The article I was invited to contribute to openDemocracy to mark the anniversary of the events of August 2008 in South Ossetia and Abkhazia has occasioned an exchange of lengthy and sometimes heated comments (see "Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a year on", 11 August 2009). Some bear on substantive matters of history and linguistics as well as the interpretation of these recent political events; others include personal remarks directed at the author. This article responds to the former, though it begins with a few words on the latter.
George Hewitt is professor of Caucasian languages at London's School of Oriental & African Studies. Among his many works is and (as editor) The Abkhazians: A Handbook (Routledge, 1999)
Also by George Hewitt in openDemocracy:
"Sakartvelo, roots of turmoil" (27 November 2003)
"Abkhazia: land in limbo" (10 October 2006)
"Abkhazia and South Ossetia: heart of conflict, key to solution" (18 August 2008)
"Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a year on" (12 August 2009)
When, as the first reactions came in, openDemocracy's deputy editor David Hayes (who commissioned the article) consulted me over possible responses to the more personal comments, I replied that it was best if everything was published exactly as submitted. This is in order that unbiased readers might see for themselves the sort of reaction (including attempts to discredit the author) that any questioning of the standard Georgian position on the Georgia-Abkhazia dispute always evokes and thus reach their own conclusions about (i) which side has the stronger arguments and (ii) whether there is any value in engaging in this kind of debate, when representatives of one side see in a text what they want to see rather than what is actually written there.
I had not intended myself to look at the comments attached to my article, as the content of the negative reactions was entirely predictable. A few individuals did, however, urge me to do so; and a reading of this material (forty-one postings at the time of writing) leads me to offer a few further observations, which gradually ascend from a response to the low currency of gratuitous insinuation to matters of scholarly record and relevance.
Since "Georgia" is a fluid concept, it is problematic to say definitively when I last set foot there. However, since the location of the capital, Tbilisi, is not in doubt, I can state that I have not visited there since the end of 1987 and have absolutely no intention of doing so again. But I was indeed lucky to be "in the right place at the right time": namely, two academic years spent in Soviet Georgia (1975-76; 1979-80) plus various stays there up to the mid-1980s. In these years, the atmosphere was that of a happy-go-lucky, hail-fellow-well-met, and (in Soviet terms) prosperous society, whose only (if privately expressed) rhetorical venom was directed against its northern overlord - a sentiment, however, never associated with Georgia's then communist party boss, Eduard Shevardnadze, for whom (notoriously) the sun rose from that direction.
Towards the end of the 1980s, Georgia's descent into the maelstrom of nationalism was alarmingly swift and depressing to watch. Sadly, it would appear that, far from learning the lessons and drawing the appropriate conclusions, this fundamental problem has not yet been recognised.
If my being married to an Abkhazian is irrelevant to the discussion, why mention it (though I normally do so myself in conversation in order not to be accused of withholding the fact)? But since it has been raised, a simple fact may be of interest to those who do so - including the poet Tariel Chanturia, who first cast the "aspersion" in his Georgian disquisition of 1989 on the importance of the boudoir in history. This is that my wife's advice in May 1989, when I first proposed contributing to the Georgian-Abkhazian debate, was that I should not become involved, as she accurately foresaw the nature of the reaction and predicted (contrary to my naïve belief) that reason and common sense would not prevail.
The heart of things
In regard to the nature, value, or user-friendliness of my writings, it is not for me to defend these; I am quite happy for objective readers and posterity to make that judgment. I know very well where the balance of opinion lies, from the views either expressed by those who have made direct use of my linguistic publications on both Georgian and Abkhaz or brought back to me from Tbilisi by colleagues and/or students who, having contact with today's Georgian linguistic community, have been told their opinion.
Also in openDemocracy on the anniversary of the August 2008 war:
Ivan Krastev, "The guns of August: non-event with consequences" (30 July 2009)
Donald Rayfield, "The Georgia-Russia war, a year on" (6 August 2009)
George Hewitt, "Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a year on" (11 August 2009)
Ghia Nodia, "The Russia-Georgia war: mission unaccomplished" (13 August 2009)
If I had details of the charge that I strove to have my own works published at the expense of those of Georgian scholars (whatever this might actually mean) I would respond, but I have no idea how to proceed with regard to this manifestly gratuitous slur. As for supposing that an author has any say in how much his publishers should charge for his books, such a statement is revealing about the commentator's knowledge of the real world; it is not clear, moreover, why this should even be mentioned in the context of the article in question. My alleged lack of "love" for the Georgian language prompts me to ask why, in that case, is it that my wife and I should choose to continue communicating in a language some suppose me to hate?
In a similar vein, the tossing out of generalised and unsubstantiated accusations should have no place in mature debate. I have in mind remarks of the kind that Abkhazia is a "Nazi pseudo-state". As it happens, I have spoken to three European visitors over recent weeks who arrived here in Abkhazia from Georgia (or who had previously spent time in Georgia). All of them had been warned about visiting an Abkhazia described in precisely these terms; and all three could not believe how what they saw and experienced here for themselves could possibly merit such derogatory dismissal.
Regrettably, so much of what emanates from Georgian sources bears no relation to Abkhazian reality. I do not have with me the appalling book Conflict in the Caucasus by (if memory serves) the expert on Krim-Tatar art and folklore, Svetlana Chervonnaja (published originally in Russian under the title Abxazija 1992: Post-kommunisticheskaja Vandeja); thus I cannot check whether the quote ascribed to Abkhazia's first president, Vladislav Ardzinba to the effect that "if Georgians did not wish to be citizens of Abkhazia and did not leave voluntarily, they would be driven out" actually appears in it as claimed. But even if it is there, like many "facts" in that work, it should be treated with the utmost caution and suspicion (it is noteworthy that the book was published under a "vanity publishing" scheme, and that the foreword to the English translation was written by Eduard Shevardnadze; scholarly discussion requires higher standards).
What's not in a name
Insofar as it is possible to detach points of fact from personal insinuation, some issues of linguistics and history are raised in relation to my article - if in tendentious form.
For example, the term "Abkhaz(ia)"' is stated to derive from the Georgian /apxaz(eti)/. But what if it does? The traditional view, which is the only tenable one, is that the Georgian terms themselves derive from the Ancient Greek /Abasgoi/ ("Abazgians") or /Abasgia/ ("Abazgia"), which in turn were adaptations of the local ethnonym /Abaza/ (in this connection, see my own "The Valid and Non-valid Application of Philology to History" [Revue des Etudes Géorgiennes et Caucasiennes 6-7, 1993, pp 247-264], for a rebuttal of Tamaz Gamqrelidze's tendentious attempt to make the Georgian terms the originals).
In similar fashion the name of northern Abkhazia's most famous resort, Pitsunda, derives from the accusative-case form of Ancient Greek's designation for the spot, namely /pityounta/ (from the nominative /pityous, "place of pines"). This also lies behind the Georgian toponym /bich'vinta/, whereas the Abkhazians have long had their own name for it, namely /A.mza.ra/ ("the place of pines") (for the etymology, see my article "On the etymology of Bich'vinta (Pitsunda)" [Revue des Etudes Géorgiennes et Caucasiennes, 6-7, 1993, pp 205-209).
In any event, Kartvelians (my suggested superordinate to refer globally to the Georgian, Mingrelian, Svan and Laz peoples) should be rather careful about drawing hasty conclusions based on the source of the most widely used name for this or that people/country/place. After all, the very term "Georgia" (in Russian, Gruzija; in French, Géorgie; in German, Gruzien; in Turkish, Gürcistan, and so on) has nothing whatsoever to do with the Georgians' self-designation for their land (viz. /sakartvelo/).
What would the word "Georgia" suggest about the people's origin? The old name for today's eastern Georgia (Iberia/Iveria) is most plausibly explained as deriving from the Old Armenian phrase /i Virs/ ("to the Georgians"). So the genitive plural case of this Armenian ethnonym - seen in the expression /i Vrats/("among the Georgians") - produced in Persian by way of a transformation of the troublesome (to Persians) consonant-complex /vr/ the term /gordzh/, which in turn gave Turkish /gürc/, which then Italian visitors/merchants duly transposed to fit their own language's requirements, producing a toponym homophonous with the English term. Hence the above (partial) array of names for "Georgia" - from which, it should again be emphasised, no conclusions at all can be drawn about the settlement or original ownership of the territory in question.
The trigger of war
It is a long way from such matters to the Georgia-Abkhazia war of 1992-93, but the same considerations of intellectual responsibility must guide understanding. It is contended, for example, that the war began on 14 August 1992 when Georgian troops were introduced to protect the railway-line that linked Georgia (and Armenia) to Russia from attacks by marauders. It is true that the passage of trains along that line was being disrupted, but (as contemporary reports confirm) the attacks by robbers and hijackers were taking place not in Abkhazia but in Mingrelia, which lies on the Georgian side of the border.
I can confirm this by reporting the following. In late June 1992 a German colleague and I returned by train from Maykop in the north Caucasus region of Adygheia to Abkhazia. He spent a night in Sukhum, while I went on to Ochamchira. He then came to spend a night with us in Ochamchira, before continuing his journey to Tbilisi. He told us that he had been advised by the leadership in Sukhum that he should reconsider his plans and fly from Sukhum because no one could guarantee his safety once he crossed the River Ingur into Mingrelia, where a civil war was raging between supporters of the ousted president Zviad Gamsakhurdia and those of the military (later state) council that had overthrown him in January 1992. My colleague decided to risk it, and we duly bade him a nervous farewell from Ochamchira as he boarded the train to Tbilisi (and he did, I am happy to report, reach his destination without mishap).
It is often wrongly claimed that there was an agreement at the time between Vladislav Ardzinba and Eduard Shevardnadze that Georgian troops could be introduced into Abkhazia (see Ardzinba's own account, in the recent Russian-language Age of Ardzinba, of his phone-conversation with Shevardnadze over the report of a build-up of troops in Mingrelia in mid-1992 and Shevardnadze's promise that there was no threat to Abkhazia).
When the rabble that constituted Georgia's so-called National Guard (commanded by the "sculptor" Tengiz Kitovani) crossed the Ingur, they killed those manning the post by the bridge and some Abkhazians they met in the nearby village of Okhurei (taking hostages too) in order to hinder reports of their incursion reaching Sukhum. The head of the Abkhazian forces happened to be in Tqvarchal at the moment, and had to race back to Sukhum as soon as he (belatedly) heard the news of events at the Ingur in order to help organise resistance.
It is true that both sides committed atrocities once the war started. But one side only was responsible for initiating the war in Abkhazia, and that side alone deserves to carry the full blame for it and its consequences.
The shift of sensibility
The charge that in my article I neglect the Russian factor prompts the following. It is natural to expect that - if one looks back at Russian treatment of those Caucasians who resisted Russia's southern advance in the 19th century (from northern Abkhazia across the north Caucasus, minus the North Ossetians, through into northern Daghestan) - the Abkhazians would be implacable enemies of Russia. But, given this universally understood history, the question that the Georgians prefer to ignore in this regard is: what caused the Georgians to replace the Russians in Abkhazian disaffections?
The shift started with the rush by Kartvelians (largely Mingrelians) to colonise the regions of Abkhazia emptied as a result of the expulsions/migrations to Turkey in the 1860-70s. (This was a period of population movement; it was at this time, incidentally, that Svans moved out of Svanetia into the upper Kodor valley, vacated by the Dal and Tsabal Abkhazians when they were removed to Ottoman lands [the vacating by the Dal-Tsabalians of their ancestral lands is noted by the Abkhazian-born Mingrelian Petre Charaia writing in the last quarter of the 19th century, as cited by T Achugba and R Agwazhba in their just-published Russian book Abkhazia and Abkhazians in the Russian Periodical Press, volume II]).
The influx of (mainly) Mingrelians into eastern Abkhazia in the later 19th century also led to pressure to mingrelianise the existing residents of the Gal region (an undertaking in which Mingrelian priests in southeast Abkhazia played a devious role by mingrelianising Abkhazian surnames when registering births, followed by their wholesale reclassification as Mingrelians; see T Achugba's forthcoming The Ethnic History of the Abkhazians in the XIX-XXth Centuries, in Russian).
The later history is rich in events that defy easy summary, but whose landmarks indicate the continuation of a pattern that provides a clear answer to the question above about the shift in Abkhazian disaffections. These landmarks include the occupation of Abkhazia by Georgian Menshevik forces in 1918; the erosion of Abkhazia's status from full Soviet republic in 1921 to union-republic with Georgia in 1922 to autonomous republic within Georgia in 1931; the further large-scale settlement by ever more Kartvelians (largely, again, Mingrelians) from 1937-53; and the subsequent questioning of the Abkhazians' very historical presence in their homeland, which was (according to the Georgians' most magnanimous theory) allegedly always a land with two autochthons (Abkhazians and Kartvelians).
These factors in combination only strengthened and deepened Abkhazian certainty that from the beginning of the 20th century the threat to their well-being came from Tbilisi rather than Moscow. They also answer the puzzlement of those who wonder why Abkhazians do not complain about, or strenuously oppose, the immigration of other ethnic groups (such as the Armenians and Russians); the crucial differences are the scale of the Kartvelian (Mingrelian) increase, and the fact that no other immigrant group has similarly manufactured a historical claim to the territory (with the imputation that the Abkhazians have no - or, at best, restricted - rights there).
True, Russia has long had (and retains) an interest in what happens here in Abkhazia; as recently as 12 August 2009, prime minister Vladimir Putin stated in Sukhum that Russian actions in August 2008 were not dictated solely by altruism. There is nothing surprising in that, for all powers behave in accordance with their national interests. But to put it in context and in order to understand why various minorities in Soviet Georgia reacted from late 1988 negatively (not to say with alarm) toward Georgian ambitions of independence, it is enough to read what leading Georgians themselves at the time were saying about these minorities and their right to reside as "guests" on "Georgian" soil (the figures include political oppositionists such as a trio of, now deceased, Mingrelians - Merab Kostava, Zviad Gamsakhurdia and Giorgi Chanturia - as well as a plethora of intellectuals, mostly historians and, I am ashamed to say, linguists).
Among the many instant experts on Georgia who have sprouted from nowhere over recent years, which ones have read (or have the necessary language-skills to enable them to read) all of the offensive material that was produced in those dark days across the whole Georgian-language media? Most observers are probably familiar with the slogan "Georgia for the Georgians", which rang out from all sections of the nationalist movement; but, I have to say, I know of no individual, group or political party in Abkhazia unfurling parallel banners.
This is why I say that the Georgians have only themselves to blame for the alienation of the minorities (particularly those, like the Abkhazians and South Ossetians, with titular enclaves) living within Soviet Georgia's boundaries and their subsequent wars; all the Russians had to do was sit back and enjoy the spectacle of Georgia's decline into the self-inflicted chaos that duly ensued and which some voices actually predicted would result, if the country chose, as it did with such relish, the path of ethnic nationalism.
The necessary context
What of the matters of territory, sovereignty, the historical relationship between Abkhazia and Georgia raised in some of the comments on my article? In this respect, reference is made to a letter written by members of the upper échelons of Abkhazian society on 23 March 1870 in which they stated that Abkhazia formed a long-time constituent part of Georgia; this is taken at face value as proof of the Georgian stance on the historical relationship.
The letter does indeed exist, but like any such historical document it needs to be examined with a view to explaining why such a statement should have issued specifically from the pen of such individuals and at such a moment. The answer to this, like so many other questions, appears in the little book by Stanislav Lakoba, Answer to Historians from Tbilisi (Sukhum, 2001, in Russian). The author writes on page 12: "But since all Abkhazian peasants were proprietors of their own land and were not dependent economically on feudal overlords, they were obliged to pay redemption only for their personal emancipation. At the same time Georgian and Mingrelian princes and nobles were in receipt of huge sums of money also for land, which placed them in a considerably superior position to the Abkhazian privileged upper-class." It becomes clear that the aristocrats who put their name to the letter, which was composed with the help of Georgians, were prepared to falsify the historical position of Abkhazia's relationship with Georgia for the base goal of seeking personal financial advantage.
The Abkhazians have no irredentist claims against Georgia. The earlier northern border of Abkhazia ran along the River Khosta, to the north of the current border with Russia along the River Psou; though one might reasonably conjecture that Abkhazia will not be presenting the Kremlin with demands to reclaim lost territory any time soon. Nor have Abkhazians been responsible for carrying out any terrorist acts on Georgian soil. The converse is patently not the case. Since the end of the war, hundreds (including local Mingrelians) have been killed in bombings and shootings, largely in the Gal district. Two groups, the Forest Brethren and the White Legion, were mostly responsible for the killings during the 1990s; the Georgian journalist Akaki Mikadze reported that these groups were actively supported by Georgia's interior and state-security ministries (see Vremja, 3 June 1998).
Terrorist acts continue to be perpetrated: on the very day of Putin's visit to Abkhazia, two people were killed in an explosion in Gagra, and another bomb exploded in the early evening of the same day in the capital, mercifully causing no casualties. In order to put pressure on the Mingrelian residents of Gal, those who are prepared to work with the Abkhazians have been targeted. At the time of Abkhazia's last presidential elections in 2004, one Davit Sigua was head of the Gal electoral commission; he was abducted and has not been heard of since.
The conduct of the Abkhazians in the upper Kodor valley operation in August 2008 is a notable contrast. The local Svans were given a guaranteed corridor and set time to evacuate, and as a result there was not one casualty on the Kartvelian side. All Svans who did not take up arms against Abkhazia are free to return to their farms; according to information received on 18 August 2009 in the high settlement of Azhara ("place of the ash-tree" in Abkhaz), 216 Svan returnees have already been registered, and I saw evidence in the valley of bee-keeping and hay-making. Abkhazian troops in the area are under instructions to greet the locals but not to engage in conversation so as to avoid disputation.
The condition of progress
The issue of the Mingrelians is a further point of discussion. Anyone even minimally familiar with my writings on the Mingrelians, whether in Abkhazia or Mingrelia, over the years will know that my concern for this people's language and culture is demonstrably greater than virtually any other scholar (whether in Georgia or Abkhazia). To be specific, it is my longstanding view that Mingrelian's one-time literary status should be restored; the number of Mingrelian publications (a school-primer, a few books, plus newspapers and local journals) from the late 1920s through to 1938 suggest that the language must then have enjoyed a degree of official support. Tbilisi, ever fearful of separatist demands, regards such a suggestion with horror. In Abkhazia, if Mingrelians in the Gal region wish their children to be taught in Georgian, this should not be opposed, but there should be provision for Mingrelian also to be taught (to some level) in the relevant Georgian-language schools.
The Mingrelian-Georgian distinction remains visible in, for example, the contrast between the (relatively good) treatment of Georgian refugees from in and around South Ossetia in 2008 and the appalling neglect of many or even most of the Mingrelian refugees from Abkhazia in 1993. The wider point is that if the then Georgian leadership had in mid-1992 given a moment's thought to the way that Abkhazians and Kartvelians lived in such intermingled settlements in so many parts of Abkhazia, they would never have dared putting at risk the apparent harmony existing in those communities by starting the war in the first place; there was, after all, no threat of any kind from the Abkhazians to any of the non-Abkhazian residents of Abkhazia prior to the 1992-93 war.
The concluding chapter of that war is often seen as one of the ethnic cleansing of the Kartvelian residents of Abkhazia. Two near-contemporary reports - from the United Nations in November 1993, and from the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples' Organisation (UNPO) in December 1993 - state that they could find no evidence of such an action. A little book called The Pass of the Persecuted (Tbilisi, 2001) by the Mingrelian writer Guram Odisharia - who himself fled via the Kodor valley into Svanetia - describes the horrors he experienced along the route.
Guram Odisharia makes clear that the flight of residents from the south of Sukhum took place before the arrival of Abkhazian troops, which took place after the fall of Sukhum on 27 September 1993; and that their attempt to travel along the direct highway into Mingrelia (the natural route) was stopped by Georgian forces, who ordered them back and threatened them ("Go back, or we'll kill all of you! Who gave you the order to leave the town!"). In addition, Odisharia reports that there were incidents of Svans robbing their near-destitute fellow-Kartvelian Mingrelians after they had survived the trials of passing over the mountain-pass. Such elements of the historical record do not fit the neat categories some are tempted to impose on it for contemporary political convenience.
This background too emphasises the point that only with recognition and international guarantees of Abkhazia's security against Georgian aggression will there be a realistic possibility of any return to Abkhazian regions other than Gal for the refugees stuck in a Georgian limbo for the last sixteen years (it is relevant here that Mikheil Saakashvili was repeatedly pressed to put his signature to a non-aggression pact with South Ossetia and Abkhazia prior to August 2008, and just as consistently refused).
It is easy to refute the claims of Georgian nationalists vis-à-vis Abkhazia, if one knows where to look and takes the trouble to do so. As long as scholarship is compromised by political interest, calculation, or blind partisanship, it will be necessary to make the effort.
