This article first published on Apsuara.org in Turkish and titled "16. Yüzyıl Osmanlı Belgeleri Işığında Sohum ve Abazalar"

The Sukhum [Sohumkale in Ottoman -ed.] fortress, referred to as the "key to the Black Sea" along with Faş (Poti) and Batum in Ottoman archival documents [1], has always maintained a significant role in the Ottoman Empire's interactions with the Caucasus. Since the 16th century, Sukhum and its environs, frequently mentioned in numerous Ottoman records in conjunction with the Abkhazians [Ottomans called the Abkhazians as ‘Abaza’ -ed.], have been of great military and commercial importance to the Ottoman state.  

Mobilizing in Uncertainty: Collective Identities and War in Abkhazia, by Anastasia Shesterinina (Cornell University Press, 2021)

pp.69-72

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 Abkhazians.

This article was first published on March 1, 2023 in Russian in the Athens-based Greek diaspora newspaper "Aфинский Kурьер" No. 4 (1059) in the section "ГРЕЧЕСКИЙ СУХУМСКИЙ ВЕСТНИК" (No. 201). Марика Миккор. "Основание села Эстонка на берегу реки Кодор в конце царской эпохи."

The revolutions of February and October 1917 and the civil war and war of intervention that followed created completely new conditions for the realisation of national ambitions. The numerically small Abkhaz people had a number of potential allies among whom they were able to choose: Russia, Turkey, union with the “Mountain Peoples’ Republic of the North Caucasus”, the “Transcaucasian Federation”, or the Georgian Republic.