Georgian daily downbeat on Abkhazia’s efforts to improve demographic
situation

Rezonansi, Tbilisi
24 May 07, p 4

The parliament of Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia has passed a
resolution designed to save Abkhazia from a "demographic catastrophe",
the Georgian newspaper Rezonansi has said. Abkhaz MPs are reported to
have called for the elaboration of a "purposeful" demographic policy
and the creation of a presidential committee to address the
problem. In addition to encouraging the increase of the birth rate,
repatriation of ethnic Abkhaz from Turkey is considered to be one of
the ways to improve the situation. Rezonansi highlights the Abkhaz
government’s efforts to convince the descendants of ethnic Abkhaz
exiled from the Russian Empire to Muslim countries in the late 19th
century to return to Abkhazia. The following is the text of report by
Elza Tsiklauri in Georgian newspaper Rezonansi on 24 May headlined
"Abkhazia on brink of demographic catastrophe. Sukhumi is most
concerned that ‘low birth rate will affect staffing of army and
law-enforcement bodies’". Subheadings have been inserted editorially:

Abkhazia is on the brink of a demographic catastrophe and 5,000
descendants of the Abkhaz muhajirs [Abkhaz exiled from the Russian
Empire to Muslim countries in the late 19th century] need to be
resettled from Turkey to rectify the situation. The separatist
"People’s Assembly" [parliament] discussed this two days ago and
passed a special resolution "On the demographic situation in
Abkhazia".

In general, this issue has always been topical in Abkhazia. Today,
people in Sukhumi say that one of the main reasons of the 1992-1993
war was precisely the demographic imbalance which Georgians had been
artificially creating in Abkhazia throughout the 20th century.

The separatist government has already allocated 570,000 dollars for
the muhajirs’ resettlement from Turkey. "President" [Sergey] Bagapsh
is planning to visit Turkey in the nearest future.

According to experts, the separatist government’s attempt will fail
due to a number of various reasons.

Abkhaz parliament’s resolution on demographic situation

The Abkhaz parliament, concerned with the demographic situation,
passed a relevant resolution two days ago. According to the "People’s
Assembly" members, the prevailing situation "is threatening the
present and the future of the Abkhaz people" and "causes serious
concern".

According to de facto deputies, "low birth rate will affect the
staffing of the army and law-enforcement bodies and the country’s
defence capability will decrease as a result".

They also noted, however, that low birth rate is not related to
economic conditions and "the reason should be searched for in the
spiritual sphere and political instability".

The "People’s Assembly" believes that "the state should elaborate a
purposeful demographic policy and a special commission has to be
created with the president". In the de facto deputies’ view, "the
state should encourage birth rate, support young families and
facilitate the return of the muhajirs’ descendants to their historic
homeland".

"When a state is facing such a serious demographic problem, not having
a long-term and serious demographic policy is unacceptable. All our
actions are aimed at the creation and scheduled implementation of such
a blueprint. We hope that the president and the government will
support us in this issue," de facto parliament deputy chairwoman Irina
Agrba said.

"We believe that one of the important projects in this regard is the
creation of an international demographic fund. Such fund will
elaborate and implement projects which will improve the demographic
situation first and foremost by means of intensifying repatriation,"
Soner Gogua, chairman of the "People’s Assembly" committee on
relations with compatriots, said.

Programmes designed first and foremost for ethnic Abkhaz

Batal Kobakhia, chairman of the separatist parliament’s human rights
committee, said that, even though the resolution concerns only Abkhaz,
it will positively affect the citizens of other ethnic groups living
in the "republic".

"Of course, the programmes we are working on first and foremost
concern ethnic Abkhaz citizens living in Abkhazia although in the long
run they concern all Abkhaz citizens because settlement of the
demographic issue will positively influence the atmosphere prevailing
in our society in general," Kobakhia said.

According to the "People’s Assembly" members, demographic disparity
was being established in Abkhazia throughout the 20th century and,
eventually, became one of the reasons for the 1992-1993 war. The
difficult economic situation that took place after the war caused
internal migration in Abkhazia which had a negative effect on the
"republic’s" eastern parts.

