2009 changes in the ethnodemographic situation in abkhazia in the post-soviet period

8/3/2019 2009 Changes in the Ethnodemographic Situation in Abkhazia in the Post-Soviet Period

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Yamskov A. Special Features of the Changes in the Ethnodemographic Situation in Abkhazia in thePost-Soviet Period // The Caucasus & Globalization. Journal of Social, Political and Economic Stu-dies. 2009, Vol. 3, Issue 2-3, pp. 166-176

This is the authors draft of the paper, published after substantial editing and transformation by theCA&CC Press; for the final versions of the paper in English and in Russian see:http://www.ca-c.org/c-g/2009/journal_eng/c-g-2-3/00.shtml

, - CA&CC Press(); :http://www.ca-c.org/c-g/2009/journal_eng/c-g-2-3/00.shtml

________________________________________________________________________________

Anatoli YAMSKOV

Ph.D. (Hist.),chief researcher at the Center of Interdisciplinary Studies of the

Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology,Russian Academy of Sciences

(Moscow, Russia).

SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE CHANGES

IN THE ETHNODEMOGRAPHIC SITUATION

IN ABKHAZIA IN THE POST-SOVIET PERIOD

ABSTRACT

This article conducts an analysis of the dynamics of the ethnodemographic composition of the Ab-

khazian population in the post-Soviet period based on the data of the 1989 and 2003 population

censuses, scientific publications on the ethnodemography and ethnogeography of contemporary

Abkhazia, and the authors field studies during expeditions in 2003-2006.

Introduction

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, which reached its official conclusion on 26 December,

1991, the polyethnic population of Abkhazia1 underwent truly dramatic changesit, according to

1 For details on ethnic composition of population in all republics of the USSR see: Yamskov A.N. The "New
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the estimates available, has shrunk by more than half and the ethnic composition and dispersal of

this republics residents have significantly changed. This work is devoted to defining the scope of

these changes. In so doing, the emphasis is placed on an attempt to evaluate the reliability of the

assessment of the ethnic composition and dispersal of the population of Abkhazia as of 2003 and on

the identification of the nature and reasons for the possible inaccuracies2.

Before going on, I would like to briefly remind you of the tragic events the Abkhazian people

have endured during the past 20 years and the factors that have had the greatest influence on the dy-

namics of the size and migration of the republics population.

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Reasons for the Radical Transformation in the Size and Ethnic Composition

of the Abkhazian Population in the 1990s

The worsening ideological crisis and aggravated political struggle in the upper echelons of the

Soviet political leadership from the second half to the end of the 1980s created a growing power

vacuum in the Union Center. This resulted in an abrupt rise in the real significance and relative in-

dependence of the power structures of the Union republics. But many of them, particularly the Bal-

tic and South Caucasian republics, also experienced a tempestuous redistribution of power within

the party and Soviet leadership, whose members were oriented toward different political and ideo-

logical trends in the Union Center. In so doing, many local leaders also began to rely on the mass

sociopolitical movements that appeared at the same time, which were either ethnic in nature or ra-

pidly became so3.

The Georgian S.S.R. was no exception in this respect. At the end of the 1980s, the Abkhaz

A.S.S.R, which belonged to the latter, began to show tensions among multiethnic Communist ruling

elite and top intellectuals that soon transformed into Abkhazian-Georgian ethnic conflict.

First large-scale bloodshed occurred in armed clashes on July 15-16, 1989 near the city of

Minorities" in Post-Soviet States: Linguistic Orientations and Political Conflict, in: Cultural Survival Quar-terly, 1994, vol. 18, No 2-3, pp. 58-61.2 Field studies in the form of collective expeditions, each lasting for a month or so, were organized togetherwith the scholars from the Abkhazian Institute for Humanitarian Studies of the Academy of Sciences of theRepublic of Abkhazia (Sukhum). In 2003, field studies of N. Dubova and A. Yamskov were financed by theInstitute of Ethnology and Anthropology, in 2004by the Russian Fund for Humanitarian Studies, project No 04-01-18033e Contemporary rural Abkhazia: social-cultural and medical-demographic problems (su-pervisorProf. N. Dubova), in 2005 and 2006by the Russian Fund for Humanitarian Studies, project No05-01-01069a Medical-anthropological and demographic consequences of social-cultural changes during helate 1980searly 2000s in rural Abkhazia (supervisor Dr. A. Yamskov).3

For details see: Yamskov A.N. A troubled future of the Free Republics, in: Obshchestvennye nauki isovremennost [Social Sciences and Modern Times], 1991, No 4, pp. 89-100 (in Russian).


