Protest movement in Abkhazia unites around the idea of sovereignty
Politicians of Abkhazia for sovereignty
The creation of a new “broad political platform” has been announced in Abkhazia. It was founded by young activists from various political and public organizations who oppose three things:
- Transfer of the Pitsunda esate to Russia
- Sale of the energy industry to foreign (Russian) companies,
- Adoption of a law declaring citizens of Abkhazia to be foreign agents.
Thus, experts say, the protest movement in Abkhazia is uniting around the idea of sovereignty.
The new platform does not yet have a name and does not plan to become a separate political organization in the future. The group positions itself as a platform ready to unite people for the sake of preserving and strengthening the sovereignty of Abkhazia.
Young politicians and social activists formulated their views in a manifesto:
“There is a feeling that the ruling political class has lost faith in the feasibility of the Abkhaz state project and only formally supports it by selling public assets. We declare with all responsibility: we will not allow the fulfillment of such a plan!
We believe our people can solve our own problems and are convinced that people who promote such a strategy do not have the moral right to govern a country in whose people they do not believe, and in whom they are trying to cultivate an inferiority complex.”
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The first meeting of the movement was attended not only by representatives of various political organizations, but also by those who initially distanced themselves from politics, but at the same time actively speak out on certain social problems, for example the youth organization “HARA HPITSUNDA” (Our Pitsunda), which formed in response to the Pitsunda transfer.
“We have to state that our own leadership is openly, publicly declaring that the people of Abkhazia are not able to maintain their own sovereignty, and therefore must share their natural, territorial, energy and other assets. This is how we perceive the government’s agreements to transfer part of the Pitsunda territory to foreign ownership, legislative initiatives to alienate the country’s energy system, the passing of anti-social laws declaring citizens of Abkhazia to be foreign agents, the complete absence of our own agenda in foreign policy, demography, the actual stopping of the repatriation process, and ignoring the real state of affairs in the army,” the manifesto reads.
“We need to set ambitious goals for ourselves and not bury ourselves in petty competition for resources. And I believe that the day will come when the representative of Abkhazia will speak at the UN General Assembly,” Adgur Lagvilava, one of the organizers of the movement and representative of the Ainar party, stated.
Comment
Inal Khashig, editor of JAMnews in Abkhazia and editor of the Chegemskaya Pravda newspaper
“The tradition of forming a political party on the basis of ideas or around a certain person has exhausted itself. This is the reason for the crisis that Abkhazia has been experiencing for many years. Therefore the unification of various forces on the basis of the idea of preserving and strengthening sovereignty is a rather promising undertaking.
It is possible that a completely competitive “third force” will appear in the Abkhaz political arena. The organizers of the platform are young people not without political ambitions. They do not make hasty statements, as they are probably taking into account the fact that there have been several similar and unsuccessful attempts over the past ten years.”
Politicians of Abkhazia for sovereignty
