“Where was Ardzinba?” Abkhaz war veterans take offence over first president
Vladislav Ardzinba
A scandal has erupted in Abkhazia, centred on presidential adviser and veteran politician Sergey Shamba.
Recalling the events of 14 August 1992, when the Georgian–Abkhaz war broke out, Shamba said that on that day he spent hours trying to find Vladislav Ardzinba, then head of Abkhazia’s Supreme Council. Ardzinba, it turned out, was at a Russian military base. In other words, the republic’s leader was absent at the most critical and decisive moment.
Ardzinba later became Abkhazia’s first president and his authority in the republic remains unquestioned. For most Abkhazians, his name is synonymous with victory in the war — which is why Shamba’s words were seen as blasphemous. That Shamba was once considered Ardzinba’s ally only made matters worse.
“After the death of a great man who saved his people from genocide, it is not acceptable to mock his memory,” protested poet Vladimir Zantaria, who served as an MP during the war.
According to him, none of those now “posing as fathers of the nation” would have dared, while Ardzinba was alive, to openly ask him where he had been on 14 August 1992.
Aslan Kobakhia, a veteran of the Georgian–Abkhaz war, said Ardzinba did go several times on 14 August to the area of the Sukhumi lighthouse, where a Russian military base was located — but only to try to contact Russian president Boris Yeltsin from there.
“When many were fleeing, Ardzinba addressed the people and announced a general mobilisation. There is even footage of some Abkhaz politicians trying to persuade him not to call the Georgian aggressors enemies,” Kobakhia recalled.
He added that he was not seeking to turn Ardzinba into a saint, but that Abkhazia’s first president “is still not forgiven for the talent of being a multifaceted leader.”
The veterans’ organisation Aruaa also issued a statement in response to Sergey Shamba’s remarks, saying that with his “subjective claims” Shamba was trying to boost his own self-esteem and exaggerate his role in Abkhazia’s recent history.
“We all know that victory was forged by the people of Abkhazia under the leadership of their leader, who enjoyed the boundless trust of the people from the very first days. The love of the Abkhaz people for Vladislav Ardzinba is sincere and immeasurable, as for the founder of the new Abkhaz state!” Aruaa declared.
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