UNPO - Abkhazia

Abkhazia

Geography

Abkhazia is situated on the Eastern coast of the Black sea, bordering Russia in the North and North Caucasus along the Caucasus Mountains Range and Georgia in the East. Abkhazia is divided into seven administrative districts: Gagra, Gudauta, Sukhumi, Ochamchira, Gulripsh, Tquarchal and Gal. Due to its mountainous nature, Abkhazia has many rivers and lakes, and rich fertile soil. The climate is very mild, averaging around 15 degrees Celsius. Higher elevations experience a more varied climate, with significant snow and even glaciers in some parts. The capital city is Sukhum (Akua in Abk.) which lies on the Black Sea coast.

History Early Development

6th Century B.C.: The Greeks established trading posts in Abkhazia, a Caucasian land, then known as Colchis at the Eastern end of the Black Sea. Their cities, especially Dioscurias (now modern day Sukhum) grew to be a prosperous trade center. 55th year AD Saint Andrew and Simon the Zealot came to Abkhazia to preach Christianity where they were both buried. First Century B.C.: The Romans fortified Sukhum. The peoples' longevity was reported. 523 A.D.: Abkhazia became part of the Byzantine Empire. Christianity was adopted. 780 - 978: The Kingdom of Abkhazia flourished and the Abkhazia Dynasty extended its way over much of what is now Western Georgia. 1300-1500: A portion of Abkhazia was under the Mingrelian Rule 1500 - 1680: The Abkhazian Chachba Dynasty drove the Mingrelians out and established the boundaries that exist to this day. 1578: Abkhazia was invaded by the Ottoman Empire 18th Century: Abkhazia, in alliance with Georgia, made repeated efforts to drive out the Turks.

Russian Empire

1801 - 1804: Various Georgian areas (Kartli and Kakhetia-1801, Mingrelia-1803, Imeretia and Guria-1804) came directly under Russian Rule (voluntarily seeking protection from Ottoman Turks and Iran). 1810: Tzar Alexander the First, issued a Charter to the ruling Prince of Abkhazia acknowledging Abkhazia as an autonomous principality under the protection of Russia. 1864: After prolonged fighting across the entire region of the Caucasus, Abkhazia was the last Caucasian principality to be forcibly annexed to the Russian Empire. Russian oppression was so severe that over the next few decades more than half of the Abkhazian population fled to Turkey and the Middle East. 1917 - 1918: Abkhazia joined the Republic of North Caucasus. The Mensheviks took over the government of Georgia and succeeded in annexing Abkhazia.

Soviet Abkhazia

March 1921: The Bolsheviks overthrew the Mensheviks in Georgia. The Abkhazian Soviet Socialist Republic was established separate from Georgia and headed by Nestor Lakoba. 1922: Abkhazia was a signatory to the formation of the USSR acting as a sovereign Abkhazian Republic. 1925: Abkhazia adopted its first Constitution under which it was united by a Special Treaty of Alliance with Georgia. 1931: Stalin (Georgian) and Beria (Mingrelian) reduced Abkhazia to the status of an autonomous Republic within Georgia. 1937 - 1953: Forced mass immigration into Abkhazia was carried out from Western Georgia (Mingrelia) by Stalin and Beria. In Abkhazia, as well as other regions of the USSR, mass oppression was carried out, thousands of intellectuals were persecuted. Before the forced Georgification of the 20th century, Abkhazia had a highly diverse demography with many Turks, Armenians, Jews, and Greeks, among others. Abkhazia celebrated its diversity and the strict homogenization under Georgian rule greatly contrasted with the traditionally tolerant Abkhazian culture. In the period 1937-1953, the Abkhaz were deprived of the right to teach their children in their native language. All Abkhaz schools and institutions were closed. The Abkhaz were only allowed to study in Georgian schools. Abkhaz script (originally based on the Cyrillic and then on Latin) was altered, against the will of the Abkhaz people, to one based on Georgian characters. As a result, after 1938 the Abkhaz were deprived of the right to read newspapers, journals, and other literature in the Abkhaz native language. 1978: Abkhazian intellectuals signed a letter of protest to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR complaining about the status of Abkhazia and blamed the Georgian leaders for pursuing a "Beria" policy aimed at the "Georgianization" of the Republic. Major demonstrations at Lykhny (a sacred place in Abkhazian tradition) followed. The Abkhazian campaign, to be incorporated in the Russian Federation, was rejected by Russia and Georgia. Instead, concessions were made to the Abkhaz, including the opening of the University and TV broadcasting in Abkhazia. During that year (1978), Moscow allocated millions of rubles to help Abkhazia. The Abkhazian government never received the moneys. The sum was dispersed to restrain the Abkhazian people's protest at the existing conditions.

