Jemal Gamakharia ( ka, ჯემალ გამახარია; born 10 January 1949) is a Georgian politician. Being a native of Georgia's

autonomous republic An autonomous republic is a type of administrative division similar to a province or Federated state, state. A significant number of autonomous republics can be found within the successor states of the Soviet Union, but the majority are located wi ...

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which v ...

and a member of the local legislature since 1991, Gvazava was forced, along with most of the region's Georgian population, to flee the secessionist victory in Abkhazia in 1993. On 8 April 2019 he was elected chairman of the Supreme Council of Abkhazia, based in exile in the Georgian capital of

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

Career

Born in Ganakhleba, Gali district,

Abkhaz ASSR The Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (russian: Абхазская Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика; ka, აფხაზეთის ავტონომიური ს� ...

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

, Gamakharia graduated from the

Moscow State Institute for History and Archives Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million r ...

in 1976. He worked in Moscow and Kuybyshev before returning to Abkhazia in 1982. He taught at the Abkhazian State University and Georgian Institute for Subtropics in

Sukhumi Sukhumi (russian: Суху́м(и), ) or Sokhumi ( ka, სოხუმი, ), also known by its Abkhaz name Aqwa ( ab, Аҟәа, ''Aqwa''), is a city in a wide bay on the Black Sea's eastern coast. It is both the capital and largest city of ...

in the 1980s. 1991 he was elected to the Supreme Council of Abkhazia, which soon became divided along ethnic and political lines. Following the war in Abkhazia, Gamakharia followed a pro-Georgian faction in exile in Georgia proper, where he retained his seat in the council-in-exile and was elected its chairman, succeeding Elguja Gvazava, in 2019. From 1999 to 2004, he was also member of the

Parliament of Georgia The Parliament of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს პარლამენტი, tr) is the supreme national legislature of Georgia. It is a unicameral parliament, currently consisting of 150 members; of these, 120 are proporti ...

as part of the Revival of Georgia election bloc led by

Aslan Abashidze Aslan Abashidze ( ka, ასლან აბაშიძე; born July 20, 1938) is the former leader of the Ajarian Autonomous Republic in western Georgia. He served in this capacity from 18 August 1991 to May 5, 2004. He resigned under the pres ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamakharia, Jemal 1949 births Living people People from Gali District, Abkhazia Mingrelians Members of the Parliament of Georgia