ARMENIANS MAKE 20% OF ABKHAZIAN POPULATION

Armenpress
Jun 19 2006

YEREVAN, JUNE 19, ARMENPRESS: Though the exact number of Armenians in
Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia is unknown, some estimates put
it at 60,000, which makes about 20 percent of the region’s overall
population. According to 1989 census, there were 77,000 Armenians
in Abkhazia.

Armenians live in all regions of Abkhazia, but the bulk are in
Ochamchira and Gudauta and in the capital town of Sukhumi. Their main
occupations are small businesses and agriculture. The capital city
Sukhumi has no Armenian church.

Gagik Ghazarian, who represents the Abkhazian side in the
Armenian-Russian Business Association, told a group of Armenian
journalists who traveled across Abkhazia to Sochi last week that the
community was not rich enough to build a church, though it had been
granted a permission.

He said students in 35 schools in Armenian-populated regions have
classes of Armenian language and history. Abkhazian parliament has
an Armenian deputy speaker and three Armenian members.

Many Armenians who escaped from Abkhazia in the war years are now
coming back and many of them are getting increasingly engaged in the
tourism industry.