Daily life in Abkhazia-08.08.08

Photos from Abkhazia- daily life continues without distraction.
People who have lived Georgian invasion and violence during the 92-93 war fear a new war.
Men and women, volunteer or take their places in reserve forces but daily life continues.
Tourists, go around with Abkhaz flagged tshirts, enjoy the sun and sea of wonderful Abkhazia.

http://picasaweb.google.com/abkhaziadiary/Sukhum_today

South Osetia: The real war hitting the non-guilty citizens, the information war hitting the non-guilty side

We have been hearing of attacks by the Georgians to the South Osettians for about a week. In the streets it has been the only talk by the russian speaking community. However, the Repatriants who follow Turkish news were not aware of the reality of the situation since Turkish media has been, as usual, taking the side of the Georgians and disinformating the Turkish speaking community in the world.

On friday morning, when I left the house the neigbours were talking about the dreadful attacks to the South Ossetian city, Tsinval, by the Goergians.

Where were the Russian Peace keeping forces that had to protect the border between Georgia and South Ossettia? The Georgians had invaded 5 villages and have destroyed the capital city with night-long bombing.

It was told that a week ago when the first attacks started many children and women were moved to North-Ossetia and other parts of North- Caucasus. But the views from the city showed many women and children under attack in the city of Tsinval. Now the number goes upto 2000 dead mainly women and children, all civilians.

The US said to Georgia, to stop the war but Georgians got fiercer. The South Ossetian head of state asked from Russian Peace Keepers to do their duty to defend people and to stop the occupation of South Ossetia, as they were titled to be with the 2004 Moscow Nonagression Treatment (that was signed by Georgia as well).

The Russian peace keeping forces in the end intervened to the genocide towards the people of South Ossetia by Georgian forces. The Georgian forces, have been using American and Turkish weaponary during the attack, but the Ossetian forces have done their best without any support from the outside world. On Friday lunch time, Abkhazians, made a press meeting in front of the new parliament building, to support their Osset brothers. They said a voluntary battalion from Abkhazia can be formed immediately. Yesterday, Ossetian forces survived the capital Tsinval. The city is completely destroyed. Now, the Russian Peace keeping forces are trying to do their duty, protecting the civilians that survived the Georgian attacks and partial invasion of the city.

In Abkhazia, you can see everywhere South Ossetian and Abkhazian flags. The people are giving their heartfull support to their brothers. (In Abkhaz language Abkhaz call themselves Apswaa and call Ossetian Awaaps. Awaa means people/nation; Aps means life. This naming shows how close these two nations are. And in the last tragic events taking place the people of life in Ossettia are losing their lives and their borthers in Apsni/Abkhazia cry for them.)

Statement by Adygaa

By leaders of Public Organization "Adyga Khase" of Kabardino-Balkaria Republic (KBR), Union of Abkhazian Volunteers of KBR, Union of Afghanistan veterans of KBR, Special Forces veteran Association "Rus'" of North Caucasus, Circassian Congress of KBR, Tersko-Malkinskiy Cossack district of KBR, Public Organization "Worldwide Circassian Brotherhood".

On august 8^th 2008 Georgian armed forces disloyally attacked South Osetia. Tskhinval city and south osetian people are bombarded by all kinds of land and air artillery, innocent people including women and children are dieing every minute. These actions one more time showed the true face of Georgian government and their target to physically destroy people of South Osetia.

We mentioned many times, that undefined status of South Osetia and Abkhazia provokes the desire of Georgian government to solve the problem with military force.

What is the most cynical, is the fact that Georgia started the war same day the XXIXth Olympic Games opened in Beijing.

Today, when Russian citizens die in South Osetia, including peace keeping forces, the Russian Federation must strongly react and stop the aggressor.

People of Kabardino-Balkaria and South Osetia have been bound for hundreds of years, we always helped and supported each other in difficult times.

Along with the people of the Caucasus and all of Russia we declare our strong will to defend South Osetia from the Georgian governments genocide.

We ask Russian government to do whatever it takes to defend our citizens, residing in South Osetia, organize repulsion to the aggressor and review the recognition of independent status of South Osetia and Abkhazia.

The undersigned:

Thamade of Public organization "Adyga Khase" - Mohamad Hafitza

Head of Union of Abkhazian Volunteers of KBR - Aleksei Bekshokov

Head of Union of Afghanistan veterans of KBR - Timur Tkhagalegov

Head of Special Force veteran Association "Rus'" - Nikolai Shubrov

Ataman of Tersko-Malkinsk Cossack district of KBR - Nikolai Lubunya

Head of Circassian Congress of KBR - Ruslan Keshev

President of Worldwide Circassian Brotherhood - Zamir Shukhov

Statement by Non-governmental Organizations of Abkhazia

Civil society in Abkhazia is appalled at the tragic events in South Ossetia that are developing before the very eyes of the international community as the entire population of South Ossetia have actually become a target for a massive attack from the Georgian army. Georgia has violated all previous agreements, as well as principles of international and humanitarian law.
Despite declarations about adherence to exclusively peaceful ways of conflict resolution, the Georgian leadership has now taken a treacherous decision to start military operations against the people of South Ossetia. Hundreds of civilians are dead and wounded, the hospital, schools accommodation blocks in Tskhinval have been destroyed. Barbaric shelling of the civilian population testifies to a gross transgression by Georgia of human rights and has caused a desperate humanitarian disaster across the whole of South Ossetia.

