Is Russian language discriminated against in Abkhazia? Op-ed

Discrimination against the Russian language in Abkhazia

Anna Ubiria from Abkhazia is 5.5 years old. Her mother, Inna, intends to send the girl to school in the fall of 2023 – to a Russian school. “Until the fifth grade, all subjects in the Abkhazian school are taught in Abkhazian, including mathematics, and then they abruptly begin to study everything in Russian. Can you imagine what it is like? Firstly, the stress for the child, and secondly, she will either not receive an Abkhazian basis, or later she will study Russian somehow”, the woman says.

“This is all I know. And I don’t want such a future for my child”, she adds.

Teachers do not adhere to such a categorical position, but recommend sending a child to an Abkhazian school only if the child has an impeccable command of their native language. Tamara Viktorovna, an elementary school teacher, does not want to give her real name because she is afraid of being judged in a professional environment for her opinion about the future of the Abkhaz language.

“Our language will soon die. Whether we like it or not. The thing is, it is already dead. The Abkhaz language is the language of the market and the village. Although in the village, Abkhazian grandmothers already speak Russian with their city grandchildren. If literary masterpieces are not written in a language, films are not made, it dies. We even stopped making advertisements in Abkhazian. They translate everything”, says Tamara Viktorovna.

According to the woman, the Russian language and the Russian world have entered Abkhazia for a long time and for a long time, and all statements about possible discrimination against the Russian language are political speculations. “The Russian world wants to influence us not only culturally, but also politically, so they come up with myths, as is the case with Ukraine”, says Tamara Viktorovna.

The elementary school teacher is referring to the recent statement by Russian State Duma deputy Leonid Kalashnikov. He called the law on elections of deputies to the People’s Assembly of Abkhazia discriminatory. The law says that only citizens of Abkhazia who speak the Abkhazian language can nominate themselves as candidates for the post of deputy.

In the context of events taking place in the world, such a statement may sound like a threat or a hint. Analogies with the rhetoric of Russian politicians and state media about alleged discrimination against the Russian language in Ukraine instantly come to mind. At the same, time they cause confusion.

“The issue of discrimination against the Russian language in Abkhazia and even such a possibility in the foreseeable future can be raised without understanding the local reality at all. Discrimination against the Russian language in Abkhazia is a myth”, says Kama Kvitsinia, the author of the Adzykh Language Immersion Club project.

Recently, as part of the celebration of Children’s Day, Adzykh held a large-scale quest in the Abkhaz language. In Abkhazia, this event is out of the ordinary. Quests for children and teenagers are as popular here as they are all over the world, but they are held mainly in Russian, like all other events.

Welcoming or introductory words in the Abkhaz language sound at the beginning of any celebration, but then everyone switches to Russian. Whether it is a meeting of parliament, a court or a holiday in honor of Children’s Day. So, quests in the Abkhazian language in Sukhum are conducted only by the Adzykh language immersion club.

The thing is that today in Abkhazia there is a big problem with the study of the Abkhaz language. There are children from ethnically Abkhaz families who do not speak their native language. For them, the language immersion club was created, where the child only hears the Abkhaz speech – since it is otherwise impossible to create such an environment in a natural way.

Even in the villages there are televisions, where Russian TV channels are almost always on. The only state television channel in Abkhazia does not broadcast around the clock. There is also little entertainment content in the Abkhaz language. Movies and cartoons are translated into their native language by the Internet provider Sistema. But in order to access the content, you need to connect to Sistema and buy a TV tuner for 5,000 rubles ($90).

Abkhazian content is also not found in YouTube, which is popular among Abkhaz children and teenagers. All the most interesting for the new generation is filmed in Russian and English. It turns out that the inhabitants of Abkhazia get to know and communicate with the world almost always in Russian. Periodicals, fiction and scientific literature, television, the Internet – almost the entire amount of information received is in Russian.

According to Kama Kvitsinia, under these conditions, the Abkhaz language needs special protection. “The positions of the Russian language in all spheres of life are very strong, and initiatives aimed at preserving and expanding the scope of the use of the Abkhaz language cannot shake these positions. The Abkhaz language is an important part of the national culture”, Kvitsinia believes.

“The development of the Abkhazian society in conditions of isolation is impossible, and discrimination against the Russian language can begin in one case – if we decide to return to the cave way of life. In Abkhazia, this is clear to the vast majority of citizens. Nevertheless, careless statements on this subject can be harmful and used not in favor of the normal development of good neighborly relations”, says Kama, recalling a recent statement by Kalashnikov.

Interestingly, after Kalashnikov’s statement, there was almost no official protest. First, Minister of Foreign Affairs Inal Ardzinba spoke very diplomatically, then MP Inar Gitsba. His response was more harsh.

But the reaction of the Union of Russian and Cossack communities was the most convincing, if only because the representatives of the community are exclusively Russian-speaking. From their statement it follows that they are confident that the law will be amended to provide for quotas for ethnic Russians.

But what is noteworthy is that even without legislative restrictions, Russians are not elected to the Abkhazian parliament for the third convocation in a row, although they put forward their own candidacies.

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