Demographic Development of Abkhazians and Ossetians in Georgia
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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. -
Second Report Submitted by the Russian Federation Pursuant to The
ACFC/SR/II(2005)003 SECOND REPORT SUBMITTED BY THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 25, PARAGRAPH 2 OF THE FRAMEWORK CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES (Received on 26 April 2005) MINISTRY OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION REPORT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROVISIONS OF THE FRAMEWORK CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES Report of the Russian Federation on the progress of the second cycle of monitoring in accordance with Article 25 of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities MOSCOW, 2005 2 Table of contents PREAMBLE ..............................................................................................................................4 1. Introduction........................................................................................................................4 2. The legislation of the Russian Federation for the protection of national minorities rights5 3. Major lines of implementation of the law of the Russian Federation and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities .............................................................15 3.1. National territorial subdivisions...................................................................................15 3.2 Public associations – national cultural autonomies and national public organizations17 3.3 National minorities in the system of federal government............................................18 3.4 Development of Ethnic Communities’ National -
Russia the Ingush-Ossetian Conflict in the Prigorodnyi Region
Russia Page 1 of 32 RUSSIA THE INGUSH-OSSETIAN CONFLICT IN THE PRIGORODNYI REGION Human Rights Watch/Helsinki Human Rights Watch New York · Washington · London · Brussels Copyright © May 1996 by Human Rights Watch. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Library of Congress Catalogue Number: 96-75960 ISBN: 1-56432-165-7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This report is based on a trip to the Republic of Ingushetiya, hereafter Ingushetiya, and the Republic of North Ossetia- Alaniya, hereafter North Ossetia, both states of the Russian Federation, from August 11-19, 1994. Until 1994, North Ossetia was the North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR), a part of the former Soviet Union. Until 1992, Ingushetiya was part of the Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR), and was also part of the former Soviet Union. Human Rights/Helsinki representatives visited Vladikavkaz, Kartsa, Chermen, Tarskoye, Kurtat, Dachnoye, and Maiskii in North Ossetia and Nazran and Gaziyurt in Ingushetiya. Jeri Laber and Rachel Denber edited the report, and Shira Robinson provided production assistance for its publication. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki thanks both North Ossetian and Ingush authorities as well as officials from the Russian Temporary Administration (now the Temporary State Committee) for their cooperation with the mission participants. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki would like to express our appreciation to all those who read the report and commented on it, including Prof. John Collarusso of McMaster University. We would also like to thank the members of the Russian human rights group Memorial, who provided generous assistance and advice. In 1994 Memorial published an excellent report on the conflict in the Prigorodnyi region, "Two Years after the War: The Problem of the Forcibly Displaced in the Area of the Ossetian-Ingush Conflict." Finally, we would like to thank the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Henry Jackson Fund, the Merck Fund and the Moriah Fund for their support. -
Genetic Analysis of Male Hungarian Conquerors: European and Asian Paternal Lineages of the Conquering Hungarian Tribes
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2020) 12: 31 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00996-0 ORIGINAL PAPER Genetic analysis of male Hungarian Conquerors: European and Asian paternal lineages of the conquering Hungarian tribes Erzsébet Fóthi1 & Angéla Gonzalez2 & Tibor Fehér3 & Ariana Gugora4 & Ábel Fóthi5 & Orsolya Biró6 & Christine Keyser2,7 Received: 11 March 2019 /Accepted: 16 October 2019 /Published online: 14 January 2020 # The Author(s) 2020 Abstract According to historical sources, ancient Hungarians were made up of seven allied tribes and the fragmented tribes that split off from the Khazars, and they arrived from the Eastern European steppes to conquer the Carpathian Basin at the end of the ninth century AD. Differentiating between the tribes is not possible