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Among openDemocracy's articles on Georgian politics and the region, including the war of August 2008: Neal Ascherson, "Tbilisi, Georgia: the rose revolution's rocky road" (15 July 2005) Donald Rayfield, "Georgia and Russia: with you, without you" (3 October 2006) Robert Parsons, "Russia and Georgia: a lover's revenge" (6 October 2006) Vicken Cheterian, "Georgia's arms race" (4 July 2007) Donald Rayfield, "Russia vs Georgia: a war of perceptions" (24 August 2007) Alexander Rondelli, "Georgia: politics after revolution" (14 November 2007) Robert Parsons, "Georgia's race to the summit" (4 January 2008) Robert Parsons, "Mikheil Saakashvili's bitter victory" (11 January 2008) Jonathan Wheatley, "Georgia's democratic stalemate" (14 April 2008) Robert Parsons, "Georgia, Abkhazia, Russia: the war option" (13 May 2008) Thomas de Waal, "The Russia-Georgia tinderbox" (16 May 2008) Alexander Rondelli, "Georgia's search for itself" (8 July 2008) Thomas de Waal, "South Ossetia: the avoidable tragedy" (11 August 2008) Ghia Nodia, "The war for Georgia: Russia, the west, the future" (12 August 2008) Donald Rayfield, "The Georgia-Russia conflict: lost territory, found nation" (13 August 2008) Neal Ascherson, "After the war: recognising reality in Abkhazia and Georgia" (15 August 2008) Paul Rogers, "Russia and Iran: crisis of the west, rise of the rest" (21 August 2008) Ghia Nodia, "Russian war and Georgian democracy" (22 August 2008) Robert Parsons, "Georgia after war: the political landscape" (26 August 2008) Vicken Cheterian, "Georgia's forgotten legacy" (3 September 2008) Rein Müllerson, "The world after the Russia-Georgia war" (15 September 2008) Martin Shaw, "After the Georgia war: the challenge to citizen action" (22 September 2008) Katinka Barysch, "Europe and the Georgia-Russia conflict" (30 September 2008) Robert Parsons, "Georgia: the politics of recovery" (26 October 2008) Donald Rayfield, "Georgia and Russia: the aftermath" (20 November 2008) Thomas de Waal, "The Caucasus: a region in pieces" (8 January 2009) Thomas de Waal, "Georgia and Russia, again" (30 January 2009) Tedo Japaridze, "A Georgian chalk circle: open letter to the west" (15 May 2009) Robert Parsons, "Georgia on the brink - again" (20 May 2009) Nino Burdzhanadze, "A Georgian appeal: open letter to the west" (12 June 2009) Ilia Roubanis, "Georgia's pluralistic feudalism: a frontline report" (3 July 2009) Vicken Cheterian, "Georgia: between war and a future" (8 July 2009) Robert Parsons, "Georgia: social chasm, political bridge" (21 July 2009) Plus: openDemocracy's Russia section reports and analyses |
Comments
This site is called open democracy and I took the opportunity as a simple man to respond to the famous Professor.Dr Hewitt, your georgian language is impressive. So is your linguistic expertise. However, reciting facts learned by heart is a matter of technique.An objective "set" of facts includes also capacity to compare those within a full context and make a valid conclusion of it. Ability to adapt and see the picture through wider angle from BOTH PERSPECTIVES. We tend very often to dig in suffixes and prefixes rather then understanding full sentences and ideas those mechanical suffixes are supposed to sustain.Above all it is important that a valid conclusion be MORAL. "La conjugaison" of dry lifeless facts with no cause or reason end up as yet another pamphletbut bring nothing to human lives. And here, Dr Hewitt, we are not talking linguistics. We are talking human lives. The trigger of war As I am your much less of a celebrity oponent, I will introduce myself. I am a regular Georgian man, not a british scholar (therefore forgive my english). I have a liberal profession. I am not an IDP. My family has (had?) a house in Abkhazia where my great-grand father was born and generations of my family were raised. The painful tragedy of Abkhazian War, forced me to spend years of life seeking the "truth" about what really happened. Of course, like many other Georgians I felt responsible for the atrocities of war. The break-up of the USSR came swiftly unexpected. Reagan once called our famous country, Prison of nations. We lived in metaphoric prison cells all together, but never really knew anything about each-other besides what the analgesic history books and propaganda was feeding us. Be it Georgian, Abkhaz, Ossetian, Ingush, Russian, Ukrainian, Azeri or Armenian, we all were sure, we were the good ones. We, soviet people the good ones and the bad ones lived somewhere on the other side. Even East Germany had gotten this sickness, where Soviet mentality had anchored a fabulous belief that nazis had all stayed behind the iron curtain, on the other side in West Germany. Generations of our peoples were raised on self-centrism. We had no private property, we had not developed a sense of responsibility towards what was OURS as we had been told, what was ours, was not really ours but everyones together. As we did not respect fully ourselves, we did not respect others. As we did not OWN anything, we did not OWN our lives, our presents and future. Therefore, none of us, Georgian, Abkhaz, Armenian or Russian, had no idea how to face the new independence. It was in fact a beautiful word, independence. But what what responsibilities it invloved, we did not know. We were not formed as a group, as a Nation, as a society capable of taking our future in our hands. We were lost running after ideas to find our place in a new world. As you can remember yourself, Dear Professor, when USSR started to sink, a large wave of nationalisms poured into every nationality. We were a Drujbi narodov moguchi oplot (the powerful tied logs of friendship of peoples) but when the time came to untie us, some went one way, the others other way. I know, you try to persuade everyone, only Georgians were the bad guys, but unfortunately we both know, it is not true. A bunch of nationalists eating each other from all sides. "mrgvali magida", "aydgilara" or "ademon nykhas" they were all claiming their point had to be respected above all. ABOVE ALL, a good old german song UBER ALLES. Therefore, Armenians and Azeris clashed in Baku leading to a full scale war still unresolved, Ingush and Ossetians clashed in North-Ossetia, Georgians and Ossetians clashed and Georgian and Abkhaz did the same, while Russia was plunged into criminal warfares involving Army, KGB and groups of diverse origin and nationality to finally end up by committing a genocide of Chechen People. You had said it yourself, back then your wife dissuaded you to take part in the dialogue, sensing that these issues wouldn't have led to a peaceful outcome as there was no reason present. It was the same in my family, and many others, who did not get involved. But we all were affected. The trigger of war was not Georgian National Guard or Abkhaz militia. It was the inability to assess the reality with intelligent mind from any of the sides involved. Of course, Georgians were 4 million and Abkhaz 70 thousand, the bigger one has to think bigger. But if we had inverted the numbers, I doubt Abkhaz would have been any smarter. Now clearly, the war was fault of those few people and all of us. Now, Are you Dr Hewitt ready to punish everyone ? for the mistakes made by Gamsakhurdia on one, and Ardzinba on the other side? Are you ready to take away homes of thousands of kids, supposed to play together, for crimes commited by Iosseliani, Kitovani, Shamil Bassayev and Bagramyan ? I leave you the moral choice. Because no matter how many verbs you can recite by heart Mr Hewitt, here, you are dealing with peoples lives. I let the opendemocracy reader give his judgment on your position. Your GOAL ?After the conflict was put in the frozen state, I was roaming forums and discussion boards to seek Abkhaz opinions. My goal was to solve the problem on my level of course, civil, human level, because more I go forward more I understand that politicians backed by technician-scholars like yourself won't do anything but harm the regular people.Bulgakov once wrote: "You have to clean in front of your door instead of fighting for property(cleanness)". I understood very soon that the truth was not a fixed statue overlooking us, but almost a creative act, a POWER OF WILL on both sides to see what was our PROBLEM. I undestood that we needed to listen, first to what others had to say. Yes Dr Hewitt, I do not deny huge Georgian responsibility. But in no way, don't you ever think, your one sided anti-georgian pamphlets will erase the truth, which is clearly a huge shared responsibility through all members of our society, be it Abkhaz, Georgian, Russian or Ossetian. I have discussed many issues with Abkhaz people. I have apologized for Beria (allthough it is not my place to do it). But have no illusions Dr Hewitt, Ardzinba was as much dirt as Gamsakhurdia who appointed him. So were other nationalists pushing everyone from every side to general confrontation. And we both know, don't try to hide it under your bright pen, how tensions were rising and how many clashes, armed or unarmed were fueled by Abkhaz separatis government years before the armed conflict had started. Communal clashes had taken many lives. examples can be provided upon request. There is a wide history of the Pre conflict perion. To sustain your anti-georgian arguments you used quotations from all pro-abkhaz nationalists Lakoba, Achugba and Agwadzba. Not only they are tendentious but also Achugba can be called as a classic case of either ignorance of falsification, here is why: Achugba once claimed the word Samyrzakan (Samurzakano) was deriving from Abkhaz Sara (me) and Myrzakan. And that the name Russian name "samurzakan-tsi" was derived from the fact that once the newspaper "Black Sea Reporter" of september 16 1899 had written the following "To our Samurzakan tribe". That is why Samurzakan-tsi do not call themselves neither abkhaz or megrel. I leave to you Mr Hewitt the pleasure to explain what the prefix SA- and the ending -O means in Georgian language. But still will give our western (and other) readers a small hint: Maybe the words Sa-Kartvel-o (Georgia in geo.), Sa-baratian-o (land of Barateli), Sa-Machabl-o (land of Machabeli), Sa-Ingil-o (land of ingilo people), Sa-franget-i (land of french people - France), Sa-Somxet-i (Armenia), Sa-Mshvilde (land of bows), Sa-Guramo (land of Guaram) are enough to prove why Samurzakano is called Samurzakano (Land of Murzakan Shervashidze, son of Kvapu, in clear original Georgian) and not Samyrzakan (a derived toponym). This is not linguistics, this is Kindergarden level logic. You still quote Achugba as a serious source, against Gamkrelidze, who at least knows how to read and write. The entire pro-abkhaz scientific world, like SOME of its georgian counterparts are extremely tendentious.We certainly can not deny the level of rubbish some georgian historians had written in regards to Abkhazia. Yet, due to a longer academic, scientific and litteracy history SOME Georgian sources are more objective in this regard. Unfortunately, nothing similar can be told of Abkhaz historians who work by simple goal, eliminating the Georgian element out of Abkhaz history by all MEANS, even rubbish falsification. You claimed Svans were never in Abkhazia till 19th century again giving Achugba as your bible reference, and you missed again. The Proto-Abkhaz tribes Apsil, Misiman, Abazg, and Svanig were known to the ancient Greek and Roman historians like Hekateus of Miletus, Strabo and Flavius Arrianus. Even today, far from Svanetia throghout all Caucasus chain you can find Svan settlements, up to Tuapse. Lakobas explenation about the letter of Emukhvari-Marshania-Margania of 1783 is laughable. You can not find a more desperate argument to turn down such evidence. Even if Abkhaz nobility was doing themselves a favor, they would clearly use an existing ground that could be sustained and was based on historic facts. They used monuments, traditions, rules and vestiges of Georgian Statehood in Abkhazia. Sometimes Dr Hewitt science is to ACCEPT things, not to deny everything for real political dividends. You claim, georgians colonized Abkhazia while you bring Stalin as a Georgian politician who was acting into Georgias benefit, trying to put all the sins of Soviet people on Georgian conscience. You claim georgian expansionism and imperialism while you attribute Beria a pro-Georgian politician label. Ruslan Aushev, the former president of Ingushetia in his interview to the russian agency regnum, remembering the horrible deportation of Ingush people, said the following:- When Stalin deported our little nation to central Asia our lands were split between Ossetia, Georgian SSR and Russian Federation. Ossetians, Georgians and Russians had moved into our homes. When later in 54 we were rehabilitated and were coming back to our homes, Georgians gave back the houses to us and said they could not live in other peoples homes while they were ousted. They even left us the dishes and belongings so we could survive. Therefore we will always be grateful to Georgian People. Dr Hewitt, Ingush really suffered from Stalin. Unlike Abkhazians, he deported them to central Asia and yet, Ingush people were not poisoned with the strange ideology of putting Stalin and Georgian people at the same level. It is an example to follow for everyone. Would it be fair to say Hitler and all German people are the same ? If we were to put people and some individuals in the same pot then no nation would be left unsoiled. During my conversations with Abkhaz online, I was astounded to tears by some of them telling me they were keeping the apartments of their exiled georgian neighbors safe, for when they would return. I guess beauty of human heart is not a national attribute. President Aushev continues in the same interview: "I spoke to Djokhar Dudaev about some Chechens involvement in the Abkhazian war. I said it was wrong to get into affairs of a neighbor. And he agreed. He regretted to have let this happen. Later on, Aslan Maskhadov officially apologized to Georgians for what Chechens had done in Abkhazia" Believe it or not Dr Hewitt: even though some of the Chechens were killing entire Georgian families, Georgian people have opened their doors to Chechen refugees and will never blame the Chechen people for the atrocities committed by some shameful individuals. It goes both ways. What goes around, comes around. In Caucasus we now this very well. No one in modern Georgia, known to me, denies the existence of Abkhaz identity. It is a distinct, strong identity that has to be respected and self-determined. I can speak for every normal Georgian with a regular human moral code. But there can not be a self-determination at the expense of other autochthonous populations rights. At the expense of lives of so many people left with nothing but sorrow. Denying all connection to Georgia, is a practical disease that has spread all over abkhaz propaganda. As if, by eliminating history, eliminating Georgians, it would make them more independent or better equipped with Freedom. The worst aberration is that, the true tragedy like Mohajirstvo, has been sublimated to a general anti-georgian feeling. Now, I will repeat my question: What is your goal Dr Hewitt ? I will tell you mine: I seek to find similarities, as a human being, the common ground that relates to Abkhaz pain as much as to Georgian. I look for areas of common interest and common suffering for both sides, our mistakes of course, which I do not deny. I seek a common denominator, what makes us human first of all. I seek forgiveness, understanding, listening to each other in order to end this string of suffering and confrontation that has exhausted our peoples everywhere. What do you seek ? All your efforts, Dr Hewitt serve one goal - Alienation. Throughout all your career you wrote books about differencies. What separates us, what confronts us. The "Differences" can be written about practically anyone anywhere. Why don't you write articles about the right of self-determination of Chechens, Ingush, Kabadins and Ossetians of Russia if you are so concerned about peoples rights to self-determine? Abkhaz and Georgian have at least common history, kings, families, lastnames, land. What does Russia have to do with Tatarstan, Kalmykia and Chechnya? Why don't you devote your life to Scottish independence from Great Britain ? Basque independence from France and Spain ? Kurdistan from Turkey (tell me about divided people). Try to convince anyone, scots felt british when English Kings burned their lands and killed their families. Time has passed and they still found a place in common state with England. So is half of Europe a puzzle of Nations. Tell me, do you consider us Georgians and Abkhaz less intelligent then you British ? Are you questioning our abilities to live together and build a tolerant, respectable society(ies) after so much has happened? There is an article, next to yours, called "Will I ever go back ? by Mr Zygmunt Dzieciolowski. http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/email/zugdidi-will-i-ever-go-back It tells the story of an ethnic Abkhaz woman, who back in peace times married a Georgian man and founded a family. She is denied the right to go home. At one point she says:"We should not be so divided. When I joined the Georgian family of my husband, I was surprised how similar our cultures are. We eat similar dishes, dance similar dances. We shouldn't be fighting. Simple people are innocent.' Maybe Dr Hewitt, it is time for you to take example of that Abkhaz woman and start thinking in the right direction and use your wide knowledge and skill to describe our similarities, our closeness and common history instead of constantly writing books of our alienation and fueling ethnic hatred. Through criticizing those chauvinists for so long, you have become one. What's not in a nameDear George (forgive me the familiarity), You are right. A name does not suggest anything. Names have Abkhaz, Georgian, Greek origins. Whoever had a tongue could point a finger and give a name. The question is not about the ownership of the land. Both Abkhazians and Georgians have valid arguments to their presence. It is about fate of local population. It is about, how can we find a sustainable solution to the secure life of all citizen of all backgrounds. Is it in Independent Abkhazia? or autonomous Abkhazia within Georgia? Or a new federation of Planet Mars on Eearth with Georgia and Abkhazia as its members ? that is a question of status and let people and their representatives decide it in 50 years if you like, as the memory of bloodshed is still so much alive. You said, European guests have visited you and they find Abkhazia charming, despite georgian warnings.A guest could have visited Germany in 1942 and found Bavaria very pleasing. Holocaust wouldn't be seen in Schwarzwald. While your guests were appreciating the nature of Abkhazia, 239 000 people were denied basic rights to their homes. And this is the apartheid-state achievement to have created a phantom-land with "select citizens" to their taste. Two weeks ago the Human Rights officer of Abkhazia, Batal Kobakhia declared to Radio Svoboda that "georgians won't return to Abkhazia". The journalist mentioned the unapologetic expression on his face while he was deciding their fate. How more cynical one should get ? the human rights officer denying people their most BASIC RIGHT. Ronald Grigor Suny in his Making of the Georgian Nation says: Whether Georgia can successfully be transformed from a society rent by conflict into a pluralistic democratic nation will depend on Georgians rethinking their history. It is true, and this process has already started in Georgia. Have you seen the website with signatures of thousands of Georgians saying "Sorry" to their Abkhaz brothers and sisters ? You haven't. As you haven't been in Georgia since 1987 and are not planning to go there. Do not try to use peoples pain to your own benefit Dr Hewitt. Neither this puppet Abkhaz government who runs around staging the theater of a "democratic" state seeking for recognition will ever achieve its goal. Until we all together, peoples of all ethnicities, sons and daughters of the same land, start by assessing our reality. We have to sit together, Abkhaz and Georgian in a direct dialogue. There is no doubt this process of rethinking has already started in Georgia. I wish you the same. For those who don't know: Abkhaz names mostly end on -BA mengrelian versions are -BAIA. Example Ezukba would be in mengrelian Ezukbaya. Dear Dr Hewitt, based on Achugbas work (I mentioned the level of this scientist above, who does not even know Kindergarden grammar), claims that there were no mengrelian lastnames in Abkhazia before 19th century, and that BA-s were turned into -BAYAS forcingly after Georgian "colonization". But unfortunately for Dr Hewitt an italian missionary of Pope, Cristoforo de Castelli went to Georgia in 17 th century between 1624 and 1656. His book intitulated Relazione E Album Dei Schizi Sulla Georgia Del Secolo XVII gives examples of Abkhaz-Mengrelian names as well as confirms black on white the close relationship of these provinces Abkhazia, Imeretia, Guria, Megrelia, after the Georgian Kingdom broke up. The book has illustrations also made beautifully by Castelli: under the illustration numbered 23 (can be sent to Dr Hewitt upon request) the comment says (in latin, so you don't accuse me of some invention):"Dux Gran Capitano, Acciobaija (Auiabaija) Aabaza nobilissimus" What do you say about this lastname ending? Accioba-ya probably Chachibaya.Name Darejan Sharashia daughter of Setemon Sharashia (Sharashia not Shervashidze (georgian) or Chachba (abkhaz)) mentioned on pages 30, 33, 34, 43, 90, 91. You claimed, as you can see wrongly that exclusive mengrelization of lastnames in Abkhazia occured in 19th century through the active baptising by mengrelian priests of Abkhaz population. Dear Dr Hewitt, my great-grand father was one of those priests. Go check, Barthlome Kharebava, of Ilori. Priest of Saint-George Church (I think, have to ask mother). Why don't you tell the truth, about why Mengrelians were baptising Abkhaz ? Having short memory leads to ungrateful unjust conclusions. When Tsarist Russia hit muslim population of Abkhazia with a simple goal of wiping them of surface of the Earth, Georgian priests indeed were massively baptizing them back into orthodox christian faith, writing them with Mengrelian last names so they did not get deported. My great-grand father was one of those priests. That is why, half of Abkhazia has a mengrelian last name. Thank to those priests partially, Abkhaz ethnos survived the annihilation. There are hundreds of historic documents, vestiges and facts proving that Georgians and Abkhazians lived together for centuries, fought wars together, helped each-other, married each-other. And there is a clear proof that Georgians belong to this land, as much as do other nationalities. Conclusion Again, our efforts should be directed towards normalization so that every citizen of Abkhazia returns home safe, no matter their ethnicity or background. As a human being, I support Abkhaz peoples right to self-determination. They are our brothers and they deserve their rights to their own land, culture and choices. But in no way, their self determination should occur at the expense of other autochthonous populations, who by legal and moral right, belong to this land as well and should have same rights. The examples of bi-cultural (or even more-cultural) states are abundant in Europe. I do not see, why we should live in a Dr Hewitt stereotypes of Georgians or Abkhaz. We can be as tolerant as Belgians, We can be as good as British and we can be as efficient in multi-ethnic life as Swiss. Todays Abkhazia in no means is a state. It is an ethnically cleansed territory, where ethnic cleansing has a single goal: replacing un-loyal georgian element by a loyal pro-russian population so that Russia obtains access to Black Sea when their lease in Crimea expires. Emboldened by such possibility to "finally" live in a monoethnic Abkhazia (without Georgians) Abkhaz apartheid government invents all kinds of reasons not to let people go to their homes. In fact they fear another demographic misbalance that would leave them the "titular nationality" as minority. This fear is based on legitimate grounds of examples of the past. Neverthless, we have to work together in order to dissipate those fears to go forward. Abkhaz children who had visited Georgia in spring 2008 sentback letters "I love Georgia". I doubt any of current members of society heavylifting the bad memories would be capable of doing that. Therefore, a future generation should be helped to build bridges. No matter what, we live 20 steps from each-other. If the current Abkhaz government closes the doors to Georgians rights, they will inherit a very hostile future generation which again will fall under the revanchism and hatred pattern. The only way to break the dead-lock is to give people the opportunity to listen to each-other and learn more about each-other. Write the history together, write the future together. The isolation creates more fear. I call upon your reason Dr Hewitt to serve the right cause. You regretted not to have participated in the debate back then. Maybe, it was a bad time and your wife was certainly right, as women are always right. It maybe is your chance now, (and duty) as scientist to serve a humanistic cause that will result in GOOD. not in alienation and further confrontations. Even though some of your comments were rubbish, I have huge respect for your work and I hope you will find in yourself the kindness and generosity that will break your stereotype of Georgians. Our society has matured considerably, even though it still has a way to go. Lets each one of us, as a human being, take our own share of responsibility, no matter who we are Georgian, Abkhaz, Ossetian or Russian. "Rac mtrobas daungrevia, sikvaruls ushenebia" /what was destroyed by hatred, will be rebuilt by love/ an old Georgian song. Abziaraz.
Sanig (Sanigai), not Svanig.
Could you list them?
Southern Abkhaz nobility was strongly Georgianized.
Murzakan, son of Kvapu, Kvapu, son of Zegnak—all of them were Abkhazians from Chachba (Shervashidze) family.
Achugba is from Adjara, by the way. I’m sure he knows that Sa- is a Georgian prefix.
We don’t need your “Sorry”!
To Irakly Avaliani
First of all I would like to inform you that as you I am neither British but am not a Georgian whose nation you are presenting here , I am of that Abkhaz nation and I was writing to you so many replies and now reading the most tendentious and odious of your comments, I see you have not learned anything at all and still you are strongly keeping you position of not taking any consideration of things so important been told to you all these days , then, tell me what is your goal here and there ,where you participated in the internet forums seeking the truth , who is more guilty or less or maybe thus way you expect anyone to tell you that it is Georgian who are innocent and they started the war just because they loved Abkhazians so much ?
I wrote to you these so much that I was sure that you are intelligent and you will think of what this Abkhaz lady is writing to you from the centre of Sukhum and consider my opinion ( who knows, but naively I thought ) instead you became furious at what Professor Hewitt wrote to commentators of his article and poured all your indignation on his personality though here not once you, especially you , were told that this is not intelligent to start criticizing or blaming the author instead of reading his articles with open eyes?
I do not know personally very well Professor Hewitt unfortunately, but I am very well acquainted to his works, almost all as they were written not just for you but for the people who is interested in those events, mostly sad, occurring on the blessed Abkhaz land and with my beloved people.
I would like again to tell you that the manner you criticize and talked to him is not in the pure traditions of Caucasian peoples and I would like to advise you kindly never try to step out from them as this is not embellishing your nation which became so famous nowadays but not from the its brightest side.
I am Abkhaz and it is me who could say to you how wrong you were doing all these years after the bloodiest war you engaged my country into , but when a knowledgeable person from Great Britain tried to open your eyes and show you your mistakes which you are continuously making day by day , instead you are picking on him, but the only thing he can forgive you this moment is that you have become blindness and deaf to all you are said in respect and fully aware of all what is going on here and in your Georgia.
So in this regard, especially in the question of his wife your reproach is so shabby that no comment from my side.
I have to read some of the articles of Professor Hewitt after your endless attacks and rhetoric and I could not find anything you are blaming him of hatred and showing Georgians as bad guys.
As a witness of all that happened in Abkhazia before the war and during it and after I can not promise you that you will find here someone who will praise Georgians and say a nice word of them. As almost all families in Abkhazia were affected by the war and on the marble slabs in the park of Fame you will find all family names which live in Abkhazia and mostly they had just their only sons , so you did your worst of your best to miniaturize my little nation and now you are wailing as a jackal at the one who by his destiny has become a true son of Abkhazia , as he heartily took its pains and suffering and just would like to tell the world in the most intelligent and respective way the truth you regretfully would not like even to pay attention to and write the most cynical responses could you ever have created?
As an Abkhaz who unhappily was blocked in Sukhum in August 1992, who saw the threat to the whole nation from your drug taker Karkarashvili with my own eyes in the occupied Abkhaz TV, I saw with my own eyes the tanks full of dirty Mkhedrioni robbers and like devils searching for Abkhaz people to rob , humiliate and kill them , I would like just to remind you again , that I will never forgive you for that year of total humiliation and those tragedy in which Shevarnadze , whom you never even call a single wry name in the innumerous your postings , plunged Abkhazia into.
So the truth which you are seeking is so, that the first one who took the gun is the one who is to carry all the responsibility and this your paranoia with the names, suffices, prefixes is nothing to talk about .
You are talking about human lives?
As you are declaiming with unheard pathos?
Maybe it is not late to think about how many deaths you committed on the most beautiful land at the heart of a grey Caucasus?
If you proudly think that you do not want to be the colony of any country why do you think that Abkhazians will be happy to give the land to you as Stalin once did it but you did not love it as in fact it was not yours at all but centuries you strove to devour it and just God did not allow you to have that chance!
As for those things you are just pretending naïve and blame the British Professor whose tremendous contribution into the Georgian linguistics is very well known and which bring just strong benefit to it , and now to the complicated relationship of our peoples , he points out some important things to make the picture clear to the fogged brains of yours , I very much do hope not all of Georgians are like you , by the way, even being an Abkhaz , who suffered in the best of the years of her life , I would like to say , that I would like to hope that not all of you are sick with paranoia and that idiotic disease of imperial nationalism and caught in an endless loop of so – called territorial integrity of Georgia within the borders of the ex - Soviet Socialist Georgian Republic?
All of your arguments are so contradictory and one piece contradicts to another one , what is happening with you there ? How many times the audience must hear here that your grandfather was a priest and you had a house in Ochamchira etc., etc., to lose a house is nothing comparing to the death of the most close and dearest ones, may I ask you do you have a son , in this regard you had at least to shut up because unfortunately , sometimes the loss of the refrigerator vexes some of you to no end and your mercantile interests are just bothering people , but you do not want to understand it.
As for your last so – called response that all Abkhaz historian wrote is rubbish – then what do you want me to say to you and how nicely these insinuations of yours describes you at the very bottom of your essence?
I put so many questions to you in the process of our discussion that you did not pay any attention, you thought also that it was rubbish and the truth is just in what you and your poorest historians afford themselves to say to the world in the most twisted artificial falsificated information you wanted to give as the only true one to the world , but again you failed.
In the Soviet time, when as you say we lived in the prison of nations , repeating Reigan who has never been to that “ cell” called Georgia and never had seen how you were flourishing at that time among the others being highly privileged by the inertia caused by this worst monster of the monsters like Josef Stalin whose memory you preserve immortal in Gory and will keep it till the next century , or more to realize all his terrible deeds? Whose fault is that, which scholar has responsibility? if not you on the whole ?
