In Abkhazia the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Caucasian War is being Marked
SUKHUM -- Today in Abkhazia the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Caucasian War is being marked. On the waterfront’s Promenade of theExiles (Muhajirs) in Sukhum there took place a ceremony of layingflowers and wreaths at the monument to the Muhajirs.
President Aleksandr Ankvab, Vice-President Michael Logua, Speaker ofParliament Valery Bganba, Prime Minister Leonid Lakerbaja, SecurityCouncil Secretary Stanislav Lakoba, Head of the Presidential Administration Beslan Kubrava, MPs, government officials, heads ofadministrations of all the cities and the regions, descendants of theMuhajirs who have returned to their historical homeland,representatives of various political parties and movements, andstudents participated in the ceremony.
Present at the laying were also immigrants from Syria who returned to the motherland at the start of the month. After the laying, the president approached them and asked how things are going, how the process of adaptation is proceeding. The immigrants expressed their gratitude for the fact that the authorities created the conditions for their return to the motherland. In his turn, Aleksandr Ankvab stated that the republic's leadership would do everything to create the most favourable conditions for their adaptation.
We recall that on 31 May 1990 a stone was laid on Sukhum’s embankment on the spot where it was planned to erect a monument to the Muhajirs. War and the complexity of post-war life prevented the implementation of this plan. It was only on 27 September 2010 that the celebratory ceremony for the opening of the monument, created by the Abkhazian artist Gennady Lakoba, took place.
In the XIX century, as a result of the Russo-Caucasian War, thousands of Abkhazians fled their historical homeland and found refuge in Turkey and various countries in the Middle East. The descendants of the Abkhazian Muhajirs live in 50 countries. The largest Abkhazian diaspora is in Turkey.
At 19.00 hours today in Freedom Square will take place an act of remembrance for the victims of the Caucasian War.
