It was with a great sense of loss that
Zaira and I learnt today of the sad, if not altogether unexpected,
death of Vladislav Ardzinba in Moscow at the age of 64.
Vladislav Ardzinba holds a unique place
in the history of Abkhazia. Having come to prominence in his homeland
as an academic (specialising in Hittite), he took over from Prof.
Georgij Dzidzarija as Director of the Research Institute. Quickly he
found himself involved in politics when elected to Mikhail Gorbachëv's
new Palace of People's Deputies, where he achieved national prominence
across the entire Soviet Union for his eloquent articulation of the
problems facing that vast state's ethnic minorities and their hopes for
the future. He was naturally most concerned to achieve justice for his
own Abkhazian nation, and in the turbulent days when the USSR was
heading for disintegration and an ugly chauvinism was on the rise in
Georgia,this speedily put Abkhazia on a collision-course with Tbilisi.
When Vladislav assumed the chairmanship of the Supreme Soviet, he
became the focus of verbal attacks from Georgian nationalists, attacks
which continued to the day of his death, when in some early
obituary-announcements it was libellously stated that he 'orchestrated
a massive ethnic cleansing campaign'.
It fell to Vladislav to lead the
defence of Abkhazia when it was treacherously invaded by the troops of
Georgia's State Council under the chairmanship of Eduard Shevardnadze
on that day of infamy, the 14 August 1992. After 14 tragic months,
Abkhazia was finally liberated on 30 September 1993. And under
Vladislav's leadership, then still based in its wartime home of
Gudauta, a leaflet was prepared for distibution in the areas that had
been under Georgian occupation during the war urging Abkhazians there
to show magnanimity and not to engage in acts of vengeance against
either Georgian soldiers laying down their arms or members of the
civilian population. But the Caucasus is the Caucasus, and in those
days of panic and rumour the majority of the local Mingrelians,
Georgians and Svans elected to leave south-eastern Abkhazia before the
arrival of the victors. Abkhazia then found itself subjected to years
of embargo, as the world tried to punish it for having had the audacity
to defeat Shevardnadze's Georgia. And it was Vladislav's destiny to
steer a difficult course during those years of pressure in order to
prevent the restarting of hostilities with Georgia, to avoid making
concessions in the internationally sponsored negotiating process that
would be unacceptable to the Abkhazian people, and to avoid causing
excessive annoyance to Moscow, which most commentators now conveniently
forget was by no means well-disposed to Abkhazian aspirations under the
presidency of Boris Yeltsin and Shevardnadze's protegé as Russian
Foreign Minister Andrej Kozyrev; the same was true under Kozyrev's
successor, Tbilisi-reared Evgenij Primakov, who had once been
Vladislav's superior in the days when they both worked at Moscow's
Oriental Institute. In 1994 Vladislav supervised the promulgation of a
new Constitution for Abkhazia and became its first president.
Finally exasperated by Tbilisi's
stonewalling in the negotiations, Abkhazia formally declared
independence in 1999. This year also saw Vladislav elected to serve his
second and final term as president; he additionally pushed through a
very sensible spelling-reform. However, he was not destined to see out
that second term blessed with the good health and irrepressible energy
that had characterised his preceding years. Whatever the cause, a cruel
degenerative illness began to take hold, which led to his being seen
less and less in public and ultimately to total withdrawal and the
passing of presidential responsibility to his replacement, Raoul
Khadzhimba, who nevertheless worked closely with Vladislav behind the
scenes.
Though by then confined to a wheelchair
and able only to speak very indistinctly, Vladislav had the good
fortune to live to see Abkhazia first regain control over the one area
that had remained in Georgian hands after the war, the Upper K’odor
Valley, on 12 August 2008 and then be recognised by Russia on 26 August
2008 — it was shortly thereafter that we met for the last time, when we
were able to congratulate each other on that momentous event, an event
he met with the words: 'The dreadful times have passed; now the
difficult times begin.' It is now the responsibility of others to guide
Abkhazia's ship of state through the choppy seas into the calm waters
that should come from universal recognition and Abkhazia taking its
rightful place as a full member of the family of nations.
Vladislav Ardzinba was a distinguished
academic, an eloquent advocate of both Abkhazian rights in particular
and minority rights in general, an inspiring war-leader, a patriotic
politician and president, with whom Tbilisi could actually have worked,
if only Georgia had been led by politicians of true worth and noble
vision. His passing will be mourned by all Abkhazians across the world,
but his permanent place in Abkhazia's pantheon of heroes is assured and
unchallengeable.
We offer our deepest condolences to the
Abkhazian people, the Abkhazian Government, and, on a more personal
note, to Vladislav's widow, Sveta, his daughter, Madina, and the whole
of his family.
Zaira and George Hewitt (UK)
http://www.abkhazworld.com/news/441-condolences-zghewitt.html
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