Batumi's-The Las Vegas of the Black Sea,a model for Abkhazia´s reintegration?

litwin · Sep 29, 2012

Batumi's-The Las Vegas of the Black Sea,a successful model for Abkhazia´s reintegration?

Over the centuries this region was repeatedly invaded by Turks. Now Georgia is doing everything it can to lure them back. Passport controls crossing from Turkey into Georgia have been eased, meaning Turkish tourists can cross for an evening's flutter showing just an ID card.

Last year almost 750,000 Turkish tourists visited Batumi - more than any other nationality - and even more are expected this year. So every season bigger hotels are built. Glitzier casinos opened. And yes, even more colourful lights switched on.
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This region was run by a corrupt clan, headed by Aslan Abashidze - seen by some as a strongman who saved the region from the chaos of 1990s Georgia, but by others as a mafia boss, who was involved in organised crime, backed up by his own personal army.

Getting into the territory then meant passing numerous checkpoints, passport controls and inevitably paying bribes.

Abashidze's son was rumoured to close off the promenade regularly - the only stretch of road without potholes - to race his Lamborghini up and down.

When President Saakashvili swept to power in Georgia proper after the 2003 Rose Revolution, he vowed to win back this stray territory. There were fears of civil war - but that was averted when Abashidze fled to Moscow.

And although he still faces 15 years in prison for embezzlement if he ever comes back to Georgia, and has even been charged with murder, the region around Batumi has become a model for how once-breakaway territories can be reintegrated and made to prosper.

So President Saakashvili's government today likes to hold up Batumi as a lure for people in Georgia's two remaining breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia - which despite being backed by Russia, still show the scars of war, and have little of the glitz of Batumi.

It's rather like how, before 1989, the US would show off the shining shop windows of capitalist West Berlin, to dark communist East Germany on the other side of the Wall.

So probably best if Georgia sticks to the Las Vegas or Monte Carlo analogies. I doubt talking about the joys of a Georgian Blackpool would quite do the same job.
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bbc

Dutch · Sep 30, 2012

litwin said: ↑

Batumi's-The Las Vegas of the Black Sea,a successful model for Abkhazia´s reintegration?

....bbc
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Do not ever call Batumi as being in Abkhazia, for the locals will get upset at that - it's Adzharia. The capital of Abkhazia is Suhumi.

But otherwise, you're correct; the Adzharia is being developed, fast. Trump tower is going up soon, and a the construction of huge International Golf Course have just been launched next to it. I love Batumi...

SAUER · Sep 30, 2012

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SAUER · Sep 30, 2012

Dutch said: ↑

Do not ever call Batumi as being in Abkhazia, for the locals will get upset at that - it's Adzharia. The capital of Abkhazia is Suhumi.

But otherwise, you're correct; the Adzharia is being developed, fast. Trump tower is going up soon, and a the construction of huge International Golf Course have just been launched next to it. I love Batumi...
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Yes, I’ve heard that Batumi could become a world-class international tourist resort. Some key hotel chains as Kempinski, Radisson came there.

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Batumi's-The Las Vegas of the Black Sea,a model for Abkhazia´s reintegration?

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Batumi's-The Las Vegas of the Black Sea,a model for Abkhazia´s reintegration?

litwin Well-Known Member

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