based on archaeology or history, because the Hungarian Conqueror artifacts show uniformity in attire, weaponry, and warcraft. We used Y-STR and SNP analyses on male Hungarian Conqueror remains to determine the genetic source, composition of tribes, and kin of ancient Hungarians. The 19 male individuals paternally belong to 16 independent haplotypes and 7 haplogroups (C2, G2a, I2, J1, N3a, R1a, and R1b). The presence of the N3a haplogroup is interesting because it rarely appears among modern Hungarians (unlike in other Finno-Ugric-speaking peoples) but was found in 37.5% of the Hungarian Conquerors. This suggests that a part of the ancient Hungarians was of Ugric descent and that a significant portion spoke Hungarian. We compared our results with public databases and discovered that the Hungarian Conquerors originated from three distant territories of the Eurasian steppes, where different ethnicities joined them: Lake Baikal- Altai Mountains (Huns/Turkic peoples), Western Siberia-Southern Urals (Finno-Ugric peoples), and the Black Sea-Northern Caucasus (Caucasian and Eastern European peoples). -
RETURN of the CIRCASSIAN WORLD: MAY the FORCE BE with YOU Written for the Return of the Circassian World Website on January 2018 by Jade Cemre Erciyes
RETURN OF THE CIRCASSIAN WORLD: MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU written for the return of the Circassian World Website on January 2018 by Jade Cemre Erciyes When Metin Sönmez, the renowned creator of the CircassianWorld and AbkhazWorld Websites, besides many others, asked me to write an article for the return of the CircassianWorld by the beginning of 2018, after a break of more than 4, I got very excited. There were so many things to tell about what it meant for me in the past, what it means for me today, and what it will mean for academics, researchers or journalists working on the Circassian people the moment it becomes online. It is not that easy to start writing this article from its main topic for various reasons. First of all, someone, not much knowledgeable about Circassians may be reading this piece. Besides, I do not want to just narrate a self-reflexive story or a list of key points acknowledging the value of the CircassianWorld. I decided to design this paper as a resource for researchers who may, one day, be interested in the development of the Circassian scholarship. To reflect upon this, it is important for me to start with a short introduction about the earliest works on the Circassian people and the Caucasus1. This is followed by a short review of works focusing on the diasporisation of the Circassians – or in other words, the events of the 19th Century2. This part is a response to a question that I frequently hear in the diaspora which I had been meaning to write for a long time (and I do in my forthcoming book in Turkish). -
Siposjános Angol Karacsáj.Indd
János Sipos – Ufuk Tafkul KARACHAY-BALKAR FOLKSONGS János Sipos – Ufuk Tafkul KARACHAY-BALKAR FOLKSONGS Institute for Musicology of the Research Centre for the Humanities of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences – L’Harmattan Budapest, 2015 The fi eldwork lasting 10 years were supported by the Stein-Arnold Exploration Fund of the British Academy (2010), the Mellon Fellowship for Research in Turkey (2005, 2011) and the Hungarian Scientifi c Research Fund (OTKA K-42461, K-67997) The publication of the book was supported by the Hungarian Scientifi c Research Fund (OTKA PUB 113373) Photos made by: János Sipos and Ufuk Tavkul English translation by Judit Pokoly © János Sipos, 2015 © Institute for Musicology of the Research Centre for the Humanities, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2015 © L’Harmattan, 2015 ISBN 978-963-414-083-2 L'Harmattan France 5-7 rue de l'Ecole Polytechnique 75005 Paris T.: 33.1.40.46.79.20 Email: [email protected] L'Harmattan Italia SRL Via Degli Artisti 15 10124 TORINO Tél : (39) 011 817 13 88 / (39) 348 39 89 198 Email: [email protected] L’Harmattan Hungary: L’Harmattan Könyvesbolt Párbeszéd Könyvesbolt 1053 Budapest, Kossuth L. u. 14–16. 1085 Budapest, Horánszky utca 20. Tel.: 267-5979 www.konyveslap.hu [email protected] www.harmattan.hu Editor in chief: Ádám Gyenes Design: Gábor Kardos, cover design: László Kára Printed and bound by Séd Nyomda, general director: Szilvia Katona CONTENTS PREFACE . 7 INTRODUCTION . 7 IN THE WAKE OF THE EASTERN CONNECTIONS OF HUNGARIAN FOLK MUSIC . 11 Report on my fi eldwork series in researching folk music . -
Tales of the Narts: Ancient Myths and Legends of the Ossetians
