georgia - then and now

TBILISI, Georgia—An independence movement demonstration, 1989

ABKHAZIA, Georgia—Ethnic Georgians are bused by Abkhaz military to the Enguri River cease-fire line in order to be expelled, Nov. 10, 1993.

TBILISI, Georgia—During chaos in Tbilisi, the bakers opened for only an hour on alternative days, causing a free-for-all, 1993.

ABKHAZIA, Georgia—The burial of a peasant killed by a mine. During the war, he had fled his village. He was harvesting in a minefield to feed his family, 1993

ABKHAZIA, Georgia—The reburial of about 120 Abkhaz soldiers who had been killed six months earlier in a Georgian ambush. After the takeover of Abkhazia by the Abkhaz forces, they exhumed the bodies, and families came to indentify them. A woman wears a gas mask because of the smell, 1993.

ABKHAZIA, Georgia—Celebrations during the anniversary of the victory in the Abkhaz-Georgian war, 1995.

GORI, Georgia—The town where Stalin was born. An officer from the Russian peacekeeping forces in South Ossetia praises Stalin and the day of his birth, 1995

GEORGIA—Mengrelian refugees wait to go back to the Abkhaz-occupied Gali district in southern Abkhazia, 1996.

TBILISI, Georgia—A Georgian refugee from Abkhazia. Some 250,000 Georgians fled Abkhazia during the 1992-93 war. Many hotels were turned into refugee centers, 1999.

GEORGIA—1995.

UJGULI, Georgia—At Murkumeli cemetery a meal is offered to celebrate the deceased, 1999.

TBILISI, Georgia—1947.

GEORGIA—Several thousand Chechen refugees live in Pankisi Gorge, 2000

TBILISI, Georgia—Georgian refugees from the breakaway Republic of Abkhazia live in train carriers, 1996.

GEORGIA—Chechen refugees protest against Russia, October 2000.

GEORGIA—1995.

TBILISI, Georgia—1990.

TBILISI, Georgia—After several weeks of protest, opposition demonstrators overrun police barricades, storm the parliament’s first session and force President Shevardnadze to abandon the parliament and his chancellery. Pro-Shevardnadze demonstrators are chased away. The police force changed sides, and opposition demonstrations and vigils took place in front of the Georgian Parliament, Nov. 22, 2003.

SOKHUMI, Abkhazia—Although Abkhazia is isolated, half-abandoned, and still suffering war wounds due to its unrecognized status, both locals and Russian tourists are drawn to the warm waters of the Black Sea, 2005. This unrecognized country, on a lush stretch of Black Sea coast, won its independence from the former Soviet republic of Georgia after a fierce war in 1993

TBILISI, Georgia—2006.

IRAQ—A Georgian soldier carrying ballots for their national election, January 2008

GEORGIA—1995