Abkhazians outraged by remarks about them in Russian-published encyclopaedia on Black Sea Armenians

Abkhazians outraged by Russian-published book on Armenians

Authorities in Abkhazia are calling for the authors of the Armenians of the Black Sea Region encyclopaedia to face criminal charges. The local Armenian community funded the publication in Russia. Abkhazia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has launched a preliminary inquiry after finding material in the book that contains offensive remarks about the Abkhaz and Abaza peoples.

The controversy centres on a short entry in the encyclopaedia about the term “Abaza”. In Turkey, people use this word to refer to Abkhazians and Abazins. Many members of these communities moved to the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the 19th century as a result of the Caucasian War.

The entry says that Hamshen Armenians, who moved from Turkey to the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus following the genocide, used the term “Abaza” as a euphemism for “masturbating”.

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Other opposition figures criticised the appeal, describing it as interference in Armenia’s internal affairs.

“The publication in the Armenians of the Black Sea Region encyclopaedia is neither an academic debate nor an accidental mistake. All indications suggest that it was intended as an outright provocation,” the influential Abkhaz veterans’ organisation Aruaa said in a statement.

The organisation called for tough measures against the authors and others involved in publishing the book. These could range from declaring them persona non grata to opening criminal cases against them.

Several other political and civic organisations in the republic, including pro-government groups, backed the demand.

“There is an urgent need for a clear and principled legal assessment of the contents of the Armenians of the Black Sea Region book, as well as the actions of its authors, publishers and others involved in preparing and distributing it. Several statements in the book raise legitimate concerns and harm inter-ethnic relations,” their joint appeal said.

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The Union of Armenians of Russia responded to the outrage in Abkhazia. Its representative, Agasi Arabyan, said that almost the entire print run of the encyclopaedia had been withdrawn and immediately returned to the printing house for corrections, despite the significant additional costs. The author resumed promoting the book only after the disputed passage had been removed.

However, the publishers could not locate and retrieve several copies that they had distributed immediately after receiving them from the printing house. They therefore announced that they would buy back the remaining copies and destroy them. They managed to find some, but not all.

The terminology, place names and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of this website.