Post Soviet Period

1988 - 1989: Leaders of the National Movement in Georgia demanded the abolition of the "Autonomies within Georgia along with the secession from the USSR. 1988 - 1990: Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic unilaterally adopted a number of measures which essentially affected the secession of Georgia from the USSR and abrogated all legal acts that united Georgia and Abkhazia under the Soviet power. 1990: On the eve of the signing of the new Soviet Union Treaty, Abkhazia, like all of the other autonomous Republics, declared its sovereignty. On the next day, Georgia declared the abrogation of the Abkhazian Declaration of Sovereignty. Georgia abrogated the autonomy of Ossetia leading to the armed conflict between South Ossetia and Georgia. 1992: Abkhazia declares its sovereignty of its own territory and proposes a federative treaty to Georgia to fill in the "legal vacuum" that emerged after Georgia's unilateral abrogation of all Soviet legal documents. Exactly 20 days after being accepted by the United Nations, on August 14, Georgian troops entered the territory of Abkhazia without any notification to the Abkhazian government and launched a land and air attack on the southeast part of Abkhazia and its capital city. Bloody fighting continued for 14 months. 1993: On September 30, Abkhazian forces - backed by the Confederation of the Peoples of the North Caucasus Organization finally ousted the Georgian troops from the territory of Abkhazia. 1994: In April, joint Declaration of the Political Settlement was signed by the parties to the conflict - the UN, Russia and OSCE, in the presence of the UN Secretary General. The Declaration outlined principles for the peaceful settlement of the conflict on the basis of equality of the parties. In May, negotiations under the auspices of the UN sanctioned the deployment of the CIS peace-keeping troops to separate the parties to the conflict.

Contemporary history of Abkhazia

Abkhazia adopted a new constitution on November 26 1994, declaring Abkhazia’s national sovereignty which was unrecognized by Georgia and all other states, as were the elections in November 1996. Later on the regime of economic sanctions was imposed on Abkhazia by Russia, Georgia and the CIS states. This has had severe impacts on the economic growth and development of Abkhazia. Until now Abkhazia, acting as a sovereign de facto state is actively seeking international recognition.

Politics and Current Issues Relations with Georgia

After the end of the conflict in 1993 Georgia undertook several military attempts to take Abkhazia back i.e. in 1998 and 2001. Recent introduction of the Georgian Army in the upper part of the Kodor Gorge of Abkhazia had put an end to a fragile peace process. Today Georgia claims that part of Abkhazia to be part of Georgia by deploying so called “Government in exile” (The Georgian recognized Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia has no actual jurisdiction or relevance in Abkhazia). Georgia and the international community refuse to recognize the Sukhumi-based government despite the fact that it exercises sovereign rule over its territory and people where Georgia is incapable. Today, Abkhazia demands reparations from Georgia for destruction during the 1992-93 war as well as the economic damage suffered due to the sanctions placed on Abkhazia by CIS states. Within Georgia, there are high numbers of internally displaced people (IDP) from the war, both Georgians forced out of Abkhazia and Abkhazians who fled the situation. Georgian President Saakashvili often uses IDP as bargaining chip for Abkhazian-Georgian negotiations. Abkhazia argues that the return of ethnic Abkhazians in Turkey, currently banned by sanctions, should also be allowed. Abkhazia demands recognition as a sovereign state both by Georgia and by the international community. In the aftermath of the Russo-Georgian War, on August 2008, Russian government has formally recognized the independence of Abkhazia.

