Ardzynba...

For those who are associated with the Abkhaz history this name means a lot of things... For those who are living in Abkhazia, this name means independence, freedom, nation, family and many more things. In the last few years many books have been published dedicated to him. A photo album was prepared from his photos that were taken to exhibitions all around Abkhazia.
He was the first president of the Independent Republic of Abkhazia after leading the Georgian-Abkhaz war in 1992-1993. He was a valuable academician, his archeological-historical studies are of great value to researchers. "He was a lucky politician" said a friend today. "He has seen victory, freedom, independence, establishment and development of a new state, and at last- recognition".
Now on TV different people tell their feelings about his death. The frequent words that my ear cathces are "leader" "the symbol of abkhaz nation" "independence" "victory""great lost" "cant talk no more".
He was a member of each family. He was well known and liked in the Diaspora. He was respected very much even by his oppositioners.
Now they show an interview with him at the time of the war... The interview asks -"when will the war end?". He responds -"first you got the understand how it started."
I had a lot of things to write. But I feel like I won't be able to find the right words. Just want to say, to help you understand why it is so hard for me, someone who never meet him (I was going to meet him but since his illness got worse on the day we were supposed to, which was the 15th anniversary of the starting of the war...)
Just yesterday I was saying from our experience of the field works we have been doing, how happy, how peacefull are the people of Abkhazia. You could see it in their eyes, in their lives, they were living in a stability and they were hopeful. Today all I see is red and wet eyes around me. Even in the eyes of the people that I thought were politically in the opposition of Ardzynba, I can see the tears. Because they are well aware of that he has helped them gain and protect: their nation, their country, their future...

Information for future Visitors of Abkhazia-updated

Information for future visitors of Abkhazia!!!!

1- You must understand that although Abkhazia seems in any international map you have, as part of Georgia, de facto it is not! It is an independent country with her own official institutions, own constitution and own regulations.

2- Please check if a visa to enter Abkhazia is required for you according to the passport you have at the Ministry of Foriegn Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia's official website at :

http://mfaabkhazia.org/en/

3- If you require a visa than please fill in the form at that page and send it to the ministry before your trip. You should have a letter of clearance when you arrive. And it takes time to receive this email. Please consider you will have to pay 20 dolars for your visa at your arrival to Sohum otherwise you can not get your printed visa which is your ticket out! If you do not require a visa than enjoy your journey directly.

4- Please consider that Abkhazia's status is recognized officially by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru, South Ossetia and Transnistria. (besides people from all over the world recognize its independence-such as the UNPO members). There is still an ongoing embargo from the west- both informational and travel (you can find anything you need in the local market and shops so I do not count the economic embargo). The borders are open but it is not very easy to pass because of the regulations and restrictions on both Georgian and Russian side.

5- If you will come from Adler-Psou, the Russian Border you can not leave the country from the Georgian border since you will be arrested by the Georgians and be charged 900 Euros and there is nothing Abkhazia can do about that- only to tell you the risks. If you require a visa for Russia than you MUST have a double entry visa to go back but now that the Russian consulate is opened in Sukhum, maybe you could get a transit visa but you have to check it at the MFA Abkhazia too. The border is a little crowded in summer and autumn - since many people wants to come here for a cheap holiday and in autumn there is a trade of mandarin going on. Usually, Russians take their time in document checking since they want it to be as problematic as possible for the visitors so that they will not come again... Still last few years, people from Germany, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, England, France, USA and some other parts of the world came to Abkhazia and enjoyed their visit.

6- If you will come from Georgia they say that you may have to wait for 2 weeks to get a permission which you may not receive at all. This is usually the answer when you ask if you can. I think the best way is to just go and pass the border but I do not want to be the one to suggest. The information I got is not something you can trust. But if you manage to get it than you may go back from the same border or through Psou to Russia if you have a suitable Russian visa. If you go back to Georgia, it is possible that you may be questioned informally on your purposes of visit but it is not usually very problematic as far as I heard!

7- I know it seems too much trouble to take. But I think it will worth it!!!! Ask the people who have already come!!! We have the greatest nature, best sea, interesting traditional couzine, the Ritza lake region for mountaineers and people who love trekking and camping in the mountains (snowboarders came to Abkhazia just a few years back to ski in untouched snow), religious monuments such as the 300 year old church, or the monastry, a great history that we know little about- the dolmens that belongs to an old past, the castles of hundreds of years, the exiled Abkhazians of the Tsarist period and their distinct Caucasian culture still living in the modern world, the Soviet heritage- we are all one and equal- you can still see the same piece of Muhina glass in every house, the Abkhazian-Goergian war of the 1990s- with its monuments and loss in every family and its remains in every corner, the transition period with its "capitals"- the market that has it all....

I had written in my previous post on visa issues: 8- One last thing you should remember, when Abkhazia will be recognized officially you will have a chance to say: I was there before it was even recognized! I felt their belief in independence! I lived their independence within their borders! I knew it! And I supported it!!!!" I think you can still enjoy to be the one who has been there, since the world has started to hear of us more each day. We will get over this informational barocade with you spreading the word of your unprejudiced travel to Abkhazia .

