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Osmanlıların Kafkas Ellerini Fethi 1451 1590, by M. Fahrettin Kırzıoğlu

Osmanlıların Kafkas Ellerini Fethi 1451 - 1590, by M. Fahrettin Kırzıoğlu

05 June, 2026

Osmanlıların Kafkas Ellerini Fethi 1451 - 1590 (The Ottoman Conquest of the Caucasus, 1451–1590)Author: M. Fahrettin KırzıoğluYear: 1976Publisher: Atatürk Üniversitesi Yayınları (Master Thesis)Place of Publication: AnkaraNumber of pages: 550Language: Turkish

Dzhokhar Dudayev (right) and Musa Shanibov (centre) at the CMPC's 11th Parliamentary Session, Grozny, 1992.

The "Separatists" Who Stood Together: Chechens & Abkhazians

03 June, 2026

There are places where geography becomes fate. The Caucasus is one of them. A great spine of mountains running between two seas, it has been home, battleground, and burial ground...

Abkhazian fighters sit in a hallway. September, 1993. © Malcolm Linton.

The Small Nation That Refused to Disappear

29 May, 2026

Some conflicts are misremembered by accident. Others are misremembered because the simpler version is more useful. The war of 1992–1993 in Abkhazia belongs to the second category. What follows is...

The statue of General Giorgi Mazniashvili in Tbilisi, named National Hero of Georgia in 2013.

The Barn at Aatsy

25 May, 2026

How a Menshevik republic that called itself free built an empire in miniature on the Black Sea coast, and why the documents have never let it forget. In the village of...

Abkhazia in Ottoman Historiography

Abkhazia in Ottoman Historiography, by Roin Agrba

24 May, 2026

The following is a translation of the opening chapter of Roin Agrba's Abkhazia and the Sublime Porte: Essays on the History of Abkhaz-Turkish Relations, 15th–18th Centuries (ed. Viacheslav Chirikba, Sukhum:...

The Russo-Caucasian, also known as the Caucasian War, officially ended on 21 May 1864. | Photo: Group of armed Abkhazians

21 May 1864: Abkhazia and the End of the Russo-Caucasian War

21 May, 2026

Today, on 21 May 2026, we mark the 162nd anniversary of the end of the Russo-Caucasian War. On this date, Abkhazia and the wider North Caucasus remember the victims of...

Opinion

Analysis

The Ibero-Caucasian hypothesis and the historiography of Abkhazia, by Kevin Tuite

04 June, 2022

The Rise and Fall and Revival of the Ibero-Caucasian HypothesisHistoriographia Linguistica Vol. 35:1/2 (2008), pp. 23–82 Kevin Tuite Professor of Anthropology at the Université de Montréal 8. The Ibero-Caucasian hypothesis and the historiography of Abkhazia (pp.53-65)8.1 P’avle Ingoroq’va, Giorgi Merčule, and the...

Blog

Andrei Sakharov on the relationship between Abkhazia and Georgia

24 February, 2022

In 1989 at the start of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict the late Academician Andrei Sakharov in one of his last articles called Georgia a ‘mini-empire’ (Ogonёk 1989, 31). Later, describing the relationship between Abkhazia and Georgia, he wrote: "I tend to justify...

Analysis

Nationalism, politics, and the practice of archaeology in the Caucasus

Nationalism, politics, and the practice of archaeology in the Caucasus, by Philip Kohl and Gocha Tsetskhladze

26 April, 2020

Nationalism, politics, and the practice of archaeology, edited by Philip L. Kohl and Clare Fawcett Cambridge University Press 1995 Nationalism, politics, and the practice of archaeology in the Caucasus (Part III Eastern Europe and Eurasia) pp. 149-174 By Philip L. Kohl and Gocha R...

Conflict

Old Parliament Building, Sukhum

Abkhazia: a problem of identity and ownership, by George B. Hewitt - Central Asian Survey

21 October, 2008

Abkhazia: a problem of identity and ownership  History and Documents Central Asian Survey, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 267–323, 1993 by George B. Hewitt The Abkhazians living in Turkey have preserved very well the customs, language and dances  carried  there  from  Abkhazia  by  their ...