Current Abkhazian Politics

In 2004 presidential elections were held, which caused much controversy when the candidate backed by outgoing president Vladislav Ardzinba and by Russia - Raul Khadjimba - was apparently defeated by Sergey Bagapsh. The tense situation in the republic led to the cancellation of the election results by the Supreme Court. After that, the deal was struck between former rivals to run jointly: Bagapsh as a presidential candidate and Khajimba as a vice presidential candidate. They received more than 90% of the votes in the new election. After those years of power sharing-agreement, on 12 December 2009, Abkhazia will hold its fourth Presidential elections. The incumbent President, Sergey Bagapsh, is running for a second term mandate. Beslan Butba, businessman and chairman of the Party for Economic Development of Abkhazia and Sergey Shamba, Minister for Foreign Affairs will be also running for the post.

Seek International recognition

The current policy towards Abkhazia by the international community, international institutions, and the majority of states is non-recognition, excepting the Russian Federation and Nicaragua, whose recognition of Abkhazian independence were officially proclaimed after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Despite this new shift, Abkhazia continues to seek greater international recognition from those states and organizations that today do not recognize Abkhazia.

Sochi Olympics

About 40 kilometres to the north of the Abkhazian-Russian border is a resort city known as Sochi. Recently, Sochi achieved international recognition when it won the bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Abkhazia offered support for development projects in preparation for the Sochi Olympics. Given the proximity of such a huge investment project and Abkhazia’s capacity of construction materials, the Winter Olympics will become a significant boost for the Abkhaz economy. Georgians are outraged and claim that the inclusion of Abkhazia in the Olympic preparations would not only further devolve relations with Russia, but would also delay the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict resolution process. It remains uncertain what role the Sochi games will play for Abkhazia.

Population

According to the 2003 census, there are 215,972 people living in Abkhazia, of which approximately 50% are ethnic Abkhazians, 21% Georgian, 20% Armenians, 11% Russians, and less than 1% Greeks. Georgia contests the results of the census, and several international sources have claimed the number is too high, putting the population size closer to 175,000. There is also a large Abkhazian Diaspora of about a million.

Languages

Abkhazians speak Abkhaz, though Russian is also common and shares co-official status, and Georgian is widely used in the Gal district where most of the returned Georgian refugees live. Written Abkhaz, based on the Cyrillic alphabet, first appeared in 1862.

Religion

The majority of Abkhazians are Orthodox Christians, comprising approximately 75% of the population. Although officially a canonical territory of the Georgian Orthodox Church, the affairs of Orthodox Christians are run by the Eparchy of Abkhazia under Russian Orthodox influence. Another 10% of Abkhazians are Sunni Muslims, and there is a small number of Jews, Lutherans, Catholics and followers of new religions.

Culture

The majority of Abkhazians live in the rural areas, mostly in large family homes where they grow and process their own food. Horses have an important place in Abkhazian culture. Horse sports and equestrian activities are popular activities for Abkhazians and often play a central role in festivals. Song, music, and dance are also important to Abkhazian culture. There are joyous songs for weddings, ritual songs, cult songs, lullabies, healing songs, and work songs. There are special songs for the gathering of the lineage, for the ill, and songs celebrating the exploits of heroes. All of the arts are represented in Abkhazia. There are drama and dance companies, art museums, music schools, and theatres for the performing arts. Poetry and literature are also held in high regard. It has recently been acknowledged that there is a disproportionately high occurrence of nonagenarians and centenarians in certain areas in the Caucasus, including Abkhazia. These long-lifers are known for continuing their active lifestyles, continuing to work the fields, dance, sing, and walk for miles long past their ninth decade.

Economy

Abkhazia is mostly rural and boasts a variety of abundant agricultural natural resources, primarily citrus fruit, tobacco, tea, and timber. It also has some energy resources with coal mines and hydro-electric plants. Abkhazia’s economy is heavily reliant on Russia, using the Rouble as its currency, and relying mostly on Russia as export market, a trading partner and investor. Turkey is another big economic partner for Abkhazia. Economic and information sanctions were put on Abkhazia in 1996 by CIS countries after its declaration of independence and removal of Georgian troops from the country. The economic blockade following years of military conflict has devastated the Abkhazian economy. No foreign direct investment has been able to breach the blockades, and international trade is highly restricted. Lifting up the embargo by Russia opens new horizons for the country’s economic growth. Tourism to Abkhazia is on the rise, with the number of tourists reaching almost 2 million visitors in 2007 and expecting this number to grow to a multitude of this number in the next decade. Fishing and construction industries are increasing its volumes annually.

