What happened in Sukhum  last week was wrong at every level. I said this in my statement at the time, and this can be read both on Facebook and on the English-language site of ApsnyPress. It was, thus, encouraging to see diasporan Abkhazians taking the initiative also to call in their on-line petition for respect for constitutional practice.

A big festival for children took place on June 1 at the town stadium in Novy Afon to mark International Children’s Day. Children came with their parents not just from Novy Afon but from Sukhum, Gudauta and other towns.

Caucasus, Autumn 2013

http://www.guillaumepoli.com/abkhazia

A land of palm-trees and eucalyptus, this strip of earth jammed in between the Black Sea and the Caucasus mountains was incorporated to Georgia by Stalin in 1931. On august 14, 1992, one month after self-proclaiming its independence, Abkhazia witnessed Georgian President Edouard Shevardnadze’s tanks invade it.

' Abkhazia , October 10 ', A. Dzhugheli (Gadaghmeli) 

'... Abkhazia , as the very name of the place suggests, belonged and belongs to the Abkhazians ... In this last war (1877-1878 -- Ed.), this country was almost completely emptied. The vacated lands of the Abkhazians were distributed among all who desired them. This country, as a country of the covenant, had a famous name. Everyone who had vaguely heard that in Abkhazia land was being divided and given away upped and moved here . Within 5-6 years Greeks, Russians, Bulgarians, Germans, Mingrelians, Imeretians, Armenians, etc. flooded into Abkhazia. And the authorities refused no-one.'

Newspaper "Droeba”, 1883, N 216.

Megan Starr | Special to Abkhaz World

Before entering Abkhazia, I tried obtaining a little bit of information about the place. I was mainly concerned about border crossing procedures and my safety as a solo female traveler, but I also tried researching a little bit about the culture and Abkhaz people in general. My searches came up empty.