The Abkhaz people demanded to stop falsifications of the Abkhaz toponimics all over Abkhazia, as you successfully did , you know it perfectly how to wipe up the history , but you were so cruel that you wanted to do in while we ,the Abkhazians were alive , and you wanted us to see how the names of Abkhazian origin were buried in that Soviet time you hate so much but which gave you like a sweet on the plate Abkhazia and South Ossetia?
Why Getchripsh was replaced by the name of Leselidze at the very entrance to Abkhazia from the Russian Federation though this general Leselidze had never even step his foot onto on Abkhaz soil ?
And I can give millions of examples here, but as you pretend to be so intelligent you can find the letter of the Abkhaz people and the first problem was the problem of TOPONIMICS!
What was so nationalistic if I like my name and I do not want to replace it by yours?
What would you do if we tried ever to do the same and all the main streets of Tbilisi to name after Abkhaz writers and yours just in the suburbs and also not writers but after Gal Chief of the Collective farm as Dzhguburia?
If your children were not allowed to learn your own history? Was that the British, Mr. George Hewitt who has to take the responsibility for all you committed in Abkhazia as you cynically and unfairly try to cling to him forgetting who you are and what had been done by your state tomy Abkhazia?
Is not it a great shame that the Georgian staff members ob the Embassy in Armenia is seeking in the supermarkets of Erevan for the Abkhaz Adzhika and making a hysterical scandal as for the little shop of Benetton in Sukhum ?
I just can tell you kindly , shame on you and your leader, so intelligent and who knows so perfect English , but so immoral, who once called my people as “cannibals “and was threatening to carry a parade of your militaries in Sukhum!
Who will take the responsibility of all this and that and etc. facts which for sure is not the way to conciliation especially once again when you say that there are just 70 000 of Abkhaz and 4 millions of you? Where by the way this figure appeared or was invented?
Do you think that you step on the wound (and this you do saying about love) and this will make you happy?
Or all around you must be prudent and intelligent and connive all you so dreadfully commit?
There are some points I will try to point out for you:
1.Abkhazia and SO will never be a part of the Republic of Georgia , and I am saying it to you? the Abkhaz as you will never find online or out of line who will deny it , and Lorik Marshania , the traitor s opinion do not take into consideration. This is just a piece of my advice.
2. Ardzinba the First Abkhaz President never gave an order to invade Georgia as Shevarnadze did.
3.If there is any Abkhaz name which sounds as Georgian - this is not the matter to start the war and fighting , would you agree with me ?
If the Gal district called Samyrzakan, recalls any Georgian SA- it can happen as the name itself , but it does not mean that this belongs to Georgians or according to your funny point maybe to the people of another planet?
I can also tell you that Samachablo once belonged to the prince of Achba once upon a time ? By the sounds Samachablo, Achba? The place where Achba lived ?
Gumba became Gumbaridze, Shamba – Shambia, Kakoba -Kakabadze , etc., so if we start looking at many of them I am afraid , that maybe just Dvali or Dolidse will be left as pure Georgian names . But was all this worth to fight and invading Abkhazia to kill all of us? Or the purpose of the war in 1992-93 and the two attempts were broken out after in May 1998 and October 2001 by Shevarnadze was “ love “?
4. Why are you afraid to see the truth with open eyes?
Why are you doing your best that all the Caucasian peoples are starting to hate you? Especially after the last of August?
5. If I were you I just would stop all this demagogy .But if I notice you so prejudiced and sometimes as losing your temper , and talk offensive at least one should note that you were not badly brought up by your grandfather, the son of that priest, and do not use swear words which unfortunately have become a normal behavior of Georgian opponents in any other forums.
To Dear Moderator ,
thank you very much to tolerate such hot discussions at your site of open democracy .
It was a nice possibility in a civilized way to discuss utterly different points of the most sensitive and worrying matters of relationship between Abkhazia and Georgia.
Success to you and all the best.
I had missed you already Losmira :). But here you are, following my postings like a shadow. Well I was a little surprised after my peaceful kind and argumented posting, defending human rights, with no allusion to Abkhazias status, You still managed to say:I would like to hope that not all of you are sick with paranoia and that idiotic disease of imperial nationalism and caught in an endless loop of so – called territorial integrity of Georgia within the borders of the ex - Soviet Socialist Georgian Republic?Thanks for the insult. After that you said:Now, probably for 7th time I will try to tell you the same argument had said before in more complicated way and is the essence of the problem I am posing.1) I am OK with Abkhazias independence. 2) I am NOT OK (do not agree = PROTIV :)) with Georgian refugees having no right to their homes.THIS is the quote from my own previous posting:As a human being, I support Abkhaz peoples right to self-determination. They are our brothers and they deserve their rights to their own land, culture and choices. But in no way, their self determination should occur at the expense of other autochthonous populations, who by legal and moral right, belong to this land as well and should have same rights. Is that "paranoia and that idiotic disease of imperial nationalism" to want to go to my home and have right to talk georgian to my kids? That is a question to You. Thanks in advance for your answer Losmira. PS. The offensive postings from some Georgians do not represent Georgians as a nation. I hope this is a good start between us
Starnge that you continue not to read my questions or just it is suitable to forget them ?
Therewere many of your conradictory points.
How do you understand the Indepence of Abkhazia ?
'The offensive postings from some Georgians do not represent Georgians as a nation. I hope this is a good start between us "
What would you like tosay with this ?
Nothing starts , just separates deeper and for ever.
Where do you see contradiction Losmira ? Independence of a State does not mean ethnical cleansing: do we agree ?How do you understand the Indepence of Abkhazia ?Losmira, Independence of a State (Abkhazia, Italy, France or Algeria) like any other state can be based on different principles. The principles which lead Europe and modern civilized states are democratic: which means a State where people of all origins, religions, beliefs have equal rights. That means: You can not sit in a room and decide of faith of 45% of population. That is called, by LAW and international norms agreed by all normal civilized societies as ETHNICAL CLEANSING and PRACTICAL RULE OF APARTHEID.It is not me who invented that or Georgians. It is just the law and the humanistic understanding of things. Now Abkhazia has chosen a path of a relative mono ethnicity. We both know Abhaz peoples biggest fear is to be minority in their own country. I understand that fear. But unfortunately helping this fear can not be based on aggressive ethnical cleansing and exclusion. Now, in this world there are two choices. One is, Russia, Ortega, Chavez and their neo-totalitarian bullshit (if you believe in it, God bless your way). Second is a relative democratic development, with relatively more personal freedom, and assessment of realities in more humanistic and progressive perspective which is European and Western way (I believe so and I am sure Dr Hewitt agrees on relative scale ).It ends up on what choice you are making. If Chavez and Putin type life is close to your heart, then be it. But don't ask Europe to recognize you with it, because it won't happen. They do not adhere to those principles.
I see you had a short rest and now in another way repeat again and again the same but in the other version.
Is not it tiresome if you consider yourself a sensible man ?
What would you like to prove to me ?
What can you prove sitting and writing from the US to me who has not laeft her Motherland even in the worst of its times ?
When your so called "progressive" and pro- American country wanted to wipe out this world the very name of my dearest Abkhazia ?
Why do you worry so much as I see you are so progressively work not in your democratic country, in which there are so many political prisoners and the demonstrations were beaten and people traumatized that they did not think the way Saakashvili think ?
Or do you so much appreciate him and his deeds terrible ones , which he committed last August ?
Did Putin or Chaves ordered him to step on a criminal war path ?
Yes , Chavez is not your friend , or Putin or whoever , but this is not your business who , why , and how reconize Abkhazia , which comparing to yours is highly democratic if one would like to examine thoroughly!
What would you like to prove to me ?I want to prove you that the truth is not on one side. And as a human being I am trying to tell you, we georgians are not all that bad as Putin wants you to believe. What can you prove sitting and writing from the US to me who has not laeft her Motherland even in the worst of its times ?Dr Hewitt was sitting in his British bed drinking tea with tasteless biscuits while he wrote pamphlets about Abkhazia. So believe me it is irrelevant where one is to tell what he has on his heart. I was in Georgia during war. I saw myself the waves of barefooted refugees with dead children on their arms. I also buried my good young cousin (in response to your previous accusations about how little I had lost in this war). Why do you worry so much as I see you are so progressively work not in your democratic country, in which there are so many political prisoners and the demonstrations were beaten and people traumatized that they did not think the way Saakashvili think ?They are learning slowly. You are right, I accept. november 7 they beat people up. Wrong thing to do. But this year, they had learned their lesson. No political prisoner was taken unless he had committed a criminal offense. Like climbing walls of Interior Ministry or breaking into other peoples property? Try to do that in France Losmira, You wont see daylight for months. Any democratic country must respect law first. But you are right, they still have lot to learn. The difference is Chavez or Putin do not even have opposition, they are all killed. Everything is relative. And on relative scale, Georgia is far better then Russia. Come visit. I guarantee you will be very surprised by what you see. Give it a chance, it's not that far. I can arrange you everything, best living, security. Anything you ask for. Be my guest. Or do you so much appreciate him and his deeds terrible ones , which he committed last August ?I do not appreciate the war. And I do not appreciate the fact that Georgian Army walked into Tskhinvali. But we both know, it was not as simple as Putin wants to make it look. Yes , Chavez is not your friend , or Putin or whoever , but this is not your business who , why , and how reconize Abkhazia , which comparing to yours is highly democratic if one would like to examine thoroughly!Chavez is not my friend and he has no friends besides Vova Putin and couple of other tyrannic caricatures around the planet. I am just saying, when you are recognized by Chavez and Ortega, it's like being recognized by Hitler and Mussolini. Chavez does not even know where Abkhazia is. He just needed guns to make his regime more valuable, so he got it in credit in exchange of that declaration in Moscow. Abkhazia , which comparing to yours is highly democratic if one would like to examine thoroughly!Which one is democratic Abkhazia or Venezuela : ?? I got lost in the sentence grammar sorry (we both are bad in english)
The truth is ONE and any double standard will cause just damage :
Georgians started wars first against South Ossetia under Gamsakhurdia rule if you forgot I will remind you and then in Megrelia by Shevarnadze , after they came to Abkhazia , and I am not aware of the fact where at those moments Putin Vladimir had been to , but last year , he was in China , when your beloved necktie eater President, outstanding one , instead of negotiations sent tanks , Grad systems to Tskhinval , and I have not noticed yet any sentence of you in which you are accusing him or is he filtering the US internet either as in Georgia and you truly are afraid of your destiny , then I can understand you silence regarding this?
To talk about Professor Hewitte in such a dishonored way - speaks about the entire poverty of your poor nature.
You were in Georgia during the war , where there were no battles , and I was in Abkhazia , at that most awful time of my life , in Sukhum first and then in Gudauta , so now , better for you really to shut up forever and stop lying to the world and saying whom who killed - when we lost the 4 % of our nation and I again repeat ,to you that almost all families in Abkhazia lost someone , but this as you see did not make you happy , and didnt bring Georgia to prosperity, though the world is feeding you tiredless.
To invite me to Gorgia and to learn how nice it became - is just another cinical step of you .
I have been many times before 1989 and I saw how nice was your Tbilisi comparing to other parts , but in the Soviet times , as you know perfectly Georgia was a priviliged country and was sucking from Moscow whatever as no one in the history of the USSR could carney and expressing your tremendous love to Russians and now you did not like Putin ??? Of course , he is not Brezhnev, or Andropov oe Eltsin.
As for Hitler or Mussolini , better ask Erosi Kitsmarishvili or Okruashvili about the fascist plans of Herr Saakashvili who wanted to bring Georgia to flourishing democracy stepping on the corpses of Abkhaz oe Ossetians ?
Mr. Avaliani I looked through all your responce and just would like to say a few words about that place of it in which you are explaining that the Ingush so much respect you and you brought the speach of Aushev , who has never been to Abkhazia and as far as it is known , no ingush was among the volonteers of the Northern Caucasus during the Abkhaz - Georgian war and now it does not matter but I wonder how thus appeared that Georgians occupied the Ingush homes while those were displaced so cruelly in the time of Stalin who has no connection to Georgians as you declared in some of your comments and in his passport was Russian?
I would like to express my opinion and to tell you that you are doing your best , though I am sure in vain, now ,opposing the Abkhaz people to Ingush and even dared to do the same with Chechens with whom you know perfectly Abkhaz have special relations not like with Georgians which as I see now with even your example never understood us.
Why the Abkhaz people did not go to defend Chechens - is not your deal , but I can tell you BECAUSE WE WERE LIKE BETWEEN TWO FIRES and which and when would burn us we didnt know, but one could guess which - the threat was from your side.
So, to get proud of what Aushev or Maskhadov said is an empty trick of yours, no more and even discribes you as a provocator.
Why the Abkhaz people did not go to defend Chechens - is not your deal , but I can tell you BECAUSE WE WERE LIKE BETWEEN TWO FIRES and which and when would burn us we didnt know, but one could guess which - the threat was from your side. So, to get proud of what Aushev or Maskhadov said is an empty trick of yours, no more and even discribes you as a provocator.Mr Ind.Abkhazia, It seems this argument of mine is your weakest spot. Fact is, your government did not help Chechens in their war. Because they are Russian puppets and have no sense of caucasian dignity as Losmira likes to call us all upon. It is the truth every child knows. Drink some cold water if you don't like it. I will repeat it as much as I like, it is my democratic right.Dudaev and Maskhadov both apologized personally to Georgians after understanding who the REAL THREAT was to our (yours as much as mine) identity as Caucasians. Dudaev did not send Bassaev to Abkhazia, Bassaev did it on his own, with his own men. What kind of guy Bassaev was ask Beslan parents. So once more: Not everything is black and white. There are grays and as I am trying to tell you for so many posts, I accept Georgian responsibility as MUCH as it is relevant of TRUTH and REALITY, I advise you do the same on your end. Dr Hewitt is plunged into a one sided nationalistic rhetoric blaming Georgians for everything, which makes him a perfect example of non scientific mind. while responsibility is shared matter between many parties, regardless ethnicity.
but just to remind you again , that all your efforts , your comments and your provocative propaganda and the most terrible lie which ever exited , or dezinformation , absolutely do not embellish neither you nor Georgians .
As I told you and not just me , as I could read , you are offended , a na obizhennykh vodu voziat, do you know it ?
The thing is that to intrude in such a dirty way into the Abkhaz- Chechen relationship , and to talk about any weak points is just describing you and no one more.
Gelaev , who was highly paid by Shevarnadze , whom a s I see you are respecting and loving so much , did not succeed when he sent him to Codor from Chechgen bases in Pankissi in October 2001 , and do you think Maskhadov or any from Chchen fighters appreciated this act and were not ashamed of it ?
But that was the shame of yours , you Krtsanisi master Shevarnadze , who organized this unheard operation as he wanted to kill Abkhaz by Chechen hands , and to start the worst which could happen at the Caucasus , the war and hatred between the strongest brother nations at the Caucasus ?
When did Dudaev and when Maskhadov told you all you are repeating as a pigeon here ?
Or would you like me to tell all I know about who and how helped us from the very first days to defend Abkhazia from Georgian bandits called by you so lovingly, Mkhedrioni ?
Instead of stopping paranoia and reading what the British Professor Hewitt explained clearly to you are again talking about nationalizm , maybe living outside of Georgia , as you do . you just do not know what is going there or was going there before and why did so- called your democrates started those bloody wars in South Ossetia first , then Megrelia and Abkhazia ?
Your goal is known to us , just you think that like Eduard you will successfully deceive the world representing yourself as the great true fighters against Russian Empire , forgetting your own intentions and desirs ?
The thing is that to intrude in such a dirty way into the Abkhaz- Chechen relationship , and to talk about any weak points is just describing you and no one more.You have no logic what so ever. What has Shevardnadze or Gelaev to do with Abkhaz sitting quiet during the Chechen war. If that is the logic you use in Geneva discussions, no wonder EU is asking questions about your governments legitimacy. Gelaev is one thing, Abkhaz government playing deaf and dumb during Chechen war, is another. Fact is. they helped you, you didn't. Fact says it all. You can accuse me of being provocator or Harry Potter, it won't change the reality - Which is: Abkhazia is Russias slave and did not do shit, because Russians said so.Or would you like me to tell all I know about who and how helped us from the very first days to defend Abkhazia from Georgian bandits called by you so lovingly, Mkhedrioni ?Now, I want you to find one quote of me saying anywhere a loving word about Mkhedrioni. If you find one, I will never write here again. If not, then you will apologize to me for attributing quotes I have never said. Also, for your knowledge, the same bandits robbed entire Georgia, they were infiltrated by mass amongst regular Army. So were "bandits" and killers on the Abkhaz side, example: Shamil Bassaev and what armenians and kabardians did to Georgian villages I will let your one-sided un-curious mind go discover yourself.Be objective. Accept facts of crimes on both sides and stop depicting yourself as angels. Everyone knows it is bullshit. Earlier you do so, better you will be seen outside of Nicarague.
Georgia doesn't learn anything from the history. If a new war start (of course it would be just because of Georgia - as always) All Caucasian nations will be in Abkhazian side. Nobody trust Georgia aymore.
The Olympics ... are a symbol of peace," Akaki Minashvili, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Georgian parliament and an ally of President Mikheil Saakashvili, said this week.
So, if Olympics are the "symbol of peace", why did the Saakashvili regime attacked S. Ossetia on the eve of the opening Olympics in Beijing?!
All contradictions, all mistakes. Again and again. Georgia lost itself.
One , if he loves his own people and is human will NEVER START ANY WAR IN ANY DAY IN THIS LIFE.
You are right. France killed half of Vendee during Revolution civil war. Vendee is France today.America killed half of America during North South war. Neverthless, they have one big country now.Dr Hewitts English were killing Scotts for centuries. They are United Kingdom. Russians killed half of Chechnya few years ago, you still praise Putin and have his picture on the wall. Spanish killed eachother during the civil war. Spain is a prosperous country.Germans killed each other many times over before switching to other peoples. They are now a civilized democratic country. I am not talking about Yougoslavia, have no space for it. So. All I am saying is. No excuses to WAR. WAR should be banned from our lives forever. And we have to start listen to each-other to avoid them.
All those examples are terrible , and your logics is so , f they did why not Georgians do that either ?
Strange , especially such a thinking and especially nowadays!
Are you against the war if you so knowledgably note that this and that was in France , etc. etc , countries which support you now , but you are justifying in such a way all you had done thtoughout the last twenty years ?
Or through fighting and killings of Abkhaz and Osetians you are supposing to come to demoracy ?
QWhat an idiotic and terrible thinking and by this all is undestandable. Then why are you so much astonished that you are not able to find a mutual language and confidence with those who live in your neighboring ?
QWhat an idiotic and terrible thinking and by this all is undestandable. Then why are you so much astonished that you are not able to find a mutual language and confidence with those who live in your neighboring ? Idiotic thinking applies to those who have no ability to compare their own situations with others, have no ability to analyze wider pictures by having historic, sociologic and geo-political knowledge which allows to see more deeply the problems societies and countries face and think only from the rectum of their small minds. It is idiotic for example say: you are not able to find a mutual language and confidence with those who live in your neighboring ? I will give you a small lesson of logic, as you used the word logic you also need to know what it is:A TRUE STATEMENT: You are not able to find mutual language with Abkhaz and Ossetians. proof of statement: it is true Georgians have hard times finding common language with Abkhaz and Ossetians.NOW A WRONG STATAMENT: You are not able to find mutual language with your neighboringCounterargument: Georgians find common language with their neighbors Azerbaidjan, Armenia, Turkey and many other countries (mostly civilized and democratic unlike Hamas and Nicaragua)Logical thread of thought: These countries are Georgias neighbors, so your statement is WRONG. That is called logic.Now stupidity implies, people throwing insults and ideas with no valid argument which sustains any of them.Are you against the war if you so knowledgably note that this and that was in France , etc. etc , countries which support you now , but you are justifying in such a way all you had done thtoughout the last twenty years ?Again, example of wrong reading. There is no justification for war. But there is a logic connection between historic and social development of societies and states throughout history that need to be taken in consideration while analyzing a complex ethnical confrontation. This is the difference between intelligent people, who THINK and those who are driven by EMOTIONAL DIARRHEA with one sided cyclic hatred of other and point fingers instead of looking for reasons and consequences.
What about the sad events in Marneili and Dzhavaknk , or would you like me to give all the information about Georgian ' clever " attitude and loving one towards other nations , which happen to have such neigbors like you who is militarising and settling just threat/
If the Truth , which is pointed out to you and your behavior - appeared an insult for you , then I should say you are poorer and and more vulnerable which brings you to calamity.
While learning and comparing yours sick society to the others , especially the old European , you have to learn not others, as the Georgians evert time break out wars with the closest of their neighbors and think that they are priviliged to own the territories which historically never belonged to them .
Thisis the main point of your tragedy. And you are the part of it as one can judge observing your national histercal utterings even here in the Internet. Logically.
As for the insult- the word " slave' you have called the Abkhaz , is not a sweet and logic , but you said it as you are judging from your point of you and pity that I brought myself down to your level.
Abziaraz.
Anscha duzza khunhurta arah akhaan ischimtaait!
Илья Дмитриевич (Илико Зурабович) Джамбакуриан-Орбелиани (1818—1853) — князь, русский генерал, герой Крымской войны, младший брат генерала Орбелиани Григория Дмитриевича. Сын князя Дмитрия Николаевича Орбелиани (1766—1827), начальника тифлисской таможни.
Родился в 1815 г., происходил из старинного грузинского княжеского рода.
Окончил курс в Тифлисской гимназии и в 1832 г. начал службу юнкером в Грузинском гренадерском полку; в 1838 г. был произведён в офицеры и в 1841 г. назначен адъютантом к генералу Фези. Посланный им в начале 1842 г. с особым поручением в Самурский округ, Орбелиани был захвачен Шамилем в плен, в котором пробыл 7 месяцев. По возвращении из него Орбелиани продолжал участвовать почти во всех экспедициях в Дагестан и Чечню. Так, 1844 г. он провел в походах с Нейдгардтом, Гурко и Лидерсом, в 1845 г. принял участие в Даргинской экспедиции князя Воронцова и, командуя при штурме Анди грузинской дружиной, получил 7 июля орден св. Георгия 4-й степени (№ 7374 по кавалерскому списку Григоровича—Степанова).
В 1846 г. он был послан в Елизаветполь для уничтожения горцев; затем вместе со Слепцовым он участвует в заложении Сунженской линии, в Дагестанских отрядах командует кавалерией, под Салтами — пехотным батальоном, а под Чохом работает в траншеях и по взятии его посылается к Государю курьером для подробного доклада о ходе осадных работ и вообще военных действий Дагестанского отряда.
Why to take such examples/
Wars , wars , and wars, France , Spain , Russia or whoever else ???
Why not to take the example of Norway and Sweden which separated without any drop of blood or , for instance, why not to take into considarion Chekh Republic and Slovakia ?
Or this is too integinet yet for you /
When will your consience raise to such a level , when a war will be just impossible to think about and that committing it NO ONE is happy ever ?
Georgia doesn't learn anything from the history. If a new war start (of course it would be just because of Georgia - as always) All Caucasian nations will be in Abkhazian side. Nobody trust Georgia aymore. Who told you this ? Vova Putin ? Is 8 million Azerbaijan not a Caucasian Nation ? You heard what they said about Abkhazia or South Ossetia possibility joining CIS ? They said, they won't sit at the same table with them. You are more idealistic about Caucasus as it really is. Ingush and Ossetians have serious problems between each-other. So do Armenians and Azeris. My friend just came back from Chechnya (he is a reporter) and said how much in "kitchen" conversations everyone supports Georgia. So dream on with Ramzan Kadyrov and Vova Putin. So, if Olympics are the "symbol of peace", why did the Saakashvili regime attacked S. Ossetia on the eve of the opening Olympics in Beijing?!In dreamland of Putin, poor sleeping Tskhinvali was attacked by bad cold-blooded vampire Georgians who drank blood of children and killed 2000 people in 2 hours. Even though I deeply regret every single death and condemn any military action of any side and kind, especially to Ossetian people who are really close to us, it is a fact that Georgia had already tens of people dead on the night of August 4th. If you wish knowing more, I can send you a report by Russian peacekeeping commander himself about how much Georgian villages were shelled days before. Also, you can refer to news dating 1st and 2nd August when Kokoity was evacuating half Tskhinvali. Why would he evacuate if he did not know what was going to happen ? Why was there 58th Army training for a year North of Roki Tunnel. Why did they distribute a paper called "know your future enemy: Georgia" to Russian soldiers months before the war (can be sent upon request also)? Why did they enter Abkhazia with Tanks and airborn troops in April ? It was all forbidden by the agreements. And number of dead ? 162 civilians against more then 300 in Georgia by Russian plane bombings. So go get an objective sense of the picture and then write your tales here alongside Dr Hewitt brother Grimm.