Nature & Environment

Despite the years of isolation, Abkhazia managed to preserve its unique and virgin natural parks and resources. Abkhazia is rich with fresh water and may be one of the biggest exporters of water. The fast growing tourism industry is challenging Abkhazia’s environment. Years of isolation however, deprived Abkhazia of its access to the international know-how on environmental protection standards.

Famous People

Rusudan “Rusa” Goletiani, Chess Woman Grand Master

Gennady Pasko, impressionist painter

Levars Butba, abstractionist painter

Akhra Tsveiba, football player

Vladislav Ardzinba, first president of Abkhazia

Nugzar Ashuba, speaker of the Parliament of Abkhazia

Bagrat Shinkuba, writer, poet, historian, linguist, and politician

Sergei Bagapsh, current president of Abkhazia

Fazil Iskander, well-known writer

Murat Yagan, philosopher, national leader,

Places of great symbolic importance

Lake Ritsa

New Athon (Novi Afon)

New Athons Monastery

Pitsunda Cathederal

Sukhum Gegsky waterfall

Mokva Church

Ilor Church

Main national holidays

New Year (December 31-January 1) – Celebrates the end of the year.

Old New Year (January 13-14) – Celebrates the end of the year according to the Julian, or Old Style Calendar, which was followed prior to the Soviet era. It remains primarily a family occasion.

Azhirnihua (January 14) – Day of the world’s creation, renovation.

International Women’s Day (March 8)

Paskha/Easter (set by Orthodox Christian calendar)

Victory Day (May 9)

Saint Simon’s Day (May 23)

Memorial Day of May 31 – Memorial day for the victims of the Caucasian War and forcible deportation of the Mountainous Caucasian Peoples.

Motherland’s Defenders Memorial Day (August 14)

Liberation Day (September 30) – Since 1993, this holiday has been held to commemorate the driving out of Georgian forces from Abkhazia. There is a parade of the Abkhazian military forces, as well as dancing and music festivals.

Abkhaz Army Day (October 11)

Kurbannihua (Fall, set by moon) – International religious Muslim holiday. Lykhnashta (Fall, after harvest) – Every year Abkhazians gather in the village of Lykhny where there are horse races, equestrian games, and outdoor exhibits and markets with produce, crafts and other products from across Abkhazia.

Constitution Day (November 26)

Abkhazians also celebrate religious holidays, with many families observing both Orthodox Christian and Muslim festivals, as well as pagan traditions.

Organisation

Abkhazia is represented at the UNPO by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia.

Government Executive power:

President: Sergei Bagapsh (since 12 February 2005) President of the Republic is the head of State and elected for the term of 5 years. Any Abkhaz national who is citizen of Abkhazia aged from 35 - 65 could be elected as the President of the Republic of Abkhazia. The election is based on universal, equal and direct suffrage. The President can not serve for more than two terms in a period;;

Vice-president: Raul Khajimba;

Prime Minister: Alexander Ankvab. The Prime Minister is the Head of government; Cabinet: Ministers are appointed by the president on recommendation of the prime minister.

Parliament is comprised of Unicameral Peoples Assembly or Azh'lar Reilazara (35 seats; members elected by universal, equal and direct suffrage to serve five-year terms); Speaker of Parliament: Nugzar Ashuba Elections: last held March of 2007 (next to be held in March of 2012);

Judicial power: Supreme Court of Abkhazia is the highest judicial body. City Court Arbitrary Court Military Court. The President of the Republic is the Head of the Council of Justice.

Political parties and leaders:

1. Social-Political Movement 'Aidgilara' –Kvarchia Valeri;

2. Movement of Mothers of Abkhazia for Peace and Social Justice – Kichba Guli;

3. Social-political Movement 'Kavlat' – Kondjaria Garik;

4. Congress of Russian Communities of Compatriots of Russia in Abkhazia – Nikitchenko Gennady;

5. Communist Party of Abkhazia – Shamba Lev;

6. People's Party of Abkhazia – Lakoba Yakub;

7. Republican Social-Political Movement 'Aitaira' (Revival) – Damenia Oleg;

8. Republican Organization of the Social-Political Movement 'Amtsakhara' – Nachach-Ogli Vladimir;

9. Republican Party 'Apsny' – ;

10. Republican Social-Political Movement 'United Abkhazia' – Mikvabia Artur;

11. Social-Democrat Party of Abkhazia – Alamia Gennady;