SUKHUM -- According to the data of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia, within the framework of the assistance to the process o repatriation to their historical homeland of compatriots from the Syrian Arab Republic, 103 persons have already returned to the territory of the Republic of Abkhazia. Almost all the returnees are employed. Ten persons entered the preparatory department of the Abkhazian State University. Eight children became the students of the Sukhum boarding school and six children study in the Sukhum secondary schools. Four children are enrolled in the kindergartens.

ISTANBUL - BIA News Center --The new education reform bill is set to introduce elective Adygea and Abkhazian courses, but the conditions required to open classes make it nearly impossible to teach the two Caucasian languages in schools, according to Vacit Kadıoğlu, the head of the Caucasus Associations Federation (KAFFED.)

The Turkish newspaper «Hurriyet» on 14 June 2012 reported that the Turkish Parliament held a hearing at the request of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan in connection with the question of the introduction of the Kurdish language in public universities and schools as an optional subject.

SUKHUM -- Thirty-seven immigrants were presented today with keys to two- and three-room apartments in a building in the village of Machara in Gulripsh raion restored at the expense of the state.The keys were handed over to the new owners of the apartments at a special ceremony at the State Committee for Repatriation. Present at the ceremony were Feridun Akusba, president of Turkey’s Federation of Abkhaz Cultural Centers; Talat Kapba, head of Cultural Center in İnegol; and Vadim Kharazia, deputy head of the Gulripsh Raion administration responsible for repatriants.

SUKHUM -- The first group of compatriots from Syria, numbering 27 persons (including 12 children) today arrived in Abkhazia. As was reported to ApsnyPress by the head of the regional department of the Foreign Ministry for Turkey and the Middle East, Inar Gitsba, this is the result of two governmental missions at the beginning of this year to the Arab Republic of Syria. During the first visit, the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia and the State-Committee for Repatriation clarified the situation in Syria, and already during the second mission lists of those wishing to return were drawn up on the basis of questionnaires.

‘Abkhazia’s Day’ was held on 22 April, 2012, at Hamburg’s Museum of Ethnography under the rubric of the annual conference dedicated to the countries and peoples of the Caucasus. As the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia in Germany. Khibla Amichba, reported to ApsnyPress, papers on the history and ethnography of Abkhazia, the Abkhaz language, economics, and the art of our country were presented scientific.

SUKHUM -- President Aleksandr Ankvab chaired a meeting today devoted to the issue of the repatriation of compatriots currently living in the Syrian Arab Republic. Prime Minister Leonid Lakerbaya, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Irakli Khintba, and the head of the State Committee for Repatriation, Zurab Adleiba, and his deputy Ahmad Marshan participated in the meeting.

Abkhazia day is the continuation of the first Caucasian day, which first took place in 2008 at the Museum of Ethnology in Hamburg.

Lectures and an interesting programme inform about the political, economic and social situation in the republic on the Black Sea.

SUKHUM -- Two of our countrymen, Nishan Vanacha and Shamil Marshan, have come from Syria to Abkhazia.

On Friday 17 February, they were received by Foreign Minister Viacheslav Chirikba. The meeting was attended by the Head of the Turkey and Middle Eastern Section at Abkhazia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Inar Gitsba, and Deputy-Chairman of the State Committee for Repatriation, Akhmat Marshan.

Semen Pegov / Ekho Kavkaza

SUKHUM - An Abkhaz government mission has returned from the Syrian Arab Republic. The delegation included State Committee for Repatriation Chairman Zurab Adleiba, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Turkish and the Middle East Department head Inar Gitsba, and the chairman of the Federation of Abkhaz cultural centers in Turkey, Firidun Akusba. The mission visited the Syrian capital, Damascus, where it spent two days talking with representatives of the Abkhaz Diaspora. In addition, a number of consultations were held on the socio-political situation in Syria. The Abkhaz Ministry of Foreign Affairs convened a press conference to report on the results of the mission.