An Ambivalent 'Independence'
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Georgia/Abkhazia
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ARMS PROJECT HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH/HELSINKI March 1995 Vol. 7, No. 7 GEORGIA/ABKHAZIA: VIOLATIONS OF THE LAWS OF WAR AND RUSSIA'S ROLE IN THE CONFLICT CONTENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................................................................5 EVOLUTION OF THE WAR.......................................................................................................................................6 The Role of the Russian Federation in the Conflict.........................................................................................7 RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................................................8 To the Government of the Republic of Georgia ..............................................................................................8 To the Commanders of the Abkhaz Forces .....................................................................................................8 To the Government of the Russian Federation................................................................................................8 To the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus...........................................................................9 To the United Nations .....................................................................................................................................9 To the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe..........................................................................9 -
Russia, Georgia and the Eu in Abkhazia and South Ossetia
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION: RUSSIA, GEORGIA AND THE EU IN ABKHAZIA AND SOUTH OSSETIA Iskra Kirova August 2012 Figueroa Press Los Angeles The views and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author and cannot be interpreted to reflect the positions of organizations that the author is affiliated with. PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION: RUSSIA, GEORGIA AND THE EU IN ABKHAZIA AND SOUTH OSSETIA Iskra Kirova Published by FIGUEROA PRESS 840 Childs Way, 3rd Floor Los Angeles, CA 90089 Phone: (213) 743-4800 Fax: (213) 743-4804 www.figueroapress.com Figueroa Press is a division of the USC Bookstore Copyright © 2012 all rights reserved Notice of Rights All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmit- ted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the author, care of Figueroa Press. Notice of Liability The information in this book is distributed on an “As is” basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, neither the author nor Figueroa nor the USC Bookstore shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by any text contained in this book. Figueroa Press and the USC Bookstore are trademarks of the University of Southern California ISBN 13: 978-0-18-214016-9 ISBN 10: 0-18-214016-4 For general inquiries or to request additional copies of this paper please contact: USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School University of Southern California 3502 Watt Way, G4 Los Angeles, CA 90089-0281 Tel: (213) 821-2078; Fax: (213) 821-0774 [email protected] www.uscpublicdiplomacy.org CPD Perspectives on Public Diplomacy CPD Perspectives is a periodic publication by the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, and highlights scholarship intended to stimulate critical thinking about the study and practice of public diplomacy. -
The View from Abkhazia of South Ossetia Ablaze
Central Asian Survey Vol. 28, No. 2, June 2009, 235–246 The view from Abkhazia of South Ossetia ablaze Paula Garbà Department of Anthropology, University of California, Irvine, USA The Abkhazian and South Ossetian perspectives on the fighting between Georgians and South Ossetians in August 2008 could not be heard above the noise generated around the geopolitical implications of the larger Russian–Georgian clash. The population of Abkhazia experienced the violence in South Ossetia as though it was occurring on their own territory. This confirmed their complete lack of trust in the Georgian government’s commitment to peaceful resolution of the conflicts. In addition, they were disappointed with what they regarded as the international community’s absence of criticism of Georgia’s actions and lack of concern for the safety and well-being of the South Ossetians. Russia’s recognition of South Ossetia’s and Abkhazia’s independence has taken the question of Georgia’s territorial integrity off the negotiation table indefinitely. It also has set back the formal peace process with both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. An essential way forward, toward establishing trust as a necessary foundation for progress in the political negotiations, would be for the US and other interested countries to engage with the people of Abkhazia and South Ossetia at all levels, demonstrating credible and consistent concern for the safety and well being of all the people affected by the conflict. Keywords: conflict; culture; Abkhazia; South Ossetia Introduction Georgian–Abkhazian official relations since the end of the 1992–1993 war have offered little common ground for a mutually acceptable resolution. -
