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''Circassian World  follows closely developments affecting the fate of our Abkhazian brothers and lends its strongest support to the struggle for the independence of Abkhazia.''

                                                                              ABKHAZIA IS ABKHAZIA...
                                                                                                                                       CircassianWorld.com

 

 


Аҧсадгьыл зцәыӡыз зeгьы ицәыӡит.
He who has lost his homeland has lost everything.
                                                     - Abkhazian proverb

 

:::ABKHAZIA WELCOMES YOU:::


 

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...Additionally, the Commander-in-chief of Georgian troops in Abkhazia, General Georgiy Karkarashvili warned in a televised formal address to the Abkhaz and Georgian people in Sukhumi on August 24, that “no prisoners of war will be taken” by the Georgian troops, that “if 100,000 Georgian lose their lives, then [on the Abkhazian side] all 97,000 will be killed”; and that “the Abkhaz Nation will be left without descendants.” The delegation saw a video recording of this ominous speech.  

...The Mission obtained sufficient evidence to conclude that gross and systematic violations of human rights had occurred at the hands of Georgian troops in Abkhazia throughout the period since August 14, 1992; that these included serious violations committed against Abkhazian and other ethnic population groups in cities and villages; that civilians were the primary victims of Georgian abuses; that Georgian attacks were directed against persons identifiable as Abkhazian, and that particular attack was directed against Abkhazian political, cultural, intellectual and community leaders; that in addition to Abkhazians, also Armenians, Russians, Greeks, Ukrainians, Estonians, and other non-Georgian minorities in Abkhazia have suffered similar treatment by Georgian authorities; and that removal or destruction of the principal materials and buildings of important historical and cultural importance to Abkhazians has taken place in what appears to be an organized attempt to destroy Abkhazian culture and national identity.  

...When Georgian troops under general command of Defense Minister General Tengiz Kitovani first entered Sukhumi on August 14, Georgian soldiers attacked non-Georgian civilians, beat them, killed many, robbed them, and looted their houses and apartments. Reports of attacks on Abkhazian, Armenian, Russian, and other non-Georgian minority civilians, including killing, torture, and burning, looting or smashing of houses or other belongings, originate from many regions of Abkhazia under Georgian military control and for the entire period since August 14.

...Medical authorities in Gudauta reported that virtually all men who had come through the Gudauta hospital, after having been held prisoner by Georgian authorities, appeared to have been severely tortured. Many had sustained multiple broken bones and burns from cigarettes or other objects on various parts of their bodies. Some had their ears partially or completely torn off.

...The “out of control” explanation is not satisfactory, however, because evidence points to authorization or encouragement by the Georgian authorities forattacks on Abkhazian and other non-Georgian civilians. Georgian soldiers who are reported to have entered Abkhaz homes and to have beaten, raped, or otherwise terrorized the inhabitants and to have looted or destroyed their belongings, are repeatedly reported to have had a list with them of names and addresses of Abkhazians to visit in this manner.

...The attacks therefore did not appear to be at random. Georgian soldiers andpolice are reported to continue to ask persons in the streets, in particular in bread lines, to show their identity papers. When an Abkhaz is found he or she is seriously abused. The result is that the greatly diminished number of Abkhazians left in Sukhumi hardly dare to leave their rooms. Concerning the direction given by Georgian military authorities in relation to the conduct of battle and the behavior of troops during and after battle, Georgian Minister of Defense Kitovani is reported to have told his troops that under the law of war soldiers have the right to loot for three days. The Geneva Convention forbids the use of cluster bombs, yet Abkhazian medical authorities in Gudauta report having treated a number of cluster bomb wounds in victims brought from battle areas. Cluster bombs reportedly were used extensively during late August by Georgian forces and have continued sporadically since then. 

  • Source: UNPO's Abkhazia Report, November 1992, b. Human Rights and Cultural Destruction

          November 1992 Mission to Abkhazia, The full report in PDF can be downloaded by clicking here (1 MB)  UNPO

 

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Map of Europe in Year 800, 900, 1000 (Kingdom of Abkhazia) & 1800 


Map of Europe in Year 800, Southeast
Map of Europe in Year 900, Southeast
Map of Europe in Year 1000, Southeast


Map of Europe in Year 1800, Southeast

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THE REPUBLIC OF ABKHAZIA


On 22nd-23rd April 1993, while the Georgian-Abkhazian war (1992-93) was still raging, a conference on the Caucasus was held at London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Stanislav Lakoba (historian, one-time Speaker of the Abkhazian Parliament, and currently Chairman of Abkhazia’s Security Council), gave a presentation entitled ‘Abkhazia is Abkhazia’. An English translation was subsequently published in Central Asian Survey (1995). Though the war has been over for 15 years, during which time Abkhazia has not only maintained but with ever increasing economic success strengthened its ‘de facto’ independent status, it remains both a thorn in the side of Georgian aspirations to move ever closer to the EU and NATO and a bone of contention with Russia. Since most of what Lakoba had to say in 1993 is just as relevant today, a few paragraphs from his presentation (edited by the original translator) are offered below. 