All you write here is a drty histerical Georgian demagogia and a real paleness of all your arguments and especially that " tremendous " logics of yours regarding Chechen factor.
Just I will introduce you to such information , that among the Volonteers which came from the very first days to help Abkhazians were almost all the representatives of teh Northen Caucasus ,and you have to know it for the further your groundless arguments , that no one from them regretted it and just I wonder why never they were on your side or now the Chchen kitchens appeared to be the places in which you are so much loved ?
It is another poor point of your provocation and do not think that they will come to support you ever in the history .
Learn the history, and find out who assisted Russian Empire during the Caucasian - Russian war and who especially tried to play his " brilliant " role when Shamil was defeated by the Russian Tsarist troops ?
Do you know such a name as kniaz Orbeliani ?
Or do you really think that in their kitchens the Chechen people forgot who were and are the traitors of the Caucasus ?
Dont point your finger to Putin or Kadyrov or whoever , as they at that time did not exist at all .
Or if so do you think Zviad , Eduard or your necktie eater Misha is better of any one of them ?
Look at yourself and especially look around as you do not live in Georgia and probably you can not have any place among your natives that is why maybe you are so nervous, forgetting your so - called most ancient culture??
I tried to google the term Hysterical Georgian Demagogia amd could not find such thing . It's like Bad Russian Breath after long alcoholic night, I could not find this one either. Or Abkhaz goat-loving obsession was also absent from the dictionnary . I am kidding Losmira, just to let you know that you can not give arguments like these. They are simply not arguments but insults. Just I will introduce you to such information , that among the Volonteers which came from the very first days to help Abkhazians were almost all the representatives of teh Northen CaucasusVolonteers are not Nations. Sorry, wrong statement again. They are just volounteers. There were Ukrainians amongst Georgians, Estonians, Greeks, even Ossetians. Many Azeris. It means nothing. that no one from them regretted it and just I wonder why never they were on your side or now the Chchen kitchens appeared to be the places in which you are so much loved ? Not one of them Losmira, These were the presidents representing the chechen nation and resistance to Russian invasion. That speaks for a lot. As for kitchen talk, I will be more then happy to introduce you to the famous german reporter, you can discuss it with him personally. Learn the history, and find out who assisted Russian Empire during the Caucasian - Russian war and who especially tried to play his " brilliant " role when Shamil was defeated by the Russian Tsarist troops ? Do you know such a name as kniaz Orbeliani ?I don't want to offend you Losmira but your knowledge of history is sympathetic but is sort of Soap Opera version of History. Georgia was occupied by Russia in 1801 against its own will. For example Dadeshkeliani killed the Russian emissary when they announced Svanetia was going under Russian rule. Many Georgians were arrested and deported. There were 10 uprisings only in 50 years against Russia in different parts of Georgia. As for kniaz Orbeliani, his old apartment at Chavchavadze street in Tbilisi belongs to my grandmother. I invited you many times, you can stay there and find out more in DEPTH about Orbeliani. That will help you in opening your perspective about Georgia (instead of Lozungi naizust'). Or if so do you think Zviad , Eduard or your necktie eater Misha is better of any one of them ?I never said Zviad or Eduard was better. Please find one quote where I said that or apologize for attributing to me what I did not say. Except, I think Misha is Better the Putin and Kadyrov (on a relative scale of course) . I can provide arguments. Look at yourself and especially look around as you do not live in Georgia and probably you can not have any place among your natives that is why maybe you are so nervous, forgetting your so - called most ancient culture??I have to respond to this. it is the funniest statement ever: I just want to ask you from which intelligent source you decided that if I live in the US I have no place among my natives. People are free to move from one place to another. They can work and study in the US or France or Italy. Travel. Don't be so angry, people do this when they are citizens of normal countries. You should also have right to do this. Like everyone else. But Putin decided our fates differently. I can't go home to Ilori, you can only go to Nicaragua (I doubt you want to do that). Think about how much more we would gain, if we both had our rights respected.Why am I forgetting my so called most ancient culture ? Who called it most ancient culture ? You ? because I have never said that. So I was wondering where did you take these comic sentences :)) Don't you see that while you loose rational arguments you start insulting me or attributing me some absurd sentences I have never said and are irrelevant to the subject?
What logics could you expect on all this paranoiac comments of yours when instead of discussing so important issues and problems raised by Professor Hewitt you are showing to the world (though it is truly nice , let them better learn with whom we had to deal all this time throughout long centuries) your high culture and unheard bringing up as you are still living in the primeval forest.
The Abkhaz and Chechen relationship as I told you once is not the matter of your business and by the way this is the weakest point of all your “revelations”, as you think, you have the right to utter even a word about it.
Or this is Misha Saakashvili who advised you to do so? To put your nose in those things you have nothing to do at all ?
First think and start remembering forever why the Caucasian volunteers came to fight against you with us , and especially the moment your “ glorious “ army ran faster then a bare in the widely known in the Soviet times the cartoons “ Nu pogodi” ?
So first tell me where is your logics and WHEN will you stop this ultra national hysteria spread all over the world mass media and using such insults which first of all shows who you are not us.
I advise you to get some psychic treatment and as quick as possible and then with a clear and healthy mind to start thinking deeply about the whole catastrophe in which you had been supposing to break out at the entire Caucasus, this one of the most beautiful land created by God, and Him who did not give you the possibility to thrust it into despair and endless human suffering.
Your government is a pro American poor puppet , just I wonder if they pay their dollars to the cleaners in the Ministries or just to the Ministers ?
I am so surprised to read your response to Professor Hewitte and just would like to tell you that with his thoughtfull articleshe tried to save Georgians and to stop all that violence and wrong actions and steps which the Georgian government took against Abkhazia .
I think he was truly naive thinking once about any kind of a federal state of your country which had some minorities. Respecting the rights of minorities , he thought you will respect your own rights and look decent. He was trying to save you and make you escape those crucial mistakes which brought Georgia into pieces.
I am not going to become a defender of a well - known British Professor especially after reading of his remarkable articles and the response in this siteI can see how he is strong and knows the situation and all processes very well that one can fully trust him.
I am just seeing as you are plunging into your bile and it will cause just problems to you, Mr. Avaliani.
Dear Professor
Hewitt,
I would like to express my personal gratitude for the possibility to get such a detailed information on the Abkhaz - Georgian conflict which gives a good picture of all roots that brought these two countries to such relations they are having today.
Especially concerning the Gal district name , Samyrzakan , which is quiet interesting , but as I could read in some resourses the names like Gal , Dal , Tsabal, are considered to be ancient Abkhaz names.
Your arguments are very strong and useful for political scientists and recearchers.
The problem of the refugees can be seen in two aspects, historical and contemporary.
The first one that they were historically brought from their native lands and settled in Abkhazia and one of the main goals of it was as it has been said lots of times here and every time for the pure georgianisation of the Abkhaz people , if to say truly , for those little piece of the Abkhaz nation which didnt flee to Turkey and other countries as a result of the Russian - Caucasian war in the XIX century.
This politics was acting during all years of Soviet time and till the very beginning of Georgian invasion into Abkhazia.
The contemporary politic al aspect lies in the roots of the threat of repetition of a demographical situation in the country when the Abkhaz became artificially a minority in their native country and could easily lose their identity.
That is why, the returning of the refugees is perceived and understood negatively, though the first Abkhaz president Vladislav Ardzinba signed the agreement of the return of residents of Gal district which is considered to be taken as a positive step and in accordance with international standards, though at that time, after the war Abkhazia was not a recognized yet but followed the international law as a member of the world society.
The problem of refugees is everywhere very complex.
If even there was a partial return of Georgians (originally Megrelians) to Gal district had been done this must be taken as a positive achievement and recognized internationally but even this was not done and said openly by any international organization.
Georgian government have resisted to register people who returned back all these years by the UNCHR, and so the residents of Gal are not taken into consideration and this is one of crucial mistakes.
The situation could be changed for the better if Abkhazia will get a full recognition, as well as from Georgia too, with the signing the document on non- resumption of hostilities and international guaranties on it, of course the perspective of the refugees if such appears will be seen in another way.
If Mr. Avaliani is not against the recognition of the Abkhaz independence though in some of his postings he bravely denied it. He is not the representative of the government of Georgia neither a president, so in the net it is easy virtually to say many things and then to say the contrary.
Dear Avaliani:
Usually I don't like to comments but I couldn't help it after I've read yours (all yours) on this website, and to be honest I totally disapprove with the most of them.
Excuse me to not introduce myself: I'm a Circassian Diaspora, my ancestors forced to leave Tuapse in 1864 to Ottoman Empire by Tsarist Russia after a horrible war lasted for 101 years, we didn't have this war for Islam - as many used to say - or any other religion this war was to save our freedom.
I think you’ve noticed the expression “Circassian Diaspora” yes we still Circassians, and yes we are Diaspora because Circassia is our homeland even so most of us have never been there, even so 80% of our nation hold other citizenships (other to Russian of course) and even after 145 years since the Circassian Genocide.
The term Circassians has used to specify a nation that call themselves Adigha as you already know, but what you don’t know Abkhaz and Adighians are one Nation and all are Circassians as Mingerlians, Svans, Laz are all Georgians and one Nation.
The term Circassian even for Turks, Arabs and others nation include Abaza which is the name that used by other Circassians to indicate Abkhaz, and not a name for one of their tribes or some kin nation as many say. Sometimes they use the term Circassians to indicate all four nations of North Caucasus; Dagh (Dagestaians: even they are several races but they consider themselves as one nation even before the Russian conquest), Nakh (Chechen, Ingush …), Alan (Ossetians) and Nart (Adighians, Abkhaz, Ubykhs), scholars in Orient history think that the name “Jarkas” the Turkish, Arab and Persian pronunciation of the word Circassians is “Jharks” in Persian which means “four men” to refer to these four Nations, others has argued about the fours where (from South to North) Kingdom of Abswa (Abkhazia): almost the same modern day Abkhazia, Principality of Zikhia or Azigha (the Ubykhs): from Gagra region to North Sochi, Kingdom of Qasugh: Between the Kuban, the Black Sea and Caucasus and the Principality of Kabarda North of the Kuban, west of the Terek and south of the Don.
Other interest hypothesis is that the name “Jarkas” is driven from the name “Jerjos” The Aramaic and Arabic pronunciation of the name “George”, a name used to indicate those who fallow “Mar Jerjos – Saint George”, this hypothesis contribute with Arab resources that mentioned in there several “Nations’ Dictionaries” that Kurj (the name they used to call Georgians with) are a nation living in the west of the Alans and to the north of Armenia, they considered Abkhaz as a part of them, but the expression “to the west of the Alans” and as they considered the capital of Armenia is Tiflis (Tbilisi) make many things here look so wrong, even so Al Masoudi (one Arab Historical and geographical researcher) came to Caucasus and listed the nations there, he distinguished between karatvil mirgil… and there north west neighbors Abswa, Ziekh, Qasugh …. as well as he recognized all nations there, his fellows were not careless to not depend on his books, but simply the name Kurj (Georgians) related to Christian people with “Mar Jerjos” as there Saint “it is still a holy person for Circassian even so they are Muslims”, or Like The Armenians who were Jacobs (even none Armenian people of Tiflis at that time) or Assyrians who were Nestorians…. So it is all about nations with similar religion, culture, habits… and sometimes they listed them under the big title “Rome” Romans, a name they used to indicate all Orthodox in general.
Yes it is a nice hypothesis!!! but it is not a good base when it comes to nation’s destiny, simply because nations as everything got changed through time and every single nation of our time hold the heritages of every civilization were in the same area or next to it or even far away, and off course when it comes to history everything needs a lot of researches and studies before we can build our policies on. History is pure science based on theories, hypothesis, proofs…. as any kind of science, and definitely not based on human issues or feelings or even rights. So please when you want to discuss history discuss it objectively, discuss the theories not the theorists, and discuss it by logic not by some obligations toward your nation, nor by using some stories about which languages can some individuals speak or the policies they have.
Our civilization (yes civilization) has been destroyed as a result of the Russian – Circassian war 1763-1864 and the genocide that happened, after that the history of Caucasus is promoted as Circassians have almost never existed at least as one nation. Officials in the Soviet Union made our dialects to be written by Cyrillic Alphabet as separates languages providing different symbols for the same letters if they were pronounced in different ways (as any other dialects in any other language), adding Russian words to every dialect to describe elements from other environments (Costal - Mountain…) even if they had an original name in the other dialects "they never considered our Dialects as one language". And as result they represented us as small Mountainair minorities from different origins with no significant history, Urban or civilization, and with no base to establish one nation, even our ancient name Nart a name connected to our legends mysteriously become an Oseestian.
As an example of the Soviet behavior toward our culture is the propaganda about how Communism brought civilization to our Mountains, for instance (as you Georgian always try to prove your superiority using that): we had a pictorial writing since 2500 B.C it was discovered by a Russian scientist (A.A. Fultchaninov) who made a book about it in 1981 where he could read the scripts by Abkhazian and Ubykhians, but his work prevented in USSR to keep “cultural balance” in Caucasus, his book has been translated to Arabic by Omar Shabseegh who added his comment to prove the similarity with Adighian (Fultchaninov didn’t know Adighian as a results of the policies mentioned above ) and published the book in Syria in 1989 for the first time just after days since the death of Fultchaninov so he didn’t seen his book published, then it has been translated from Arabic to Turkish, and it was only published in Russian in 1994 in Nalchik and Sukhum.
Back to history; our ancestors under the influence of Byzantium adopted Greek Alphabet since the 5th century A.C, and after 17th century Arabic Alphabet has been used under the influence of the Ottomans, They were connected culturally and economically to Constantinople where their intelligentsia used to go for education.
By the way it wasn’t only Circassian and other Caucasians how had such a treatment, also the people of central Asia had the same situation; Kazakh, Uzbek, Turkmen and Kyrgyz, as well as Azeri are Turks, and their Dialects -Languages had the same treatment of ours, they also represented as undeveloped nations with no writing system even so for hundreds of years they were part of the Islamic civilization which they participated very well as scientists, linguistics (developing Arabic Language and writing system), philosophers, religionists and leaders. All that has simply denied by Soviet Authorities because they needed them divided, and it is still denied by the West in both Caucasus and Central Asia for the same reason.
So can you see our point of view? It is a continuance policy to erase us using this fabricated untrue history cancel our rights in our historical homeland as in the conflict of Abkhazia, where Georgian people do believe that Abkhazia is a part of their land occupied by Russia inhabited by some small nation, but for us “in Diaspora” Abkhazia is an integral part of our divided home land. And this was the reason behind the Circassian vast support to Abkhaz during the war of 1992-1993 even with the lives of their youths, simply it was their war. So Georgia had a war with divided and almost destroyed but still exist nation of about 7 millions and not only 70000 as you’ve said before….. Please let me put it like that: The three arrows in the Circassian flag represent the three parts of our nation Adighians, Abkhaz and Ubykhs. We have already lost the Ubykhs after the Russian – Circassian war.... so we will not let the same thing to happen to the Abkhaz.
Dear Avaliani:
I’m sorry to tell you that you “Georgians” not the “Abkhazians” as you’ve mentioned before who are largely deluded, a delusion based in anti-Russia propaganda designed to prevent any kind of positive connections between different parts in Caucasus, and to keep tension as much as it is needed to make Russia and any other part vulnerable toward western intervention, this issue has already been established in Georgia (your army and police officers’ salaries come from USA and you are independent nation how come?). It was very easy for western powers to design such situation when it was already done by the Soviet Regime.
The main think that trouble me here is that the history is being repeated by the west, only its Georgians instead of Circassians are the part who have to fight against Russia, and there is nothing can till it is going to be different this time. The reason of why I do believe it is the same situation here is that everything isn’t about Georgia or Caucasus but about Russia; you are important because they need you to weaken Russia. So if there is no reason to do so to Russia Georgia will lose all its importance.
Dear Sir you and all Georgians are totally irresponsible to what has been done by a horrible Regime who did everything to put the people of the Soviet Union under its control. The crimes committed by Stalin and Beria are their crimes not Georgians’ crimes, but Georgians are guilty when your politicians supported by the majority of your nation trying to keep any benefit of Stalin’s crimes. And putting everything on Gamsakhordia is not a good idea as he was not responsible of war in Abkhazia, I personally don’t think that his logo of “Georgia for Georgian” is a problem if he never considered others’ homeland is Georgian, any way the idea of that he was responsible for what happened because of his nationalist is ridicules because “Georgia for Georgians” was the logo of his presidential campaign and he was elected massively because of this logo, so the most of the Georgian believed in his nationalistic ideology.
We want to restore our nation in our homeland, your national guards in Sukhum, burning down the Abkhazian Archive, destroying the Museum…. And killing our people is totally against everything we stand for. Shevardnadze insisted during the war that he can only accept equality between all people of Georgia with no autonomy to the Abkhaz, and only after his defeat he started to talk about federation, but if you had a review to all peace proposals made since 1992 you will find one condition always made by Abkhazia and always ignored by Georgia; it is about the Abkhaz Diaspora to be allowed to hold Abkhazian citizenship and to be allowed to come back to Abkhazia. This condition will add half million Abkhaz (one million if we considered those who have an Abkhaz mothers) to the population of Abkhazia, and off course the Abkhaz will be an absolute Majority in their homeland again. The ignorance that made by Georgian officials mean only one thing; it is ok to offer as much as autonomy that Abkhaz want as well as they are a minority, but definitely not to allow them to become a majority. This attitude means to us that Georgia want to swallow Abkhazia for good using the Georgian refugees to guarantee that purpose. So even if I really believe that all Georgian refugees have the right to come back to Abkhazia except those who participated in the murders and ethnic cleansing of Abkhaz should be prevented and only under total investigation and under free judicial decision, but their back should come at the same time of home coming of Abkhaz Diaspora, and after the recognition of Georgia of the right of the these people to come back with no condition such holding Georgian citizenship or recognizing Abkhazia as a part of Georgia.
Dear Avaliani:
Please let me put some comments about some of your opinions;
- Surnames are not indicates to relations between nations; your “ani” seams Italian for example, and your “anya” is closed to the Armenian “yan”, “illy” is similar to Turkish (I know villy means sun in Georgian, so no need to answer that) and your precious “i” is very much similar to Arabic and Persian. But the dangerous thing in your proposal here is that if “baya” and “aba” made Abkhaz and Mirgil similar, so “dze” “villy”….. means “at the same argument” Georgian; svans, mirgil … are not one nation.
- Shevashedze is a Georgian name of Chachba and this family still exist so you can go to Turkey and ask them if they are Abkhazian or Georgian, and you can have the same deal to the families you’ve mentioned before (naturally without your “i” at the end of their names.
- If you trust EU and you want to be part of it doesn’t mean that Abkhazia need to have the same choice actually we totally have no trust toward them, they used us before against Russia and they left us to genocide soon after that. Don’t tell me things have changed because during the war of August the American and Britain media covered the war because they were prevented by china from covering the Olympic Games, so when news about a scandal of American presidential ex-candidate has come they totally covered that story as if it was more important than lives of people of Caucasus. They are acting with you at the same way they have acted with us during 19th century.
- Karkarashvilly even on wheelchair was a member of the Georgian Parliament, and now he is a member in Alasanya’s opposition party. And we don’t care about what he meant in his famous speech, we only care about what he and his troops actually did, and burning done the Abkhazian Archive means only that their war was to erase Abkhaz as a nation and nothing else.
- “There is no place for Georgians to live here there is only a place for them to die” is said by a Russian journalist who used to write to support Georgian during the war (we accuse him to be paid by Georgian Mafia in Moscow to do so) and it has been never said by any Abkhaz official. And how can you claim that Abkhazia is Apartheid and the first lady of Abkhazia is Georgian?
- Ardenziba is a hero who did everything to bring freedom to his nation, and those who started the war are responsible and nobody else. Your suggestions about the equality in guilt between both leaders is like you make Roosevelt equal to Hitler based on the German cities that been destroyed and the millions of German civilians who killed during WWII, for your information before the war there was German majority in the west of Poland who left the area after the defeat of the German army afraid from Polish revenge after the horrible war they suffered. It is the same situation here only the scale is different, but in both case the beginning was a war made to destroy a nation as much as possible, and in both cases the aggressor has been defeated. Ardenziba and all Abkhazian had no choice to react as they did, but Shevernadze and his troops had the choice to act as they did; and they hold responsibility not only for their actions but also for the Abkhaz reactions. Sakhashvelli hold responsibility for continuing of taking all choices from Abkhaz to act, and forcing them to react at the same way.
-To answer your questions about how come the Russian become friends now and Georgians are the enemy is simply because as you “the Georgians” are not guilty for Stalin crimes they are not guilty for the crimes of Tsars tolerant regime. And unlike Georgia how directly started a war against Abkhaz after their international recognition, Russia started a continuance negotiations with Circassian societies in Diaspora and Home, as they from the beginning recognized our rights and our genocide and keep the administrative structure of the Soviet era even in the republics where Circassians are minorities (Adigha and Karachay-Cherkess) to protect their existence in their homeland. Also they didn’t lunch a war could end us for good with ethnic cleansing and later accused us for the results of the war they started, and doing all they can to represent our leaders as criminals and their as heroes (please don’t mention Gamsakhordia he is not the one who started the war).
- All Karatvil settlements in Abkhazia and other parts of Circassia have been made after 1864 with a Russian decision to settle Christian Cossacks and Georgians instead of Muslim Circassians, and for your information the story you’ve told about your grandfather how he help Abkhaz by turning them to Christians is told by those who left Abkhazia in different way; they told to have a choice between Christianizing or leaving, simply like that.
What makes me sure about my accusations to Georgia is that, recent Georgian activities; even they accepted as much autonomy as possible to Abkhazia but it is not ok to Benetton to have a store in Sukhum without Georgian official permission, or the last situation in the Black Sea; 24 years in prison for illegal commerce!!! Please don’t ever say you have an independent judicial system in a democratic country, this is an open fascism. And don’t tell me this situation is only because “the Russian occupation of Abkhazia”, because we both know that before everything Georgians need to gain Abkhaz trust, especially it is Georgia who started the war, and personally I’m sure that Sakhashveli and all his officials are lairs when they propose any autonomy; their operation in South Ossetia was not as they announced Russian forces crossing the boarders through the only way which is a tunnel because if so they should bomb it and close it, but instead they bombed Tskhinval and other Ossetians areas to force them to leave through this tunnel to North Ossetia so in future South Ossetian would be forced to accept Georgian rule or to stay in Russia; they attempted to end the existence of Ossetians in Georgia forever (this was the same deal to Abkhazia in 1992). It always seems like your governments made a very nice public image and then doing something little and the most of the world didn’t even notice but it indicates to the same old fashion policies toward Abkhazia. I totally think that the majority of your people don’t accept the existence of Abkhaz not now, not back in history and definitely not in the future of Abkhazia they only want the land where the air is like no place else.
