Tbilisi to put up monuments to officials, heroes, who refused to flee, were killed in occupied Abkhazia
Zhiuli Shartava (L) and Guram Gabiskiria were both killed by Abkhaz separatist groups back in 1993, during armed conflict in Abkhazia.
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Monuments of Zhiuli Shartava and Guram Gabeskiria, former officials who were killed by Abkhaz separatist groups in 1993, will be placed in Tbilisi, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze has stated earlier today.
Shartava, who served as the head of the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and Gabeskiria, then mayor of Sokumi [ the main city of Abkhazia] refused to flee the region after Tbilisi lost control on Abkhazia, despite obvious threats to their lives.
We all remember when Tbilisi lost control on Sokhumi and Shartava and Gabeskiria were the last who left the government palace. We all remember the minutes when they were forced to kneel down and curse Georgians and the answer of the two - Never! The people deserve high respect from us. Our future generations should know our heroes,” Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said.
Gabeskiria’s body was identified and returned to his family only back in 2017.
People forced to leave Abkhazia region. Photo:Mike Goldwater.
Conflict in Abkhazia
- The War in Abkhazia from 1992 to 1993 was fought between Georgian government forces for the most part, and Abkhaz separatist forces, Russian armed forces and North Caucasian militants. The separatists received support from thousands of North Caucasus and Cossack militants and from the Russian forces stationed in and near Abkhazia.
- Between 13,000 to 20,000 ethnic Georgians and approximately 3,000 Abkhaz have been reported killed, more than 250,000 Georgians became internally displaced or refugees and about 2,000 are considered missing.
- Among the missing about 1,500 are ethnic Georgians, up to 200 are ethnic Abkhazians and about 100 are ethnic Ossetians.
Thirty-six graves are planned to be opened in Georgia’s occupied Abkhazia region, in western Georgia this year to take DNA samples and try to identify the individuals.
A "ground-breaking" exhibition will bring photographs, videos and other material from both sides of the Georgian-Abkhaz divide to explore the devastating early 1990s conflict in a Tbilisi display starting this Friday.
On this day 26 years ago thousands of Georgians were forced to leave their homes in Georgia's western Russian-occupied Abkhazia region, thousands of people died and Tbilisi lost control of Abkhazia region.
Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has appealed to anyone having information on people who went missing due to the 1992-1993 war in Abkhazia region and 2008
Russia-Georgia war to inform the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Twenty-eight years have passed since the armed conflict in Georgia’s Russia-occupied region of Abkhazia. The Abkhaz war lasted 13 months and 13 days and ended with the loss of the capital of Abkhazia, Sokhumi, on September 27, 1993, which was preceded by negotiations between Georgia and Abkhazia with the mediation of Russia. On July 27, 1993 the Sochi agreement was signed but Abkhaz forces violated the terms and opened fire while Georgian troops were withdrawing from the region.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Wednesday said peace was “the foundation upon which a united, strong and developed country should be built” together with the “Abkhazian and Ossetian brothers”, in comments marking the 30th anniversary of the fall of Sokhumi, the capital of the Russian-occupied north-western region of Abkhazia during the war in the region in 1993.
Flags on state institutions across Georgia were on Wednesday lowered to half-mast to mark an anniversary of the fall of Sokhumi, the capital of the Russian-occupied north-western region of Abkhazia during the war in the region in 1993.
The remains of 23 individuals who had been missing since the 1992-1993 armed conflict in Georgia’s now Russian-occupied Abkhazia region were handed over to their families on Wednesday, in the latest stage of the process involving the Government and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Saturday said Guram Gabiskiria, the former official who had been killed by Abkhaz separatist groups in 1993 during the armed conflict in Abkhazia, was an “immortal example of devotion to the motherland, persistence and fighting spirit”.