There are many places on our earth that at one time became a source of conflict along the lines of religious trends or national interests. Just such, at the same time mysterious and frightening is the Pankisi Gorge. In this place at one time a military conflict broke out between the representatives of Georgia and Russia. What is this area at the moment? And what does the gorge live today?
Brief information about the Pankisi Gorge
The Pankisi Gorge is a secluded area located about 161 km from Tbilisi and not far from the Chechen Republic. This place is a certain valley located on the coast of the mountain river Alazani, with a total length of 28 km and a width of over 5 km. It is covered with dense vegetation and offers amazing views of the mountains and towns.
What peoples live in the Pankisi Gorge?
The Pankisi Gorge has become a home for people of different nationalities. So, among the locals you can find many Georgians and Ossetians who arrived here in 1901-1910 and live in seven villages: Halatsani, Kutakhta, Pichkhovani, Dumasturi, Koreti, Tsinubani and Argohi. Kistins, who are distant relatives of Chechens from the North Caucasus, also live in the gorge. In 1990, many refugees from the Chechen Republic moved here.
What is being said about the Pankisi Gorge?
The Pankisi Gorge is a unique place with a large number of myths, legends and rumors. For example, some sources claim that it was at this point that US intelligence agencies trained Islamists and then used them to incite conflicts in various countries, including Iraq and Syria. At the same time, when recruiting terrorists, preference was given to citizens with Chechen roots.
Other sources claim that the Pankisi Gorge is the birthplace of many dangerous terrorists declared internationally wanted. For example, it was here that one of the leaders of the ISIS terrorist organization, Tarkhan Batirashvili, better known as General Red Beard , was born . Also, some data indicate the presence of a special "training base" in the gorge, on the territory of which militants from al-Qaeda trained.
Still others say that due to the lack of prospects for the younger generation, many locals are leaving for Syria, where they join criminal gangs, in search of easier and more impressive income.
The fourth claim that the Pankisi Gorge has long been sold to Chechens and that there are practically no Georgians left here. They were simply evicted from here. However, most rumors remain rumors, because they have been repeatedly refuted by the Georgian authorities. Therefore, most of the allegations are controversial.
The criminal history of the gorge in detail
Who would have thought that in this picturesque corner, located a couple of meters from the Main Caucasian Range, a real military confrontation will occur. Moreover, the Pankisi Gorge has turned into a significant clump of conflicts and ongoing strife.
It is here, according to sources, that the trade in illicit drugs and weapons was noticed. Refugees gathered here, as we said earlier, during the second Chechen war, and bright radical groups left with them. For example, among them were gangs led by Ruslan Gelayev. So, by surprise, until 1999, 5,000 Kistins lived in the gorge, and since the start of the anti-terrorist operation in Chechnya, about 7,000 refugees arrived here.
In 2000, for the first time, information about militants in the gorge began to appear. People began to talk about the gangs of militant militants that had appeared, who were engaged in robberies, arms trafficking and narcotic substances. For a short period of time, the Pankisi Gorge has turned into the most criminal region of Georgia.
In December of the same year, the Georgian authorities had no choice but to react to this information in time and bring about two battalions of the country's internal troops into the gorge. However, even with the participation of the military, it was still not possible to solve the problem with the concentration of militants. Already closer to the summer of 2001, it was decided to deport Ruslan Gelayev to Abkhazia. But in the fall, the gunman and his minions returned.
Closer to 2002, Georgia “broke out” again. The Pankisi Gorge once again turned into a theater of war. This time a certain misunderstanding arose between the Chechens and Ossetians in the country. In the valley, they began to talk about frequent abductions of Ossetians, about bloody "showdowns" on the basis of religious themes and nationalism, about theft, assault on livestock, violence against women, etc. At night, as the locals say, walking along the street was very dangerous at that time.
All this information did not go unnoticed. As a result, the Georgian authorities did not begin to bring the conflict to a real "kindred vendetta", so the Georgian authorities again sent internal troops into the gorge . At the same time, the US authorities started talking about their intention to send their military men to the valley to fight the "unbridled" terrorists. Instead, in the summer of 2002, joint exercises of both armies (the American and Georgian) took place, in which about 1,500 Georgians took part.
At the same time, American representatives, together with the Georgian authorities, began to develop a plan to combat the militants. He was learned about by terrorists who decided not to wait for retribution. Therefore, they hastened to leave the gorge, moving to neighboring Russian territory. At the same time, Russian officials accused Georgia of aiding terrorism, which was followed by a tough response - accusing Moscow of participating in the conflict. In this case, this refers to the bombing of the Pankisi Gorge, which, judging by the accusations of the Georgian authorities, was organized by the Russian Air Force.
"Was there a boy at all?"
On November 27, Valery Khaburdzania, the then acting Minister of State Security of Georgia, made a statement. In it, he talked about allegedly Russian helicopters that illegally invaded the country's airspace and began to bombard the gorge in the area of Hading. “They scared the locals,” he said. The same version was also confirmed in the press service of the border service of the North Caucasus Regional Administration of the Russian Federation.
Nikolai Deryabin, head of the press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, has a different opinion. He denied the accusations of the Georgian side, referring to air strikes exclusively on the positions of the militants, and then when they tried to penetrate the Russian border.
What ended the fight against terrorists in the gorge?
In August 2002, the Georgian authorities led by ex-president Eduard Shevarnadze carried out an anti-terrorist operation. Following its results, an announcement was made stating that there were no more terrorists in the valley.
According to statistics, the authorities surrounded and removed from the gorge 800 Chechen radicals, and with them about 100 Arab militants. This was followed by a statement by the authorities that the Pankisi Gorge is not a hotbed of jihadism. Terrorists have been eliminated, so the life of the population has returned to normal.
At the same time, the authorities of the Chechen Republic tried to agree on the provision of a humanitarian corridor in order to return their refugees from Georgia. Some of them have returned. However, many decided to stay. And only a few decided to move to neighboring countries: Turkey, Azerbaijan and European cities.
What does the Pankisi Gorge live today?
What is happening in the Pankisi Gorge today?
And although the conflict in the Pankisi Gorge has been practically settled, other feuds periodically erupt in this place. So, for example, in 2013, the valley again became a kind of arena of interethnic conflict, in which Chechens and local Georgians were involved. According to eyewitnesses, five indigenous people of Georgia returned home and met representatives of the Chechen diaspora on their way. Word for word and “hot blood” boiled in the veins of the parties to the conflict. A fight ensued, during which one of the Chechen representatives was injured in an ax blow and was taken to hospital.
The problem was resolved only after the intervention of the Georgian authorities. The head of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs personally spoke with representatives of both communities. As a result, the parties reached a compromise. How long silence reigned in the gorge, time will tell.
Pankisi Gorge (Georgia): reviews of local residents
At the moment, the gorge is causing the most controversial reviews among local residents. Some people consider him a "hotbed of banditry" today. Others say that there are regular ethnic fights and brawls. Still others admire the beautiful nature of the valley and offer to lay new tourist routes along the gorge. In a word, to understand Georgia, you need to visit it at least once!