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Ochamchira, when 11 Georgians, 5 Abkhazians and 1 Greek were killed and many more

wounded4. Then the conflict between local Abkhazians and Georgians was frozen for a time by the

Soviet troops, sent from the Union center, but after the end of the USSR it escalated further5. On

August 14, 1992 the now independent Georgia sent its army and police to Abkhazia, starting the

war that lasted till September 30, 1993 and ended with the decisive victory of the Abkhazian army

that was formed during the war. The Abkhazian authorities established control over the whole terri-

tory of the former Autonomous republic, except for the upper part of the Kodor gorge, or the Ab-

khazian Svanetia, settled by ethnic Svans since the late 19th century.

Svans are one of many subethnic groups of Georgians, considering themselves to be part of

Georgians and linguistically and culturally closely related to them, but speaking their own language,

not understandable to Georgians proper. After the war, in which they took part on the Georgian

side, the local Svan leaders were only nominally accepting the idea that their tiny mountainous

country was part of Georgia, being in fact independent from both Sukhum and Tbilisi. Only on July

25, 2006 Georgia sent its army and police to the Kodor gorge, ousting the local Svan leader and his

supporters after armed clashes and imposing its real political control over this small part of Abkha-

zia.

During the Abkhazian-Georgian war of 1992-1993 only the Abkhazian side lost no less than

2000 people6, mostly ethnic Abkhazians (both military personnel and civilians). According to

another source, this war caused the deaths of some 2700 fighters in the Abkhazian army that once

reached the strength of 12000 persons7, including not only ethnic Abkhazians, but also many Ar-

menians and some Russians and others from Abkhazia, as well as volunteers,

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representing ethnic groups of the Northern Caucasus, Cossacks and ethnic Russians from the South

of Russia. Experts from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute put the total loss of

4 Pachulia V., Achugba T. Abkhazia at the end of the 20th and the start of the 21stcenturies, in: Abkhazy[The Abkhazians]. Eds.: Yu.D. Anchabadze, Yu.G. Argun. Moscow: Nauka Press, 2007, pp. 97-98 (in Rus-sian).5 The authors review of major causes of ethnic conflicts in the region see in: Yamskov A.N. Ethnic Conflictin the Transcaucasus: The Case of Nagorno-Karabakh, in: Theory and Society, 1991, vol. 20, No 5 (Octo-ber), pp. 631-660.6Achugba T., Khashba A. Ethnodemographic characteristics and distribution of population, in: Abkhazy[The Abkhazians]. Eds.: Yu.D. Anchabadze, Yu.G. Argun. Moscow: Nauka Press, 2007, p. 54 (in Russian).7

Defending the Motherland at expense of ones lives (An Editorial), in: Respublika Abkhazia [Republic ofAbkhazia], 12-13 August, 2006, pp. 1-2 (in Russian).


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human lives in that war at 120008. Authorities of Abkhazia and Georgia shortly after the war

claimed that among the dead there were 1510 armed persons and several hundreds of civilians

from the Abkhazian side (mostly ethnic Abkhazians), and 3365 armed persons and approximately

7000 civiliansfrom the Georgian side (mostly ethnic Georgians)9.

Till the summer of 2008, there were also many occasional armed clashes between the Ab-

khazian military and police units and small Georgian guerilla groups, both local and coming from

Georgia, in the territory of the Gal district and in adjacent parts of Abkhazia. In total, those clashes

also took a considerable amount of human lives in Abkhazia, of both armed men and civilians.

