Editing Batumi (section)

===Russian Civil War, Soviet Union, and 1991 independence===
During 1901, sixteen years prior to the [[October Revolution]], [[Joseph Stalin]], the future leader of the [[Soviet Union]], lived in the city organizing strikes. On 3 March 1918, the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Russia–Central Powers)|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] gave the city back to the Ottoman Empire, confirmed in the [[Treaty of Batum]] of June 1918 between the Ottoman Empire and the new [[Democratic Republic of Georgia]]. As result of the end of [[World War I]] the British took control over Batumi from December 1918,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Andersen |first1=Andrew |title=Abkhazia and Sochi – The roots of the conflict 1918-1921 |date=2014 |publisher=Asteroid Publishing |isbn=978-1495381454 |pages=71}}</ref> who stayed until July 1920 when the city and province was transferred to the Democratic Republic of Georgia, which gave [[Adjara]] autonomy. In 1921 [[Kemal Atatürk]] [[Treaty of Kars|ceded]] the northern part of Adjara, including Batumi, to the [[Bolshevik]]s who reconquered the [[South Caucasus|Transcaucasian]] republics, on the condition that it be granted autonomy for the sake of the Muslims among Batumi's mixed population.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nazaroff |first=Alexander |date=1922 |title=Russia's Treaty with Turkey |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45330678 |journal=Current History |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=276–279 |jstor=45330678 |issn=2641-080X}}</ref>

When Georgia regained its independence from the [[Soviet Union]] in 1991, [[Aslan Abashidze]] was appointed head of Adjara's governing council and subsequently held onto power throughout the unrest of the 1990s. While [[Abkhazia]] and [[South Ossetia]] areas attempted to break away from the Georgian state, Adjara remained an integral part of the republic. Instead, Abashidze turned Adjara into his personal fiefdom.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3683629.stm|title=Aslan Abashidze|publisher=BBC|language=English|date=4 May 2004|access-date=11 November 2021}}</ref> In May 2004, he fled to Russia<ref>{{cite news|url=https://old.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=6880|title=Abashidze Flees Georgia|publisher=Civil.ge|language=English|date=6 May 2004|access-date=31 December 2021}}</ref> after mass protests in Batumi,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://old.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=6861|title=15,000 Protesters Demand Abashidze's Resignation|publisher=Civil.ge|language=English|date=5 May 2004|access-date=31 December 2021}}</ref> which concluded the [[2004 Adjara crisis]].