Mariam marijanishvili

Youth is characterized by dreams and, therefore, it maintains faith in justice even in the most difficult situations. From an early age, Leo Kereselidze was well aware of the essence of the political life of an ideological political figure or a man fighting for an ideal: persecution, imprisonment, exile... But, as all this resistance was aimed at one goal, it gave Leo Kereselidze, the fighter for the independence of his homeland, a sense of joy and pride. “I started my political activity in 1900 when I was just 16. The same year, I founded ‘The Georgian independence circle’ in Tbilisi, whose members were many young people, including V. Kartvelishvili, N. Maghalashvili, G. Kereselidze, Sh. Amirejibi and others. Our publication was a newspaper Young Georgia. In 1904, I went to Geneva, where I attended an Engineering College. After finishing it, I intended to continue my studies in a European military Academy. I thoroughly studied the theory of military science”. Being young, passionate, full of idealism, love for his homeland and belief in its liberation, Leo Kereselidze "was born to fight, and the fight would be the content of his whole life", wrote Mikhako Tsereteli. Turning out to be in emigration, Leo Kereselidze, together with Georgian national-political and scientific-cultural forces, started relentless struggle for Georgia's independence and freedom. At the beginning of the XX century, when the Socialist-Federalists got actively involved in the ongoing political battles in Georgia, Leo Kereselidze performed the most difficult tasks, whether it was the importation of ships loaded with weapons into Georgia at the beginning of the 1905 revolution, or expropriation of the Dusheti treasury in May 1906 by order of the committee. Due to the expropriation of the Dusheti treasury, the Geneva court acquitted him and his accomplices under international law. Soon, Leo Kereselidze graduated from the Law Faculty of Geneva University. He was well aware of the great power and importance of knowledge in the welfare of the homeland. Here, he defended his dissertation and was appointed a private associate professor at the Faculty of Law. In 1911, under the chairmanship of Petre Surguladze, the "Committee of the Georgian Separatists' Party Abroad" was established in Geneva. The party had links with the underground "Separatists' League" in Georgia. The "Committee of the Georgian Separatists' Party Abroad" was a large organisation, whose chair was Petre Surguladze, the secreatry was Giorgi Kereselidze and the members were Leo Kereselidze, Nestor Maghalashvili and many others. At their initiative, the magazine Free Georgia was founded in Swiss. It was sent to Georgia illegally. "This group and its body prepared a 'Georgian opinion' to understand the future of the great cause and to act in the great war." At the beginning of the 1914 war, Georgian separatists changed tactics and established a new, Georgian Independence Committee, instead of the old one. In the World War, Georgia's Independent Committee sided with Germany and the Ottoman Empire in order to overthrow the Russian colonial regime in Georgia and declare Georgia's independence. At the initiative of Leo Kereselidze, a Georgian legion was formed on the Ottoman territory, which would fight only on the Georgian border or on the territory of Georgia, and nowhere else. The Georgian Newspaper, founded by the committee in Germany, aimed to work in captive camps to rid the Georgian nation of Russian space. The newspaper regularly published Leo Kereselidze's political, scientific, artistic and historical works and publications. It is noteworthy that in 1918, Leo Kereselidze published a 45-page book "Fantasies Orientales" in French in Geneva. It contained several fantasies, and his Georgian translations - "Queen Tamar and her poet Shota Rustaveli" and "Lake Bazaleti" were published for the first time in the "Georgian newspaper" (N25, 1. IV. 1917). A politician, colonel, creative figure Leo Kereselidze, with his talent, ability and knowledge, "did a lot" at the age of 33 – to make his pre-determined goal, which was called freedom and independence of the homeland, a bit more real.