Finally, on August 9-12, 2008 at the time of the Georgian-Russian war over South Ossetia,

the Abkhazian armed forces without losses took control over the upper Kodor gorge, driving away

into Georgia both local Svans and Georgian army and police personnel, totally numbering around

3000 persons10. On September 26, 2008 the Russian Federation formally acknowledged the political

status of the Republic of Abkhazia as a sovereign state, and started the process of establishing nor-

mal diplomatic relations with the latter and preparing defense treaty between the two states

.The escalating Abkhazian-Georgian ethnic conflict of the late 1980searly 1990s, the war

of 1992-1993 and the following armed clashes, the post-war total economic collapse and accompa-

nying upsurge in criminal activities, all these tragic events forced many inhabitants of Abkhazia to

emigrate to Russia (all ethnic groups, including many Georgians) or Georgia (only Georgians,

mostly at a time of the war). The tough economic blockade of Abkhazia, maintained in force by

Russia in the middlelate 1990s, contributed greatly to the economic and social hardships of popu-

lation in Abkhazia, causing enormous unemployment and prolongating for more than a decade the

attempts to end the acute social-economic crisis. So when in the late 1990searly 2000s the Rus-

sian blockade started to erode slowly, many ethnic Abkhazians also left the republic, moving to

Russia as temporary guest workers or for permanent settlement.

Only in the first years of the 21st century this blockade began to transform into formality, and

it was officially abandoned by Russia on March 6, 2008. Nevertheless, somewhat from 2003-2004the relatively swift economic growth started in Abkhazia, with emergence of direct exchange of

goods between Russian and Abkhazian enterprises and massive summer influx of tourists from

8 Cited in: Mukomel V.I. Armed ethnic and regional conflicts: loss of human lives, economic losses andsocial consequences, in: Identichnost i konflikt v postsovetskih gosudarstvah [Identity and Conflict inPost-Soviet States]. Eds.: M. Olkott, V. Tishkov, A. Malashenko. Moscow: Moscow Carnegie Center, 1997,p. 301(in Russian).9 Op. cit., p. 302.10

Vashchenko A. Georgia is preparing for a jump(an interview), in: Ekho Abkhazii [Echo of Abkha-zia], August 16, 2005, p. 2 (in Russian).


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Russia. The latter stimulates agricultural production, building and reconstruction works in beach

resorts, development of transportation, etc. At the same time the Russian authorities granted the

Abkhazians the right to take the Russian citizenship. By the summer of 2005, the vast majority

(more than 80%) of inhabitants of Abkhazia have become Russian citizens11.

All these upheavals tremendously influenced the numbers, proportions in general population,

and settlement patterns of the main ethnic groups, residing in AbkhaziaAbkhazians, Georgians,

Armenians, Russians, Ukrainians, Greeks.

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Changes in population numbers of the main ethnic groups in Abkhazia in the 1990s

Evaluating accuracy of any population census statistics, one should never take it as literally

correct figures. But doubts in the obtained results should not be perceived as an attempt to discredit

the local authorities or experts who were gathering and processing population statistics.

Apart from materials of the official Registration of Population in Abkhazia in 2003, there

were also several expert estimations of the numbers of main ethnic groups in the republic, published

in local newspapers12, and the latter show very different situation.

An assessment of ethnic composition of population and its numbers was given by Mr. A.

Ankvab, one of the oppositional leaders during the very tense presidential campaign of 2004 and

currently the Prime-Minister of Abkhazia. According to his view, the total population was 225

thousands, including 65000 ethnic Abkhazians and 60000 ethnic Georgians only in the Gal district,

while some 40000 ethnic Abkhazians had to leave for Russia in order to escape from the unem-

ployment and to support their relatives staying at home13. But the Russian statistics, based on popu-

lation censuses, show that the total number of ethnic Abkhazians in the country was only 7239 per-

