Aslan Abashidze was the leader of the Ajarian Autonomous Republic in western Georgia from 1991 to May 5, 2004. Abashidze was born into a renowned Muslim Ajarian family. His grandfather Memed Abashidze was a famous writer and member of the Parliament of the Democratic Republic of Georgia between 1918-1921, but was shot on Stalin's orders in 1937. His father was sent to the Gulag for ten years but survived. Wikipedia
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Aslan Abashidze. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aslan_Abashidze