IntRODUctION THE OSSETIAN EpIC “TALES OF THE NARTS” VASILY IvANOVICH ABAEV 1 w CYCLES, SubjECTS, HEROES In literary studies it is established that the epic poem passes through sev- eral stages in its formation. To begin we have an incomplete collection of stories with no connections between them, arising in various centers, at various times, for various reasons. That is the first stage in the formation of the epic. We cannot as yet name it such. But material is in the process of preparation that, given favorable conditions, begins to take on the out- lines of an epic poem. From the mass of heroes and subjects a few favorite names, events, and motifs stand out, and stories begin to crystallize around them, as centers of gravity. A few epic centers or cycles are formed. The epic enters the second stage of cycle formation. In a few instances, not all by any means, it may then attain a third stage. Cycles up to now unconnected may be, more or less artificially, united in one thematic thread, and are brought together in one consistent story, forming one epic poem. A hyper- cyclic formation, if one can use such a term, takes place. It may appear as the result of not only uniting several cycles, but as the expansion of one favorite cycle, at the expense of others less popular. This is the concluding epic phase. The transformation to this phase is frequently the result of individual creative efforts. For instance, the creation of the Iliad and the Odyssey Opposite page: A beehive tomb from the highlands of North Ossetia. -
South Ossetia: the Burden of Recognition
SOUTH OSSETIA: THE BURDEN OF RECOGNITION Europe Report N°205 – 7 June 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................. i I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 II. POST-RECOGNITION DEVELOPMENTS ................................................................. 2 A. THE POPULATION.........................................................................................................................2 B. THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION AND RECONSTRUCTION .........................................................4 1. Local conditions...........................................................................................................................4 2. Russian aid and corruption...........................................................................................................6 C. RUSSIA’S MILITARY PRESENCE – SOUTH OSSETIA’S STRATEGIC VALUE .....................................7 III. LOCAL POLITICS........................................................................................................... 9 A. COMPETITION FOR RUSSIAN RESOURCES .....................................................................................9 B. THE RULE OF LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS ...................................................................................12 C. FUTURE PROSPECTS ...................................................................................................................13 IV. -
Refugee Status Appeals Authoritydraft Copy 1
REFUGEE STATUS APPEALS AUTHORITY NEW ZEALAND REFUGEE APPEAL NO. 70739/97 AT AUCKLAND Before: S Joe (Chairperson) H ten Feld (UNHCR Member) Counsel for Appellant: D Ryken Date of Hearing: 7, 8, 20 and 24 April 1998 Date of Decision: 17 December 1998 _________________________________________________________________ DECISION _________________________________________________________________ This is an appeal against the decision of the Refugee Status Branch of the New Zealand Immigration Service (RSB), declining the grant of refugee status to the appellant, a national of the Russian Federation. INTRODUCTION The appellant arrived in New Zealand on 13 June 1997, together with his brother- in-law, AB. Both indicated upon their arrival at Auckland airport that they wished to apply for refugee status in New Zealand. AB lodged his application for refugee status with the RSB on 26 June 1997 and was interviewed by the RSB on 8 October 1997. In a decision delivered on 28 November 1997, the RSB declined his application. AB filed a notice of his appeal against this decision with the Authority on 23 December 1997. By letter dated 9 January 1998, the Secretariat advised that AB’s appeal hearing was scheduled for 10am on Tuesday, 10 March 1998. A formal application for refugee status was similarly filed by the appellant with the RSB on 26 June 1997. The appellant was interviewed in respect of his application 2 by the RSB on 24 September 1997. In a decision, delivered by letter dated 23 January 1998, the RSB declined the appellant’s application. By letter dated 2 February 1998, Mr Ryken, as the appellant’s counsel, filed a notice of appeal on the appellant’s behalf with the Authority on 5 February 1998. -
Expanded PDF Profile
