Life Without the Kodor Gorge

Shorena Kakabadze, Kutaisi

A year ago they used to live in their ancestor’s houses and despite  the fact that tension was increasing day by day they still were happy because they lived on their own land. The feeling that they would have to leave the gorge and they would become IDPs came rather late when Russian bombers started flying regularly over the gorge. Then they left upper Abkhazia in trucks for Kutaisi.

   Now they live with memories and cannot recall August 10, 2008 without tears and groans. They say that the emotions are more acute now than they were a year ago when they did not know how everything would end up.

“We left the Kodori Gorge on August 10… Gantsvishi (our village) had been bombed since the morning but the local authorities kept repeating that there was nothing to be afraid of. There was a military headquarters near our house and therefore, it was much more dangerous to be there. They dropped bombs in every corner. I remember it was very quiet that morning. I fed the chickens and when I did not see anyone around I went out to the street. There was not a single living sole there. I saw only several boys there. They were speaking in a very low voice. I tried to find out what was going on. Meanwhile, several helicopters flew over and dropped a shell into my yard. Then a nightmare started, it was confusion, turmoil. We realized that we had to leave the gorge,” recalls Patman Otkhvani.

A 62-year-old lady recalls how she climbed on a truck in a few minutes and she realized that she had not taken even one thing from her home. She also realized that some of her very close people could not leave the Kodori Gorge, which already was covered with smoke, and they would haveto face Russians.
 
“The sad thing is that they cheated us. They kept saying that there nothing was to be afraid of. Soldiers (Georgians) excaped without looking back. I remember well that there were no Georgian soldier when we were leaving the gorge.  What does this mean? – It means that the local government doomed us to death… but I also understand that it is difficult when you see bombs being dropped. I think they were thinking about saving their own lives…”

She does not see bombs and hear the cries of children any more. Her living conditions are much better than it was at the beginning.

Everything was unclear in the first two days. No one (from authorities) knew where to settle 700 IDPs from Kodori Gorge. Then they received living space in a half destroyed Kutaisi Auto mechanics College. 8 to10 persons were settled in a room.  There was provided only 1 kilo of sugar, crisps, so called cracker, a pack of cookies per one family and a promise that we would have better conditions on the next day. We simply cannot imagine better conditions without the Kodori Gorge (Upper Abkhazia) …

“We have done our best to defend the Kodori Gorge for 15 years and last year we lost it in a few hours. It is regrettable that everything has been lost for the sake of somebody’s ambitions. In the hard times when Gori was being bombed, the Russian troops intended to do the same in the Kodori Gorge, so the Abkhazian Legitimate Government left the Gorge and leave us there. They told us they had affairs to solve in Tbilisi and said that the Kodori Gorge was so strongly defended, that even a bird could not fly into the territory let alone the Russian military jets. We see how they solved the problems; we lost a part of our homeland as we could not do anything against the Russian troops. If the Russian military jets had not bombed the territory, we would not have left our land in any case, but we had to do it to save our souls….We lost everything we possessed and had looked after  for 15 years and nowadays I guess we even should not think to return. If we return to the Kodori Gorge we should return to Sokhumi as well. We simply cannot imagine another case,” said Patman Otkhvani.

Nowadays the Otkhvanis stay in a building of a former military school, in the outskirts of Kutaisi. More than 52 families in the building. They said conditions are not very good. It has been 2 months since they have  been provided with the 600 grs of sugar, 4 kg of white bean, pasta and oil that the government distributed to them once a month. The government’s promise to distribute 200 GEL aid per IDP is unlikely to be kept.

“We do not need any aid. We will help all Georgia ourselves if they return us to the Kodori Gorge. They should not leave us here forever. Our land, our motherland and graves of our ancestors are there… It has been a year since I have set foot there to visit my son’s grave and I suffer from grief. After all, we die as we are not immortal and I want to be buried there beside my ancestors. If we do not return there on time nothing belonging us will be left there”, said Patman Otkhvani.

Talking about their mother region the IDPs from the Kodori Gorge feel the fear and the missing more deeply …They are told that the Russians took control over the territory and there are left only walls from the houses of the IDPs.