The Abkhazian issue in Georgia is a complex one. I can offer my view on it and then I will continue with recounting my visit experience.
The Soviet rulers (mostly Lenin and Stalin seem to be responsible for the current hell) practised policy of "Divide et impera" - "Divide and rule". Georgian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) was created within former USSR with its northern border running alongside the Great Caucasus Range ridge. This unfortunate decision (either deliberate or just an act of a drunk Russian cartographer) brought about, among other things, separation of Ossetian nation into an autonomous area of North Ossetia within RSFSR (Russia) and autonomous area of South Ossetia within Georgian ASSR.
It also caused Abkhazia to be included in Georgian ASSR, since it was on the southern side of Greater Caucasus mountains. Abkhazia used to be, just like other Northern Caucasian nations (Chechen, Ingush, Kabardyn, Balkar, Circassian, Adyghei, Karachay, and people of Dagestan), predominantly Muslim. But then, in second half of 19th century, because of colonialist pressures from Russia, Muslims were killed/deported/forced to leave to Turkey, Syria and other Middle Eastern countries. That left this recalcitrant nation with only Orthodox population within Russian Empire.
Then came the Soviet Union. The communist leaders treated their subjugations none better than the tzarist Empire did. Russification and refusal to let them be independent caused a lot of discontent among the people of Northern Caucasus, to say the least. Therefore, when the dissolution of Soviet Union was imminent, many ethnicities declared independence, the first being an exclave of Azerbaijan known as Nakhichevan (which was quickly claimed by the former, anyway).
Chechens, along with Abkhaz, joined the independence train, first by parliamentary declarations, and then, when laughed at, by armed uprising against the colonizers. Of course, since Chechnya was in Russia, Russia would have none of it.
But the story of Abkhazia was a different one. Georgia was not big enough, and didn't have army large and well-trained enough, to engage in a large-scale bloody colonialist war. Anyway, they did invade Abkhazia (they still consider it an occupied territory of Georgia), only to be driven away by the resolved Abkhaz and their president Shevardnadze taken into custody. Then the Russian forces got involved, as they didn't want to have any more instability, let alone a protracted war, close to their borders (Nagorno-Karabakh issue was already enough). They freed Shevardnadze and a border was established along the river Enguri.
That's another problem. This is one more border probably drawn by a drunk Russian cartographer. It used to be border between Abkhaz autonomous republic within Georgian ASSR. It runs along the river Enguri, the only major river in the area. And that's probably the reason as to the border's whereabouts. Because in ethnic terms, it runs right through the heart of Samegrelo, with its largest town (and informal capital) being in Zugdidi, less than 10 km from it.
Before the 1992-93 Abkhaz - Georgian war, Abkhazia was actually majority Georgian. There were about 50 % inhabitants of Georgian ethnicity (which, by definition, includes Megrelian, who differ only by their language, cuisine and some customs). 36 % were Abkhaz and the rest were Jews, Greeks, Armenians, Russians etc...
After the war many of these Megrelians became IDPs (involuntarily displaced people) - i.e. refugees in Georgia - but still many Megrelians live in Abkhazia. Abkhazia claims the whole area, while Georgia wants the entire Abkhazia, including Sukhum and other Abkhaz-populated areas.
But what about Megrelians? Let them decide (and all of them, from both countries), whether they wish to be in Abkhazia, Russia, Georgia or independent.
And what do the Russians want? The Russian interest seems to be the status quo. Russia wants one thing - that Georgia does not accede to NATO. They wish to have a neutral area all around their borders so that in case of war, they could fight outside their country.
At present, the status quo does not allow Georgia to enter NATO, because of the unresolved conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia:
- If Abkhazia were independent (and duly recognized so by the UN), Georgia could enter NATO.
- If Abkhazia were willingly part of Georgia, the same would result.
- If Abkhazia became part of Russia, again, Georgia could become member of NATO.
However, at present, if Georgia became part of NATO, NATO would be obliged to help Georgia subjugate Abkhazia, since Abkhazia is internationally recognized still as part of Georgian territory. The same goes for South Ossetia. And NATO does not wish to involve in such a thing, especially so close to Russian borders.
Everything goes according to Russia's wishes, which is only natural, since it is by far the biggest and mightiest player in the region.
But then - how does Abkhazia look itself?
It is not dangerous AT ALL, as many travel guides and FCO advice suggest. I can characterize it by three words - it's an Overpriced Garbage Dump.