Dizzy, Busy, Fizzy

When I said I have Vertigo a friend told me is reminds him of Hitchcock! Believe me Hitchcock thrillers are tender to how I feel. Dizziness is not the right word to describe the feeling of world floating and turning around you! Yes the world is turning around me in the non-sarcastic sense!
I have to deal with so many things alone now- I am overloaded! Martha, where are you? I hope you are happy in Moscow because I can hardly manage this work since you are gone. My only comfort will be your happiness...
I completed the 10 finger writing training in Abkhaz and I want to turn it into an online training so that the methodology I created would be of use to more people- but when??? I also want to install Linux in Abkhazian in my computer but I need to clean it up and take it there for a few hours. There should be an online version but I just could not find it...
I have also completed the pilot study of the agricultural assessment and I should be in the field soon but I do not know if I will survive a whole day- considering we will be travelling up the mountains (where most least developed villages are) and it can be tricky for my central balance system!
I feel my eyes burning now so I cut it here. I hope to write back soon- and upload some photos from the ongoing weekly events of repatrianst and local youth! They are playing (Чааҧшы) Chaapshy- a traditional diaspora meeting game! Where people hit each others' hands or a selected leader hits everyone's hands if they don't want to give away their partner sitting next to them. If they give away, than the partner changes place with another of same sex. So that all boys meet all girls during the play. The more the people, the more fun it is...

Istanbul-Abkhazia

When I was just a high school student, with my best friend we used to pass this road and dream of a future where we could buy this house and repair it. We could live in it if we were rich enough. If not we could repair it to turn it into a cafe where we could have space for people who like to read or study in a cafe but don't have money to eat or drink all day long. We never bought that house. No one did. We changed a lot. We have not seen each other with that good friend for over 10 years. I don't even know where she is, what she does. Istanbul is too big to know, too big to come across on the road, too big even to remember... It needed 15 years to pass before I remember those days we used to walk dancing under an unexpected rain, it needed 14 years before I remembered I learned how to play tennis in the French school on the corner (Saint Joseph). It needed 20 years before my mother reminded me how I had chosen to go to a state school instead of that private French school to protect the economy of my family. And it needed 30 years for me to stop and look at my life- how I came to Abkhazia from Istanbul- from the city of dreams, from the city of my youth, from the city where my father sleeps his endless dream, from the city my grandmother sings the song of silence...
And now looking at my life, I live somewhere which I did not dreamed of. And I have many new dreams, I am not sure if I will see the days they become real. I dream of the days the Abkhazia hotel will be repaired. Now it is only covered with a painted set of cloth!

And I dream of the warm days to come to play tennis in the courts that many tennis players won't count as courts. In those courts, there is no line on the ground- territory is specified by white tread which you stumble upon when you are running, and the ground is so bumpy that after every rain you find yourself all over in mud.

But I like life here. It is a life many fear, many try to run away from it, many do not want to pass near... But for me, it is a life full of question marks, like a matrix I need to find the code of. It is not to master the matrix what I aim, but to be able to see it as a whole. To be able to see what is behind that clothes hanged over a building by the sea, to be able to see what is in the mind of a tennis teacher teaching tens of children how to play tennis in this courts, to be able to see what makes the people so powerful to stand against the will of "others" who wish something different for them, to be able to see myself looking from the eyes of "others"...

Ҽааныбзиала...

(The luck coin from the Greek cake)
Happy new year to everyone!
I feel so tired. There is no other way to legitimize my laziness. Followers may think I am talking about not writing to my blog. However, I mean the last three days which I want to do nothing at all. Sleeping till midday and being sleepy the rest of the day... Even after new year I spent an hour sleepy, lying on the bed. But pushed myself out after 1 o'clock to the private late night party at Anya's cafe (Glitsinia).

(I turned my back when they cut the Greek cake and I was the one to tell who would get which piece)
I did not stay till the end of the party since we were afraid they will rob our house. What is to be stolen if they break in: my computer which became my life in the recent months due to the research projects. Well I would lose only some photos few months ago- but now: posters, photos, reports, questionnaires, the latest version of my methodology book, and many more. That is everything I have managed to build after 3 years. I know it is necessary to backup your most important documents online. The reality is I used to do that very often back in the days when I did not have a laptop but used university computers. I tried to find some docs recently and I managed to find nothing! Some questionnaires for example, or data, or even some reports that I participated in writing. I have no copies of the latest versions. So I decided to load things when they are ready only. But this creates a risk of loosing them- when a computer crashes or gets stolen!

(The late night cooking: shashlik)
Well I know that we are being paranoiac but thats normal after being robbed once. A few years back my grandfather was robbed by armed gangsters. He passed away afterwords. Than they robbed our car when I was in turkey stealing my camera with photos from the first fieldwork on the topic of political participation-bad luck.
Than they tried to rob me on the bus (2 times) - one received the reaction he deserves at least from me (the other people did not react which is a shame) thats why the second time I preferred to play a game with the boy!
Anyway, these events are distributed to the last 4 years so maybe it is really paranoiac but if you have knowledge to lose you care...
Anyway, it is important to tell what new year means in Abkhazia since in every country understanding is different. The new year joy starts mid december, by bombachki (çata pat in turkish, small size explosives) blowing around. The 31st is much more noisy together with thousands of fireworks and gun shots.

Of course the new year is also identified by non-stop drinking, no work (even for shops which sell PRESENTS were closed on the 31st!!!), long tables (no bread in the few open shops for three days-they say "dont you know how to bake achof??"- kind of covered cheese pizza), many calls and messages (luckily the phone companies make many campaigns but sure they will take it from us in the end), and 4 different days of celebration: 24th of DEC-Catholic Christmas, 31st of DEC- New Year, 7th of JAN- Orthodox Christmas, 11th of JAN- Abkhaz New Year-The Day of the Blacksmiths.
The new year is celebrated with family on a long lasting table. Young people ran away to the streets at midnight. Come together and spend time cooking again in the middle of the night.

Bagapsh re-elected

Election results:
59,7 it is 59% for Bagasph, 15,44% for Hacimba, 10,8% for Ardzinba, 8% for Butba, 1,5% for Bganba
Bagapsh re-elected for presidency.
The observers have positive impact- they say it was free and fair, democratic. Will let you know more later...

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