2014—Abkhaz At the eastern end of the Black Sea, a pleasant stretch of land rises from the shores of the Black Sea to the southwestern slopes of the mighty Caucasus mountain range. For millenia this is the ancient homeland of the Abkhaz people. One writer states, “From the earliest of times, the warmth and mildness of the climate and the fertility of the land have defined the Abkhaz way of life.” Abkhaz village and small-town life is strong in the breeding of cattle, agriculture, beekeeping, and vineyards. The disputed province of Abkhazia holds a total population of 240,000—with almost exactly half of that total being composed of native Abkhaz, speaking their own distinct Abkhaz language. The Abkhazians then for the most part utilize Russian as a 2nd language. Abkhazia, in the 20th Century, was considered a province of Georgia, but the 1992-93 War in Abkhazia left the province in an uneasy semi-autonomous state, estranged from Georgia but not independent. A second conflict in 2008 further distanced the region from Georgia and left the region in a quasi-union with Russia, and with an uncertain international status. In Abkhazia, approximately 50% of the 125,000 Abkhazians are city-dwellers and the other 50% live in rural village settings. North across the border in southwestern Russia, the 11,500 Abkhazians are 85% urban and only 15% rural. In the 6th Century, most of Abkhazia became nominally Christian; then in the 16th Century due to the Ottoman Turk takeover and pressure from the Muslim Adyghe to the north, the region became largely Muslim. -
Conflicts in the North Caucasus
Central Asian Survey, (1998), 17(3), 409-441. Conflicts in the North Caucasus SVANTE E. CORNELL* Although the conflicts that have attracted most international attention in the post- cold war era have been those of the Transcaucasus, another area of both potential and actual turmoil is the North Caucasus. The first example of serious conflicts in the area, naturally, is the war in Chechnia. However, the existence of this war, and its astonishing cruelty and devastation, has been instrumental in obscuring the other grievances that exist in the area, and that have the potential to escalate into open conflict. These can be divided into two main categories, which however spill over into one another. The first type of conflicts are those among the peoples of the region; the second type is conflicts between these peoples and Russia. Doubtlessly, the main example of the unrest in the North Caucasus has been the short but bloody war between the Ingush and the Ossetians. However, this war distinguishes itself only by being the only one of the conflicts in the region that has escalated into war. Among the other known problems, three issues call for special attention: First and perhaps most pressingly, the bid for unity of the Lezgian people in Dagestan and Azerbaijan; Second, the latent problem between the Turkic Karachai and the Circasssian peoples in the two neighbour republics of Karachaevo-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria; and thirdly the condition of the most complex of all the North Caucasian republics: Dagestan. It seems logical in this study to start with the most well-known of these issues: the war that raged in November 1992 in the Prigorodniy raion between the Ingush and the North Ossetians. -
Review TRIER Edited
TOM TRIER, HEDGIV LOHM, DAVID SZAKONYI: Under Siege. Inter-Ethnic Relations in Abkhazia. xi + 159 pp., maps. London: Hurst & Company. 2010. £25. The more information provided to Western audiences about Abkhazia and its dispute with Georgia, the better, so that attitudes and policies can be predicated on facts rather than ignorance, as has regularly been the case. But not all works are necessarily (wholly) accurate in what they present to their readers. The present volume is a mixture of wheat and chaff, and the latter could easily have been winnowed out prior to publication. Abkhazia achieved de facto independence from Georgia at the end of September 1993 after a 14-month war. Though official recognition was granted by Russia on 26 August 2008, and since then by three other states, most of the international community is not (yet) prepared to acknowledge Abkhazia’s de iure status. This needed to be stated once in the Introduction; but inserting the words ‘de facto’ each time the country or one of its governmental posts is mentioned soon irritates the reader. The authors’ fieldwork was conducted in 2007, and, unfortunately, some of their statements are out of date. Though I would advise those unfamiliar with the region to look elsewhere for background to the current situation, what the authors have to say about their central concern of inter-ethnic relations is perceptive and pertinent. Recognising the achievements made by Abkhazia, despite years of international sanctions and blockade, the authors address a wide range of issues that the authorities will eventually have to tackle. And, given the multi-ethnic makeup of Abkhazia’s population, the problems facing the Abkhazians do not solely concern relations with those remaining from the pre-war Kartvelian population, who are mostly Mingrelians largely confined to the southernmost province of Gal and whom, in line with norms in Georgia, the authors style Georgians.