11 For example, Mr S.V. Bagapsh, President of Abkhazia, said that by that time some 80% - 82% of popula-tion have already got the Russian citizenship, while another 7-8 thousands had applied for it and were wait-ing for the documentssee: The interview of Mr. S.V. Bagapsh, President of the Republic of Abkhazia, tothe news agency Interfax, in: Forum [The Forum], August 22, 2005, p.3 (in Russian).12 It was analyzed by the author in his part of the joint publicationsee: Dubova N.A., Yamskov A.N. So-cial-demographic characteristics of the Abkhazian populations in the villages, known for longevity, in: So-vremennaya selskaya Abkhazia: Sotsialno-ethnograficheskie i antropologicheskie issledovania [Contempo-rary Rural Abkhazia: Social-Ethnographic and Physical-Anthropological Studies]. Eds.: N.A. Dubova, V.I.Kozlov, A.N. Yamskov. Moscow: Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology Press, 206, p. 40-41 (in Rus-sian).13 Sharia V. Alexander Ankvab steps on the front scene. Notes from the 4th Congress of the social-

political movement Aitaira (Revival), in: Ekho Abkhazii [Echo of Abkhazia], August 10, 2004,p. 7 (in Russian).


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sons in 198914 and 11366 persons in 200215. So officially during the 1990s the number of ethnic

Abkhazians in Russia has grown by nearly 4000 persons, but in reality it has probably grown far

more considerably (up to 2 or 3 times more than these official figures have shown) since many

newcomers used to remain illegal migrants for a certain time. Nevertheless one can not imaging that

their numbers have increased by almost 35000 persons, or by nearly 5 times (!) as A. Ankvabs fig-

ures suggest. So it looks like he greatly overestimated a number of ethnic Abkhazian migrants to

Russia, because the opposition at those times was sharply criticizing the government for poor re-

sults of economic policies, provoking massive emigration from Abkhazia.

Another assessment of population statistics for Abkhazia was presented by Mr. A. Vash-

chenko, well known for his public support of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He was an aide for a

former member of the Russian Parliament (State Duma), Mr. V. Alksnis. According to the former,

the experts of the Russian Parliament had presumably reliable information that there were 64000

ethnic Abkhazians, 20000 ethnic Russians and 75000 ethnic Georgians (including some 3000 in the

Abkhazian Svanetia), residing in Abkhazia, while 30000 ethnic Abkhazians were living in Russia16.

It looks like in this case too, the Russian experts uncritically followed the Abkhazian oppositional

leaders who were deliberately underestimating the number of ethnic Abkhazians in the republic in

order to discredit the authorities for their alleged exodus to Russia.

One of influential Russian experts on the Caucasus also presented his view on the topic,

saying that at the end of the 1990s President of Abkhazia, Dr. V. Ardzinba considered that there

were 60000 ethnic Georgians in the Gal district alone, while President of Georgia, E. Shevardnadze,

thought that there were

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55000 ethnic Georgians there. Both were probably speaking about the Gal district in its former So-

viet-time borders, because in the post-war Abkhazia the new Tkvarchal district was established,

mostly on the expense of the Gal district, and some villages were taken from the latter and assignedto the Ochamchira district. As a result, now the Gal district occupies some 37% of its pre-war terri-

14 Ethnolinguistical situation among ethnic communities of the Russian Federation (statistical tables), in:Narody Rossii: Entsiklopedia [Peoples of Russia: Encyclopedia]. Ed. V.A. Tishkov. Moscow: The GreatRussian Encyclopedia Press, 1994, p. 441 (in Russian).15 The All-Russian population census of 2002, volume 4Ethnic composition and knowledge of languages,citizenship,part 1 Ethnic composition of population (Official sight of the State Committee of Statistics:www.perepis2002.ru/ct/html/TOM_04_01.htm) (in Russian).16

Vashchenko A. Georgia is preparing for a jump (an interview), in: Ekho Abkhazii [Echo of Abkha-zia], August 16, 2005, p. 2 (in Russian).
http://www.perepis2002.ru/ct/html/TOM_04_01.htmhttp://www.perepis2002.ru/ct/html/TOM_04_01.htmhttp://www.perepis2002.ru/ct/html/TOM_04_01.htm


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tory17.

The data from the official Registration of Population of Abkhazia in 2003 presents a very

different picture (see Table 1 below).

Table 1.

Changes in the total number and ethnic composition of population in Abkhazia in 1989-2003.

