"Abkhazia (Apsny) means "the country of the soul"." madloke's Profile

ABKHAZIA

Introduction:

Republic of Abkhazia, territory 8,7 thousand km2.
Capital City – Sukhum (Akua in Abkhaz) population: 75 thousand.
Population: 340.000 people.
Main ethnic groups: Abkhaz, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks, Megrelians, Russians, Ukrainians.
Abkhazia is situated on the Eastern Bank of the Black Sea, bordering to the West with Russia on the Psou River and to the East with Georgia on the Ingur River. On the North the Grand Caucasian Range.
Six main administrative regions: Gagra, Gudauta, Sukhum, Ochamchira, Tquarchal and Gal.
Three National Parks in Pskhu-Gumista, Pitsunda-Mussera and Ritsa.
Rich with fresh water resources with many lakes and rivers.
Climate: Subtropical.



Government:

Legislative power:

All the legislative authority established by this Constitution shall be exercised by the People's Assembly or the Parliament of the Republic of Abkhazia.The Parliament of the Republic of Abkhazia shall consist of 36 members.
The elections to the Parliament shall be carried out on the basis of a universal, equal and direct suffrage, by means of secret ballot.
The Parliament's term of office shall be five years.
The procedure for the Parliamentary elections shall be established by a constitutional law.

Executive power:

The Executive Power in the Republic of Abkhazia shall be granted to the President of the Republic of Abkhazia.
The President of the Republic of Abkhazia shall be the head of the State. The elections of the President of the Republic of Abkhazia shall be based on the universal, equal and direct suffrage. The President shall be elected by secret vote for five years. Any person of Abkhaz nationality who is citizen of the Republic of Abkhazia and who is not younger than 35 years and not older than 65 years, having the right to vote, is eligible to be elected President of the Republic of Abkhazia.
One and the same person may not be President of the Republic of Abkhazia for a longer period than two consecutive terms of office.

Historic background:

In the VIII century, the Abkhaz established one of the most influential states of the time - the Abkhaz Kingdom. In the XI century as a result of dynastic marriages, this state fragmented into several minor independent Kingdoms. At this stage until the XIX century, Abkhaz and Georgians coexisted in two separate and independent countries.

In 1810 Abkhazia voluntarily became a protectorate of the Russian Empire. Until 1864 it preserved its statehood and system of self-governance in the form of a sovereign principality. As a result of the Russian-Circassian War in the middle of the XIX Century many Abkhaz like Adyg, Shapsug, Ubykh, Abaza and other indigenous nations had to flee to the Ottoman Empire. This period of deportation is called “Makhajyr”. Approximately more than 250.000 Abkhaz were deported from Abkhazia to Turkey.
Being demographically misbalanced Abkhazia had become a favourable territory for migration of other nations like Georgians to Abkhazia. After the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, Georgia and Abkhazia took a way of creating two independent states, but in May 1918 the new Georgian Democratic Republic occupied and annexed Abkhazia.

Prior to this occupation the Abkhaz National Council had been formed, actively developing regional state institutions in the Northern Caucasus and Southern Russia (Circassia). As a result of these processes, Abkhazia joined the Union of Mountainous Peoples of the North Caucasus, and then the Mountain Republic and the southeastern Union of Cossack Forces, Caucasian Mountain Peoples and Free Peoples of the Steppe. Hence, following the annexation of Abkhazia by Georgia, the leadership of the Mountain Republic issued a formal protest to the authorities of the Georgian Republic and Germany, whose troops had participated in the operation. Abkhazia led its liberation war against Georgia from 1918 till 1921.

On the 4th of March 1921, the Georgian authorities in Abkhazia were overthrown by Abkhaz rebels; ‘Kiaraz’ movement. An independent Soviet Socialist Republic of Abkhazia was proclaimed on the 31st of March 1921. On the 21st of May 1921, the Revolutionary Committee of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic recognised the independence of Abkhazia

In December 1921 the Abkhaz SSR, under pressure from Stalin was forced into a Union Treaty with the Georgian SSR, which created the basis for state-legal relations between Abkhazia and Georgia. According to this treaty, the SSR of Georgia and the SSR of Abkhazia entered into a military, political and economic alliance. State-legal relations between Georgia and Abkhazia were based on the treaty, which provided equal rights. Following this the Abkhaz SSR took part in the establishment of the USSR.

In 1931 the Abkhaz SSR was forced to become an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Georgian SSR. This violation of the sovereign rights of Abkhazia had grave consequences for Abkhazia. Reduction of its status to that of an autonomous republic resulted in mass rioting of Abkhaz people all throughout Abkhazia. Subsequent Georgian policy was focused on creating a mono-national state. Thus Meskhetian Turks, Greeks, Kurds, Khemshins, Laz and others were deported from Georgia. The same policy of altering the demographic balance was pursued in Abkhazia, partly by means of forcible assimilation and partly by means of the mass settlement of Georgian nationals in Abkhazia.

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.

Many Abkhaz toponyms were transformed into Georgian and still could be seen on some international maps introduced by Georgia. Abkhaz were forced to alter their surnames into Georgian, and in the Gal district Abkhaz were given new passports where their nationality was indicated as Georgian. Due to this discriminatory policy Greeks were deported from Abkhazia in 1949, and immigrants from Georgia occupied the abandoned houses. As a result the demographic situation was artificially altered. Even in 1897 after mass migration to Turkey and other countries of the Middle East, the Abkhaz represented 55.3%, whereas by the end of the 1990s they numbered only 17% (in other words they became minority in their own country).

In the early 1990’s leaders of the national movements in Georgia appealed to the public to abolish the autonomous statehood of Abkhazia. Between 1989 and 1991 the Supreme Council of Georgia made a number of unilateral decisions according to which the organs of state power in the Georgian SSR and therefore state-legal acts adopted by them were proclaimed illegitimate and illegal. Thus the activities of the Georgian authorities led to the breaking-off of state-legal relations between Georgia and Abkhazia.

The fact is that while becoming a UN member, Georgia had no legal relationships with Abkhazia, and hence the recognition on 21 December 1991 by the UN of Georgia’s territorial integrity within the borders of the former GSSR had no legal basis. Before that the UN General Secretary was informed by the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Abkhazia namely by Vladislav Ardzinba that there were no state-legal relationships between Abkhazia and Georgia, and that therefore the admission of Georgia into the UN was not legal.

In February 1992, following the collapse of the USSR and the coup d’etat, the Georgian government took a decision to adopt the constitution of the Georgian Democratic Republic of 1921, without defining relations with Abkhazia.
In order to avoid military confrontation, Abkhazia offered to restore state-legal relations with Georgia on new equal grounds.
On 23 July 1992, the Supreme Council of Abkhazia adopted the Constitution of 1925, according to which (in article II) Abkhazia was a sovereign state and a subject of international law. At the same time, the Parliament of Abkhazia addressed the Georgian leadership with a proposal to begin negotiations on the establishment of equal relations within the framework of a federative treaty. However, the Georgian authorities opted to use force rather than political dialogue with Abkhazia, and armed aggression began on 14 August 1992 to suppress the aspiration of the Abkhaz people toward self-determination. To date, the General Prosecutor Office of the Republic of Abkhazia has more than five thousand volumes of criminal cases that are witnessing facts of Georgian crimes against the Abkhaz people.

Today, 29/03/06, we had a total solar eclipse here in Abkhazia...it was really great!!! I took some pictures.

I took this picture from my mobile, so quality is not really...:)

Lake Ritsa located in the North part of Abkhazia. It is one of the most beautiful lakes in Caucasus mountains