The Security of the Caspian Sea Region
16. The Georgian–Abkhazian conflict Alexander Krylov I. Introduction The Abkhaz have long populated the western Caucasus. They currently number about 100 000 people, speak one of the languages of the Abkhazo-Adygeyan (west Caucasian) language group, and live in the coastal areas on the southern slopes of the Caucasian ridge and along the Black Sea coast. Together with closely related peoples of the western Caucasus (for example, the Abazins, Adygeyans and Kabardians (or Circassians)) they play an important role in the Caucasian ethno-cultural community and consider themselves an integral part of its future. At the same time, the people living in coastal areas on the southern slopes of the Caucasian ridge have achieved broader communication with Asia Minor and the Mediterranean civilizations than any other people of the Caucasus. The geographical position of Abkhazia on the Black Sea coast has made its people a major factor in the historical process of the western Caucasus, acting as an economic and cultural bridge with the outside world. Georgians and Abkhaz have been neighbours from time immemorial. The Georgians currently number about 4 million people. The process of national consolidation of the Georgian nation is still far from complete: it includes some 20 subgroups, and the Megrelians (sometimes called Mingrelians) and Svans who live in western Georgia are so different in language and culture from other Georgians that it would be more correct to consider them as separate peoples. Some scholars, Hewitt, for example,1 suggest calling the Georgian nation not ‘Georgians’ but by their own name, Kartvelians, which includes the Georgians, Megrelians and Svans.2 To call all the different Kartvelian groups ‘Georgians’ obscures the true ethnic situation. -
South Korea: Defense White Paper 2010
DEFENSE WHITE PAPER Message from the Minister of National Defense The year 2010 marked the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. Since the end of the war, the Republic of Korea has made such great strides and its economy now ranks among the 10-plus largest economies in the world. Out of the ashes of the war, it has risen from an aid recipient to a donor nation. Korea’s economic miracle rests on the strength and commitment of the ROK military. However, the threat of war and persistent security concerns remain undiminished on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea is threatening peace with its recent surprise attack against the ROK Ship CheonanDQGLWV¿ULQJRIDUWLOOHU\DW<HRQS\HRQJ Island. The series of illegitimate armed provocations by the North have left a fragile peace on the Korean Peninsula. Transnational and non-military threats coupled with potential conflicts among Northeast Asian countries add another element that further jeopardizes the Korean Peninsula’s security. To handle security threats, the ROK military has instituted its Defense Vision to foster an ‘Advanced Elite Military,’ which will realize the said Vision. As part of the efforts, the ROK military complemented the Defense Reform Basic Plan and has UHYDPSHGLWVZHDSRQSURFXUHPHQWDQGDFTXLVLWLRQV\VWHP,QDGGLWLRQLWKDVUHYDPSHGWKHHGXFDWLRQDOV\VWHPIRURI¿FHUVZKLOH strengthening the current training system by extending the basic training period and by taking other measures. The military has also endeavored to invigorate the defense industry as an exporter so the defense economy may develop as a new growth engine for the entire Korean economy. To reduce any possible inconveniences that Koreans may experience, the military has reformed its defense rules and regulations to ease the standards necessary to designate a Military Installation Protection Zone. -
Aw As Adjunct to Custom?
LAW AS ADJUNCT TO CUSTOM? Abkhaz custom and law in today’s state-building and ‘modernisation’ - (Studied through dispute resolution) DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND CONSERVATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KENT FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 12 FEBRUARY 2015 By Michael Costello Examiners: Professor Michael Fischer Associate Professor Jacob Rigi Supervisor: Lecturer Glenn Bowman 1 LAW AS ADJUNCT TO CUSTOM? The relationship between Abkhaz custom and law in today’s state-building and ‘modernisation’ - (Studied through dispute resolution) Abstract The setting for research is Abkhazia a small country south of the Caucasus Mountains and bordering Europe and the Near East. The Abkhaz hold onto custom – apswara – to make of state law an adjunct to custom as the state strives to strengthen its powers to ‘modernise’ along capitalist lines. This institution of a parallel-cum-interwoven and oppositional existence of practices and the laws questions the relationship of the two in a novel way. The bases of apswara are its concepts of communality and fairness. Profound transformations have followed the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the breakaway from and subsequent war with Georgia, none of which have brought the bright prospects that were hoped-for with independence. The element of hope in post-Soviet nostalgia provides pointers to what the Abkhaz seek to enact for their future, to decide the course of change that entertains the possibility of a non-capitalist modernisation route and a customary state. Apswara is founded on the direct participatory democracy of non-state regulation. It draws members of all ethnicities into the generation of nationalist self-awareness that transcends ethnicity and religions, and forms around sacred shrines and decisions taken by popular assemblies. -