Ethnic group

1989 2003

Number of

persons

Share in the total

population

Number of

persons

Share in the total

population

Total population 525061 100% 214016 100%

Including:

Abkhazians

Georgians

Armenians

Russians

Ukrainians

Greeks

93267

239872

76541

74914

11655

14664

17,8%

45,7%

14,6%

14,3%

2,2%

2,8%

94597

44041*

44869

23420

1797

1486

44,1%

20,6%

21,0%

11,0%

0,8%

0,7%

* In this case, 40443 persons were actually registered as Georgians and 3598 persons as Min-

grelians, but the figures were combined by the author. In fact, the vast majority of the ethnically

Georgian population of Abkhazia are Megrels, who, like Svans, are one of many subethnic groups

of Georgians, considering themselves to be part of Georgians and linguistically and culturally close-

ly related to them, but speaking their own language, not understandable to Georgians proper. The

whole Gal district and adjacent areas are now inhabited by Megrels, though most of them want to

register as Georgians, not Megrels (Mingrelians) in these days. But in 1926, when the first So-

viet population census was organized, it was the most elaborate in respect to ethnic and linguistic

issues. Besides, at those times predominantly peasant Megrelian population of Abkhazia had not yet

accepted the ideas of their unity with other Georgians. So the census of 1926 showed that Megre-

17 Markedonov S. Non-recognition of Abkhazia will give way to its recognition, in: Chegemskaya pravda[The Chegem Truth], August 9, 2005, p. 6 (in Russian).18 Distribution of population of the Abkhazian ASSR among most numerous ethnic groups and according totheir language (statistical tables), in: Natsionalnyi sostav naselenia SSSR po dannym Vsesoyuznoi perepisinaselenia 1989 g. [Ethnic Composition of Population of the USSR according to the All-Union PopulationCensus of 1989]. Moscow: Finansy i Statistika Press, 1991, p. 116-117.19 Ethnic composition of residing population according to the registration of population in 2003 (statistical

tables), in: Abkhazia v tsifrah [Abkhazia in Figures]. Sukhum: The State Department of Statistics of theRepublic of Abkhazia, 2005, p. 15 (in Russian).


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lians were 4 time more numerous in Abkhazia than Georgians proper together with Svans, and all of

them (67500 persons) made up 32% of population of the republic20.

But there are certain reasons to think that, again due to political considerations, in this case

we see overestimation of the number of ethnic Abkhazians and underestimationof ethnic Geor-

gians. On the other hand, certain overestimation of the number of ethnic Abkhazians was practically

an unavoidable result of the unique state of their unfinished urbanization, as the author tries to show

below.

First, the amount of ethnic Georgians, shown in the official statistics for 2003, causes certain

doubts. If we trust these figures, we have to accept that Georgian population of the Gal district and

adjacent parts of Tkvarchal and Ochamchira districts equals to only 40000 persons, because more or

less accurate estimations for the Georgian population of the Sukhum city and Gagra, Gudauta, Gu-

lripsh and rural Sukhum districts put their numbers at 4700 persons21. But all the assessments, pre-

sented above, tell us that there were no less

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than 55000-60000 and up to 65000-70000 of ethnic Georgians in Abkhazia, first of allin the Gal

district and its surroundings.

So, keeping in mind the previously presented experts assessments, we can assume that some

65000 ethnic Georgians remain in the present day Abkhazia, out of some 240000 of them in 1989.

The vast majority reside in the Gal district, where they make up 99% of population, and in the vil-

lages in adjacent parts of the Tkvarchal and Ochamchira districts that in the Soviet times were also

belonging to the Gal district. The underestimation of the total number of ethnic Georgians can be

largely attributed to political considerations. But a minor role was played by the fact that a certain

amount of ethnic Georgians in the Gal district secretly obtained Georgian citizenship and prior to

August of 2008 were frequently going to Georgia for commercial purposes, maintaining cross-border trade (or smuggling operations). So some of them could be absent from home at a time of the

census, and some could be not registered by local officials in hope that they would probably settle

down in Georgia in the future.

