A campaign to help healing the wounds in Georgia

Nino Gvedashvili es member of the Georgian organization HRIDC, that promotes an initiative to aproach civil societies in Georgia and Abkhazia

Georgia, one of the post soviet republics that gained independence after the breakup of the Soviet Union, is not on the EUs immediate external borders. It is a country ridden with conflict, in which two regions have declared themselves separatist “states” and there has been little progress towards conflict settlement. The Georgian government has not had access to its external borders in these self declared “states” since the escalation of the ethnic conflicts in the beginning of the 1990s. Two regions - South Ossetia and Abkhazia are regions of Georgia located in the centre north and north-west of the country with northern borders to Russian Federation. Historically South Ossetia and Abkhazia have been an integral part of the Georgian State. They were given a status of Autonomous Republic during the Soviet regime.

In the beginning of 90s so far mostly latent tensions between Georgians and Abkhazians as well as Georgians and South Ossetians came to force. As a result of the conflicts over 10 000 have died and 350 000 were internally displaced. Since the signature of the cease fire agreements Russian Federation has been involved in the mediation of the conflict. This involvement included deployment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) peace keepers as well as participation of the Russian Federation in virtually all conflict settlement talks. The Government of Georgia has continuously questioned the role of Russia as an independent mediator and has many times raised the issue of replacement of CIS peace keepers by UN forces.

Armed Conflict had a very negative impact on the relationship between the population living in the conflict zone. Georgians and Abkhazians have not listened to each other for 15 years. After the Abkhazian war finished in 1993, the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict continued to be unresolved and is commonly referred as a “frozen conflict”. Before the war 41% of the population living in Abkhazia was mixed Gergian-Abkhazian families. Although the majority of locals in Abkhazia still remain ethnically Georgian (most animosities come at the expense of those living in Gali region), there is little to no contact between those on both sides of the conflict. The information, which is spread throughout Georgia, is very limited and often filtered through political lenses. Ethnically similar these two people lost each other not only physically, but culturally as well.  For many years certain authorities have been leading Georgian society in the wrong way and they have constantly sought and continue to seek the avoidance of direct and open dialogues between the sides of the conflict. Consequently negotiations are being artificially hindered in the process. People are being persuaded that peace-talks are deadlocked and that starting a war is the only option left to bring about a final resolution to the conflict. Nonetheless, it is most unfortunate that this comes at a time when peace talks have not even actually started or have time to take root in our hearts or minds. By August 2008 the situation in both separatist regions had become extremely tense, due to cases of sporadic violence multiplying throughout the summer. In South Ossetia, following from separatist forces shelling of Georgian civilian settlements, this had developed into a full scale offensive by Georgian forces by 7 August 2008.  

The Russian federation, claiming that its nationals, residing in the territory of South Ossetia, were in need of assistance, sent its troops to Georgia through the Roki Tunnel on August 8. At the same time Russian military jets started bombing Georgian territory. Bombardments were extended outside the South Ossetia and included civilian objectives in town of Gori as well as other parts of Georgia. In Abkhazia, Georgia's other separatist region, Russian-backed rebels announced the beginning of operations against Georgian troops in the Kodori Gorge area.

The bombardments continued despite unilateral calls for ceasefire and the pleas of the international community for negotiations, particularly targeting the town of Gori. Russian forces had occupied sections of Georgian proper by 11th/12th August and access to the West of Georgia, Gori and other areas, even for humanitarian aid, was blocked until they withdrew their forces by the 23rd August.

At present, there is a small amount of Russian military that remains on Georgian soil outside two conflict zones. Results of this one week conflict are devastating. It is estimated that more than seven hundred people have died, the majority of whom were civilians who did not take part in military operations. Property of thousands has been destroyed and at least 190,000 have been temporarily or permanently displaced from South Ossetia and Georgia proper.
The war initially starts in our minds and then follows in reality. The war that started years ago continues to this day. The hostilities must end someday and it will end initially in our mind. The war symbolizes defeat from the very onset.

The "Sorry" campaign

The Human Rights Centre has been running Sorry Campaign since spring of 2007. The aim of the Sorry Campaign is to change the dynamics and direction of the relationships that have been established between Georgians and Abkhazians during recent years. The Sorry Campaign is not in any way connected with politics; it is a movement that is against war, as we consider that there is no alternative to peaceful dialogue and mutual settlement of the conflict. The Campaign envisages the reestablishment of confidence between Georgian and Abkhazian people and to break through the informational vacuum. We want to encourage people to think about the horrors of war and the mistakes we have made.

Within the campaign we sent the appeal to Abkhazian people where we apologized for not hindering the war in 1990s. We organized street actions in 4 cities where people sent messages to Abkhazian people; almost every message was very positive. Website www.apsni.org  in Georgian, Abkhazian and English languages was created within the Campaign. Visitors can find information about the activities within the Campaign and all other information related with Georgian-Abkhazian relation.

HRIDC worked out the statement - ‘Sorry – Step towards the hearts of Abkhaz People’, started discussions about it among the Georgian civil society members and spread the statement among the Georgian and Abkhaz society. Georgian media highlighted the issue. It was spread via internet and discussed on forums. The statement focuses on the reconciliation and melting of the frozen relationship between Georgians and Abkhazians.

‘Sorry – Step towards the hearts of Abkhaz People’

Today we live apart.

Our past is a tragic war which resulted into the separation of two nations. Time passes, but the pain remains and wounds are still aching. Questions have not been answered. The future is still unclear.
 
The future will not change if we do not reflect on the tragedy that happened; if we do not seek ways to come together.
 
For us, for one part of the Georgian society, it is clear that the problems cannot be solved without admitting our mistakes. This appeal comes directly from our hearts.
 
Sorry for not preventing the war.
 
Sorry for not having avoided the disaster.
 
Sorry for every word that inspired the war; for every bullet that was shot.
 
We are fully aware that there are always reasons for war to break out; both opposing sides had provokers and encouragers who supplied them with weapons to kill each other.
Some are more to blame than others - but everybody is guilty of the war.
 
The war already meant defeat.
 
Let us not classify people as “ours” and “theirs”; “enemies” or “allies”. We are not enemies. We have nothing to fight about. We wish to apology to the Abkhaz people because we failed to maintain the peace and started communicating using “the language of weapons”.
 
We want to hold out our hands to each other.
 
We believe that our cruel past should not divide us; just the opposite, it should bring our peoples together.
 
We should forgive each other for the war in order to avoid a second one.
 
Trust us, Abkhaz people, the Abkhaz language and culture are precious to us.
 
Our past, when we were together, is important to us.
 
We know that the friendship between Abkhaz and Georgian peoples is opposed by many and unfortunately, those opponents are present on both sides. But we can find the way to each other’s hearts.
 
Sorry for not appealing to you before and for not saying these words publicly.
 
Sorry for not preventing tragedy from happening.
 
Sorry, we did not or could not do more.
 
We pray for you;
 
We pray for the Abkhaz and Georgian peoples;
 
We pray for peace;
 
We pray for reconciliation.