Dear Nart, Thank You for your comment. I have never stated of Abkhaz being Georgian. I know they are related to Circassians much more then to Kartvelians. I don't have time now to fully respond to your comments. I will go back in depth but please accept the fact that you may be making crucial mistakes. Especially regarding Kartvelian presence in Abkhazia. I will quickly go over a few:Mainly LastnamesYou said: Surnames are not indicates to relations between nations; your “ani” seams Italian for example, and your “anya” is closed to the Armenian “yan”, “illy” is similar to Turkish (I know villy means sun in Georgian, so no need to answer that) and your precious “i” is very much similar to Arabic and Persian. But the dangerous thing in your proposal here is that if “baya” and “aba” made Abkhaz and Mirgil similar, so “dze” “villy”….. means “at the same argument” Georgian; svans, mirgil … are not one nation. All -ani lastnames are Svanetian, not italian (i know people always get confused). Amongst them famous king of Abkhazia Adarnase Shavliani year. 880. This was way before 1864. There is no lastname finishing on "anya" :) you have wrong statement (and details are key they decide between true and false). Mingrelian lastnames finish on -ia, -ua or -va. Like many current Abkhaz lastnames (being actually megrel decent). This is to tell you that Megrel are part of Abkhaz ethnogenesis (will give you more detailed info late). I mentioned in my posting, Cristoforo de Castelli, Italian missionary, mentiones Abkhaz with lastnames as Acciobaya, Sharashia, Lipartiani (these are clear Megrel and Svan endings).Dear Nart, the ending that you mention as -VILLY is actually SHVILI (eastern Georgia) and DZE is the same for western Georgia (Including Abkhazias royal dinasty SHERVASHIDZE). Nothing to do with any turkic name. Now please tell me if there were no Georgians in Abkhazia till 1864, how come their kings lastname was Shervashidze and Bedia monastery built in 10th century has georgian inscriptions ? It's absurdity. Same level of absurdity was made by some Georgian historians who claimed Abkhaz were not even Abkhaz but some people who came down of mountains. So we have to be careful both with assessments. There are huge misinterpretations made on both sides. And Yes, you are right, Svans, Megrel and rest of Georgians are not the same "Nation" (I will correct - ethnicity). They are different. You are absolutely right. Georgian is not an ethnicity like you are trying to put it under Kartvel. It's a Nation. And all I am saying is to take that example and now apply to other European Nations, like Spain or France who have many different ethnical origins. It is absolutely true that Abkhaz are Circassian descent but please make sure you don't mistake Abazins and Abkhaz. Abazins are the ones on your three arrows, probably not Abkhaz. Ubykh (their last dictionnary was made by a Georgian in Paris), Adyghe and Abaza (North Caucasus).Abkhazians are part of Circassian world but politically they have been part of Georgian identity by full extent. Tushins are Ingush, Svans are not Kartvel, Megrel and Laz are much closer then Kartlians and Megrel, Kakhetians are descendants of former Albanians (in Caucasus). Brittons are not Franks, but they are French. Navarre are not Burgunds, speak totally different language but are main pillar of French statehood. Galicians and Catalans are not Spanish, even less the Basques. Corsicans are they French ? Chechens are they Russian ? Ethnicity does not define a Nation. Plus while analyzing, you have to take in consideration feudal structure of these old times and please go check mengrelian and abkhaz music, they are identical. You will laugh, it is so identical. I completely agree with Abkhaz right to self-determination. But please be careful about Georgians presence in Abkhazia. It is far before 1864 that Georgians (kartvelians) had settled there.
You had better to think about them much more earlier , when Stalin and Beria replaced them to Abkhazia as it became empty at that black time and the " blessed ' wind of Eduardo Shevarnaze too k them back to their native homeland.
'Abkhazians are part of Circassian world but politically they have been part of Georgian identity by full extent."
This is the crucial way of your wrong thinking and the way which will never bring you to peace which truly is most important for not only your nation.
Dear Avaliani:
I didn’t make any mistake in the fact that Abkhaz are who been represented in our flag of the three arrows, because simply Abazins is the Russian pronunciation of the word Abaza which is the name that Adighians use to call Abkhaz by, Abkhaz native name is Abswa, and they have been called by Byzantines, Georgians, Armenians…. As Abkhaz, when Adighians, Turks, Arabs used to call them Abaza. And they are not alone in such treatment Kabardins are also a Russian pronunciation of the word Kabarda, and the rest of Circassians (including Abkhaz) call them Kabarttai, Azikha has become Ubykh; Their dialect has been conserved by an Abkhaz historian in the 1940s and Bagart Chinkoba published a book based on his memoires under the name “The last one”. But the real last one who can speak the dialect died in 1987, we’ve managed to keep the dialect but it is not spoken by anyone anymore.
Some researchers considered Abaza are the people of northern Abkhazia and that was also a mistake, and many were searching about why and when they left Abkhazia toward north making a lot of theories about that. The simple fact is that Russian Czar was so kind to let the rest of Circassian (only 5% -10% of the total population) to stay but only in the lowlands when they can be controlled by his troops, modern Abaza “Abazin” in Karachay-Cherkessia are simply those who left the highlands of Abkhazia (including Kodor valley) toward the Cuban. You can simply look at the ethnic map of Caucasus and you will find that Adighians and Abkhaz (abazas) are settled next to the rivers and in the cost line with few (who didn’t been a threat to Russians troops) living in the mountains so they are an “internal displaced people” after the year of 1864. The tsarist’s orders where to erase Circassian for good, their villages, cities, farms … has been totally destroyed and nothing has been left so no Circassian will ever think to go back, and then they established settlements to Georgians, Armenians and Cossacks there. But they didn’t really succeed till Stalin managed a great settlement operation in Circassia for Russian Georgians and other nationalities to reinvest the region (after he politically divided it).
I’ve never said Georgians have no existence in Abkhazia before 1864, I only said the Georgian settlements (which mean there massive existence) did not exist before 1864, and my proof is simple if there was Georgian settlements they would receive the same treatment (total destruction) as an allies to Circassians.
Georgians did exist in Abkhazia and other parts of Circassia long before 1864, Armenians also did so; Bagarattionis (Armenian dynasty by origin) especially Bagarat II are a clear example of the strong relations between Circassians, Georgians and Armenians. Also Muslims (Arabs, Persian and Turks) existed in Tbilisi (Tiflis) for about 1000 years, but that doesn’t mean Tbilisi should be an Arab or Turkish or Persian, and any king how ruled it didn’t turn its population to his nationality, the same situation is in the case of Abkhazia.
Dear Sir; all recent nations in the world have been created by mixing different old nations and troops, and the funny thing here is that any nation’s Language or Culture or Race are not necessary created by the same compositions, and usually they don’t.
In Caucasus we have one culture (not only Identical Music), different languages and different races from deferent origins. And this one culture is the biggest proof that we lived together and we’ve merged together, so there was Georgians in Circassia, Circassian in Georgia, Alans in both, and Mongols in all the area.
In the article about Zugdidi as you’ve mentioned before the women talked about how she discovered that Abkhaz and Georgian have the same traditions; you gave that as an example of what we share, but I’ve been shocked about how come different nations where neighbors for Thousands of years and sharing the same country “USSR” and they don’t know each other, when we in Diaspora knew it all the time. What the hell the regime you had guys?
Nations are only created by the decision of their people, anyway else we will have a conflict, we can’t decide any group of people to be a nation based on any race or language or culture and definitely not by some political decisions made by Stalin, some ancient King or even UN, Nations created only by their people. Circassians decided to be one nation long time ago, and they still one nation till now, they fought wars side by side in old times (this has been listed in our traditional songs), they did it in the war of 1992-1993 and they will do it in any future war. And this is the reason why Abkhazia has been small and strong country; they had their back protected by other Circassians, and this is why they could win the war in 1993 (Russian didn’t supported them it is only how Shevernadze tried to justify his defeat). Today The Circassian Association which represents Circassians in the world represents Abkhaz, and the statement of the Circassian Congress comes like that: we the representatives of the Circassian (Adighian-Abkhaz) Nation……
I personally don’t consider Cristoforo de Castelli as a good resource because: first he said that Georgia has two kings one in Tbilisi and the other in Sukhum, which is against the mentality of that time “actually of anytime”; Tow kings mean tow kingdoms, which they are two countries with two different names (it is really looks like someone want to make it sure that Abkhazia is part of Georgia by a neutral side). Second he has no existence as historian or chronologist anywhere else but Georgia. So I believe he has been used (and maybe created) as a resource to create false Abkhazian history during the Soviet times, or at least many false assumptions been put in his word to do so.
Again Shevashedze or Sherveshedze or any other name is only a Georgian name used to call Chachba royal family of Abkhazia, Chachba family are not Georgian and you can go to Turkey (Constantinople for example) and ask them if they are Georgian or Abkhaz so stop using them as a proof for your case because they are not.
At the end let me be clear here: even if Georgians have only been in Abkhazia after 1864 this doesn’t mean the Georgian refugees should not be allowed to come back to their homes, as it is the right of every Abkhaz in Diaspora to come back to his homeland, and for both to have the same rights and duties of everyone in Abkhazia. It is only a matter of security that prevent Abkhaz leadership from allowing you (Georgian refugees and not internal displaced people) to come back, and again it is your leaders who preventing that by their stupid policies.
Abkhazia – Indispensable Part of Georgia (according to historical records)
May 30, 2009
Speech of Dr. George Otkhmezuri, Associate Professor, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
at symposium on
Georgia at the Crossroads of European and Asian Cultures
Culture as a tool for the mutual understanding and intercultural dialogue
The Harriman Institute at Columbia University
New York, NY
May 4, 2009
Abkhazia (Apkhazeti) is a Georgian historical-geographic province like Kakheti, Samegrelo, Svaneti and Kartli among others. Located in the extreme north-west region of western Georgia, it stretches from the south slope of the Caucasian Ridge to the Gumista River (to the north of Sokhumi). An Abkhaz (Apkhaz) denoted a resident of Abkhazia, like a Kakhetian signified a person living in Kakheti, a Kartlian meant a person living in Kartli and Svanetian a person residing in Svaneti.
Colchis is the name with which the Greeks referred to the state located on the territory of western Georgia in the late 2nd millennium BC and the early 1st millennium BC. The name can be found in Assyrian and Urartian cuneiform inscriptions from the period between the 12th to the 8th century BC.
Despite the application of the term Lazica in relation to western Georgia, Roman and Byzantine historians highlighted that the Laz were the same as the Colchians. For example, the 2nd century writers Arrian and Claudius Ptolemy mention a geographic entity Lazica located at Nikopsia (what is now Tuapse). Arrian calls it ‘old Lazica’, which is truthful evidence of the presence of Colchian-Laz population on this place from ancient time. The 6th century Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea noted: ‘Colchis, which is now called Lazica’, meaning that Lazica Kingdom was an immediate successor of Colchis.
The etymology of Egrisi, an old Georgian name of western Georgia, is related to the Enguri River. Like Colchis and Lazica, it denoted the whole of western Georgia and its population.
Opinions differ in historiography with respect to the ethnic origin of the Abkhazs and their original place of habitation. There are scholars who consider them to be north Caucasian tribes who settled on the territory of Georgia (present-day Abkhazia) in the 18th century, while others claim that they are the Abazgs and Apshils referred to in the 1st and 2nd century Georgian and Greek sources and that the Abkhazs as mentioned in the feudal period are the ancestors of contemporary Abkhazs (Apsuas) and that they lived in this region from ancient time. Both viewpoints as versions have a right to existence since there is no direct reference to the ethnic origin of the Abazg-Apshils in the historical records. The only point that can be debated is that beginning from the 2nd century BC to the Antiquity, Colchian culture was spread on the whole territory of western Georgia (this is witnessed by archaeological evidence) and the Abazg-Apshils and Abkhazs living in the Antiquity and the Middle Ages in one part of this territory culturally and historically were Georgians. It is also to be taken into consideration that according to Georgian chronicles, in the 8th century the Abkhazs and Apshils were two different neighboring tribes with their own administrative-territorial units. During the raid led by Murwan the Deaf (735-737), Arab commander-in-chief ‘ravaged the Apshils’ city of Tskhumi’ (Juansher), while at the end of the same century, under the reign of Leon II, of eight principalities making up ‘the Kingdom of the Abkhazs’, the principalities of Abkhazia and Tskhumi were mentioned separately (Prince Vakhishti Bagrationi).
According to Georgian historical records (there are no other sources) erismtavari (governor) Archil of Kartli, who had no offspring, arranged for the marriage of Gurandukht, the daughter of his elder brother Miri, who had died in the battle against Murwan the Deaf at Anakopia, to King Leon I of the Abkhazs and handed to the latter a crown sent to Miri by the Byzantine emperor. This dynastic marriage led to the unification of Egrisi and Abkhazia. Since then ‘Leon obeyed Archil to the end of his life’. Slightly earlier Leon I had incorporated Apshileti From that time on there is no mention of the Apshils in written records.
The unification of western Georgia was one side of the process unfolding across Georgia in conditions of struggling against external enemies. Around the same time, Kakheti (780s), Tao-Klarjeti (late 8th and early 9th century) and Hereti (9th century) were formed.
At the end of the 8th century, the ruler of this united west Georgian state, nephew of Leon I, Leon II took advantage of the difficult home and foreign affairs in Byzantine Empire, set free from its vassalage and declared himself king. The state founded by Leon II, which encompassed the whole of western Georgia and stretched from Nikopsia to the Chorokhi gorge and from the Black Sea to Likhi Ridge, was referred to as ‘the Kingdom of the Abkhazs’ and their kings, as the ‘Kings of the Abkhazs’ in 11th century and later Georgian written sources. It was then that the concept of Abkazia expanded to include entire west Georgia. Abkhazia proper came to denote one part of it. Similar facts have many times been noted in the history of Georgia. For example, in the 4th century, the west Georgian state consolidated on the initiative of the Lazi, was called Lazica; united united under the hegemony of Kakheti in the 780s, in parallel with the ‘Kingdom of the Abkhazs’, Kakhet-Kukhet-Gardabani was called Kakheti Bishopric.
‘The Kingdom of the Abkhazs’ is a Georgian, namely a west Georgian state, inhabited chiefly by the Georgian population. This is the assertion of not only Georgian historians, but also of the best-known Abkhaz historians, Z. Anchabadze and G. Dzidzaria.
Different viewpoints are expressed with respect to the ethnic affiliation of ‘the kings of the Abkhazs’. Some scholars consider them to be Greek since they were descendants of the rulers of Byzantine Empire (archonts), while others associate them either with the non-Georgian Abkhazs or the Georgian Abkhazs. All of these three opinions are propositions. However, it is of note that 10th century Armenian historian Hovhannes Draskhanakertsi (Catholicos John) refers to this state as Egrisi, and the kings - the kings of as the Egrs. Being a contemporary of these events, he thus identifies this state, Egrisi, with western Georgia, and its kings as Georgians. 12th century Armenian historian Vardan the Great calls them descendants of Vakhtang Gorgasali, i.e. for him, these are Georgians, descendants of king of Kartli. It is also to be mentioned that it is not only their ethnic background (though it is also of interest), but their national self-consciousness that is essential for history. Judging by their national self-consciousness and state-building efforts, 9th-11th century kings of the ‘Kingdom of the Abkhazs’, i.e. western Georgia, are Georgian kings of the Georgian state. It is essential that with its language, writing system, culture, religion and policy the Kingdom of the Abkhazs was a truly Georgian state, and its kings – Georgians considering the same features. Their Georgian national self-consciousness and the mode of public thinking can be illustrated by the decision of Leon II, who undertook to move the capital of the state from the fortified city of Anakopia in the Kingdom of the Abkhazs to Kutaisi, one of the ancient Georgian cities and an important Georgian cultural centre.
The most obvious manifestation of the efforts of the kings of the Abkhazs aimed at building a single Georgian state was an ecclesiastical policy pursued by them after gaining political independence.
The Patriarchate of Constantinople periodically made up lists of subordinated eparchies, the so-called ‘notations’, which provide information on the large-scale church reforms implemented by the kings of the Abkhazs.
From the end of the 9th century, the western Georgian ecclesiastical centres (Sebastopol from the 10th century) incorporated into the Patriarchate of Constantinople were no more mentioned in the notations. It was on the initiative of the kings of the ‘Abkhazs’ that these centres withdrew from the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and later united with the rest of western Georgian eparchies under the Catholicos of the Abkhazs. Later, again with the efforts of the kings of the ‘Abkhazs’ and the support of the Mtskheta Catholicate, they became subordinated to the Mtskheta See and united with the all-Georgian Church. After this act, Catholicos Ioane IV of Kartli (1080-1001) was conferred with the title of Patriarch and came to be referred to as the Patriarch of Kartli and the Whole of the East (i.e. of all Georgia) (Parkhali inscriptions). This is how the consolidation of the Georgian Church came to an end, which preceded and prepared grounds for the political unification.
With the aim of eliminating Greek influence, the kings of the Abkhazs abolished the Episcopal Sees founded by Constantinople and established new, Georgian bishoprics instead. For example, Giorgi II founded Chkondidi Bishopric, Leon III – Mokvi and Bagrat III – Bedia. These bishoprics served as Georgian cultural centres. E.g. Mokvi Church had a rich library. Of the manuscripts surviving to our day, of particular note is an illuminated Gospel copied in 1300 by Daniel Mokveli (Daniel of Mokvi). The manuscript testifies to the high level of writing tradition at Mokvi. Patriarch Dositeo of Jerusalem (who visited Mokvi in 1659) noted that according to the inscriptions on the church, the walls were painted in the reign of King Davit Aghmashenebeli (David the Builder). The well-known Georgian historian, T. Zhordania wrote that Mokvi inscriptions were deliberately erased by ‘ill-wishers’ of Georgia and the ‘ignorant’. There is only one photo negative of the inscriptions commemorating ‘Archbishop Grigol of Mokvi’ that survives. Comments of the Mokvi manuscripts and Georgian historical records preserve names of 12th-17th century Mokvi archbishops.
If the Kingdom of the ‘Abkhazs’ had not been a Georgian state and its kings Georgian kings, the Church would not have separated from the Patriarchate of Constantinople and if separated, would have established itself as an Abkhazian Church proper instead of consolidating with and subordinating itself to the Catholicate of Mtskheta; Neither Georgian liturgies would have been established.
Beginning from the 9th century the Georgian language became dominant in the Kingdom of the Abkhazs: Georgian became an official language and the one used by the Church. Inscriptions on churches, stone blocks, bridges and other structures were all made in Georgian. The history of the kings of the Abkhazs Apkhazta Mepeta Divani was written in the Georgian language at the royal court.
Ancient inscriptions on the territory of Abkhazia date from the 9th century. The disruption of the united Georgian feudal monarchy and the political, economic and cultural decline of Georgia beginning from the 17th century, which followed the Ottoman aggression of western Georgia, is evident in the epigraphic works in Abkhazia. From that time onwards less and less inscriptions were made in Abkhazia. However, neither other language inscriptions were made. According to the historical evidence, liturgy in western Georgia and in Abkhazia in particular was held in Georgian and church donors, architects, masons and the congregation, i.e. the local population belonged to the Georgian ethno-cultural world. This evidence also supports the statement made in the work of the 10th century eminent Georgian ecclesiastical figure, Giorgi Merchule, according to which ‘And Kartli consists of that spacious land in which the liturgy and all prayers are said in the Georgian language’, i.e. Kartli (Georgia) includes Abkhazia.
Between the 9th through the 11th century the Kingdom of the Abkhazs was together with other Georgian kingdoms and principalities actively engaged in the efforts aimed at the consolidation of all Georgian lands into a single state. Beginning from the 860s, it even played a dominant role. The inscriptions at Armazi, Samtsevrisi, Eredvi, Tsirkoli, Kumurdo and other churches confirm the supremacy of the authority of Giorgi I, Constantine II, Giorgi II and Leon III in Shida (Inner) Kartli and Javakheti.
Appointed by Demetre III (967-975) as eristavi (governor) of Kartli, Ioane Marushisdze put forth a plan of the consolidation of Georgia, which was realized under the leadership of Davit III of Tao and thanks to the relentless efforts of Ioane Marushisdze himself. Bagrat Bagrationi, Bagrat III (978-1014) was crowned king of the ‘Abkhazs’ and ‘Georgians’ in Kutaisi. The first title which Bagrat received was the ‘King of the Abkhazs’ (978). The name of Bagrat III was added to the Apkhazta Mepeta Divani. By doing so, Bargat III formally confirmed the legitimacy of his royal authority in western Georgia. Upon the death of Davit III (+1001), his titled was extended to include the ‘King of Kartvelis (Georgians)’, and after taking Kakhet-Hereti (1008-1010) he was referred to as the ‘King of the Abkhazs (i.e. western Georgia), Kartvelis (i.e. Kartl-Meskhi), Kakhs and Hers’, title that Georgian kings retained unchanged. The fact that the king of ‘the Abkhazs’ was the first mentioned in the title explains a large number of instances when in foreign sources ‘Abkhazia’ and ‘Abkhaz’ were used to denote ‘Georgia’ and ‘Georgian’ respectively, and the kings of the Georgian feudal monarchy, Giorgi I, Bagrat IV, Davit Aghmashenebeli, Tamar and others were referred to as either Abazg/Abkhaz, or Gurji, or Iberi.
Across Abkhazia, namely Sokhumi, ran a road which had a great trade and political importance. This is why a single-span bridge was built over the Besleti River, which fully meets contemporary standards of bridge construction and has a capacity to bear a chain of vehicles with a total weight of eight tons. The bridge preserves an inscription glorifying Bagrat III. Similar bridges also survive in other Georgian regions: in Rkoni (Shida Kartli) and Dondalo (Achara).
Beginning from the 11th century to the early 18th century, before establishing as an independent principality, Abkahzia was incorporated into united Georgia, Imereti kingdom and Odishi principality on various grounds. Abkhaz eristavis and later mtavaris (rulers) were from the Shervashidze feudal house.
Difficult home and foreign affairs in Georgia created favorable conditions for the settlement of the north Caucasian tribes, the Apsuas. Affected by their raids and the Ottoman aggression, Catholicos-Patriarch Evedemon I Chkhetidze of Abkhazia (1557-1565) had to move the centre of the Catholicate from Bichvinta to Gelati (Bichvinta Church was built under Bagrat III, at the end of the 10th and beginning of the 11th century. The church preserves 16th century mural fragments. In the 19th century, the walls of the church were whitewashed by the Russians).
Apsua is a name given by the contemporary Abkhazs to themselves. They refer to themselves as ‘Apsua’, their language the ‘Apsua language’, and their state – ‘Apsni’. Until the 17th century the Apsuas lived on the Kuban River in the north Caucasus. According to the 1st century Roman historian, Pliny, the place of living of the ‘Absoe’, i.e. ‘Apsua’ is in the north Caucasus. In the same place is located Absvas regi, i.e. ‘the land of the Apsua’ and their fortress Akva on a map drawn up by the Italian cartographer Jacopo Gastaldi in 1561. A map of western Georgia, made in 1738, already shows Akva, an Abkhaz (Apsua) name of Tskhumi in place of an old Georgian city of Tskhumi (Sokhumi). A map of western Georgia, made in 1738, has Akva, an Abkhaz (Apsua) name of Tskhumi instead of Tskhumi (Sokhumi). Nearby is Tskhumi Fortress (the original of the map is kept in Moscow ЦГВИА ВУА, and a copy in the National Centre of Manuscripts RT IV, #1, Tbilisi). That the initial homeland of the Apsuas was in the highlands, is obvious from folk legends (they had no script of their own). The Apsuas brought their own names, religious traditions and customary laws to Georgia. It is therefore that if before that time nobody distinguished, either from the social or religious point of view, between the land inhabited by the Abkhazs and the population of Georgian and western Georgia proper, in particular, beginning from the 1630s the situation changed markedly. In the 14th century there were no Abkhazs (Apsuas) living in Tskhumi. According to the bishop of Sokhumi Catholic Mission, Pietro Gerladi, in 1330 Tskhumi was inhabited by the Georgians, Muslims and Jews. The Abkhazs may have lived in Tskhumi at that time, but for Geraldi they are Georgians. The works of the foreign writers who were contemporaries or witnesses of these events (Italian Giovanni and Luke, Archangelo Lamberti, Turkish Evlia Chelebi and others) highlight that the way of life, dressing and the spoken language the Abkhazs (Apsuas) was different from those of the Georgians and similar to those of the Circassians.
In the middle of the 17th century, Abkhazia still included Dranda, Mokvi, Ilori, Bedia, Bichvinta and villages on the other side of the Enguri River. To protect from the intruding Abkhazs, Levan II Dadiani (1611-1657), ruler of Samegrelo, fortified and expanded Kelasuri wall, but the defense of the country under the Ottoman rule and the political aggression, appeared to be more and more difficult. Apart from that, from the 17th through the 18th century Ottoman Turkey tried to incite confrontation between the Georgians and the Abkhazs by spreading Islam.
This is how gradually the Apsuas occupied part of Abkhazia – a historical Georgian region. Contemporaries called them the Abkhazs because they lived in Abkhazia. According to medieval Georgian Law, foreigners who establish themselves on the Georgian land became local (but not aborigine). It was through Georgian that the name ‘Abkhaz’ entered Russian and other languages.
After the abolition of the Kingdom of Abkhazia by the Russians (1864), Abkhazia was incorporated into Kutaisi province, first under the name of ‘Sokumi Military Department’ and later, in 1883, as “Sokhumi District’. Thus the name ‘Abkhazia’ (Apkhazeti) was removed not by Georgians, as some scholars claim, but by the Russians. The Georgians, on the contrary, restored the name Abkhazia in the Georgian Democratic Republic (1918-1921), an independent state of the Georgians established after the fall of the empire (1918) and in line with the constitution of the country, granted a status of autonomy to it. The autonomy was recognized by the government of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic (RSFSR) under the Treaty of 7 May 1920.