20Achugba T., Khashba A. Ethnodemographic characteristics and distribution of population, in: Abkhazy[The Abkhazians]. Eds.: Yu.D. Anchabadze, Yu.G. Argun. Moscow: Nauka Press, 2007, p. 53 (in Russian).21 Here and below all the population statistics for 2003 were taken from: Ethnic composition of residing pop-ulation according to the registration of population in 2003 (statistical tables), in: Abkhazia v tsifrah [Ab-

khazia in Figures]. Sukhum: The State Department of Statistics of the Republic of Abkhazia, 2005, p. 14-15(in Russian).


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Considerable amounts of ethnic Georgians, mostly women and elderly persons, also live in

the capital city Sukhum and sea resort town Gagra. In almost every ethnic Abkhazian village there

were also a few ethnic Georgians, living as family members, since in the pre-conflict Soviet times

inter-ethnic Abkhazian-Georgian marriages were very common.

Official figures for ethnic Abkhazians are no less questionable. On the background of consi-

derable loss of lives during the war22, sharp decline in birth rates after the war23 and certain migra-

tion to Russia, discussed in the previous part of the paper, it is hard to believe that ethnic Abkha-

zians actually showed small population growth in Abkhazia. I can suggest that their numbers in

2003 were around 70000-75000 persons in the republic, with some 15000-20000 residing in Russia,

including around 8000-12000 persons who left Abkhazia after the war of 1992-1993.

Changes in settlement patterns of the main ethnic groups in Abkhazia in the 1990searly 2000s

Settlement patterns have changed greatly in Abkhazia, since decline of the total population in

the republic by more than two times was accompanied with even much more profound fall in the

size of its urban population (see Table 2 below), almost entirely because of exodus of ethnic Geor-

gians, Russians, Ukrainians, Greeks and others. Only in the industrial town of Tkvarchal, located in

the mountains, the ethnically Abkhazian part of its inhabitants also diminished by nearly two times.

The rural population underwent serious changes as well, especially when many rural settle-

ments were totally abandoned after their former inhabitants, ethnic Georgians, had to escape during

or at the end of the war. But along the sea coast to the south from Sukhum, on the way towards

Ochamchira, the war devastations are even more dramatic. Here the whole coastal zone

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22 In the Abkhazian villages of Dzhgerda and Chlou my colleague N. Dubova estimated the losses of theable-bodied male populations during the war of 1992-1993 and other armed clashes at about 10% - 15% ofthese demographic cohortssee: Dubova N.A., Yamskov A.N. Social-demographic characteristics of theAbkhazian populations in the villages, known for longevity, in: Sovremennaya selskaya Abkhazia: Sotsial-no-ethnograficheskie i antropologicheskie issledovania [Contemporary Rural Abkhazia: Social-Ethnographic and Physical-Anthropological Studies]. Eds.: N.A. Dubova, V.I. Kozlov, A.N. Yamskov. Mos-cow: Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology Press, 2006, p. 45 (in Russian).23 See, for example, reports about depopulation in some Abkhazian villages and falling birth rates: ShambaR.P. Specific features of population dynamics, sex and age structures of rural inhabitants of the Gudauta dis-trict, in: Kavkaz: istoria, kultura, traditsii, yazyki[The Caucasus: History, Culture, Traditions, Languages].

Ed. V.Sh. Avidzba. Sukhum: The Abkhazian Institute for Humanitarian Studies Press, 2003, p. 354 (in Rus-sian).


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Table 2

Dynamics of urban populations in Abkhazia in 1991-2003

Cities and towns Population numbers in 1991 Population numbers in 2003

Sukhum

Gagra

Tkvarchal

Ochamchira

Gal

Gudauta

120000

26900

22000

20600

15700

15300

43700

10700

4800

4700

7200

7700

along the railroad and highway, going from Russia to Georgia, used to be completely settled area,

where borders between rural settlements were marked by road sign only.

Settlement patterns of ethnic Abkhazianschanged very seriously too due to several factors,

such as: 1. large-scale resettlement from villages to the city of Sukhum and to the towns of Gagra

and Gudauta, 2. resettlement from the mountain villages to the sea coast resortsrural and small

urban settlements in the Gagra, Gudauta and Gulripsh districts, 3. abandonment of peripheral parts

of the most distant mountain villages26.

