He graduated with a degree in history from Tbilisi State University in 1960.
[1] In 1981 he was expelled from the Communist Party after protesting on behalf of dissidents.
In 1983 he was removed from his position at the University for publishing an article condemning the Treaty of Georgievsk of 1783 whereby Russia established a protectorate over Georgia.
He was a supporter of Eduard Shevardnadze and was elected to Georgia's parliament in 1992 where he was involved in inter-ethnic relations.
He helped found the independent Association for the Repatriation and Integration of Meskhetians which supported the repatriation of Meskhetians as a condition to enter the Council of Europe and he was involved with the International Black Sea University, a UN supported program for cooperation between Georgian and Turkish academics.