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Ketevan Tsikhelashvili: “Georgia Is Window to Europe for Abkhazia and We Should Take Advantage of This Interest of Abkhazia”

November 12, 2009

Interview with the consultant of the “Friederich Nauman Foundation for Freedom” in Georgia and director of Tbilisi based foundation “Liberal Academy” Ketevan Tsikhelashvili.

-As far as I know you have direct connection with Abkhazia and its separatist government, population and consequently you have information about their attitude about current situation. What can you say about the on-going events in Abkhazia?

-We used to meet Abkhazian people before and after the war in August 2009. I can say that before the war Abkhazia was too much linked to Abkhazia and it has become more attached to it after the war. If you arrive there, you will feel you are in an oblast of Russian Federation because everyday language is Russian for locals. So-called de-facto authority works in Russian language too; newspapers are published in Russian; Russian is working language for banks; even cars have Russian state numbers. It happened before the war and now this attachment has doubled. In addition to that, fear has increased because number of Russian army has increased ten times in the region.

-Can you speak in details what has changed for Abkhazian people after Russia recognized the region independent?

-Recognition their independence was followed with kind of euphoria. However, more and more people, particularly intelligence, realize that they cannot dream about independence; what they received is not independence which was desired by Abkhazian nationalists. Instead they received increase of Russian influence. Although nobody speaks about it during official meetings but concern of the Abkhazian society about increased Russian influence is felt. People see real threat of assimilation and process of losing ethnicity.

-Have you noticed any desire of Abkhazian people to reintegrate with Georgia because of threat of Russian assimilation?

-Although it is very week but Abkhazian side does express similar desire. Our foundation and many similar organizations work to reinforce this desire. Attempt to maintain contacts within civil diplomacy serve this goal. Dialogue between representatives of the civil society is necessary in order to keep contact between sides. During the meetings I feel that neither Abkhazian people want to close every door to Georgia.

By the way, there is one more reason for Abkhazian people to keep contact with Georgia” before August war Abkhazia was eager to establish relationship with Europe. This interest has not reduced since the war; just the opposite it increased their fear of assimilation. Abkhaz people are interested to collaborate with European foundations and experts; they wonder about “Eastern Partnership” program of the EU Neighborhood Policy which means they are striving for self-survival and they realize Russian threat. However, it can mean that Abkhazian people are not satisfied with the development of their republic. If certain platforms of cooperation with Europe are real for Tbilisi in the field of education, economy, etc Abkhazia also wants to be close to Europe. Although they request to cooperate with Europe as an independent state, they realize that it is impossible and informal relationship is more advantageous for them.

-The claiming that Abkhazian people are afraid of losing their ethnicity was discussed in many sources. Do you have any information about any concrete steps taken by Abkhazia to avoid this threat?

-To tell the truth I do not have detailed information about it. Though I know they spoke about necessity to safe Abkhazian language. They want to start language courses. They also planned to make Abkhazian language obligatory for young people because young generation does not speak in Abkhazian.

-As for return of IDPs to Abkhazia, how do you think is there any tendency to give some hope to our IDP population? How real is their return now?

-I want to tell directly that I think it is unreal now. Though there is one point that we should always have this problem in mind both on political and humanitarian level without attaching it to the problem of republic status because the latter is really very serious problem and it cannot be resolved all at once. If we view the issue in reality, return of IDPs now is difficult. You know that Russia is implementing set of demographic changes in the region in accordance to their interest and return of Georgian population there is not discussed at all. In parallel to it, Abkhazian side is very interested to establish contacts with Europe and Europe considers the policy of Baghapsh’s government in the field of IDPs to be a great disadvantage and Abkhazian people know it. Consequently, it might encourage Abkhazian side to take real steps to receive IDPs; though it is difficult to predict when it will happen.

-What is general attitude about Georgian people in Abkhazian society?

-Attitude is very tough; very often is inadequate. I think reason is lack of contacts. In Abkhazia Georgian people are considered to be only enemy. Everybody claims that Georgian person is enemy. Abkhazian people have not done detailed assessment of the war; they still live in war regime. It is caused by unilateral information; they watch only Russian channels and local newspapers are copied from Russian ones; as for internet, it is extremely restricted. Consequently, if we assume return of IDPs theoretically, it will be very difficult because there is huge gap between us; thus permanent contact is urgently needed.

-According to our information you were meeting Abkhazian people in Sokhumi and they also used to arrive in Tbilisi. Did you face any problems during these visits? How did Abkhazian people manage to arrive in Georgia?

-I personally accompanied delegations and did not encounter any problems there. Although it is very difficult to go there, everybody had information about our arrival and let us in the territory without problems. However, we were under permanent control during our stay. As for arrival of Abkhazian people in Tbilisi, they are very afraid to come here though who has already visited us, do not fear now. There is one more issue – they are afraid of Abkhazian authority and Russia. Many representatives of Abkhazian society are interested in the situation in other regions of Georgia but if they return home they will have problems. Thus, I will not say the names of the people who have already come here; furthermore they asked us not to publish about their visits in media.

-What can you say about Russian-Abkhazian political relations? According to the spread information their relation has worsened recently…

-In private talks Abkhazian authority say that in critical situation after the war when Abkhazia was isolated Russia assisted them. However, we should not forget that not everybody is stupid. At least they are Caucasian people and remember that Russia exiled them to Turkey where they live as mohajires now. They want to arrive but cannot. They know it but think they have took advantage of Russian generosity while Georgia choose its way to NATO which is still associated with war in Abkhazia.

Source: News Agency “Pirveli”

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