Urbanization of ethnic Abkhazians that greatly accelerated in the middle 1990s immediately

after the war, in the period of 1989-2003 caused the rise in their numbers in Sukhum by 65%, in

Gagra districtby 44%, with Gagra town and small sea resort urban settlements concentrating 2/3

of population in the Gagra district. On the other hand, this massive relocation to urban areas caused

serious decline in the numbers of ethnic Abkhazians, living in predominantly rural Gadauta district

(by 10%) and especially in Ochamchira district (by 32%). The move of many ethnic Abkhazians

from their distant villages in the mountains to the northern and central parts of the coastal zone with

its sea resortsurban or rural settlements, can be also seen in Gulripsh district with the rise in their

24 Data from the related articles in the publication: Bolshoi entsiklopedicheskii slovar [The Great Encyc-lopedic Dictionary]. 2nd edition, revised and enlarged. Ed. A.M. Prokhorov. Moscow: The Great Russian En-cyclopedia Press, 1997, pp. 241, 246, 318, 864, 1167, 1206 (in Russian).25 Rounded up figures from the publication: Numbers of residing populations in the city of Sukhum and inthe districts according to the registration of population in 2003 (statistical tables), in:Abkhazia v tsifrah[Abkhazia in Figures]. Sukhum: The State Department of Statistics of the Republic of Abkhazia, 2005, p. 14(in Russian).26 For details see the authors part of the joint publication: Dubova N.A., Yamskov A.N. Social-demographiccharacteristics of the Abkhazian populations in the villages, known for longevity, in: Sovremennaya sels-kaya Abkhazia: Sotsialno-ethnograficheskie i antropologicheskie issledovania [Contemporary Rural Ab-

khazia: Social-Ethnographic and Physical-Anthropological Studies]. Eds.: N.A. Dubova, V.I. Kozlov, A.N.Yamskov. Moscow: Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology Press, 2006, p. 47 (in Russian).


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numbers here by 277%27, since previously only few Abkhazian families or members of ethnically

mixed households were living in this district. Abkhazian scholars also point out that along with

urbanization, the movement greatly increased from villages lying in the mountains and foothills to

coastal settlements (for example, from Arasadzyh to Uarcha, Dranda, urban settlement Agudzera),

where previously ethnic Abkhazians were living in very small numbers28.

Judging from the 2003 census data, one can assume that slightly more than of ethnic Ab-

khazians now reside in urban settlements29. But in 1970 their urbanization was on the level of only

11,4%30, and it was gradually rising till 1989. There are some indirect indicators

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of this processfor instance, Sukhum absolutely dominates as an urban center in Abkhazia31. The

proportion of ethnic Abkhazians, living in Sukhum, was 10% in 1970, 13% in 1979, 16% in 1989,

and 26% in 200332. In 1989-2003 proportion of them, living in highly urbanized Gagra district, also

rose from 7% to 11%, and other urban ethnic Abkhazians reside in the towns of Gudauta, Tkvar-

chal, Ochamchira, and in coastal urban settlements of Gudauta and Gulripsh districts.

The 2003 census data shows that the total share of urban population in Abkhazia is 44,9%33.

In fact this makes another indirect argument in favor of the conclusion that the slight majority of

ethnic Abkhazians have become urban dwellers. According to the same source, ethnic Georgians

make up some 20% of the total population, and 89% of the former reside in Gal, Tkvarchal and

Ochamchira districts. In these districts, levels of urbanization are 24%, 32% and 19% respectively,

