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“When we were losing the Kodori Valley, I knew that it would be very hard to get it back”

August 9, 2010
Shorena Kakabadze, Kutaisi

Exactly two years ago, the separatist armies of Russia and Abkhazia raised their flags in Chkhalta. The elders and children had already left the Kodori Valley, later, all the Svans left the place as well. It’s been two years now that upper Abkhazia is left in the hands of the occupants. The Svans from Kodori are living with their memories.

“That day will never be erased from my memory. From the early morning, people were panicking, neighbors were running around. Then suddenly the dead silence prevailed and nearly the whole village was emptied. You could see people at their gates from now and then, but nobody ever spoke. Several times I asked what was going on and the neighbor said that something was going wrong. Only the war can bring such a silence… This place has never been this silent before. It didn’t take me long to come to my senses. I exactly knew what to do. If I stayed, I would be annihilated just like Georgian flags. We were strangers in our own valley and probably lost it forever. When we were leaving, I knew that it would be very hard to go back,” – tells Kodori resident Vaja Otkhvani. He and his family live in one of the collective settlements for IDPs in Kutaisi.

The hard-working peasant had hardships from the very beginning after moving to the city. “But this is not the main thing. The main thing is what will happen tomorrow. We are the children of the rich land. We had a rich valley, but we could not take care of it. For 15 years, I’ve been taking care of it like my own child and suddenly, with one blow, we gave it to the wind. I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again: the Kodori Valley is the victim of somebody’s stupid ambitions,’’ – complains Vaha Otkhvani.

Kodorians are talking about the past with regret and some anger. They blame not only Russians and Abkhazian separatists for becoming IDPs.

“Basically we were cheated. We were told that nothing would happen. Then, all of a sudden, the local government members left the Kodori Valley. Of course, nobody thought about us then. It took only 5 minutes for the militants to leave the whole valley. We left the place by our own means. We would not have left if not the air bombing. We would have endured it, but the air firing scared us. So, we took our children and got out,’’ – recalls Patman Otkhvani.

For 63 year old mother, who has been dreaming of visiting her son’s graveyard for 2 years now, August is related to the picture of bombed Kodori covered with the dust of bullets and the fleeing militants. She didn’t leave her empty village until the Russian bomb exploded in her own yard.

“I would not have left my land in the hands of the enemy, but it’s hard for the soul, son… when something exploded like a thunder in my own yard and everything was covered in dust, I realized that I would not have helped anything with staying. The air bombing was being carried out and everything was being destroyed. Nobody contradicted from our side, so what could my staying contribute? Unfortunately, the enemy easily took over the village. Now, there are Russians there, and we are strangers in this city. We miss our land,’’ says Mr. Patman.

In the suburb of Kutaisi, in one of the collective centers, there are 50 families except for Otkhvans. Most of them are Kodori residents, they all have the same feelings: “We can’t do anything here. We have nothing to work on. Having nothing to do is like being dead for a peasant. We are like half dead. We need land, our land, to go out and work on it,” – say Kodorians, who are assured in one thing: We need to get the valley back with Abkhazia and Sokhumi. Otherwise, it’s just impossible.

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