History

Lapinski: Abkhaz people are the last in the Caucasus who still put up resistance to the Muscovites

23 May, 2020

In June 1861, on the initiative of the Ubykhs, a 'mejlis' (parliament) was constituted not far from Sochi; it was known as 'The Great and Free Assembly'. The Ubykhs, the Circassian Shapsughs and Abadzekhs/Abzakhs, and the Abkhazian tribes of Ahchypsy...

Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus.

How nations united: Formation of the Confederation of Caucasian Peoples

28 February, 2020

Everyone who is somehow familiar with the history of the Patriotic War of the people of Abkhazia could not help but hear about the Assembly of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus, which was soon renamed the Confederation. This is no...

Abkhazia Resettlement Construction 1941

Resettlement to Abkhazia

14 February, 2020

After most of Abkhazia’s indigenous Abkhazians were expelled to Ottoman lands firstly at the end of the Russian-Caucasian War (1864) and then following the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78), their vacated lands immediately started to attract colonisation from such diverse incomers as:...

Abkhazians who took part in the 1866 Lykhny uprising. Photo by D. I. Yermakov (1867)

Thirty years of "guilt" (1877-1907), by Stanislav Lakoba

14 March, 2013

Reflections on Abkhazia: [14 August] 1992-2012 Immediately after the Caucasian War (21 May 1864), in June 1864 the independent princedom of Abkhazia was abolished, and the sovereign prince Mikhail Shervashidze (Chachba) was subjected to political repression; in 1866, he died in...

Editors' Picks

Myrzakan (Samurzakan) Abkhazians (1880-90).

On the Political and Ethnic History of Myrzakan (Samurzakano) in the 19th Century, By Denis Gopia

19 January, 2024

Academy of Sciences of Abkhazia Abkhaz Institute of Humanitarian Research Named after D.I. Gulia, AbIGI 2022 Аҧсуаҭҵаара / Abkhaz Studies. No.12. Sukhum. 2022. pp. 99-111  The article is also available in PDF format in both Russian (original) and English.

Rewriting History? A Critique of Modern Georgian Historiography on Abkhazia

12 October, 2023

In the book "Ответ историкам из Тбилиси (документы и факты)" (English: "A Response to Historians from Tbilisi: Documents and Facts"), Abkhazian historian Stanislav Lakoba addresses critical issues surrounding Georgian-Abkhazian relations. Drawing from extensive research and documentation, Lakoba delves deep into...

Russian President Boris Yeltsin welcomes Georgian Governing Council leader Eduard Shevardnadze in Dagomys, Sochi. (June 24, 1992).

The Hand of Moscow and the Sterility of Geneva, by Izida Chania

03 October, 2023

On September 30th, Abkhazia marked its Victory Day in the Georgian-Abkhazian war. In 1993, Abkhazia's Armed Forces successfully repelled Georgian troops, asserting control over the country's territory up to the Abkhazian-Georgian border along the Ingur River. Reactions to this day...

The Exodus of Abkhazians During the 19th Century: Resistance, Uprisings, and Exile

18 April, 2023

Throughout the 19th century, the Russian-Caucasian War brought about significant changes in the geopolitical landscape of the region. The conflict between the Russian Empire and the native peoples of the Caucasus led to significant population displacements, including those of the...

General Giorgi Mazniev (Mazniashvili) with his son Ivan.

Georgian policy towards Abkhazia in the period 1918-1921, by Vadim Mukhanov

19 August, 2022

This article has been written in Russian and is translated into English. Vadim M. MukhanovHead of Caucasus Department of The Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO). Russia. In 1917, i.e. in the first revolutionary...

A Georgian armored vehicle drives down a road. July, 1993. Sukhum, Abkhazia

Abkhazia is Abkhazia, by Stanislav Lakoba

15 October, 2008

Stanislav Lakoba Minister of Security in Abkhazia, former speaker of Abkhazian ParliamentA Report At A London Conference On North Caucasus and Abkhazia 23th April, 1993Central Asian Survey, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 97–105, 1995 I had a different beginning for my report...

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