When people today describe the status of Abkhazia, they use such phrases as: ‘between heaven and earth’, ‘between East and West’, ‘between the hammer and the anvil’, ‘between...’ – such ‘in betweenness’ correctly describes our position. 

We are lost somewhere between life and death - to be or not to be, because defeat in this war would be tantamount to the annihilation of our entire nation. We have proved to be a very ‘inconvenient’ people, but despite our small numbers it is not so easy to do away with us just like that. Perhaps this too is one of our failings! 

Georgian and some Russian politicians do not seek to conceal their annoyance at the ‘unruly’  Abkhazians,  who as far back as in the 19th century were officially declared ‘a guilty nation’ for their repeated uprisings in defence of their freedom and honour. Today we are impeding friendly relations between Georgia and Russia,  for,  let  us  say, ‘sticking  in  their  throats’.  In  other  words,  we  are  guilty for the simple reason that we still exist.

Is  it  really  true  that  being  part  of  the  world-community  we  Abkhazians, numbering about 100,000 in Abkhazia itself, are somehow doing harm to this community? Is it  possible that if mankind, having already lost in the 19th century our brothers the Ubykhs, is now to lose us Abkhazians at the close of the 20th century, it will find itself in some way enriched in the 3rd millennium A.D.?! 

The fact is that people are being exterminated and the world is keeping silent... Well, almost - for such news-agencies as Reuters, AP, the BBC, whenever they refer to us, our standard epithets are ‘separatists’ and ‘rebels’... How is it that we are separatists when we are actually not separating from, or attacking, anybody? Are there any resolutions of the Abkhazian Parliament adopted before the start of the war on 14th August 1992 (or  even  several  months  afterwards)  which  have  declared secession from Georgia? There is not one! In fact, it was the Abkhazian side that  suggested  building  our  relations  with  Georgia  on  an  agreed,  federative basis. Therefore, it was the Abkhazian side which came out with proposals that would actually  preserve  the  unity  of  Georgia.  The  response  was  the  despatch  to Abkhazia of tanks, fighter-bombers and guardsmen armed to the teeth...   

We are being forced to adopt a separatist-position by the real separatists reigning in Tbilisi  who  are  busy  destroying  their  own country. They have transported their country, the unity of which was supported by the bayonets of the Stalinist Soviet Empire, back to the feudal division of the Middle Ages. The so-called separatists from Adjaria, Mingrelia, Kakhetia  (not to mention Abkhazia and [South] Ossetia) are taking up an all-round defensive position against the central power in Tbilisi. The question  is: «Why are there so many  ‘separatists’  in  Georgia?»  When Russia appealed  to  her own former  autonomies  to  conclude  a  federative  treaty, the status of autonomies and many regions, including those in the North Caucasus, were raised to the level of republics. No obstacles were put in the way of the elections of presidents in these republics or of the adoption of their national flags and other state-symbols.   

But in our case  the  situation  was  quite  the  reverse.  When we  were  putting  forward proposals and trying to build bridges, we were repulsed and told: «Who are you? You should not even have autonomy, being so few!» This was and remains the only argument against us. So, we ‘separatists’, having been driven into a corner, have started to resist simply in order to survive, to save our women, children and old people. Try driving even a little creature into a corner - will that too be a separatist? 
 
Freedom and independence for their own people vs dictatorship and open chauvinism towards other peoples - this is the double standard that underlies the Georgian policy in Abkhazia.   

It is not by chance that in 1989 after the first Georgian-Abkhazian clashes Academician Sakharov in one of his last articles called Georgia a ‘mini-empire’ (Ogonёk 1989, 31).  Later, describing the relationship between Abkhazia and Georgia, he wrote: «I tend to justify the Abkhazian position. I think we should regard with special attention the problems of small peoples: freedom and rights of big nations should not be exercised at the expense of small ones» (Znamja, 1991, No.10, p.69).

Today some people say that  Abkhazia  is  Russia,  others  that  it  is  Georgia,  while  the  fact  is  that Abkhazia is Abkhazia.  And  at  the  end  of  the 20th and start of the 21st century we want to preserve our own identity and keep our own face for the simple reason that it is ours, even if somebody else may not find it to their liking.

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NEWS & ANALSYS ON THE CAUCASUS
 

If our lives are to be short,
                  Then let our fame be great!
                                Let us not depart from truth!
                                                     Let fairness be our path!
                                                                            Let us not know grief!
                                                                                             Let us live in freedom!''

 

:::E N T E R  S I T E:::
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