By Marianne Kotova - Ekho Kavkaza SUKHUM – In Abkhazia the first Internet-forum in the Abkhaz language has started operating. The authors of the idea had problems adapting the Abkhaz alphabet for use with Internet-browsers. There were problems with the roman script used by the Abkhazian diaspora in Turkey and other countries. However, the problem was solved. The forum was set up on the site of the Party of Economic Development of Abkhazia. According to the developers of the Internet-resource, it should in the first instance attract the attention of the young. The appearance of such a discussion-platform is particularly important for uniting the Abkhaz-speaking population of Turkey and other countries. In addition, the developers of the forum call on all users not just to communicate on it but also to send materials in the Abkhaz language. They plan to create a unique portal of knowledge about Abkhazia and for Abkhazia. However, in creating the forum a difficulty arose in connection with us of the Abkhaz script. Internet-browsers simply do not accept the characters.

Assistant to the Chairman of the Party of Economic Development of Abkhazia, David Dasania, who is engaged in this project, proposed to develop a special set of signs, using the set of symbols already existing in the systems of Microsoft: "Unfortunately, it proved impossible to use the most popular Abkhaz fonts. I had to adapt manually one of the Microsoft fonts so that it displays the signs of the Abkhaz alphabet.”

For those Abkhazians living abroad, the developers of the forum suggested using the roman alphabet, adding some letters with signs from the symbols on the keyboard. Full instructions and all the lettering are on the site of the Party ERA. According to David Dasania, there will certainly be no difficulties in using the resource: "We already have eleven sub-forums operating, three of them in the roman script."

Already today it is possible in the forum to share views on 11 topics or to propose one’s own, to download articles and reference-materials. According to the creators of the forum, its appearance is one more step towards the preservation and development of the complex Abkhazian language.

Source: Ekho Kavkaza (Первый Интернет-форум на абхазском языке)