One can hardly call Georgia's recent actions spontaneous. They are a deliberate fulfilment of Tbilisi's plans to undermine the existing negotiation and peacekeeping formats. In his recent interviews the State Minister of Georgia Temur Jacobashvili has spoken openly about Georgia's intention to liquidate these formats.

By repeatedly declaring its commitment to a peaceful resolution Georgia is attempting to mislead the international community about its true intentions. It must be obvious that Tbilisi has embarked on the path of a resolution of conflicts by force of arms. In light of this the so called 'peace initiatives" by Saakashvili are perceived in South Ossetia and Abkhazia as nothing other than a screen to mask Georgia' s goals, which are far from peaceful.
We cannot but be concerned by the fact that at a time when so much attention from the international community is focused on our region, and just after the visits to Tbilisi of highly placed officials from world powers, Georgia has permitted itself yet again to resort to military force to attain its goals. This demonstrates that too often Tbilisi succeeds in avoiding having to take responsibility for its criminal actions, which destabilize the situation in the Caucasus and place under threat the lives of thousands of people.
In the current situation we expect from the international community, from all countries and organizations involved in the resolution process an unambiguous assessment of the actions of Georgia. We consider that the international community is well placed and obliged to use all levers at its disposal to put a stop to Georgian aggression, if it so wishes.


Centre for Humanitarian Programmes - Arda Inal Ipa, Ilana Kvarchelia, Asida Shakril, Irakliy Hintba

Sukhum Youth House - Elena Kobahiya, Aida Ladariya

Sukhum Media Club - Manana Gurguliya, Diana Kerselyan, Marta Tuzhba

Inva-Promotion Association - Alhas Thagushev, Alena Kuvichko

Association of Women of Abkhazia - Natella Akaba, Marietta Topchyan, Bella Turtseva

Gagra Centre for Civic Initiatives Development - Irina Agrba

Youth Initiative Tkuarchala - Rita Azhiba

Ochamchira Youth House - Selma Zantariya

Pitsunda Youth Centre - Natalya Agrba

Association of Women Entrepreneurs - Julia Goumba

Civilian Initiatives Fund - Leila Taniya

STATEMENT by MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS of the REPUBLIC of ABKHAZIA

The war unleashed by Georgia against South Ossetia demonstrates conclusively that, despite assurances of its commitment to a peaceful resolution of the conflict, Georgia has been intensively preparing for armed aggression. The beginning of the war on the opening day of the International Olympic Games in Peking is nothing but a cynical attempt to divert international attention from developments in South Ossetia. In this context, the passive response of the UN Security Council will do nothing but promote the continuation of a conflict in which civilians are continuing to be killed and which has already led to a large number of refugees.

The actions by Georgia are a grave violation of International law that will lead to a destabilization of the situation in the whole region. It can easily lead to irreversible and unforeseen consequences. The position of the international facilitators in the conflict, who persist in denying the guilt of Georgia for unleashing war, can only promote an escalation of military action. It raises doubts among the Abkhazians about their objectivity and ability to do anything helpful to support the maintenance of peace in the region. In this regard their eventual role in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict will be at best unhelpful, at worst destructive.

The reaction of the International Community to the prevailing situation is seen in Abkhazia as a good indication of its likely reaction, should similar military intervention against Abkhazia be undertaken by the Georgian side. Taking everything into consideration, the conclusion must be clear to all: there are absolutely no prospects for the reintegration of Abkhazia and South Ossetia into Georgia.

Henceforth, any 'assurances' by Georgia to resolve the conflict in Abkhazia and South Ossetia by peaceful means will be considered by the Abkhaz side as a blatant attempt to mislead not only the people of Abkhazia but the whole international community, for there can be no doubt that behind such 'assurances' lies the real threat of renewed military aggression against Abkhazia also. The refusal of Georgia, under any conditions, to withdraw its troops from the upper Kodor Gorge, where they were illegally introduced in 2006, and to sign a Peace Agreement with Abkhazia also only serves to confirm suspicions that Georgia plans to start a war with Abkhazia.

Taking all of this into account, the Abkhaz side calls upon the International Community (inter alia the UN) to abandon its passive position of being a mere observer and give an unambiguous assessment of the actions of Georgia and also to take decisive steps to ensure an immediate end to the military actions in South Ossetia.

Sukhum 08.08.2008

too late... too long.. don't have power...

Dear readers of Abkhazia Diary Blog page! I am lazy! I am busy! and I am poor! and I am not patient!
Please wait till the barocade on Abkhazia is removed: than communication and especially internet will be faster and cheaper. Than I will write all about my beautiful country, life here, and people...
Till than please excuse me and try to enjoy already existing information!
...