1 1 the Curse of Displacement
1 2 The curse of displacement: Local narratives of forced expulsion and 3 the appropriation of abandoned property in Abkhazia 4 5 Andrea Peinhopf, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London 6 7 8 Abstract. Since the end of the Georgian-Abkhaz war, the often-precarious status of the Georgians 9 displaced from Abkhazia has received significant academic attention. In contrast, the 10 consequences of displacement from the reverse perspective – how it has affected the people who 11 stayed behind – remains underanalysed. Drawing on narratives collected during several months 12 of ethnographic fieldwork, this paper argues that although ethnic Abkhazians see themselves as 13 victims of ethnic violence rather than perpetrators, the re-distribution of Georgian property 14 nevertheless caused significant distress. Many condemned the practice of appropriation, 15 suggesting that taking what is not one’s own is not only a violation of the property of the original 16 owner, but also of the Abkhaz moral code and therefore shameful. To them, the trophy houses 17 were a curse, both literally – as spaces haunted by former occupants – and metaphorically, as a 18 source and reminder of a certain “moral corruption” within Abkhazian society. However, while 19 the stories around the trophy houses reflect substantial intra-communal divisions, I suggest that 20 they are also an expression of a shared post-war experience. Like the horror stories of Georgian 21 violence, and those of Abkhaz heroism, they have become part of an intimate -
Failed Prevention 35
Table of Contents Foreword by the Editors 5 PART I: CONCEPTS IN CONFLICT PREVENTION 9 Concepts and Instruments in Conflict Prevention 11 Frida Möller PART II: CONFLICT DEVELOPMENT AND FAILED PREVENTION 35 The Georgian-Abkhaz Conflict 37 Sabine Fischer Missed Windows of Opportunity in the Georgian-South Ossetian Conflict – The Political Agenda of the Post-Revolutionary Saakashvili Government (2004-2006) 59 Doris Vogl Failures of the Conflict Transformation and Root Causes of the August War 79 Oksana Antonenko PART III: VIEWS FROM THE REGION 95 Frozen Conflicts: The Missed Opportunities 97 Salomé Zourabichvili Failure to Prevent Violence – Lessons Learnt from the Georgian- Abkhazian Conflict Resolution Process 113 Liana Kvarchelia Missed Chances in the Georgian-South Ossetian Conflict – A View from South Ossetia 131 Alan Parastaev 3 PART IV: THE INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCE 139 OSCE Early Warning and the August Conflict in Georgia 141 Dov Lynch The Role of the United Nations in Abkhazia, Opportunities and Missed Opportunities between 1992 and 2009 151 Charlotte Hille United States’ and NATO’s Role in Georgia’s Territorial Conflicts August 1992-July 2008 169 Eugene Kogan Used & Missed Opportunities for Conflict Prevention in Georgia (1990-2008) – The Role of Russia 187 Markus Bernath Russia and South Ossetia: The Road to Sovereignty 207 Flemming Splidsboel Hansen PART V: CONCLUSIONS 235 Some Lessons Learnt in Conflict Prevention from the Conflicts in the Southern Caucasus 237 Predrag Jurekovi ć List of Authors and Editors 243 4 Foreword by the Editors The violent escalation of the Georgian/South Ossetian and Georgian/Abkhazian conflict in the summer of 2008 resulted in a significant deterioration of the regional security situation in this part of the Southern Caucasus. -
Abkhazia: Deepening Dependence
ABKHAZIA: DEEPENING DEPENDENCE Europe Report N°202 – 26 February 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................. i I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 II. RECOGNITION’S TANGIBLE EFFECTS ................................................................... 2 A. RUSSIA’S POST-2008 WAR MILITARY BUILD-UP IN ABKHAZIA ...................................................3 B. ECONOMIC ASPECTS ....................................................................................................................5 1. Dependence on Russian financial aid and investment .................................................................5 2. Tourism potential.........................................................................................................................6 3. The 2014 Sochi Olympics............................................................................................................7 III. LIFE IN ABKHAZIA........................................................................................................ 8 A. POPULATION AND CITIZENS .........................................................................................................8 B. THE 2009 PRESIDENTIAL POLL ..................................................................................................10 C. EXTERNAL RELATIONS ..............................................................................................................11 -
Annual Report 2016 Our Light-Footprint Approach to Peace
