President of Georgia on the anniversary of the war in Abkhazia: Enough mourning, we need a new perspective

President of Georgia on the war in Abkhazia

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili delivered an address on the 29th anniversary of the end of the war in Abkhazia, in which she stated that Georgia must be ready for a new perspective, because “we cannot live in mourning.”

According to the President, today is “the most tragic day in our recent history, in the history of independent Georgia.” Zurabishvili said that the memory of this day and fallen heroes is “a duty for all of us” and it should never be lost.

“At the same time, it must be said that almost thirty years have passed, an entire generation, thirty unfruitful years for the culture of Abkhazia, and this is what the younger generation living in occupied Abkhazia probably realizes today, that the Russian occupation does not do anything good,” Zurabishvili said.

The Presiden went on to assert that Georgia should categorically condemn the referenda taking place in eastern Ukraine “because we know what these referenda mean when they are held in the occupied territory.”

“This is an extremely cynical action by Russia, unacceptable for us and unacceptable for the world, completely unacceptable for civilized people,” Zurabishvili declared.

• Georgian-Abkhaz war, 1992-1993. How it was, a view from Tbilisi and Sukhum/i
• Struggle and Sacrifice: Narratives of Georgia’s Modern History

August 14, 1992 is considered the start of the conflict, and September 27, 1993 is considered the end of the military phase of the conflict. According to various sources, more than 13,000 people died, about 300,000 were displaced. Most of them are ethnically Georgian who still cannot return to their homes.

In 1994, through the mediation of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, the parties signed the “Agreement on a ceasefire and disengagement of forces” in Moscow. Large-scale violations of this agreement have been recorded three times so far – in 1998, 2001 and 2008.

Until 2008 the Collective Peacekeeping Forces of the CIS were deployed in the zone of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, fully staffed by Russian military personnel. The UN observation mission also worked in the conflict zone and on the territory of Abkhazia.

In August 2008, after a five-day war over South Ossetia, Russia recognized Abkhazia as an independent state. Diplomatic relations between Moscow and Tbilisi were severed. Apart from Russia, only a few third world countries recognized the independence of Abkhazia.