Hurriyet Daily News - WILCO VAN HERPEN

The descendants of Abkhazian migrants continue to populate the verdant villages between Düzce and Adapazarı, but their culture is slowly dying out a century-and-a-half after they left their homelands on the northeast side of the Black Sea.

The President received the chairman of the State Committee for Repatriation who had led the Abkhazian delegation that had arrived from Turkey the day before.

On November 24 another elections of the Chairman of the Abkhaz Cultural Centres were held in Turkey. In the framework of the pre-election campaign Representatives of the Abkhaz Cultural Centres had a Plenary Meeting. Representative of the Abkhaz Foreign Ministry Inar Gitsba attended the Meeting and read out the complimentary address of the Foreign Minister Viacheslav Chirikba to the diaspora, in which he outlined the main tasks and foreign policy goals, in particular:

Address of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia Viacheslav Chirikba to the representatives of the Abkhazian Diaspora in the Republic of Turkey on the occasion of regular elections of the Chairman of the Federation of Abkhaz Associations (ABHAZFED).

SUKHUM - President Alexander Ankvab met the parents of our compatriots from Turkey who had died for freedom of Abkhazia.

They have arrived in Abkhazia to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Victory.

On 21-22 September in the cities of Istanbul and Adapazari (Turkey) events were held on the 20th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War of Abkhazia (1992-1993). They were attended by members of the parliament of Republic of Abkhazia, Dmitrij Gumba and Akhra Pachulia, Acting-Head of the Department for Turkey and the Middle East of the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Abkhazia, Aljas Asabua, and by the Director of the Fund for Repatriation of the Republic of Abkhazia, John Smyr. 

Abkhaz scholar-linguists have prepared for publication in Turkey a school-textbook for intensive study of the Abkhaz language.

SUKHUM -- As of today, a total of 467 compatriots have returned to Abkhazia from Syria, State Committee for Repatriation Deputy Chairman Inar Gitsba said at a press conference on Thursday, July 11. 

SUKHUM -- On Sunday, 7 July, another group of immigrants from Syria arrived in Abkhazia. 17 persons arrived in Nalchik from Amman (Jordan). 

During the night of 5-6 July, at 00 hrs. 30 min., a charter flight from Beirut with a large group of Abkhazian compatriots from Syria on board is expected to land at the airport in Sochi. The flight was chartered by the Government of the Republic of Abkhazia.