Homes for repatriates

The "People’s Assembly" passed another important document before
making the aforementioned decision. Specifically, according to
"parliament’s" resolution, it is planned to allocate 570,000 dollars
to settle the housing problem for the repatriates. It is planned to
purchase, build and repair residential property for the repatriates
with this money. Within the framework of the same programme, the
repatriation fund has restored a nine-storey house on Eshba Street in
the centre of Sukhumi.

However, 570,000 dollars allocated by the Sukhumi government for the
repatriates might satisfy not more that several dozen families
because, according to the latest reports, residential property in
Abkhazia is not too cheap.

For example, the price of a private house in Gagra, Gudauta and
Sukhumi ranges between 100,000 and 300,000 dollars. The price depends
on where a specific house is located, how close it is to the Russian
border, whether the paperwork is in order, and on its condition.

Residential property in Tqvarcheli and Ochamchire is much cheaper. The
price of a private house might not exceed 2,000-3,000 dollars.

Armenians oppose resettlement plans

It is also noteworthy that president Bagapsh made a statement about
the return of descendants of the Abkhaz muhajirs who were exiled
during the Russian-Caucasian war on Abkhaz territory. Like the
"People’s Assembly", Bagapsh stated difficult demographic situation in
the "republic" as one of the main reasons.

Moreover, the "president" was planning to visit Turkey in April in
connection with this issue but he has not yet been able to fulfil this
mission because of his illness. There are reports that the "president"
is planning to go to Turkey in late May.

Bagapsh’s visit to Turkey was planned as early as in December last
year when the "world congress of Abkhaz-Abazin peoples" was held in
Sukhumi. This is precisely when the talk started about direct air
communications with Turkey and the introduction of special economic
privileges for Turkish businessmen. The issue of the muhajirs’ return
was raised at this congress as well. However, this issue might become
the reason for serious confrontation in Abkhazia itself. Abkhazia’s
Armenian diaspora categorically opposes the muhajirs’ resettlement and
the establishment of close relations with Turkey. Armenians demand
that their interests be considered when making such an important
political decision.

It is also noteworthy that the Abkhaz de facto president went to
Turkey and Western Asia several times to meet with the diaspora of the
muhajirs’ descendants. At the time too, Bagapsh had a serious
conversation with the muhajirs’ descendants about their investing
their capital in the Abkhaz economy. [Former Abkhaz President]
Vladislav Ardzinba frequently visited Western Asia and Turkey
too. Nevertheless, there was no talk about resettling the muhajirs’
descendants at the time or today. The Sukhumi government, however,
wanted this very much both at the time and today.

Repatriation unlikely

A small number of muhajirs came to Abkhazia back before the
Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. The next flow went to Sukhumi after the war
in order to familiarize themselves with the situation there. After
clarifying the situation on the spot, however, most of them left
Abkhaz territory. Only several dozen families stayed in Abkhazia.

The muhajirs’ descendants themselves own quite a large amount of
capital in Turkey and Western Asia and have a good social
status. According to unofficial reports, there are 65,000-68,000
Abkhaz living in Abkhazia today, the number of Georgians is
approximately the same. As for Armenians, their number ranges between
80,000 and 90,000. The results of a survey carried out in Abkhazia
established that only one third of the [current] number of Abkhaz will
be left in Abkhazia in 25-26 years’ time.

According to Georgian experts, the difficult demographic situation is
pushing the separatist government into [trying to] resettle the
muhajirs in Abkhazia.

"Demographic situation is a serious problem in Abkhazia and the
‘People’s Assembly’ has admitted this by passing the resolution. As
for the resettlement of the muhajirs’ descendants in Abkhazia, they
would have returned by now had they wanted to. The religious factor is
playing the role here as well because muhajirs are Muslim while the
Abkhaz living in Abkhazia are Christian. The language factor has an
important role to play too.

"In addition, Turkey is close to Europe, the talks about its accession
to the EU are under way. This is why I think that the muhajirs’
descendants have no prospects in living in Abkhazia and a serious
breakthrough in this regard is unlikely to happen," Paata
Zakareishvili, conflictologist [affiliated with the Georgian
opposition Republican Party], said in conversation with Rezonansi.