After the establishment of the Soviet rule in Georgia (1921) the status of Abkhazia was changed several times. On the request of Abkhaz Bolsheviks and with the support of Georgian Bolsheviks and Soviet Russia, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Abkhazia was declared in 1921. In November of the same year it was recognized as a republic associated with Georgia. Under the constitution of the Soviet Union of 1924, Abkhazia was an Autonomous Republic of Georgia, which is how it is referred in all other documents. This status was finally formalized in 1931, at the 6th Assembly of the Abkhazian Councils.
It is also to be noted that the area taken up by Abkhazia was less than required for granting a status of an autonomous republic under the Soviet legislation. Therefore, District of Samurzakano-Gali, fully inhabited by the Georgians, was added to Abkhazia.
Protests voiced by the population have not been taken into account. It is also of note that the Apsuas (the Abkhazs) always made the minority of the Abkahzian population, which is supported by the data official census. According to the final census (1989), they accounted for 17-18% of the population of Abkhazia, and Georgians - 45%. The rest part of the population was made up by the Greeks, Russians, Armenians and others. Between 1918 and 1920 and towards the end of the 1980s anti-Georgian demonstrations, provoked by the Russians, were held, which ultimately led to the establishment of the separatist regime with the immediate intervention of Russia. The Russian ‘role’ once again became apparent during the August 2008 events.
Today the Abkhazs are an established nation, who have no other country apart from Georgia (Abkhazia proper). It goes without question that living in Abkhazia together with the Georgians is their legitimate right and that their interests and rights (national, political and social) must be protected. However, it is also to be highlighted that Abkhazia is an indispensable part of Georgia and the only homeland to the 250 thousand Georgians against whom genocide was perpetrated and who had to flee their homes.
Despite the tragedy that happened, the Georgians and the Abkhazs can still live together. The best way would be to start negotiations without mediators and work out principles and criteria, equally acceptable both to the Georgians and the Abkhazs, based on which normal living conditions could be restored in Abkhazia. Everyone must understand that Abkhazia is Georgia and that the Georgian nation will never reconcile with the withdrawal of Abkhazia from the jurisdiction of Georgia.
Abkhazia – Indispensable Part of Georgia (according to historical records)
May 30, 2009
Speech of Dr. George Otkhmezuri, Associate Professor, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
at symposium on
Georgia at the Crossroads of European and Asian Cultures
Culture as a tool for the mutual understanding and intercultural dialogue
The Harriman Institute at Columbia University
New York, NY
May 4, 2009
Abkhazia (Apkhazeti) is a Georgian historical-geographic province like Kakheti, Samegrelo, Svaneti and Kartli among others. Located in the extreme north-west region of western Georgia, it stretches from the south slope of the Caucasian Ridge to the Gumista River (to the north of Sokhumi). An Abkhaz (Apkhaz) denoted a resident of Abkhazia, like a Kakhetian signified a person living in Kakheti, a Kartlian meant a person living in Kartli and Svanetian a person residing in Svaneti.
Colchis is the name with which the Greeks referred to the state located on the territory of western Georgia in the late 2nd millennium BC and the early 1st millennium BC. The name can be found in Assyrian and Urartian cuneiform inscriptions from the period between the 12th to the 8th century BC.
Despite the application of the term Lazica in relation to western Georgia, Roman and Byzantine historians highlighted that the Laz were the same as the Colchians. For example, the 2nd century writers Arrian and Claudius Ptolemy mention a geographic entity Lazica located at Nikopsia (what is now Tuapse). Arrian calls it ‘old Lazica’, which is truthful evidence of the presence of Colchian-Laz population on this place from ancient time. The 6th century Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea noted: ‘Colchis, which is now called Lazica’, meaning that Lazica Kingdom was an immediate successor of Colchis.
The etymology of Egrisi, an old Georgian name of western Georgia, is related to the Enguri River. Like Colchis and Lazica, it denoted the whole of western Georgia and its population.
Opinions differ in historiography with respect to the ethnic origin of the Abkhazs and their original place of habitation. There are scholars who consider them to be north Caucasian tribes who settled on the territory of Georgia (present-day Abkhazia) in the 18th century, while others claim that they are the Abazgs and Apshils referred to in the 1st and 2nd century Georgian and Greek sources and that the Abkhazs as mentioned in the feudal period are the ancestors of contemporary Abkhazs (Apsuas) and that they lived in this region from ancient time. Both viewpoints as versions have a right to existence since there is no direct reference to the ethnic origin of the Abazg-Apshils in the historical records. The only point that can be debated is that beginning from the 2nd century BC to the Antiquity, Colchian culture was spread on the whole territory of western Georgia (this is witnessed by archaeological evidence) and the Abazg-Apshils and Abkhazs living in the Antiquity and the Middle Ages in one part of this territory culturally and historically were Georgians. It is also to be taken into consideration that according to Georgian chronicles, in the 8th century the Abkhazs and Apshils were two different neighboring tribes with their own administrative-territorial units. During the raid led by Murwan the Deaf (735-737), Arab commander-in-chief ‘ravaged the Apshils’ city of Tskhumi’ (Juansher), while at the end of the same century, under the reign of Leon II, of eight principalities making up ‘the Kingdom of the Abkhazs’, the principalities of Abkhazia and Tskhumi were mentioned separately (Prince Vakhishti Bagrationi).
According to Georgian historical records (there are no other sources) erismtavari (governor) Archil of Kartli, who had no offspring, arranged for the marriage of Gurandukht, the daughter of his elder brother Miri, who had died in the battle against Murwan the Deaf at Anakopia, to King Leon I of the Abkhazs and handed to the latter a crown sent to Miri by the Byzantine emperor. This dynastic marriage led to the unification of Egrisi and Abkhazia. Since then ‘Leon obeyed Archil to the end of his life’. Slightly earlier Leon I had incorporated Apshileti From that time on there is no mention of the Apshils in written records.
The unification of western Georgia was one side of the process unfolding across Georgia in conditions of struggling against external enemies. Around the same time, Kakheti (780s), Tao-Klarjeti (late 8th and early 9th century) and Hereti (9th century) were formed.
At the end of the 8th century, the ruler of this united west Georgian state, nephew of Leon I, Leon II took advantage of the difficult home and foreign affairs in Byzantine Empire, set free from its vassalage and declared himself king. The state founded by Leon II, which encompassed the whole of western Georgia and stretched from Nikopsia to the Chorokhi gorge and from the Black Sea to Likhi Ridge, was referred to as ‘the Kingdom of the Abkhazs’ and their kings, as the ‘Kings of the Abkhazs’ in 11th century and later Georgian written sources. It was then that the concept of Abkazia expanded to include entire west Georgia. Abkhazia proper came to denote one part of it. Similar facts have many times been noted in the history of Georgia. For example, in the 4th century, the west Georgian state consolidated on the initiative of the Lazi, was called Lazica; united united under the hegemony of Kakheti in the 780s, in parallel with the ‘Kingdom of the Abkhazs’, Kakhet-Kukhet-Gardabani was called Kakheti Bishopric.
‘The Kingdom of the Abkhazs’ is a Georgian, namely a west Georgian state, inhabited chiefly by the Georgian population. This is the assertion of not only Georgian historians, but also of the best-known Abkhaz historians, Z. Anchabadze and G. Dzidzaria.
Different viewpoints are expressed with respect to the ethnic affiliation of ‘the kings of the Abkhazs’. Some scholars consider them to be Greek since they were descendants of the rulers of Byzantine Empire (archonts), while others associate them either with the non-Georgian Abkhazs or the Georgian Abkhazs. All of these three opinions are propositions. However, it is of note that 10th century Armenian historian Hovhannes Draskhanakertsi (Catholicos John) refers to this state as Egrisi, and the kings - the kings of as the Egrs. Being a contemporary of these events, he thus identifies this state, Egrisi, with western Georgia, and its kings as Georgians. 12th century Armenian historian Vardan the Great calls them descendants of Vakhtang Gorgasali, i.e. for him, these are Georgians, descendants of king of Kartli. It is also to be mentioned that it is not only their ethnic background (though it is also of interest), but their national self-consciousness that is essential for history. Judging by their national self-consciousness and state-building efforts, 9th-11th century kings of the ‘Kingdom of the Abkhazs’, i.e. western Georgia, are Georgian kings of the Georgian state. It is essential that with its language, writing system, culture, religion and policy the Kingdom of the Abkhazs was a truly Georgian state, and its kings – Georgians considering the same features. Their Georgian national self-consciousness and the mode of public thinking can be illustrated by the decision of Leon II, who undertook to move the capital of the state from the fortified city of Anakopia in the Kingdom of the Abkhazs to Kutaisi, one of the ancient Georgian cities and an important Georgian cultural centre.
The most obvious manifestation of the efforts of the kings of the Abkhazs aimed at building a single Georgian state was an ecclesiastical policy pursued by them after gaining political independence.
The Patriarchate of Constantinople periodically made up lists of subordinated eparchies, the so-called ‘notations’, which provide information on the large-scale church reforms implemented by the kings of the Abkhazs.
From the end of the 9th century, the western Georgian ecclesiastical centres (Sebastopol from the 10th century) incorporated into the Patriarchate of Constantinople were no more mentioned in the notations. It was on the initiative of the kings of the ‘Abkhazs’ that these centres withdrew from the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and later united with the rest of western Georgian eparchies under the Catholicos of the Abkhazs. Later, again with the efforts of the kings of the ‘Abkhazs’ and the support of the Mtskheta Catholicate, they became subordinated to the Mtskheta See and united with the all-Georgian Church. After this act, Catholicos Ioane IV of Kartli (1080-1001) was conferred with the title of Patriarch and came to be referred to as the Patriarch of Kartli and the Whole of the East (i.e. of all Georgia) (Parkhali inscriptions). This is how the consolidation of the Georgian Church came to an end, which preceded and prepared grounds for the political unification.
With the aim of eliminating Greek influence, the kings of the Abkhazs abolished the Episcopal Sees founded by Constantinople and established new, Georgian bishoprics instead. For example, Giorgi II founded Chkondidi Bishopric, Leon III – Mokvi and Bagrat III – Bedia. These bishoprics served as Georgian cultural centres. E.g. Mokvi Church had a rich library. Of the manuscripts surviving to our day, of particular note is an illuminated Gospel copied in 1300 by Daniel Mokveli (Daniel of Mokvi). The manuscript testifies to the high level of writing tradition at Mokvi. Patriarch Dositeo of Jerusalem (who visited Mokvi in 1659) noted that according to the inscriptions on the church, the walls were painted in the reign of King Davit Aghmashenebeli (David the Builder). The well-known Georgian historian, T. Zhordania wrote that Mokvi inscriptions were deliberately erased by ‘ill-wishers’ of Georgia and the ‘ignorant’. There is only one photo negative of the inscriptions commemorating ‘Archbishop Grigol of Mokvi’ that survives. Comments of the Mokvi manuscripts and Georgian historical records preserve names of 12th-17th century Mokvi archbishops.
If the Kingdom of the ‘Abkhazs’ had not been a Georgian state and its kings Georgian kings, the Church would not have separated from the Patriarchate of Constantinople and if separated, would have established itself as an Abkhazian Church proper instead of consolidating with and subordinating itself to the Catholicate of Mtskheta; Neither Georgian liturgies would have been established.
Beginning from the 9th century the Georgian language became dominant in the Kingdom of the Abkhazs: Georgian became an official language and the one used by the Church. Inscriptions on churches, stone blocks, bridges and other structures were all made in Georgian. The history of the kings of the Abkhazs Apkhazta Mepeta Divani was written in the Georgian language at the royal court.
Ancient inscriptions on the territory of Abkhazia date from the 9th century. The disruption of the united Georgian feudal monarchy and the political, economic and cultural decline of Georgia beginning from the 17th century, which followed the Ottoman aggression of western Georgia, is evident in the epigraphic works in Abkhazia. From that time onwards less and less inscriptions were made in Abkhazia. However, neither other language inscriptions were made. According to the historical evidence, liturgy in western Georgia and in Abkhazia in particular was held in Georgian and church donors, architects, masons and the congregation, i.e. the local population belonged to the Georgian ethno-cultural world. This evidence also supports the statement made in the work of the 10th century eminent Georgian ecclesiastical figure, Giorgi Merchule, according to which ‘And Kartli consists of that spacious land in which the liturgy and all prayers are said in the Georgian language’, i.e. Kartli (Georgia) includes Abkhazia.
Between the 9th through the 11th century the Kingdom of the Abkhazs was together with other Georgian kingdoms and principalities actively engaged in the efforts aimed at the consolidation of all Georgian lands into a single state. Beginning from the 860s, it even played a dominant role. The inscriptions at Armazi, Samtsevrisi, Eredvi, Tsirkoli, Kumurdo and other churches confirm the supremacy of the authority of Giorgi I, Constantine II, Giorgi II and Leon III in Shida (Inner) Kartli and Javakheti.
Appointed by Demetre III (967-975) as eristavi (governor) of Kartli, Ioane Marushisdze put forth a plan of the consolidation of Georgia, which was realized under the leadership of Davit III of Tao and thanks to the relentless efforts of Ioane Marushisdze himself. Bagrat Bagrationi, Bagrat III (978-1014) was crowned king of the ‘Abkhazs’ and ‘Georgians’ in Kutaisi. The first title which Bagrat received was the ‘King of the Abkhazs’ (978). The name of Bagrat III was added to the Apkhazta Mepeta Divani. By doing so, Bargat III formally confirmed the legitimacy of his royal authority in western Georgia. Upon the death of Davit III (+1001), his titled was extended to include the ‘King of Kartvelis (Georgians)’, and after taking Kakhet-Hereti (1008-1010) he was referred to as the ‘King of the Abkhazs (i.e. western Georgia), Kartvelis (i.e. Kartl-Meskhi), Kakhs and Hers’, title that Georgian kings retained unchanged. The fact that the king of ‘the Abkhazs’ was the first mentioned in the title explains a large number of instances when in foreign sources ‘Abkhazia’ and ‘Abkhaz’ were used to denote ‘Georgia’ and ‘Georgian’ respectively, and the kings of the Georgian feudal monarchy, Giorgi I, Bagrat IV, Davit Aghmashenebeli, Tamar and others were referred to as either Abazg/Abkhaz, or Gurji, or Iberi.
Across Abkhazia, namely Sokhumi, ran a road which had a great trade and political importance. This is why a single-span bridge was built over the Besleti River, which fully meets contemporary standards of bridge construction and has a capacity to bear a chain of vehicles with a total weight of eight tons. The bridge preserves an inscription glorifying Bagrat III. Similar bridges also survive in other Georgian regions: in Rkoni (Shida Kartli) and Dondalo (Achara).
Beginning from the 11th century to the early 18th century, before establishing as an independent principality, Abkahzia was incorporated into united Georgia, Imereti kingdom and Odishi principality on various grounds. Abkhaz eristavis and later mtavaris (rulers) were from the Shervashidze feudal house.
Difficult home and foreign affairs in Georgia created favorable conditions for the settlement of the north Caucasian tribes, the Apsuas. Affected by their raids and the Ottoman aggression, Catholicos-Patriarch Evedemon I Chkhetidze of Abkhazia (1557-1565) had to move the centre of the Catholicate from Bichvinta to Gelati (Bichvinta Church was built under Bagrat III, at the end of the 10th and beginning of the 11th century. The church preserves 16th century mural fragments. In the 19th century, the walls of the church were whitewashed by the Russians).
Apsua is a name given by the contemporary Abkhazs to themselves. They refer to themselves as ‘Apsua’, their language the ‘Apsua language’, and their state – ‘Apsni’. Until the 17th century the Apsuas lived on the Kuban River in the north Caucasus. According to the 1st century Roman historian, Pliny, the place of living of the ‘Absoe’, i.e. ‘Apsua’ is in the north Caucasus. In the same place is located Absvas regi, i.e. ‘the land of the Apsua’ and their fortress Akva on a map drawn up by the Italian cartographer Jacopo Gastaldi in 1561. A map of western Georgia, made in 1738, already shows Akva, an Abkhaz (Apsua) name of Tskhumi in place of an old Georgian city of Tskhumi (Sokhumi). A map of western Georgia, made in 1738, has Akva, an Abkhaz (Apsua) name of Tskhumi instead of Tskhumi (Sokhumi). Nearby is Tskhumi Fortress (the original of the map is kept in Moscow ЦГВИА ВУА, and a copy in the National Centre of Manuscripts RT IV, #1, Tbilisi). That the initial homeland of the Apsuas was in the highlands, is obvious from folk legends (they had no script of their own). The Apsuas brought their own names, religious traditions and customary laws to Georgia. It is therefore that if before that time nobody distinguished, either from the social or religious point of view, between the land inhabited by the Abkhazs and the population of Georgian and western Georgia proper, in particular, beginning from the 1630s the situation changed markedly. In the 14th century there were no Abkhazs (Apsuas) living in Tskhumi. According to the bishop of Sokhumi Catholic Mission, Pietro Gerladi, in 1330 Tskhumi was inhabited by the Georgians, Muslims and Jews. The Abkhazs may have lived in Tskhumi at that time, but for Geraldi they are Georgians. The works of the foreign writers who were contemporaries or witnesses of these events (Italian Giovanni and Luke, Archangelo Lamberti, Turkish Evlia Chelebi and others) highlight that the way of life, dressing and the spoken language the Abkhazs (Apsuas) was different from those of the Georgians and similar to those of the Circassians.
In the middle of the 17th century, Abkhazia still included Dranda, Mokvi, Ilori, Bedia, Bichvinta and villages on the other side of the Enguri River. To protect from the intruding Abkhazs, Levan II Dadiani (1611-1657), ruler of Samegrelo, fortified and expanded Kelasuri wall, but the defense of the country under the Ottoman rule and the political aggression, appeared to be more and more difficult. Apart from that, from the 17th through the 18th century Ottoman Turkey tried to incite confrontation between the Georgians and the Abkhazs by spreading Islam.
This is how gradually the Apsuas occupied part of Abkhazia – a historical Georgian region. Contemporaries called them the Abkhazs because they lived in Abkhazia. According to medieval Georgian Law, foreigners who establish themselves on the Georgian land became local (but not aborigine). It was through Georgian that the name ‘Abkhaz’ entered Russian and other languages.
After the abolition of the Kingdom of Abkhazia by the Russians (1864), Abkhazia was incorporated into Kutaisi province, first under the name of ‘Sokumi Military Department’ and later, in 1883, as “Sokhumi District’. Thus the name ‘Abkhazia’ (Apkhazeti) was removed not by Georgians, as some scholars claim, but by the Russians. The Georgians, on the contrary, restored the name Abkhazia in the Georgian Democratic Republic (1918-1921), an independent state of the Georgians established after the fall of the empire (1918) and in line with the constitution of the country, granted a status of autonomy to it. The autonomy was recognized by the government of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic (RSFSR) under the Treaty of 7 May 1920.
After the establishment of the Soviet rule in Georgia (1921) the status of Abkhazia was changed several times. On the request of Abkhaz Bolsheviks and with the support of Georgian Bolsheviks and Soviet Russia, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Abkhazia was declared in 1921. In November of the same year it was recognized as a republic associated with Georgia. Under the constitution of the Soviet Union of 1924, Abkhazia was an Autonomous Republic of Georgia, which is how it is referred in all other documents. This status was finally formalized in 1931, at the 6th Assembly of the Abkhazian Councils.
It is also to be noted that the area taken up by Abkhazia was less than required for granting a status of an autonomous republic under the Soviet legislation. Therefore, District of Samurzakano-Gali, fully inhabited by the Georgians, was added to Abkhazia.
Protests voiced by the population have not been taken into account. It is also of note that the Apsuas (the Abkhazs) always made the minority of the Abkahzian population, which is supported by the data official census. According to the final census (1989), they accounted for 17-18% of the population of Abkhazia, and Georgians - 45%. The rest part of the population was made up by the Greeks, Russians, Armenians and others. Between 1918 and 1920 and towards the end of the 1980s anti-Georgian demonstrations, provoked by the Russians, were held, which ultimately led to the establishment of the separatist regime with the immediate intervention of Russia. The Russian ‘role’ once again became apparent during the August 2008 events.
Today the Abkhazs are an established nation, who have no other country apart from Georgia (Abkhazia proper). It goes without question that living in Abkhazia together with the Georgians is their legitimate right and that their interests and rights (national, political and social) must be protected. However, it is also to be highlighted that Abkhazia is an indispensable part of Georgia and the only homeland to the 250 thousand Georgians against whom genocide was perpetrated and who had to flee their homes.
Despite the tragedy that happened, the Georgians and the Abkhazs can still live together. The best way would be to start negotiations without mediators and work out principles and criteria, equally acceptable both to the Georgians and the Abkhazs, based on which normal living conditions could be restored in Abkhazia. Everyone must understand that Abkhazia is Georgia and that the Georgian nation will never reconcile with the withdrawal of Abkhazia from the jurisdiction of Georgia.
The Ethnic Cleansing of Georgians in Abkhaziaalso known as the Massacres of Georgians in Abkhazia[10 refers to ethnic cleansing, massacres and forced mass expulsion of thousands of ethnic Georgians living in Abkhazia (de jure Autonomous Republic of Georgia) during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict of 1992-1993 and 1998 at the hands of Abkhaz separatists and their allies (possibly, including volunteers from Russia).Some Armenians, Greeks, Russians and moderate Abkhaz were also killed.Roughly 200,000 to 250,000 Georgian civilians became Internally displaced persons (IDPs). The ethnic cleansing and massacres of Georgians has been officially recognized by the OSCE conventions in 1994, 1996 and again in 1997 during the Budapest, Lisbon and Istanbul summits and condemned the “perpetrators of war crimes committed during the conflict.”[21] On May 15 2008, the UN General Assembly adopted (by 14 votes to 11, with 105 abstentions) a resolution A/RES/62/249 in which it “Emphasizes the importance of preserving the property rights of refugees and internally displaced persons from Abkhazia, Georgia, including victims of reported “ethnic cleansing”, and calls upon all Member States to deter persons under their jurisdiction from obtaining property within the territory of Abkhazia, Georgia in violation of the rights of returnees”. UN Security Council passed series of resolutions in which is appeals for a cease-fire and condemned the Abkhaz policy of ethnic-cleansing.
open democracy should be ashamed for publishing such one sided, disorted facts and history! shame on you. This is insulting for thousands of georgians who were massacared by fascist ardzinba and russian backed up abkhaz separatists. one of the worst atrocities of late 20th century were committed against georgians in abkhazia, yet this article has no mentino of it! what about mroe than 250,000 georgians who were ethnically cleansed out and are still not allowed to return, why is there no mention of that? shame on you open democracy for publishing george hewitt's article.
1. Is Abkhazia an inalienable part of Georgia or is it a separate country that was artificially put under Georgian jurisdiction?
Abkhazia is an inalienable part of Georgia both historically and culturally. In the past it has been either one of Georgia’s provinces when Georgia was a unified state or one of the Georgian states during the periods of fragmentation.
2. Can Georgians be considered as part of Abkhazia’s indigenous population or are they recent colonists in Abkhazia?
from the earliest days of Georgian and Abkhazian history, Georgians and their ancestors were one of several indigenous groups of Abkhazia. Intermarriage between members of various indigenous communities was quite common as well, so the majority of Abkhazian residents have mixed ethnic background.
3. What was the ethnic makeup of Abkhazia before the war of 1992-93?
Ethnic group
amount
%
APSUA
17.7
GEORGIANS
45.7
RUSSIANS
14.3
ARMENIANS
14.6
OTHERS
(GREEKS, UKRAINIANS, JEWS, ESTONIANS, GERMANS, ETC…)
7.7
4. Have the Apsua ever been discriminated by the Georgians?
There is no or little information about that in respect with the distant history, except the fact that all Abkhazian rulers were of mixed Apsua-Georgian background. During the 20th century, Apsua enjoyed various privileges in terms of representation, employment, etc.
5. Who was behind Abkhazian separatist movement from the very beginning?
Russian and to some extent Turkish imperialists were behind Abkhazian separatist movement from the very beginning.
(See the History of Abkhazia and Abkhazia-related Articles for objective, non-politicized information in English)
6. Was the war of 1992-93 an ethnic conflict between the Apsua and Georgians or was it Russian aggression using Apsuan aspirations as a formal excuse?