Kurban Bayram and the border trouble

The pain in my stomach started again. I don't need no doctors this time. I know the reason. It is the overwhelmed life that I am living, it is the stress of conflicting ideas in mind. It is me that is creating the pain.

The trip to Turkey was tiring and boring. On the way to the airport I tested my Russian by speaking to the border guards for 2 hours while they checked my things in detail. And after that at the airport they were unhappy since they could not find a reason to take -“ceza” as they say- punishment money from me. On the way back the plane (the new and a little cheaper firm -Siberian Airlines/S7) was delayed for nearly 3 hours and we arrived to Sochi/Adler Airport at 1 o'clock at night and they told us we need “immigrasoniy slujba” at the exit. Than there were two guards and they were saying my papers were missing and I said no they are not. They charged us of course though I rejected to pay my friend did pay it against my rejections. And than they said we can go. And we said no we need the “imigrasoniy slujba”. They said we do not need, we said we do need. Than they said they do not have it! The responsible personnel were not there, sleeping at home!!! We had to wait till morning. But some Abkhazian girls said they will rob us if we stay at the airport which seemed very realistic to me. So she took us under the rain over waters that filled the streets with all our bags and belongings to the airport hotel! We paid 250 rubles to the woman per person and we went to our rooms. In the morning we went down stairs and asked for registration, normally if you stay in a hotel in RF they need to make it for you but they said they do not have it. Besides if we want any papers to show we had been there for the night we need to pay extra 120 rubles per person. Still she was not sure if we paid the rest since the women had taken it all for herself and had not register us to the hotel! So she called her and after a hours discussion she said she will bring the money back. later so we got our papers and went to the airport. After a 30 minutes search I found the little building saying it was the place and ringed the bell a few times. Than a man who has just woke up (at 11 o'clock!) opened the door and looked at me with blurry eyes. He did the necessary procedure and it lasted only 3 minutes and I got my stamp and told him my friend will also come in a minute. Than I went to where we had hour bags and my friend went to take the stamp. His lasted like 20 minutes since he did not speak Russian and he had asked many many questions. Anyway we managed to do that and in the end we took a cab to Psou.

It was so crowded with mandarin traders. We could hardly walk among the huge mud and crowds. We passed the border faster than I accepted, I guess the problems were taking place parallel to the mandarin traders.

They should find a way to these problems at the border, maybe a legal taxation so that all will know what to pay.

Anyway, did you know that Russian Federation passport holders can get a visa to Turkey at the entrance for 20 dolars- 2 months. And since my visa is running out in 2 months I do not know how much I will need to pay. But if you take 1 25 day double entry visa it costs something like 120 dolars for Turkish passport holders.

I hope soon direct transport to Abkhazia will start and than we will not need to spend time on Russian borders.

Anyway, about Abkhazia I did not write much recently. I am currently working on an article on the food culture in Abkhazia. As I said it is the mandarin production that survives many of the families here. It is also the khurma that is very widespread among producers.

We had a Muslim Celebration, Kurban Bayram recently. And it was really stressing and fun at the same time. The stress came from the water problem- the children got diarrhea and it is really widespread. I was woken, on the first day of the Bayram by a repatriate families call saying they need my help to take their son to hospital. I ran to their house and we took a cab to the hospital. Though it was a holiday, there was an ongoing work in the Children's Hospital. They are making renovations at the building. There was a male doctor who did not really looked us in the eye, angry to someone or something running from here to there. A female doctor appeared out of nowhere and she was so kind and helpful. Checking the child for appendices and other things before deciding. Anyway, than they took us to a room and the beds were not clean at all and really cold so we put jackets to the bed and over the child. He did not want to have the serum but the Armenian care taker was talking in Turkish a little and Russian more, to relax him. Anyway, after many arguments and attempts we managed to find his vessel. Than we stayed there for an hour. The lady doctor and the care taker was checking us every now and than. Than they gave 5 different medicine including hydro-support and send us home. I think the taxi, medicine, some diet food and other payments take around 1200 rubles which is really a big sum of money. And all of this, their neighbor was paying since we could not follow it all.

Later that day, I changed and made visits to Gulripsh, where many repatriates live. That part was fun and I enjoyed a good taste of deserts, cakes and chocolates. A friend brought us home late at night. The next day was also same, visiting families and friends. Observing their reunions, chats, gossips, discussions on food and stuff. The stories of the past show that life was not easy years ago but now, life has changed in Abkhazia. Conditions are better, the borders are open, you can find or bring anything you wish. I have visited some really cool houses that you will not even see many places in Turkey. Plasma TV sets, latest design kitchens (metallic or classic wooden but complete white!), very comfortable and puffy cushions and sofas, big dining tables or American kitchens, all best quality. Very beautiful children, talking Abkhazian as their mother tongue but understanding Turkish and Russian as well as the other!

Life will not be the same in a few years. Things will change rapidly and where we will stand in this process of change? I am gonna be here in the Independent Republic of Abkhazia, enjoying the sea and the sun and these beautiful people, but what about you?