Reports on Chechnya, Abkhazia & the First Chechen War
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Appeal of the Conference of the Ethnic Union of the Chechen Republic on the Events in Abkhazia.
Grozny, 22 August 1992
Source: Serdalo (Сердало) Newspaper, 29 August 1992
Translation:|
AN APPEAL
FROM THE CONFERENCE OF THE ETHNIC UNION OF THE CHECHEN REPUBLIC
CONCERNING THE EVENTS IN ABKHAZIA
The multi-national people of the Chechen Republic, united within the Ethnic Union which encompasses all the ethnoi, diasporas, and ethnic groups of our state, are following the recent events in Abkhazia with pain and alarm. The fates of the Abkhaz and Georgian peoples are equally close and dear to us, and we are categorically opposed to this fratricidal war, into which all the fraternal peoples of the Caucasus will be drawn.
We resolutely demand that the State Council of Georgia immediately withdraw its troops, including its internal forces, from the sovereign territory of Abkhazia, and create normal conditions for peaceful negotiations and the observance of human rights.
We call upon the peoples of the Caucasus and the entire world community to protect the Abkhaz people, as well as the Georgian, Russian, and other populations of Abkhazia, from genocide and arbitrary rule.
All responsibility for the bloodshed in Abkhazia lies with the leadership of Georgia and the faction of the Russian leadership that stands behind it. At the disposal of the State Council are numerous tanks, helicopters, armoured personnel carriers (APCs), rockets, and other military equipment provided to it by the Transcaucasian Military District. We urge the Georgian, Russian, and other peoples to raise their voices in protest and to demand from their governments that this dangerous centre of war be urgently extinguished.
The unity of all peoples and ethnic groups of the Caucasus is the fundamental condition for our revival. Today, we must not divide ourselves into Caucasians and Russians, natives and non-natives; rather, we must recognise ourselves as citizens of the Caucasus and become a bastion of peace and prosperity in our multi-national, common Caucasian home.
May the Almighty help us! Amen.
Grozny. 22.08.1992.
FBIS Reports/Translations: (The Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) began in 1941 as the Foreign Broadcast Monitoring Service (later the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service). Its purpose is to provide translations of radio broadcasts in selected foreign countries.)
MEETING OF DZHOKHAR DUDAYEV WITH THE ABKHAZ DELEGATION [Translation from Russian]
“President of the Chechen Republic D. Dudayev received in Grozny a Public Delegation, which included actors from the Abkhaz Drama Theater, journalists, and volunteer warriors fighting against the bandit formations of Shevardnadze-Ioseliani.
First and foremost, the guests expressed gratitude personally to the President of Chechnya for providing political and moral support at the state level to the Abkhaz side in its just struggle for national freedom and independence, as well as to the entire fraternal Chechen people, for whom, according to D. Dudayev, spoken at the reception, the pain of Abkhazia has become their own.
When asked what future he envisions for Abkhazia - as part of Georgia, Russia, or as an independent republic, the President answered that, ultimately, Abkhazia must and will inevitably become free, independent, and sovereign.
Peace and tranquility will not come to the long-suffering land of Abkhazia until all Georgian troops are withdrawn to the last soldier, said the President of Chechnya, and he has repeatedly reminded the current Georgian leadership of this.
The entire Caucasus must unite, and only then will we be truly strong, D. Dudayev added in conclusion. The meeting of the Abkhaz delegation with the president was attended by the well-known Caucasian public figure Mzia Shervashidze.”
A. Sadulayev. Newspaper “Caucasian Chronicle”, No: 6(10), February 20-26, 1993.
А. Садулаев. Газета «Кавказская хроника», №6(10), 20-26 февраля 1993 г.
EDUARD SHEVARDNADZE ON CHECHNYA
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