MINELRES: IWPR: Batumi Oasis for Abkhaz

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Institute for War & Peace Reporting <info@iwpr.net>


WELCOME TO IWPR'S CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 200, October 17, 2003

................

BATUMI OASIS FOR ABKHAZ

Ten years after the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, a small community of
Abkhaz still lives peacefully in a corner of Georgia 

By Anton Krivenyuk in Batumi

A shiny new Mercedes pulled up on the seafront outside a two-storey
restaurant clad in reflective glass and out stepped Aslan Smirba, a
deputy in the Georgian parliament, and a former mayor of Batumi. Both
the car and the restaurant were his. 

Smirba is an unusual figure in a country which last month marked the
tenth anniversary of the unresolved Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. As a
result of the bloody war, very few Georgians live in modern-day Abkhazia
outside of the Gali region, while almost no Abkhaz live in Georgia. Yet
Smirba calls himself "leader of the Abkhaz diaspora" in Ajaria, the
small autonomous republic in the country's south-western corner. 

Smirba is a close ally of Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze and one of the
leaders of Abashidze's party, Agordzineba (Revival). He says that he is
also on friendly terms with leading Abkhaz politicians. "In Moscow I met
President Vladislav Ardzinba," he said.  "The next president will be
Raul Khajimba [the current prime minister]."

The Abkhaz of Ajaria are in a peculiar position. Although they have
survived well, they have no organisational structure and no one even
knows how many there are. They themselves estimate that they number
around 2,000.

"It would be more correct to call them 'Georgian Abkhaz,'" commented
David Berdzenishvili, the political scientist and leader of the
Republican Party, who himself comes from Batumi. "As far as I know, none
of the Batumi Abkhaz fought in the war on either side. And I can
definitely say that people in Ajaria have never had either anti-Abkhaz
or anti-Georgian sentiments." 

To a large degree this is due to the history of Ajaria, a predominantly
Muslim region, which still has strong ties to Turkey as well as to
Georgia. The Abkhaz community here probably settled in the second half
of the 19th century. In any case that is when Abkhaz began living in two
places where they are found to this day: a district on the edge of the
city known as "the little town" and part of the village of Akhasheni.
When the Russians took over Batumi in the 1870s the Abkhaz stayed and
they say their numbers have remained practically the same. 

The locals say that several families moved to Abkhazia in Soviet times,
but almost no one has made the reverse journey. 

The community has largely assimilated into local society. They speak
Georgian, most have lost contact with their homeland and there are now
Abkhaz surnames in Ajaria, which cannot be found in Abkhazia itself.
Most have mixed marriages.

Few of them remember the Abkhaz language and speak Georgian instead.
Strangely enough, the middle-aged tend to speak better Abkhaz than old
people, something they themselves cannot explain.

Omer Kudba, an Abkhaz who is head of Ajaria's Union of Writers, says
regretfully that he cannot speak his native language. He is afraid that
he would be badly received in Abkhazia because he writes in Georgian.

Smirba is relaxed about the assimilation into Georgia and expresses
views that you would not hear in present-day Abkhazia. "We are all one
people, we are citizens of Georgia and there are no differences between
us," Smirba said. "There is absolutely no discrimination."

Berdzenishvili recalls that in 1989 when the first nationalist
demonstrations began in Georgia, many Abkhaz joined the opposition
movement, the Batumi Popular Front. 

"I can confirm that as I myself was chairman of that movement," he said.
"When it was clear that the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict was inevitable, all
of us - Georgians and Abkhaz - made public statements and appeals,
hoping to stop the violence. All of us were together in that - the
authorities, opposition and ordinary people. And in Ajaria we managed to
avoid any inter-ethnic problems."

The Abkhaz in Batumi also said that they did not experience any trouble
during the war of 1993-4. It was very difficult to establish what they
thought of the current situation and they limited themselves to general
phrases about the need to live in peace and harmony.

Abashidze prides himself on having a special position on the conflict in
Abkhazia. After being appointed two years ago to be President
Shevardnadze's personal envoy on the Abkhaz issue, he regularly
criticizes the Georgian government position. His calls for economic
sanctions to be lifted from the unrecognised republic and his
pro-Russian sentiments have made him unpopular in Tbilisi and popular in
Abkhazia.

"The current relatively stable relations between Ajaria and Abkhazia may
come down to the fact that they had an equivalent position in old Soviet
Georgia," argued Eteri Turashvili, editor of the opposition newspaper
Batumelebi. "Both were autonomous republics. And, today's connections
also derive from old family ties and friendships from most of the
population of Ajaria."

It is hard to distinguish the Abkhaz of Ajaria from their neighbours -
only if you hear their surnames. They do not have their own
organisations, cultural centres or schools. Gradually, they have become
just part of society as a whole. 

Anton Krivenyuk is a correspondent for Panorama, where an earlier
version of this article appeared. To read the October issue of Panorama
log on to http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?caucasus_pan_index.html

.........................

****************** VISIT IWPR ON-LINE: www.iwpr.net ****************

IWPR's Caucasus Reporting Service provides the international community
with a unique insiders' perspective on events in the North and South
Caucasus. Using our network of local journalists, the service publishes
news and analysis from across the region every week.

The service forms part of IWPR's Caucasus Project, which supports local
media development while encouraging better local and international
understanding of the region.

IWPR's Caucasus Reporting Service is supported by the Danish government,
the Dutch government, the Regional Media Fund of the Open Society
Institute and the European Union. The service is currently available
online in English and in Russian. 

To subscribe visit: http://www.iwpr.net/sub_form.html

For further details on this project and other information services and
media programmes, visit IWPR's website: www.iwpr.net

Editor-in-Chief: Anthony Borden; Managing Editor: Yigal Chazan; Project
Coordinator and Editor: Tom de Waal; Senior Editor: John MacLeod;
Editor: Alison Freebairn; Regional Coordinator: Margarita Akhvlediani in
Tbilisi; Associate Editors: Shahin Rzayev in Baku, Karen Topchyan in
Yerevan and Valery Dzutsev in Vladikavkaz. To comment on this service,
send letter to the editor at tom@iwpr.net or letters@iwpr.net

The Institute for War & Peace Reporting is a London-based independent
non-profit organisation supporting regional media and democratic change.

Lancaster House, 33 Islington High Street, London N1 9LH, United
Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0)20 7713 7130, Fax: +44 (0)20 7713 7140. E-mail:
info@iwpr.net

The opinions expressed in IWPR's Caucasus Reporting Service are those of
the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the publication or
of IWPR.

ISSN: 1477-7959 Copyright (c) 2003 The Institute for War & Peace
Reporting 

CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE No. 200