Hello,
I wanna preface this first by saying that I originally really really wanted to believe your country was in the right. Reading the facts as they are presented even by biased-against-you sources I still believed that based on the moral values and axioms of self determination , you guys had the right to create a homeplace. You lived there historically , your people wanted in mass their own representation , you were oppressed and as if that wasn’t enough you guys were invaded.
I expected to find valid reasons besides the affiliation with Russia on why the international community doesn’t side with you, but I only heard about revisionism of history and the Georgian Narionalists playing with the population numbers and supposed racially purity of your people after the 17th century .
I’d really love an explanation on the following because I wanna be on your side so bad but upon doing my own research, I have two main issues that for me makes your position indefensible:
The ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Georgians. I genuinely do not understand how anyone can defend this position, even if you wanna claim that practicality wise, it was needed to establish the security of your people during the war, it still doesn’t explain why you refuse to let them back in or at the very least compensate them. And no I don’t believe the excuses of political security or that they would cause another uprising are valid — there are tons of ways and solutions to prevent the toppling of your nation and correct integration of the Georgians as Abkhazian citizens, and it’s a completely mute point especially with Russia being a security guarantor. I don’t understand how a people who should understand the most what it means to long for home and being oppressed because of their identity , develop such a racist constitution and are so cruel and unsympathetic to people exactly like them who they grew up alongside just because of their race.
Your country has committed among the worst and most systematic war crimes that I’ve ever read. I genuinely couldn’t believe what I was reading , please for the love of god at least take a look at the Wikipedia page or read some of these examples. Most pages I’ve read of other conflicts usually involve both sides and are usually somehow “tamer” — this is one of the first times where in an article, not only do I read entries existing only from a single side, but to such an insane degree , and unprovoked when it came to the scale of these atrocities . Not even ChatGPT can come up with any examples of other war crimes done not mechanically or for death like “regular “ war crimes , but with such sadistic creativity and active participation SYSTEMATICALLY and from people from ALL walks of life , against absolutely normal people and neighbours. Just read some of these examples:
A) “My husband Sergo was dragged and tied to a tree. An Abkhaz woman named Zoya Tsvizba brought a tray with lots of salt on it. She took a knife and started to inflict wounds on my husband. She then threw salt onto my husbands exposed wounds. They tortured him like that for ten minutes. They then forced a young Georgian boy (they killed him after that) to dig a hole with a tractor. They placed my husband in this hole and buried him alive. The only thing I remember him saying, before he was covered with the gravel and sand, was: 'Dali, take care of the kids!' “
B) “When the Abkhazians entered my house, they took me and my seven-year old son outside. After forcing us to our knees, they took my son and shot him right in front of me. After, they grabbed me by hair and took me to the nearby well. An Abkhazian soldier forced me to look down that well, there I saw three younger man and couple of elderly women, who were standing soaking in the water naked. They were screaming and crying, while the Abkhazians were dumping dead corpses on them. They then threw a grenade there and placed more people inside. I was forced again to my knees in front of the dead corpses. One of the soldiers took his knife and took the eye out from one of the dead near me. Then he started to rub my lips and face with that decapitated eye. I could not take it any longer and fainted. They left me there in pile of corpses. “
C) “ I lived in Abkhazia 15 years ago, in the small town of Akhaldaba, Ochamchire district. Abkhaz attacked our village on 16 September 1993. It was impossible to hide anywhere from the bullets which rained down on us. ... The Russian Cossacks approached me and started to beat me. One of these Russian Cossacks approached me and asked me if I have ever had sex with a Cossack. He grabbed me and tried to rip off my clothes, after which I started to resist but they hit my head on the ground and started to beat me with AK-47 butts. While hitting me all over my body, they yelled, "We will kill you, but we will do so slowly." Then they took me to an Abkhaz school where they kept Georgian civilian prisoners. There were only Georgians there, women, children and men. There were some women who were pregnant, and children of different ages. The Battalion of Cossacks kept coming there regularly. They took young girls and children and raped them systematically. These were children aged 10, 12, 13, and 14. They especially targeted children. One of the girls there was 8 years old. She was taken by different groups of these Cossacks and was raped numerous times. I don't know how she managed to survive after so many rapes but I don't want to mention her name in order to protect her identity. They also took women but later they started to take elderly women. They raped these elderly women in the way which I don't want to go into detail ... it was horrific.”
Even if you believe these to be exaggerated , there are several reports from human rights groups reporting at the very least things of a similar degree.
I can understand that they mistreated you politically, but how can you read things like this and not have your heart ache, no less feel immense guilt and shame ? :
“They were killing everyone who was Georgian. Every road was blocked. There was only one way out, through the mountains. It was terrible and horrific, nobody knew where it ended or what would happen on the way. There were children, women and elderly people. Everyone was marching not knowing where they are headed. We were cold, hungry, there was no water.... We marched the whole day. By the end of the day we were tired and could not go on. To rest, it meant to die, so we marched and marched. Some woman near me didn't make it, she had fallen dead. As we marched, we saw people frozen and dead, they apparently stopped for a break and it was their end. The path never ended, it seemed that we would die at any time. One young girl, who marched beside me all the way from Sukhumi was pregnant. She delivered her baby in the mountains. The child died on the third day of our deadly march. She separated from us and we never saw her again. Finally we made it into the Svan villages. Only women and children were allowed in their huts. Buses came later on that day. We were then taken to Zugdidi.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Abkhazia_(1992–1993)
Do you mean to tell me that these were in fact not also committed by people who before the war were regular civilian men AND women, rather than permanent troops of the military ?
