27 July 2009
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia and the people of the Republic express surprise in connection with the address given by Vice-President of the United States Joseph Biden to the Parliament of Georgia during his recent visit to Georgia. Especial concern is caused by these pre-arranged statements from an American politician of so high a rank, and also by some deliberate or unintentional historical inaccuracies, in which connection it would be useful to pay attention to some historical facts. Abkhazians are one of the indigenous peoples of the Western Caucasus, whose statehood has existed for 12 centuries. Throughout all the history of their existence the Abkhazian people were exposed time and again to colonization and violent deportation, but never stopped their struggle for freedom. Historical facts testify that Abkhazia appeared as a part of Georgia due to the will of Stalin. Under pressure from Stalin, Abkhazia in 1931 without any plebiscite was transformed into an Autonomous Republic within the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, which led to mass meetings with political demands which were renewed every 10 years. Abkhazians were the only people in the Soviet Union who held mass national protests against the reduction of their status to autonomy, and they regularly with persistence and despair stood up for a separation from Georgia. This is not surprising, considering that for the purpose of assimilating Abkhazians, in 1937-1953 the leadership of Georgia had been taking measures which can only be described as criminal. During that time, actions of mass reprisals and discrimination against Abkhazians, for the purpose of full assimilation of the Abkhazian people into the Georgian environment, were carried out. The Georgian-Abkhazian war of 1992-1993, which caused violent and massive infringements of rights and freedoms, became the culmination of a Georgian policy to destroy the national identity of Abkhazians.
The continuous colonial and discriminatory policy of the Georgian authorities, which was implemented throughout all the Soviet and post-Soviet period, caused resentment leading to regular mass disturbances in multi-national and multi-faith Abkhazia.
History has shown that for many years the policy of the Georgian leadership has been directed towards the creation of a mono-ethnic state. Therefore those who consider that Georgia is capable of developing similarly to a Western democracy are mistaken. In Georgia over many years a democratic tyranny, not a free democracy, has been created, and this is already confirmed by the regimes of modern, post-Soviet Georgia.
In general it should be realised by those who hope to bring about a democratic framework in Georgia that such a model is alien to the mentality and spirit of Georgians. Any attempt by the USA to make Georgia a democratic state is doomed to failure, as both the leaders and the society of that country continue to think in imperial terms. It is basically impossible to introduce democracy while the main energy of the nation is directed towards trying to regain former territories.
The policy of Georgia, which is screened and supported by the West, is directed towards a destabilization of the situation in the region. Against the background of unprecedented financial help to the state from the USA which is given in the context of help for Georgia (as Mr. Biden declared in his speech, the sum total is one billion dollars), the Georgian authorities continue the process of militarization and hatch plots of vengeful military irruption into territories not belonging to Georgia.
It will be pertinent to remember that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in a resolution has condemned totalitarian communist regimes. Members of that Parliament have especially noted that the people of the former USSR suffered most. They have also urged that a revaluation of the history of communism is carried out without any ambiguity. However we still have not seen an objective assessment of the situation in Georgia, to which by Stalin's will territories not belonging to it were affiliated. Read all... [Abkhaz World]
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