From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 1/23/2006 9:00 AM
AN ABKHAZIA PHOTOGRAPH
No war;
No peace;
But extreme tension

(ABKHAZIA REPORT OF THE CAUCASUS FOUNDATION. OCTOBER 2001)

by Fehim Tastekin

Although Abkhazia was the only one to declare its independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union and had unilaterally put on its agenda a federation agreement with Georgia, it unexpectedly found itself under attack by the Georgian army. In this respect, the date of Georgian incursion, August 14, 1992, not only brought great social and economic upheaval, but it also exhausted all possibilities of coming together again with Georgia.

Possessing a federal structure in the Soviet Union together with the autonomous republics of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Adjaria, Georgia chose a unitary state structure when it became independent. In doing this it showed no regard for an autonomous republic structure like Abkhazia`s. Opposing this, the Abkhazia Parliament declared Abkhazia`s sovereignty, and while it was preparing for discussions on the federation alternative, the Abkhaz people were at least not as far from such an alternative as they are today.

In fact, on the Abkhazia side a rough draft of a federation agreement had been prepared that is almost equivalent to the idea of "Abkhazia being given broad authority within Georgia," which is frequently brought up by Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze. After the movement begun in 1992 and 1993 to fully annex Abkhazia to Georgia soil had cost thousands of lives, the Abkhaz side abandoned its pre-war position and chose as its indisputable goal the "fully independent
state" alternative.

TO AVOID ANOTHER ABKHAZIA GEORGIA WAR