Our light-footprint approach to peace- building Annual report 2016 Schweizerische Friedensstiftung Fondation suisse pour la paix Fondazione svizzera per la pace Swiss Peace Foundation Publisher: swisspeace Sonnenbergstrasse 17 P.O. Box, CH-3001 Bern Bernoullistrasse 14-16 CH-4056 Basel Editors: Lukas Krienbuehl, Luca Gschwind, Arno Stirnimann Translation: Furrer Übersetzungen Design: Irena Germano Print: Schneider AG, Bern Circulation: 300 in English, 1000 in German, 300 in French Cover picture: Children sitting on the cargo carrier of a car in Myanmar. swisspeace / Stefan Bächtold swisspeace is an associated Institute of the University of Basel and a member of the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences (SAHS) 2 Annual report 2016 Table of contents 4 Editorial 5 The Foundation A light-footprint approach in turbulent times for peacebuilding 6 Analysis & Impact Helping a peace organization in Myanmar become more effective 8 Dealing with the Past The future of dealing with the past in Tunisia 10 Mediation Hopes for peace in Colombia after a diffcult year 12 Statehood Development in a country that does not offcially exist 14 Policy & Platform Establishing platforms for peace 16 Business & Peace When it comes to business and human rights, everyone must play their part 18 Research & teaching Researching the obstacle-ridden process of dealing with Cambodia's past 20 Advanced training Further education in peacebuilding: two alumni profles 21 Insights into art & peacebuilding What effect does art have in confict areas? 22 Financial report 2016 24 Donors and clients 25 Staff 26 Foundation Board 27 Advisory Boards 28 Publications 2 Annual report 2016 3 Annual report 2016 Editorial In 2016, swisspeace’s new strategy for 2016 –2020 has sharpened the focus on three thematic programs – Mediation, Statehood and Dealing with the Past – as well as on a policy and a methodological program. -
Abkhazia to Be Included in Even More Distant
caucasus analytical caucasus analytical digest 07/09 digest rity? Which flexible arrangements are conceivable for zia, whether in the framework of a common state or the issuing of visas for Abkhaz holders of Georgian as two cooperating independent states, have become passports that would allow Abkhazia to be included in even more distant. The same is true to an even greater European education and exchange programs? extent for the possible integration of both into a “polit- Which measures would allow the EU to enhance ical Europe” expanded to include the Black Sea region. the efficiency of its necessary long-term engagement on Nevertheless, that seems to be the only alternative to the behalf of political and legal reforms in Georgia? The suc- development that currently seems to be the most likely cess of these reforms is a precondition for the country’s one, namely a factual annexation of the small Abkhaz peaceful domestic consolidation and thus also for greater state by Russia in a Southern Caucasus that will likely flexibility towards the secessionist republics. be afflicted by geopolitical confrontation and instabil- Since the events of August 2008, the prospects of ity for a long time to come. peaceful reconciliation between Georgia and Abkha- Translated from German by Christopher Findlay About the Author Walter Kaufmann is an independent analyst and the former director (2002–2008) of the Heinrich Böll Foundation South Caucasus. Opinion Georgia’s Relationship with Abkhazia By Paata Zakareisvili, Tbilisi Abstract The August 2008 conflict between Georgia and Russia fundamentally changed the situation regarding the separatist territories in Georgia, fundamentally strengthening Russia’s position. -
Opening the Russian–Georgian Railway Link Through Abkhazia
CORE POLICY BRIEF 05 2013 Visiting Address: Hausmanns gate 7 gate Hausmanns Address: Visiting NO Grønland, 9229 PO Box (PRIO) Oslo Institute Research Peace Opening the Russian– Georgian railway link - 0134 Oslo, Norway Oslo, 0134 through Abkhazia A challenging Georgian governance initiative [email protected] www.projectcore.eu (CORE) India and Europe in Resolution Conflict and Governance of Cultures Soon after the parliamentary elec- Key Questions tion in 2012 Georgia’s new gov- ernment declared its willingness to How important is the restoration of the railway link for Georgia and Abkha- reconstruct and reopen the former zia, and particularly for the purpose of railway communication link with conflict resolution between the two? Russia through Abkhazia, which What are the political risks involved in the railway project? ISBN: ISBN: www.prio.no was interrupted as a result of the Does the new initiative meet the in- 978 978 Georgian–Abkhaz war in 1993. terests of all countries in the Caucasus - - 82 82 - - With its confidence-building charac- 7288 7288 region? - - 515 516 ter, the initiative is part of a broader - - 0 7 (print) Georgian foreign policy strategy aimed at re-establishing political and (online) economic relations with Russia, a development that would represent a significant geopolitical challenge for the countries of the South Cauca- sus. The initiative will test Tbilisi’s ability to prevent any changes to Abkhazia’s current political status and to keep the project purely eco- nomic in nature. Nona Mikhelidze Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) Opening the railway: A confidence- building measure The victory of Bidzina Ivanishvili’s coalition in the 2012 parliamentary elections in Georgia has brought about a fundamental change to the Georgian–Abkhaz peace process.