It was definitely Russian aggression using Apsuan aspirations ad a formal pretext. Russia adopted divide et impera method widely used by the Nazis in the countries occupied during World War II.
7. Did any of the parties involved in the war of 1992-93 perform ethnic cleansing?
The only party that performed ethnic cleansing in Abkhazia were Apsuan separatists and their foreign benefactors.
8. What is the current status of Abkhazia?
As of today, Abkhazia is formally a part of Georgia. However, most of her territory is under effective control of pro-Russian ethnocratic Apsuan puppet regime and Russian “peacekeepers”, who cannot be real peacekeepers simply because they represent one of the conflicting parties.
9. What are the demands of the parties involved in the Abkhazian conflict? What kind of compromise are they ready for?
Abkhazian Georgians and the majority of other non-Apsua residents of Abkhazia would like it to be part of Georgia. They do not mind having an autonomous status. Georgian government in Tbilisi is willing to give Abkhazia an extended autonomy and resolve the conflict by peaceful means. In their turn, pro-Moscow Apsua separatists repeatedly stated that they are not willing to for any compromise and insist on “independence within Russia”.
Mia, you are using Andrew Andersen's falsifications.
What about below answers:
Abkhazian Conflict: Nine Questions and answers - Andrew Andersen’s assertions and George Hewitt's responses
http://www.abkhazworld.com/articles/conflict/18-nine-questions-and-answers.html
Cheers
When at the end of the 19th century many Abkhazians having lost to the Russian Empire fled to Turkey and further, other ethnic groups were competing in resettling the vacated territories. Later when the Bolsheviks came, Abkhazia as well as Georgia became union states with an equal status within the USSR. But Jozef Stalin, Georgian by origin, reduced the status of Abkhazia to an autonomy within Georgia in 1931.
The Abkhazian language was banned, it was substituted by Georgian. Since the '30-40s the second wave of Georgian settlers came to Abkhazia. This process continued throughout our existence in the USSR as a Georgian autonomy. That's how we ended up a minority on our land. The 1990s was the time when Georgian nationalism was at its peak. "Georgia for Georgians" was a popular slogan. All non-Georgians were announced to be "hosts on Georgian land." Not many people even in the USSR knew that Abkhazians protested against being within Georgia even in the Soviet times, every decade. But in the '90s these protests became known to the world.
On 14 August 1992 when the Abkhazian Parliament was discussing a draft proposal for a Federation with Georgia, the Georgian bombs started falling on our heads, and the Georgian tanks attacked our towns and villages. It was a bloody war, with crimes committed first by Georgians and then by Abkhazians. The Georgians purposefully burnt down our State Archives and our Institute of Literature, History and Culture. It was quite symbolic. You can read about all this in the UNPO report that organized a fact finding mission to Abkhazia in 1992. http://www.unpo.org/downloads/AbkGeo1992Report.pdf
You can also read about it in Tom de Waal's article specifically devoted to the State Archives. http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-caucasus/abkhazia_archive_4018.jsp
Mia, see please: http://www.circassianworld.com/Andersen_Hewitt.html
I am really tired from Georgian lies.
Mia saying that 250,000 georgians who were ethnically cleansed. A classical (pro-)Georgian argument.
May i ask, who started the war in 1992? Who invaded Abkhazia?
May i ask please, why Saakashvili lie about the refugees? Mia said that 250,000. Let's read what Saakashvili saying.
29 April 2008 - ''About 450,000-500,000 pride residents of Abkhazia live in exile in their own country. They cannot return to their homes, to their villages, to their family members and relatives, to the graves of their ancestors, to their friends, with whom they found their feet, with whom they were going to school, with whom they grew up.''
http://www.president.gov.ge/?l=E&m=0&sm=3&st=150&id=2597
This is very good example of Georgian propaganda. Georgians are very good about black propaganda. Unfortunately our governments believe their lie for their self interest.
Let's read another source:
Gachechiladze, The New Georgia. Space, Society, Politics, London: UCL Press, 1995, pp. 43, 178. According to the Georgian State Committee for Refugees and Displaced Persons, some 160,000 refugees from Abkhazia have been officially registered and accommodated in 63 districts of Georgia, cf. "The Georgian Chronicle", February-March 1994, as cited in A. Zverev, Ethnic Conflicts in the Caucasus. In: Bruno Coppieters (ed.). Contested Borders in the Caucasus, Brussels: VUB University Press, 1996, pp. 13-71
According to the 1989 census there were only 239,872 "Georgians" living in Abkhazia.
Georgian population fled before Abkhaz Army entered the occupied territories: See UNPO's report: ''THE MAJORITY OF GEORGIANS, HOWEVER, FLED BEFORE ABKHAZIAN AND NORTHERN CAUCASUS TROOPS ARRIVED.''
http://www.unpo.org/downloads/Abkhazia_Georgia_report_1992.pdf
Abkhazia unilaterally decided to open the gates for the (largely Mingrelian) refugees to return to Abkhazia from Georgia in 1999. Georgia at that time was actually accusing these refugees of being TRAITORS to Georgia. More than 60,000 refugees have been successfully resettled in Abkhazia.
Maybe we should repeat again and again. Abkhazia did NOT want a war. Abkhazia did NOT attack Georgia or Georgians. Abkhazia did NOT invade Georgia.
It's Georgia attacked Abkhazia, it's Georgia started the war and created humanitarian catastrophy.
I just watched a scene from a documentary. After the Georgian attack, a Georgian man crying and asking - what Shevardnadze wanted from him and the wretched people living there (in Abkhazia).
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=286351600306
My heart is all with Abkhazia.
"Mia, you are using Andrew Andersen's falsifications.
What about below answers:
Abkhazian Conflict: Nine Questions and answers - Andrew Andersen’s assertions and George Hewitt's responses"
http://www.abkhazworld.com/articles/conflict/18-nine-questions-and-answers.html
No, you are the one using falsifications and desorted history written by george hewitt. Do you have any other source except for george hewitt to support your claims? george hewitt is an outsider in the academic world for writing distorted history and facts.
abkhazia has always been a historical part of georgia, all historical documents that exist in abkhazia are in georgian language. there was not even an abkhaz language until 18th century. abkhaz did not even have a script which so they just borrowed from cyrilic. please, you are not kidding anyone except yourself when you pretend like abkhazeti was anything else but georgian land. it was and always will be georgia, stop spreading lies and propaganda. it is recognized by all legitimate and majority of historians that abkhazia has always been part of georgia. only very few academic outsiders such as george hewitt (who is probably on KGB payroll) write false, distored history.
To David Hayes, do you have no shame for publishing george hewit's articles about georgia abkazian conflict? do you know that he is defending and advocating abkhazian regime which is responsible for commiting one of the worst atrocities of the late 20th century against the georgian people? do you know that more than 250,000 georgians were kicked out of their homes forcefully and that they are not able to return? (ethnic cleansing of georgians recognized and well documented by all major international organizatinos). I really doubt that you have any idea of what really happened in abkhazia, i can not find any other explanation to why you would be allowing these kind of articles on your website. what are you going to publish next, a scholarly article that denies the existance of the holocaust?
Elbrus here read this.
D. Muskhelishvili, Institute Of History, Georgian Academy of Sciences
Ancient Greek sources unequivocally indicate that in the 1st millennium B.C. the territory of present-day Abkhazia was part of the West Georgian Kingdom of Colchis, inhabited by Georgian tribes (Coraxi, Cols, Colchians and others), while the cities of Dioscuria (now Sukhumi) and Pitiunt or Pityus (now Pitsunda) were in the area inhabited by Colchians.
Later on, in the 1st-2nd cc. A.D., Apsils and Abasks believed by some scholars to be ancestors of the present-day Abkhazians are first mentioned as living on this territory. Apsils are, indeed, one of West Georgian tribes. As for the Abasks, there are no sufficient grounds to regard them as direct ancestors of todays Abkhazians despite the close affinity of the ethnonyms "Abask" and "Abkhaz". Later on, from the 4th c., these tribes, together with Missimians - a tribe of Svanian origin - were subjects of the Kingdom of Lazica/Egrisi that was established on the territory of ancient Colchis. Over the 4th-5th cc. all these tribal unions were under the cultural influence of their overlords who had embraced Christianity in the early 4th c.
Formally a vassal of the Byzantine Empire, the Laz Kingdom (the Kingdom of Egrisi, or Lazica) was actually an independent country that strove for full independence. Vying with Iran in Transcaucasia, the Byzantine Empire sought to spread its influence over the North Caucasus too, and was, therefore, interested in controlling the policy pursued by Lazica and took efficient measures to that end. It was just for this reason that in the 20s of the 7th c. Emperor Heraclius II placed Abkhazia - one of the provinces of his vassal kingdom - under his direct rule and appointed his viceroy (archon) to that province with a seat in Anacopia (now Novi Aphon - New Athos), whom Georgian historic sources refer to as the "Eristavi (military ruler) of Abkhazia".
This marks the beginning of the rise of the "Saeristavo of Abkhazia", directly promoted by the Byzantine crown, which encouraged territorial expansion of Abkhazia that in the 6th c. occupied the territory between the rivers Gumista and Mzymta and, spreading both eastward and westward, comes to possess the lands stretching from the river Kelasuri to the estuary of the river Kuban (by the 30s of the 8th c.). Thus, Abkhazia annexed some part of Apsilis in the east and a substantial portion of Zikhia in the West.
By that time all Georgian feudal culture that stemmed from the potent socio-economic base of Eastern Georgia attained a rather high level. This culture had been vigorously spreading in Western Georgia over the centuries where it successfully rivaled with Greek Orthodox Christianity that conducted the divine service in the Greek language which the local population did not understand. Powerful spread of Georgian culture extended over the north-western provinces of Georgia - the territory of Abkhazia. This is corroborated by the construction, from the 6th c. on, of Georgian churches which, ipso facto, presupposes the existence of Georgian Christian communities on the territory of Abkhazia and is indicative of a vigorous spread of Georgian feudal culture and the Georgian language (in opposition to Greek). This active process resulted in apostasy of the Abkhazian Eristavi Leon I, a viceroy of the Byzantine Emperor in Abkhazia, also renounced Greek orientation and became a vassal of Archil - the "Erismtavari (Supreme Ruler) of Georgia". Since then (i.e. since the 40s of the 8th century on) Abkhazia finally becomes an visceral part of the political, social and cultural world of Georgia. Supported by Georgian political circles the feudal lord of the Abkhazians Prince Leon II unites the whole Western Georgia in the 70s of the 8th c. And in the 790s he assumes the title of King of the Abkhazias and becomes actually fully independent.
An outstanding Georgian political and cultural figure, Leon II moved the capital to Kutaisi which was then the centre of Georgian culture, and the Holy See of the Catholicos of Abkhazia was moved to the Bichvinta Cathedral (at Pitsunda).
Over the 9th-10th cc. Leon IIs successors continued the construction of the Georgian state in political and cultural terms: they founded new monasteries and established new bishoprics, promoted the development of Georgian writing and actually joined the political struggle waged by other principalities with a view to unifying entire Georgia.
Georgian culture is meanwhile embraced not only by the Abkhazian nobility, but also by the grassroots. Since then, from the viewpoint of the Georgian feudal culture, the Abkhazians became Georgians, very much like Gurians, Megrelians, Svans, etc. And it is precisely for this reason that the ethnonyms "Abkhaz", "Abkhazia" and "Kartveli" (Georgian) became synonyms over the period when Georgia was a united feudal monarchy (11th-15th cc.). Abkhazia was its integral part, just the same as Kakheti, Guria, Odishi (Megrelia), Svaneti and other provinces.
After this united monarchy fell apart into separate kingdoms and principalities which took place at the close of the 15th c. due to ceaseless difficulties in its relations with foreign powers, Abkhazia remained under the sway of Odishi, which, in its turn, was loyal to the King of Imereti (Western Georgia). In the 17th. c., the Princes Sharvashidze, the feudal lords of Abkhazia, succeeded in becoming practically independent monarchs, although formally they still remained vassals to the Prince of Odishi. The border between these two principalities still passed along the course of the river Kelasuri, coinciding with the ethnic line of division between the Megrelian and the Abkhazian population. Incidentally, the latter had, by that time, undergone substantial demographic changes.
The point at issue is that as the united Georgian monarchy was gradually suffering ever-increasing political weakening and by the close of the 6th c. totally collapsed as a single state. An intestine struggle among feudals aggravated by incessant invasions and inroads from outside, brought the once vigorous economy of the Georgian Kingdom to total ruin and dramatically reduced the population in the central plain areas of Georgia. In Abkhazia the population dwindled too. Understandably, all these circumstances provoked aggressive activities of Caucasian highlanders who started to descend from the mountains and settle in the plain area of Georgia.
This tendency developed all over the Caucasus and became known in Eastern Georgia as the so-called "Lekianoba" - infiltration of the Lezghins and the Ossetians into Transcaucasia from the north. Western Georgia and, particularly, Abkhazia saw the penetration of various North Caucasian Adyghe and Abazin (Apsua) tribes who brought along with them primitive feudal patriarchal social relations typical of the highlands and totally alien to the indigenous population raised in the traditions of ancient Georgian feudal culture. Thus, the formation of the present-day population of Abkhazia on the above territory (up to the river Kelasuri) took place mainly as a result of the merge of the Abazins-Apsua who had descended from the North Caucasus with the indigenous population of Abkhazia. The Georgians have preserved their tribal name as the Abkhazians, while their self-name remained "Apsua".
In the subsequent centuries the principality of Abkhazia never featured as a whole single state. The arrival of the tribes of highlanders broke the territory of the principality into numerous semi-feudal and semi-patriarchal tribal units headed by petty princelings permanently at variance with one another.
From the 1760s the entire Western Georgia and, particularly, Megrelia was in the death throes of feudal anarchy. In the 1780s the Abkhazians-Apsuas turned this situation to their advantage, invaded the north-western part of Megrelia, decimated the indigenous population and seized the territory up to the river Enguri, whose course marks the border between Abkhazia and Megrelia to this day.
After the annexation of Georgia by the Russian Empire in 1801, the new administration reunited (in 1805) some of the territories between the rivers Enguri and Galizga captured by the Abkhazians-Apsua with Megrelia (the principality of Odishi) and in 1810 the whole of Abkhazia was annexed by Russia. In 1864, the Imperial Government abolished the principality of Abkhazia and all its territory became part of the Kutaisi Gubernia.
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THE KINGDOM OF ABKHAZIA
"The above makes it abundantly clear that according to architectural data, Abkhazia is culturally and historically inseparable from Georgia, and this unity is also corroborated by the popular architecture of the 19th-20th centuries. "
MEDIAEVAL ECCLESIASTIC ARCHITECTURE IN ABKHAZIAShare
Yesterday at 10:39pm
D. Tumanishvili, Institute of Art History. GAS
Among the numerous architectural monuments that have survived to our days in Abkhazia Christian churches from the Medieval period are particularly conspicuous for their artistic, cultural and historic value. Despite the fact that a plethora of general and concrete issues have been studied insufficiently, the research done by a number of scholars (L.Rcheulishvili and R.Menteshashvili) throws light on the ecclesiastic architecture in this area and reveals it against the background of both the history of art and the general history of Georgia and the Caucasus.
Studies of church buildings from the 4th-8th centuries reveal a "dialogue" between the local traditions on the one hand and Roman-Hellenistic and Byzantine architectural traditions on the other. The three churches constructed one above the next one at Pitsunda (in Georgian - Bichvinta, ancient Pitiunt) in the 4th and 5th centuries are a most typical example of the latter. These buildings may be considered as fully "imported" ones that have no connection whatsoever with the local trends in ecclesiastic architecture. The local tradition is best represented by the Gagra church, that is the earliest of this kind (first half of the 6th c.) both as regards its ground plan (the so-called "three-church basilica") and the ornamentation (exceedingly moderate). This church has the closest affinities with similar monuments located in Eastern Georgia.
A sophisticated blend of "our" and "their" traditions is discernible in the architectural monuments of the 6th-8th centuries. The basilica at Gantiadi (Tsandripsh) remains controversial in this respect. The interpretation of its architecture depends upon its reconstruction and dating. We are inclined to regard the second half of the 6th-7th. centuries as the most plausible date, though this monument obviously reflects both local and outside influence.
The domed church at Dranda (7th c.) represents the Byzantine engineering and artistic traditions being in the lead; but some of its elements bespeak the architect's familiarity with Georgian architecture, particularly with churches of the so-called Djvari type. Conversely, in "three-church basilicas" local traditions prevail. These are the fortress churches at Abianta (6th c.) at Ambara (8th-9th cc.), on Mount Kiach (9th-10th cc.), where the architect's quest for a better composition is discernible, together with various forms and elements (for instance, the choir gallery in Ambara, the decoration of windows in the Kiach basilica) that coincide with those used in East Georgia (Kakheti, Kartli).
Certain "Byzantisms" (e.g. a ribbed dome, the pactophoria that open into the main space, etc.) are to be also found in the group of domed churches known as the "inscribed cross" type. These are the churches in the Bzyb fortress (9th c.), the St.Simeon the Canaanite Church in Anacopia and the one in the village of Lykhni (both from the turn of the 9th to the 10th century), the cathedral at (the 60s of the 10th c.). All these churches have similar ground plan and they differ from one another by a smaller or greater degree of sophistication of the architectural design (which is accounted for by their different purpose) and the artistic solution which changes from relative symmetry and monumentality of the "cube" volume of the Bzyb church to the accomplished dynamism of the Mokvi cathedral that is stretched out both longitudinally and vertically. This tendency per se rules out any interpretation of this group of churches within the framework of Byzantine architecture, where the reverse process is well pronounced. We should mention in this context a number of structural features and a direct connection of the decor in the earliest of these churches - the one in the Bzyb fortress - with that in churches in Kartli where the "inscribed cross" type has been known since the 7th century. All this points to these rather peculiar churches as pertaining to the general Georgian traditions. Also determining in this respect is the Georgian element traceable in the architecture of the Bichvinta cathedral (10th- 11th cc.); but this particular cathedral displays a strong Byzantine influence, especially in the technology of its construction.
Beginning from the turn of the 10th to the 11th centuries, forms of decor evolved by architects in the South of Georgia penetrated into the architecture of Abkhazia as they did elsewhere all over historic Georgia, the probable reason being that they were consistent with the general trends that were prevalent in this country at that time. This is discernible in the survivng carvings on the portions of the Bagrat III cathedral at Bedia (the main part of the present-day building was restored from the end of the 3rd c.) and in the remaining carvings in the Church of St. George at Ilori from the 1st century.
The later part of the 11th century witnesses a decline in ecclesiastic architecture all over Georgia, which comes back to life only at the end of the 13th century, when monumental painting comes to the fore all over Georgia first in the "Palaeologue" compositions (Bedia, Lykhni) and then, from the 16 century, in the co-existence of the "official" Mt.Athos style and the so-called "popular" style.
The above makes it abundantly clear that according to architectural data, Abkhazia is culturally and historically inseparable from Georgia, and this unity is also corroborated by the popular architecture of the 19th-20th centuries.
"Mia saying that 250,000 georgians who were ethnically cleansed. A classical (pro-)Georgian argument."
first let me say that you are a victim of russian imperialistic political propaganda.
"May i ask, who started the war in 1992? Who invaded Abkhazia?"
it's russia who started the war in abkhazia. russian promised you abkhazia the most beautiful part of georiga, they promisted you georgian homes and land and lured you into the war with georgia. but you will regret this bitterly, as russian occupation has never brought anything good to caucasians. learn some history about russia, in 19th century russians killed more than half a million northern caucasians. now russia is using you as a weapon against georgia, what do you think is going to happen to abkhazia under russian occupation? you will all become assimiliaited into russia just as in happened in sochi. if georgia ever wanted a war with any ethnicity in abkhazia it could have done so during 30 centuries that we lived side by side in peace.
"May i ask please, why Saakashvili lie about the refugees? Mia said that 250,000. Let's read what Saakashvili saying."
the exact number of refugees is not important, what is important is that all georgian refugees are returned home. there are THOUSANDS of georgian refugees who are still not allowed to go back to their own home land.
"This is very good example of Georgian propaganda. Georgians are very good about black propaganda. Unfortunately our governments believe their lie for their self interest."
are you saying that ethnic cleansing of georgians in abkhazia is a propaganda> it is recognized by all major international organizations.
"Georgian population fled before Abkhaz Army entered the occupied territories: See UNPO's report: ''THE MAJORITY OF GEORGIANS, HOWEVER, FLED BEFORE ABKHAZIAN AND NORTHERN CAUCASUS TROOPS ARRIVED.''
http://www.unpo.org/downloads/Abkhazia_Georgia_report_1992.pdf"
what abkhaz army? do you mean the russian tanks, airplanes and weaponry? or the abkhaz army that raped little girls in fron of their parents, killed innocent women and children, behaded innocent boys (all very well documented under all major international organizations) is that the army you are talking about?
"Maybe we should repeat again and again. Abkhazia did NOT want a war. Abkhazia did NOT attack Georgia or Georgians. Abkhazia did NOT invade Georgia."
"It's Georgia attacked Abkhazia, it's Georgia started the war and created humanitarian catastrophy."
let me repeat to you, georgia never wanted a war with abkhazia. georgians are abkhazians, russia started the the war and used you as a weapon against georgia. the real war is not between georgians and so called abkhazians, but between russia and georgia. since i have answered all of your questions let me ask you questions too.
1. do you deny that russia played a crucial role in the conflict?
2. why do you think russia helped you in the conflict?
very simple questions, i hope to hear some answers.
saying sorry after getting ethnicly cleanced in your own homeland does not sound reasonable does it? Abkhaz are the people who have to beg for forgiveness to Georgians because of all the dissaster they pulled in our common land. Georgians have nothing to apologise, only tried to protect their homeland and this they will do untill the apokalipse and end of the world
There is a country in the Caucasus. Jewel of the Black Sea... Jewel of the Caucasus... Maybe it's not wrong to say: The most beautiful area of the Caucasus.
It's name is ''ABKHAZIA'': Land of the Abkhazians.
It's name is NOT Georgia. It's Abkhazia and the capital is Sukhum... But some people still insist that it's Georgia. In 1931 Bloody dictator Stalin (aka Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili) and reduced Abkhazia to a Republic within Georgia.
And between 1937 - 1953: Stalin and Beria pursue policy of forced "Georgification," forbid public use of the Abkhaz language, close Abkhaz schools, force use of the Georgian alphabet, and outlaw Abkhaz newspapers, journals, and literature.
1978: Abkhazia protests oppression of Abkhazia and "Georgianization." The USSR suppresses protests, but allows the opening of a University and TV station in Abkhazia.
For some 60 years Abkhazia was forced to accept the unwelcome status of being a mere autonomous republic with Soviet Georgia (thanks to the ruling of the Georgian dictator Stalin-'Iosef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili'). For daring to defend our interests in the face of Georgian nationalist aggression, we were subjected to 14 months of savagery. In alliance with our allies from the Abkhazian diaspora or our cousins in the North Caucasus, we succeeded in ejecting the invader and winning the war. All that Georgia under its various leaders/governments has been willing to offer us by way of a settlement is a return the ‘status quo ante’.
I just read a recent news. It was saying that EU Report shows that GEORGIA STARTED THE WAR last year.
It's not surprised me of course. I already knew the truth.
-Some- Georgians started a sorry campaign.
They say: This appeal is coming directly out of our hearts. We wish to beg every Abkhaz person to forgive us.
Sorry for not having hindered the war.
http://www.humanrights.ge/index.php?a=article&id=1546&lang=en
And i say: We don't need your sorry!
But i am wondering: When will you start a new sorry campaign for Ossetians? Who knows maybe they can accept your apologize...
And last... Below you will see my answer against the ABSURD claims of the Georgians and pro-Georgians.
:)
Abkhazia has always been integral part of georgia much like samegrelo, guria, imereti and other georgian regions. george hewitt's article is abuse of history, and strctliy motivaited by political propaganda.
THE HISTORIC STATUS OF ABKHAZIA IN GEORGIA'S STATEHOODShare
D. Muskhelishvili, Institute Of History, Georgian Academy of Sciences
Ancient Greek sources unequivocally indicate that in the 1st millennium B.C. the territory of present-day Abkhazia was part of the West Georgian Kingdom of Colchis, inhabited by Georgian tribes (Coraxi, Cols, Colchians and others), while the cities of Dioscuria (now Sukhumi) and Pitiunt or Pityus (now Pitsunda) were in the area inhabited by Colchians.
