Book Description

The 14th of August 2022 is the 30th anniversary of the start of the war between the Georgians and the Abkhazians in the decades-long dispute over ownership of the small territory known to the autochthonous Abkhazians as Apsny, to the Georgians as apxazeti, and to most of the world as Abkhazia. For much of the world, the territory remains either a thoroughly unknown or, at best, poorly known country and, for many, a disputed region… This project is the continuation of the earlier “Reflections on Abkhazia: [14 August] 1992-2012”, which was completed 10 years ago. It aims to bring together different points of view on Abkhazia and the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict. The authors were given complete freedom regarding the content of their texts. The views they express in their contributions for this project do not necessarily reflect the views of the AbkhazWorld.com website. The texts have been listed alphabetically according to the names of the authors. List of authors: Aivar Jürgenson, Senior Research Fellow in the School of Humanities, Tallinn University. Estonia; Senior Research Fellow in Literature Museum, Estonia. Alexander Iskandaryan, Political scientist, the Director of the Yerevan-based Caucasus Institute. Armenia. Aslanbek Mirzoev, Historian. Institute for Humanitarian Studies - branch of the Kabardino-Balkarian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nalchik. He was a former Circassian volunteer from Kabarda. Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia. Beslan Kobakhia, The public and political figure of Abkhazia. During the 1992-93 Georgian - Abkhazian War, he was head of the government commission for the exchange of prisoners of war and the protection of the civilian population. Abkhazia. Cem Kumuk, Independent researcher and writer on the history of the Caucasus for about 40 years. Turkey. Charlotte Hille, Assistant professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam. Dr Hille is specialised in State building, conflict resolution, and international mediation. Netherlands. Christopher Langton, Director of The Independent Conflict Research & Analysis (ICRA). He spent thirty-two years in the British Army. During that time he served as the Deputy Commander of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) as well as holding various attaché posts in Russia, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia. United Kingdom. Clayton Payne, Researcher on environmental governance in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. SOAS, University of London. United Kingdom. Dieter Boden, Ambassador (ret) Former Special Representative of the UNSG in Georgia (1999 - 2002). Germany. Dodge Billingsley, Director, Combat Films & Research and Global QRF. Editor and Contributor: OE Watch (FMSO), Author: Fangs of the Lone Wolf: Chechen Tactics in the Russian Chechen Wars 1994-2009. United Kingdom. Donnacha Ó Beacháin, Professor of Politics at the School of Law and Government, Dublin City University (DCU) where he lectures on post-Soviet politics, unrecognised states, Irish studies, and foreign policy. Ireland. Edward Mihalkanin, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Texas State University. U.S.A. Elçin Başol, Lecturer at Aydin Adnan Mendered University, PhD Candidate at Kadir Has University, International Relations Department. Turkey. Fehim Taştekin, a Turkish journalist and a columnist for Turkey Pulse who previously wrote for Radikal and Hurriyet. Tastekin specializes in Turkish foreign policy and Caucasus, the Middle East, and EU affairs. France. Giulia Prelz Oltramonti, Assistant Professor in International Relations at ESPOL, Université Catholique de Lille, France. She has written on the political economies of conflict in the Caucasus and on informality in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. France. Inal Khashig, Journalist, editor of JAMnews. Abkhazia. Jade Cemre Erciyes, Editor of the Journal of Caucasian Studies (JOCAS). Turkey. Karlos Zurutuza, Freelance correspondent specializing in the Caucasus and the Middle East regions. He has reported for numerous publications including Al Jazeera, IPS, Vice, Deutsche Welle, and The Diplomat. Basque Country. Ketevan Murusidze, Peace Researcher and Practitioner. Georgia. Kieran Pender, Writer for the Guardian. Australia. Marina Elbakidze, Project Coordinator at the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development and coordinator of the ‘Memory Project’ in Tbilisi. She is a lecturer in psychology at the Department of Organisational Psychology, Tbilisi State University. Since 1997 she has participated in a range of peacebuilding activities and has played a key role in Georgian-Abkhaz dialogue processes. Georgia. Maxim Gvindzhia, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia. Abkhazia. Natella Akaba, Historian, Chairperson of the board of the Association of Women of Abkhazia. Abkhazia. Paata Zakareishvili, Georgia’s former Minister of Reconciliation. Tbilisi, Georgia. Patrick Armstrong, Political analyst. He was an analyst in the Canadian Department of National Defence specialising in the USSR/Russia from 1984 and a Counsellor at the Canadian Embassy in Moscow from 1993-1996. Canada. Paula Garb, Senior Fellow at the Center for Peacemaking Practice, George Mason University. For twenty years she co-directed the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding which she co-founded at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). USA. Ramesh Ganohariti, Ph.D. Researcher, Dublin City University, Ireland. Rick Fawn, Professor of International Relations. University of St Andrews. Scotland. Stanislav Lakoba, Professor in Archeology, Ethnology and History at the Abkhazian State University. Former Secretary of the Security Council of Abkhazia. Abkhazia. Stephen Shenfield, Specialist on politics and society in Russia and the post-Soviet region. For several years he produced the Research and Analytical Supplement to Johnson’s Russia List. USA. Thomas de Waal, Senior fellow with Carnegie Europe, specializing in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region. United Kingdom. Timothy K. Blauvelt, Professor of Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies at Ilia State University in Tbilisi. Georgia. Ucha Nanuashvili, Founder at Democracy Research Institute DRI; Project Director at Human Rights Center; Former Public Defender of Georgia. Georgia. Uwe Klussmann, Freelance Journalist. He was a correspondent for the magazine “Der Spiegel” in Moscow from 1999 until 2009. During that time, he travelled to Abkhazia thrice. Germany. Ümit Dinçer, President, Yasemin Oral, Vice President of the Federation of the Caucasian Associations (KAFFED). Turkey. Vadim Mukhanov, Head of Caucasus Department of The Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO). Russia. Vitaly Sharia, Honoured Journalist of Abkhazia. Editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Echo of Abkhazia and author of the Ekho Kavkaza. Abkhazia. Vladislav Bugera, Philosopher, political publicist, and independent left-wing activist. Russia. Zaira Khiba, Linguist & Translator. United Kingdom. Metin Sonmez (Comp. & Ed.) & George B. Hewitt (Ed.)