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| Traces of past war - or present neglect? |
Just to be on the safe side, I dressed inconspicuously, like a Megrelian (all black). There are many Megrelians frequenting the border, either for business, or, much more often, the family matters are the reason. In my village alone there are people who have family members across the river.
If you dress black, even with a western face you will frequently be mistaken for a Georgian, as happened to me just a couple days after my April arrival, in Tbilisi.
Abkhazia is similarly wrecked by smoking. People smoke everywhere, just like in Samegrelo, very often even on the bus. Megrelians in Abkhazia are not losing their language to Georgian, but to Russian, and therefore you will hear many Russian loanwords in their speech. However, some of the youngs do not speak Georgian at all, as the languages of instruction at school are Abkhaz and/or Russian.
Still, the Megrelian language in Abkhazia seems to be better preserved as it is not as heavy georgianized as in Samegrelo. It seems to be a lingua franca among other ethnicities there, as well, like Jews or Armenians.
Abkhazia (and Sukhum in particular) used to be the #1 beach vacation spot in the former Soviet Union (that doesn't say much, though). Well, I don't know how it was in the past - Georgians say Sukhum got literally wrecked by the war. But as I know drunk Russian tourists, they would claim even trash heap is #1 spot, so take your pick.
Anyway, my experience is as follows: Sukhum is even worse that Georgian "resorts" of Batumi or Anaklia. And that's something to say!
Of course, for a drunken Russian who all his life saw only a Russian factory, a Russian tavern and Sukhum, Sukhum wins by a large margin.
In whole Abkhazia, you will see trash everywhere. Huge amounts of it. There is a dump even in the courtyard of their most valued monastery in Noviy Afon (New Athos), seat of the Abkhaz Orthodox Church!
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| It is really THAT bad. |
Sukhum is the world's capital of wrecks. Car wrecks,
bus wrecks,
train wrecks
and even a real-life big-size ship-wreck
line the streets, yards and beaches of this "summer-spot". The beach is also full of wrecked ferroconcrete multi-storey piers literally in the state of falling apart, being held together only by the iron skeleton.
And now, let's get to the 'Overpriced' part. The famous New Athos cave costs about 10 euros to visit. Compare it to unique caves in Slovakia (5 to 7 euros per visit) - and I bitch even about this price! Beautiful caves in Georgia cost 3 euros. And even the biggest cave in the world (by far), the Flint-Mammoth complex, in much-much richer United States, is cheaper. 7 bucks for the cheapest guided tour and 12 bucks (about 9 euros) for a 2-hour, 2-mile walk, much longer than the visit of the aforementioned Abkhaz cave.
Pretty much any, and I mean any, site in Abkhazia has the minimum entry fee of EUR 2.50. And this could be a small ruin of some fortress, which in all other countries I've been to is routinely free of charge or to a tiniest of insignificant museums.
Now get this. The petrol, thanks to Russian ties, is quite much cheaper than in Georgia. But bus and marshrutka fares are so much more expensive. And I am unhappy even about some Georgian bus and marshrutka prices.
You go from Sukhum to Gal, which is 85 km towards the Georgian border, the last town of any appreciable size in Abkhazia. While just without 20 km of Gal the bus ticket costs less than 100 roubles (2.50 EUR), the fare to Gali is 200 roubles (5 EUR) and to the border (further 10 kms) it's 250. One traveller even reported being charged 1,000 roubles (25 euros) for the stretch from the border to the capital of Sukhum on a marshrutka.
Now compare this to Georgia (85 km would likely cost around 3 euros) and to, for example, trains in Belgium, where such a price (6 Euros) would get you pretty much anywhere in the country. Notwithstanding the ridiculous difference in GDP.
Abkhazia is faring much worse than it should, considering their lively trade with Russia, whereas Georgia is embargoed by Russia. But all of this just pales in comparison with Armenia, which is worlds apart more pleasant travel experience than both of the aforementioned.
Finally, one good piece of advice: Abkhazia is one of the few places on this planet where it's a loss of time even to think about going there.
PS. I went to Abkhazia in time of Georgian parliamentary election (Monday, 1st October 2012), as I wanted to avoid all the mess associated with this political upheaval. Well... I ended up in a homestay Abkhaz family, celebrating the Victory Day over Georgia (September 30th), the single most important public holiday (and, by extension, event) in whole of Abkhazia.