Later on, in the 1st-2nd cc. A.D., Apsils and Abasks believed by some scholars to be ancestors of the present-day Abkhazians are first mentioned as living on this territory. Apsils are, indeed, one of West Georgian tribes. As for the Abasks, there are no sufficient grounds to regard them as direct ancestors of todays Abkhazians despite the close affinity of the ethnonyms "Abask" and "Abkhaz". Later on, from the 4th c., these tribes, together with Missimians - a tribe of Svanian origin - were subjects of the Kingdom of Lazica/Egrisi that was established on the territory of ancient Colchis. Over the 4th-5th cc. all these tribal unions were under the cultural influence of their overlords who had embraced Christianity in the early 4th c.
Formally a vassal of the Byzantine Empire, the Laz Kingdom (the Kingdom of Egrisi, or Lazica) was actually an independent country that strove for full independence. Vying with Iran in Transcaucasia, the Byzantine Empire sought to spread its influence over the North Caucasus too, and was, therefore, interested in controlling the policy pursued by Lazica and took efficient measures to that end. It was just for this reason that in the 20s of the 7th c. Emperor Heraclius II placed Abkhazia - one of the provinces of his vassal kingdom - under his direct rule and appointed his viceroy (archon) to that province with a seat in Anacopia (now Novi Aphon - New Athos), whom Georgian historic sources refer to as the "Eristavi (military ruler) of Abkhazia".
This marks the beginning of the rise of the "Saeristavo of Abkhazia", directly promoted by the Byzantine crown, which encouraged territorial expansion of Abkhazia that in the 6th c. occupied the territory between the rivers Gumista and Mzymta and, spreading both eastward and westward, comes to possess the lands stretching from the river Kelasuri to the estuary of the river Kuban (by the 30s of the 8th c.). Thus, Abkhazia annexed some part of Apsilis in the east and a substantial portion of Zikhia in the West.
By that time all Georgian feudal culture that stemmed from the potent socio-economic base of Eastern Georgia attained a rather high level. This culture had been vigorously spreading in Western Georgia over the centuries where it successfully rivaled with Greek Orthodox Christianity that conducted the divine service in the Greek language which the local population did not understand. Powerful spread of Georgian culture extended over the north-western provinces of Georgia - the territory of Abkhazia. This is corroborated by the construction, from the 6th c. on, of Georgian churches which, ipso facto, presupposes the existence of Georgian Christian communities on the territory of Abkhazia and is indicative of a vigorous spread of Georgian feudal culture and the Georgian language (in opposition to Greek). This active process resulted in apostasy of the Abkhazian Eristavi Leon I, a viceroy of the Byzantine Emperor in Abkhazia, also renounced Greek orientation and became a vassal of Archil - the "Erismtavari (Supreme Ruler) of Georgia". Since then (i.e. since the 40s of the 8th century on) Abkhazia finally becomes an visceral part of the political, social and cultural world of Georgia. Supported by Georgian political circles the feudal lord of the Abkhazians Prince Leon II unites the whole Western Georgia in the 70s of the 8th c. And in the 790s he assumes the title of King of the Abkhazias and becomes actually fully independent.
An outstanding Georgian political and cultural figure, Leon II moved the capital to Kutaisi which was then the centre of Georgian culture, and the Holy See of the Catholicos of Abkhazia was moved to the Bichvinta Cathedral (at Pitsunda).
Over the 9th-10th cc. Leon IIs successors continued the construction of the Georgian state in political and cultural terms: they founded new monasteries and established new bishoprics, promoted the development of Georgian writing and actually joined the political struggle waged by other principalities with a view to unifying entire Georgia.
Georgian culture is meanwhile embraced not only by the Abkhazian nobility, but also by the grassroots. Since then, from the viewpoint of the Georgian feudal culture, the Abkhazians became Georgians, very much like Gurians, Megrelians, Svans, etc. And it is precisely for this reason that the ethnonyms "Abkhaz", "Abkhazia" and "Kartveli" (Georgian) became synonyms over the period when Georgia was a united feudal monarchy (11th-15th cc.). Abkhazia was its integral part, just the same as Kakheti, Guria, Odishi (Megrelia), Svaneti and other provinces.
After this united monarchy fell apart into separate kingdoms and principalities which took place at the close of the 15th c. due to ceaseless difficulties in its relations with foreign powers, Abkhazia remained under the sway of Odishi, which, in its turn, was loyal to the King of Imereti (Western Georgia). In the 17th. c., the Princes Sharvashidze, the feudal lords of Abkhazia, succeeded in becoming practically independent monarchs, although formally they still remained vassals to the Prince of Odishi. The border between these two principalities still passed along the course of the river Kelasuri, coinciding with the ethnic line of division between the Megrelian and the Abkhazian population. Incidentally, the latter had, by that time, undergone substantial demographic changes.
The point at issue is that as the united Georgian monarchy was gradually suffering ever-increasing political weakening and by the close of the 6th c. totally collapsed as a single state. An intestine struggle among feudals aggravated by incessant invasions and inroads from outside, brought the once vigorous economy of the Georgian Kingdom to total ruin and dramatically reduced the population in the central plain areas of Georgia. In Abkhazia the population dwindled too. Understandably, all these circumstances provoked aggressive activities of Caucasian highlanders who started to descend from the mountains and settle in the plain area of Georgia.
This tendency developed all over the Caucasus and became known in Eastern Georgia as the so-called "Lekianoba" - infiltration of the Lezghins and the Ossetians into Transcaucasia from the north. Western Georgia and, particularly, Abkhazia saw the penetration of various North Caucasian Adyghe and Abazin (Apsua) tribes who brought along with them primitive feudal patriarchal social relations typical of the highlands and totally alien to the indigenous population raised in the traditions of ancient Georgian feudal culture. Thus, the formation of the present-day population of Abkhazia on the above territory (up to the river Kelasuri) took place mainly as a result of the merge of the Abazins-Apsua who had descended from the North Caucasus with the indigenous population of Abkhazia. The Georgians have preserved their tribal name as the Abkhazians, while their self-name remained "Apsua".
In the subsequent centuries the principality of Abkhazia never featured as a whole single state. The arrival of the tribes of highlanders broke the territory of the principality into numerous semi-feudal and semi-patriarchal tribal units headed by petty princelings permanently at variance with one another.
From the 1760s the entire Western Georgia and, particularly, Megrelia was in the death throes of feudal anarchy. In the 1780s the Abkhazians-Apsuas turned this situation to their advantage, invaded the north-western part of Megrelia, decimated the indigenous population and seized the territory up to the river Enguri, whose course marks the border between Abkhazia and Megrelia to this day.
After the annexation of Georgia by the Russian Empire in 1801, the new administration reunited (in 1805) some of the territories between the rivers Enguri and Galizga captured by the Abkhazians-Apsua with Megrelia (the principality of Odishi) and in 1810 the whole of Abkhazia was annexed by Russia. In 1864, the Imperial Government abolished the principality of Abkhazia and all its territory became part of the Kutaisi Gubernia.
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THE KINGDOM OF ABKHAZIA
By M. Lordkipanidze, Professor, Tbilisi State University
The Kingdom of Abkhazia was established in Western Georgia at the close of the 8th c. Unification of Georgian lands with subsequent establishment of a single state was a process that took several decades and was conditioned by a number of internal and external political circumstances.
The striving to become a single state is traceable throughout the entire history of Georgia, but the natural historic process of consolidation was more often than not impeded by unfavourable political developments both at home and abroad.
In the wake of the victories won by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610-641) in his warfare against Iran, Transcaucasia and, particularly, Georgia found itself under the political influence of the Byzantine Empire which created favourable conditions for reunification of Georgian lands. But from the middle of the 7th c. Transcaucasia became an area of interests of the Arab Caliphate whose policy was aimed at disintegration of vanquished Georgia. The Byzantine Empire that also suffered defeat after defeat at the hands of the Caliphate tried to consolidate her position by encouraging Christian countries in their struggle against the Arabs.
Under such circumstances, the ongoing expansion of the Saeristavo of Abkhazia that absorbed the neighbouring Svaneti, Ashpileti, Misimianeti and other ethno-political units of Western Georgia proceeded if not with help, then with tacit consent of Constantinople. Since then the implication of the toponym "Abkhazeti" (in Georgian written records) and "Abkhazia" (in Greek sources) began to broaden and extend over the territories annexed to the Saeristavo of Abkhazia.
Prince Archil - a Royal prince of the ruling dynasty of Kakheti - whose native Kakheti was then under Arab domination, was de facto Eristavt-Eristavi of the former Kingdom of Egrisi and he married off his niece (daughter of his late brother Myr, King of Egrisi) to Leon the Abkhazian and passed over to him the crown of Egrisi; all this happened with the consent of the Byzantine Imperial court.
Leon I remained a vassal to the Empire, and so was later his nephew and heir (son of his brother) Leon II who in due time inherited both Abkhazia and Egrisi. At the close of the 8th c. Leon II took advantage of the differences that were plaguing the Empire and, with the help of the Khazars he broke away from Constantinople and assumed the title of King. Abkhazia and Egrisi were united by mutual free will very much like in a dynastic marriage. The notion of "Abkhazia" - "Abazghia" also extended: - it now implied the whole Western Georgia, although some sources (e.g. Armenian sources from the 10th-11th cc.) refer to this state as "Egrisi", its rulers - Kings of Egrisi, and its people - the Egrisians.
The Western Georgian state - the "Kingdom of Abkhazia" covered the whole territory of the historical Western Georgia from Nikopsia to Chaldea and from the Black Sea to the Likh (or Surami) mountain range. The kingdom was populated by Kartvelian (Georgian) tribes: Karts, Svans, Ergs and also Abkhazians and its capital was Kutaisi, an ancient Georgian city located in the centre of the area occupied by Kartvelian population. Kings of Abkhazia, irrespective of their ethnic origin, were Georgian statesmen who built and strengthened Georgian statehood.
Ecclesiastically, Western Georgia (its west part) adhered to Constantinople and the divine service there was conducted in Greek. Eastern part of Georgia (Imereti, Argveti, Racha, Lechkhumi) recognized the Catholicos at Mtskheta as their spiritual leader. After unification of the country the Byzantine political power over it came to an end and it was impossible to put up with the ecclesiastic supremacy in the west. Abkhazian kings, supported by the Holy See at Mtskheta, began a hard and lengthy struggle for joining the All-Georgian church. This problem was basically solved over the 9th c. Greek bishoprics were abolished and replaced by Georgian ones and the divine service was conducted in the Georgian language that the majority of the countrys population knew or could follow. By the 10th c. the church reform was completed and Abkhazia entered the united Georgian religious community.
The Kingdom of Abkhazia was a densely populated country with a considerable number of cities and towns, among which the capital Kutaisi deserves special mention. Other major cities were Vartsikhe (referred to as Rhodopolis in Greek sources), Tsikhegodji (Archaeopolis in Greek sources), the coastal cities Poti (Phasis), Sukhumi (Sebastopolis) and Bichvinta (Pitiunt) connected with the Greek world since most ancient times, Anacopia - the capital of the Saeristavo of Abkhazia , etc.
The country was well protected by forts and castles on the coast line, and mouths of river gorges were well fortified against invasions from the north.
Some branches of agriculture flourished, together with handicrafts and trade. The country was a crossroads of local (Caucasian) and international trade routes. Its economic rise is attested by large-scale construction work in the 9th-10th cc. when churches and monasteries were built, Kutaisi grew and spread out, its walls and fortifications were restored and new ones built, etc.
Georgian was the state language, both spoken and written. It was the language of state administration and of the divine service; the royal court kept chronicles of the reign of Abkhazian kings and hagiographic and hymnographic centres were established and functioned in churches and monasteries.
The kingdom of Abkhazia was a powerful state. It offered active and efficient resistance to the influence of the Byzantine Empire and defended itself against the encroachments of the Arab Caliphate. It never lost an opportunity to fight against the Caliphs forces that invaded Georgia (against Buga Turk in the year 853, against Abul Kassim Ayu Sadj in 910-915). Abkhazia assisted Byzantine church in its missionary activity aimed at further promotion of Christianity among the Alans (Ossetians) and tried to broaden the sphere of its influence: whereas in the early 8th c. the kingdom owned a certain length of the route along the course of the river Alazani that connected the city of Bardav - the seat of the Caliphs viceroy - with Arab possessions in the Caucasus. By the middle of the 10th c. the authority of the West Georgian state extended over Djavakheti (Southern Georgia) ruled by an eristavi appointed by the Abkhazian king. Here the Abkhazian kingdom resisted the efforts of the Armenian Bagratid ruling dynasty who made several attempts to establish their domination in various regions of Georgia.
The Western Georgian state became an active participant in the struggle waged by other Georgian kingdoms and principalities in the 9th-10th cc. for expansion of their domains and for establishing their authority over Shida (Inner) Kartli with Uplistsikhe as its centre. The ultimate goal of this struggle was reunification of all Georgian lands into one single state. From the 60s of the 9th until the 70s of the 10th c. the situation changed dramatically when brothers began to fight for the crown. In 975 the throne was occupied by Theodosius who had been blinded in the fratricidal war. The country was in a shambles and arbitrary rule reigned supreme. The situation was further aggravated by the fact that the blind king had no direct heir. The only legal successor to the crown was Prince Bagrationi, son of Theodosius the Blinds sister and at the same time grandson of King Bagrat II of Kartli and Tao - another Kartvelian state. At this stage of the struggle for supremacy in Georgia the Abkhazian Kingdom walked out and gave up its claims.
Now, under the new circumstances, the Eristavi of Kartli Ioane Marushisdze worked out an ultimate plan of action: he suggested that David, the Kuropalates of Tao who had then the strongest position should either occupy Shida Kartli himself, or give it over to his close relative prince Bagrat Bagrationi who was also the heir of issueless David.
Kuropalates David of Tao was an ambitious and powerful ruler. Yet, in this case he placed the interests of the state above his own. Taking into account the legitimate rights of prince Bagrat for the Western Georgian throne and rightly assessing and appreciating the plan of Ioane Marushisdze aimed at unification of the great majority of Georgian lands under the crown of the successor to three thrones, David resolved upon handing Shida Kartli over to Prince Bagrat.
The rulers of Kakheti took advantage of the strife and tribulations rending the country apart and besieged Uplistsikhe with the intention to seize Shida Kartli and it was only the interference of David of Tao that resolved the situation: - the Kakhetian princes withdrew their forces. At the ceremony of ceding Uplistsikhe to Prince Bagrat, Kuropalates David of Tao stated that Prince Bagrat was a legitimate heir to Abkhazia and Kartli, as well as ruler over his own domains, while he, David, would assist him as best he could.
Three years later (in 978), again with the support of Ioane Marushisdze and Kuropalates David of Tao, Prince Bagrat Bagrationi was crowned King of the Abkhazians. Thus foundation was laid for unification of the majority of Georgian lands and subsequent establishment of Sakartvelo - the state of Georgia.
ABKHAZIA AS PART OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE (1810-1917)
G. Paichadze, Institute Of History, Georgian Academy of Sciences
From 1810 through to 1859 the Russian Empire annexed the Kingdom of Imereti and the West Georgian principalities of Megrelia, Guria and Svaneti. Abkhazia assumed Russias protection in 1801 and in 1864 the Abkhazian Feudatory State (principality) was abolished. The process of Georgia joining Russia involved Abkhazia too.
Initially the ruling prince (in Georgian - Mtavar, which literally means "head") of Abkhazia Keleshbey Sharvashidze, pursued a policy that was loyal to Turkey and in his relations with the West Georgian Kingdom and its vassal principalities Megrelia, Guria and Svaneti he reckoned only with the interests of his own crown, i.e. he participated in feudal wars that were waged in Western Georgia, challenged the authority of the King of Imereti who sought to reunite Western Georgia and intended to outlaw trading of prisoners of war and thus discontinue this practice altogether. This suited the Ottoman Empire who tried to establish its influence in Western Georgia and to this end invariably instigated trouble and deepened the political disintegration and strife in this area.
Meanwhile, seeing that the positions of Russia in Western Georgia became stronger and stronger, Keleshbey Sharvashidze decided to pursue a dual policy and in 1803 he established official contacts with the Russian military command in Georgia.
The Turkish sultan was enraged by Keleshbeys scheming and decided to organize a conspiracy of disgruntled Abkhazian feudals against him. On the night of May 2, 1808 Keleshbey was murdered by his eldest son Aslanbey.
Leaning on the support of pro-Turkish-minded circles of Abkhazia, Aslanbey proclaimed himself Mtavar (ruling prince) and locked himself up in the Sukhumi citadel where the Turks always kept a garrison, and with the help of Turkey he got a good hold on Abkhazia.
However, his younger brother Giorgi (Safarbey) began a struggle with him for the crown of Abkhazia. Placing himself at the head of those Abkhazians who adhered to the Russian orientation, he appeared to the ruling princes of Megrelia Nina and her son Levan Dadiani for mediation in negotiations with the Russian military command. On August 12, 1808 Giorgi and his party sighed an official petition where they solemnly promised allegiance to the Russian Emperor. On February 17, 1810 Emperor Alexander I signed a decree confirming this petition as an instrument of vassalage and stating further that he recognized Giorgi as "the crown prince of Abkhazia under supreme protection of the Russian Empire".
Resuming hostilities against Turkey on the Danube and in the Caucasus, the Russian Imperial Government resolved upon starting warfare on the territory of Abkhazia too. On June 8, 1810, a Russian detachment landed on the beach in the environs of Sukhumi and two days later (on June 10) stormed and captured its citadel. Together with the Russian troops, a company under the command of Prince D.Orbeliani and Prince Giorgi Sharvashidze also entered Sukhumi. Aslanbey and his followers and supporters had to flee to Turkey.
The Bucharest peace treaty signed there in 1812, put an end to the Russo-Turkish war of 1808-1812. According to Article 6 of this treaty, Russia was to return to Turkey all the lands and fortresses it had conquered in Asia by force of weapon. This implied that Russia had to return to Turkey the cities of Anapa, Poti and Akhalkalaki her troops had stormed in battle. Nevertheless, the article was worded so that the Russians retained Transcaucasia (South Caucasus) up to Arkagay, the Adjarian Mountains and the Black Sea as areas that had voluntarily joined the Empire.
However, Turkey kept pressing its claims demanding withdrawal of the Russian troops from Western Georgia and return of all the fortifications they held there.
On February 19, 1821, Giorgi Sharvashidze died and was succeeded by his son Mikhail, a mere boy of 11 years of age, who was destined to have a long reign (1822-1864) and also to be the last ruling prince in Georgia.
After termination of the Russo-Persian and Russo-Turkish wars, St. Petersburg focused on subjugation of highlanders in the Caucasus. Special attention was devoted to the so called Abkhazian expedition that Russian troops undertook in Gagra, Pitsunda and Bombori and new fortifications were built there (1830-1831). However, Russian advance toward the north of Gagra was impeded by a staunch resistance of the Abkhazian and Ubykh militia. In 1837 the Russian troops resumed their advance along the coast line of the Black Sea and conquered new territories in the Caucasus, severely suppressing any resistance by sending punitive expeditions to the areas where it was offered. This caused anticolonial outbursts and uprisals in Abkhazia in the 20s, 30s and 40s of the 19th c., which Turkey and Russias rivals in Western Europe tried to use to their own advantage. This confusing situation came to a head during the East (also known as the Crimean) war of 1853-1856). The Turks managed to land their troops on the beach line near Sukhumi and concentrate in that city over 45,000 officers and men under Omar-Pasha. Russian garrisons had to leave Abkhazia, whereupon both the Megrelian and the Abkhazian principalities were occupied by the Turkish troops.
The population of these two principalities took to guerilla warfare. Some time later the Russian troops pushed the Turks out of these territories. In the course of this warfare, Abkhazians and Georgians displaced gallantly fighting the Turks side by side with Russians as part of their force. At the same time pro-Turkish-minded forces were active, too. Eventually the war was brought to a victorious end by the Russian troops who played a decisive role in this campaign.
In his reports to St. Petersburg the Viceroy of the Caucasus N. Muravyov (1854-1856) expressed his utter displeasure and concern about the conduct of the ruling prince of Abkhazia Mikhail Sharvashidze who, when Abkhazia was occupied by the Turks, refused to move over to Tiflis and was unwilling to stay permanently with the fighting Russian troops.
In November 1847, prince Mikhail Sharvashidze forwarded a petition to the then Viceroy of the Caucasus Count M.Vorontsov, where he renounced his rights as ruler over Abkhazia on condition of being granted ownership of 1500 peasant households in Imereti who were to be exempt from all taxes; also he expressed a preference to receive a lumpsum of money instead of getting a monthly allowance he was entitled to from the Russian Crown.
This request was turned down then, because the power and authority of a local ruling prince was something the Russian Imperial Government still needed in its outlying provinces and was quite happy with Prince Mikhail as a person in his capacity of a feudal lord in Abkhazia. However later, when Russia crushed the resistance of the North Caucasian nations to submit to its rule, St. Petersburg abolished the Abkhazian feudatory principality together with all the other feudal formations that had been abolished at various times earlier.
On June 24, 1864 the Viceroy of the Caucasus announced the resolution of the Russian Emperor that "Prince Mikhail Sharvashidze and his descendants were relieved from ruling over Abkhazia for ever and ever" and "that direct Russian rule was introduced therein".
After abolition of the Abkhazian principality, its territory was named the Sukhumi Military Department of the Russian Empire with further division into the Bzyb, the Sukhumi and the Abju centers together with two administrative districts of Tsetelda and of Samurzakano placed directly under the Governor-General in Kutaisi.
In 1866 Abkhazia was swept over by a large-scale uprisal of the population outraged by the arbitrary rule of Russian officials, unseemly behavior of the clergy, etc. However, the main reason of this popular outburst was the preparation for the reform of the peasantry status which began in Abkhazia in 1866. Early in August of that year the Governor-General of Kutaisi Prince D.I.Svyatopolk-Mirskiy arrived in Abkhazia with substantial force and on August 3 promulgated an ultimatum demanding that the insurgents should lay down the arms. The ultimatum worked and the insurgents surrendered to the Russian troops.
The policy of relocation of the population played a leading role in the strategy of the establishment of the Russian rule in Abkhazia. In 1867, in the wake of suppression of the uprisal of 1866, all the Abkhazian population was pronounced "guilty owing to their inadequate political reliability". A reaction to this was a wave of the "mahajirism", i.e. en masse relocation of Abkhazians to Turkey. "Mahajirism" as a movement was inspired by the pro-Turkish-minded part of the population of the one hand, and resulted from the policy of encouragement it received from the Russian authorities.
Leading public figures and social activists I.Chavchavadze, A.Tsereteli, S.Meskhi, J.Gogebashvili and others regarded this movement as a national tragedy of the Abkhazian people.
In 1883 Abkhazia - the Sukhumi Military Department - was restructured again into the Sukhumi District and was joined to the Kutaisi Gubernia and placed under the control of its Governor- General. This district now comprised 4 sections: the Gudauta sector with the center in Gudauta, the sector with the center in Sukhumi, the Kodori sector with the center in Ochamchiri and the Samurzakano sector with the center in Okumi.
The Russian Empire encouraged "mahajirism" with a view to having as much land vacated in Abkhazia as possible in preparation of the peasantry reform, so that the freed serf should come here and colonize the vacated territory.
The development of Abkhazia was also done for military strategic reasons, as well as in the interests of the budding Russian capitalism. Understandably, Abkhazia was specifically attractive as a subtropical area where health resorts could be established. By 1900, the Russian Imperial Government owned over 480,000 desyatinas of land there and granting big land areas to Russian landowners, high ranking military officers and civil officials came to be largely practiced.
Typically, Russian and sometimes also Bulgarian, German, Greek, Estonian and other settlers were allocated 15 desyatinas of land per household, whereas Abkhazians and local Georgians were given only 5 desyatinas. On top of that, the peasants, living beyond the river Inguri had no right to move over to Abkhazia.
St. Petersburg strove to Russify Abkhazians and put them against the Georgians, which the Russian authorities did not choose to conceal and stated openly and in unambiguous terms.
However, this policy pursued by the Imperial Government with a view to instigating hostility and strife between the Abkhazians and the Georgians was deplored by advanced Abkhazian, Georgian and Russian intellectuals. In Abkhazia, democratically-minded intelligentsia openly opposed the colonialist policy of the Russian Tsarism and thus contributed to thus contributed to strengthening Georgian-Abkhazian relations that have a long history.
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