centres and the International Monetary Fund.

In 2003, the "Rose Revolution" took place in Georgia. Shevardnadze had voluntarily left the post of the head of state, which was then occupied by Mikheil Saakashvili. With bitterness in his heart, Shevardnadze realised that his time as a politician had come to an end, largely due to the position of the United States and the European Union which refused to further support the man who helped the West break up the Soviet Union.

Following his resignation, Eduard Shevardnadze, already as the ex-president, often criticised Saakashvili's policy. Nearly ten years after Saakashvili had come to power, Shevardnadze supported the Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, which became the new ruling force in the country. The authority of Edward Shevardnadze remained immutable to the end of his days. Even Saakashvili, despite his differences with the patriarch of Georgian politics, admitted that Shevardnadze was an "important figure of the Soviet era and post-Soviet Georgia, whose role is yet to be assessed by history and historians in the years to come."

Evidently, Shevardnadze was not only a prominent member of the Soviet leadership and one of the architects of the modern Georgian state, but also a politician who made an invaluable contribution to the formation of a new political and economic panorama and configuration of forces in the South Caucasus. In achieving the latter objective, he relied on the support of neighbouring Azerbaijan and its leader Heydar Aliyev.

An ally of Azerbaijan

The biographies of Aliyev and Shevardnadze have much in common. Both were graduates of the KGB school, both were the leaders of the Soviet republics - Azerbaijan and Georgia, respectively, both became members of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. However, Heydar Aliyev joined the Soviet leadership earlier than Eduard Shevardnadze, in the capacity of the first deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers. Shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Eduard Shevardnadze became president of independent Georgia, and Heydar Aliyev - President of independent Azerbaijan. Both had played a salutary role in the recent history of their countries, actually preventing their break-up. Furthermore, their contribution to the strengthening of friendly and brotherly relations between the two countries was also tremendous. The names of Heydar Aliyev and Eduard Shevardnadze are associated with the establishment and strengthening of the strategic alliance between Azerbaijan and Georgia, which has become one of the key factors of regional policy.

Coordinating their actions in the new geopolitical environment, Heydar Aliyev and Eduard Shevardnadze jointly overcame one problem after another, seeking to strengthen the independence of Azerbaijan and Georgia and expanding their contribution to the integration processes in the Caspian-Black Sea region.

Shevardnadze realised and appreciated Heydar Aliyev's input in strengthening the independence of not only Azerbaijan but also Georgia. He referred to his Azerbaijani counterpart as a "friend" and "chief adviser." Indeed, it was largely due to the strategy of the Azerbaijani leader, who acted as the mastermind of the new "Silk Road," that Georgia managed to establish itself as a state which came to be regarded as one of the leading transit countries in transporting Caspian energy resources to the world markets.

In 1998, the historic agreement was signed on the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline for export of crude oil. This was made possible primarily due to the joint efforts of the presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, namely Heydar Aliyev, Eduard Shevardnadze and Suleyman Demirel. And in 2001, during Shevardnadze's visit to Baku, yet another ambitious regional project was launched - the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline.

The supply of Azerbaijani oil and oil products to Georgia, as well as their transportation to the West through Georgia, contributed to the improvement of the economic situation in Georgia and increased the weight of this country in the regional politics and economics.

Heydar Aliyev and Eduard Shevardnadze have strengthened Azerbaijan-Georgia bilateral relations to such a degree that even their withdrawal from the presidency in 2003 (another amazing coincidence in the biographies of the two leaders, one of whom passed away in that year and the other left the presidency as a result of the "Rose Revolution") has not affected the progress of a dialogue between Baku and Tbilisi.

The Azerbaijan-Georgia strategic alliance is getting ever stronger, acquiring new traits and projects (suffice it to mention the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad) that make a significant impact on the balance of power in the South Caucasus. Speaking of this regional phenomenon, both experts and ordinary citizens will not forget to put a kind word about Eduard Shevardnadze - a politician of the global dimension.

FROM E. SHEVARDNADZE'S INTERVIEW TO THE R+ MAGAZINE (ON 15 FEBRUARY 2007)

"Armenians will sooner or later realise that it is necessary to find a solution to the Karabakh conflict. Otherwise they may lose their independence. Because Azerbaijan is Azerbaijan. It is a powerful state in the region and we must reckon with it."

"We have more than 400,000 Azeris, but they have not created a single problem thus far. None at all. When I was First Secretary of the Communist Party of Georgia, and then the president, I always tried to take into account their interests. And I still do."