27 Calculated by the author, using data from the publication: Achugba T., Khashba A. Ethnodemographiccharacteristics and distribution of population, in: Abkhazy [The Abkhazians]. Eds.: Yu.D. Anchabadze,Yu.G. Argun. Moscow: Nauka Press, 2007, p. 54 (in Russian).28 Op. cit., p. 55.29 The authors conclusion, based on comparing figures from the tables: Numbers of residing populations inthe city of Sukhum and in the districts according to the registration of population in 2003 (statistical tables),in: Abkhazia v tsifrah [Abkhazia in Figures]. Sukhum: The State Department of Statistics of the Republicof Abkhazia, 2005, p. 14, andEthnic composition of residing population according to the registration ofpopulation in 2003 (statisticaltables), in: Abkhazia v tsifrah [Abkhazia in Figures]. Sukhum: The StateDepartment of Statistics of the Republic of Abkhazia, 2005, p. 15 (in Russian).30Achugba T., Khashba A. Ethnodemographic characteristics and distribution of population, in: Abkhazy[The Abkhazians]. Eds.: Yu.D. Anchabadze, Yu.G. Argun. Moscow: Nauka Press, 2007, p. 53 (in Russian).31 Bartsyts L. Natsionalnaya geografia Abkhazii [National Geography of Abkhazia. The Current State,Problems, and Prospects for Development]. Sukhum, 2005, p. 103 (in Russian).32 Calculated by the author, using data from the publication: Achugba T., Khashba A. Ethnodemographiccharacteristics and distribution of population, in: Abkhazy [The Abkhazians]. Eds.: Yu.D. Anchabadze,Yu.G. Argun. Moscow: Nauka Press, 2007, p. 54 (in Russian).33 This and the following figures are from the publication: Numbers of residing populations in the city ofSukhum and in the districts according to the registration of population in 2003 (statistical tables), in: Ab-

khazia v tsifrah [Abkhazia in Figures]. Sukhum: The State Department of Statistics of the Republic of Ab-khazia, 2005, p. 13 (in Russian).


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and only in the Gal town the population is ethnically Georgian. It means that the vast majority of

ethnically Georgian population of contemporary Abkhazia is rural, and due to this fact the overall

balance between rural and urban parts of the total population in the republic is slightly in favor of

villagers.

But one should not forget that all such calculations, based on figures from the 2003 popula-

tion census, are far from being accurate because of apparent overestimation of the numbers of eth-

nic Abkhazians and underestimation of the numbers of ethnic Georgians.

It looks like urbanization of ethnic Abkhazians in the middlelate 1990s was really like a

burst, though after moving to the urban areas almost all of them have continued to maintain mul-

tiple links to the home villages34.

There have been various reasons for this burst-like urbanization. The most important factor

was the possibility to seize houses or flats of ethnic Georgians or other non-Abkhazians who fled

from the war. In addition, young and middle-aged Abkhazian men were trying to settle in the resort

towns or in Sukhum in order to get there at least occasional jobs and to earn some money for their

families during economically extremely hard late 1990s. For some other persons the driving force

was just an opened opportunity to easily become urban, since in the Soviet times with their very

strict system of population registration they had to compete hard with ethnic Georgians and others

for the right to become permanent inhabitants of Sukhum or Gagra, well known all over the USSR

as the best places to live or to spend summer vacations. More practically minded and optimistic

Abkhazians did their best to get houses, even the ones ruined after the recent war, in the sea resort

coastal towns like Gagra, Pitsunda, Tsandripsh (formerly Gantiadi), Novy Afon, Gudauta or in

Sukhum and its surroundings. They did it in a hope that sometimes real peace returns to Abkhazia,

and Russian tourists resume their summer holidays on the excellent beaches of the republic, paying

large sums of money for rented housing. And the life proved they were right in their expectations in

less than a decade.

This artificially speeded-up urbanization of ethnic Abkhazians in the middlelate 1990s hascreated a phenomenon of semi-urbanization or unfinished urbanization that is probably unique.

Under such conditions, the divide between rural and urban is very uncertain in the present day Ab-

khazia. It is mainly due to the fact that many persons, officially registered in their houses or flats in

34 About such links of urban ethnic Abkhazians to their former villages see: Kandelaki D., Khashba A.Transformation of age and sex structure of rural ethnic Abkhazians in the post-Soviet period, in:Sovremen-naya selskaya Abkhazia: Sotsialno-ethnograficheskie i antropologicheskie issledovania [Contemporary Ru-

ral Abkhazia: Social-Ethnographic and Physical-Anthropological Studies]. Eds.: N.A. Dubova, V.I. Kozlov,A.N. Yamskov. Moscow: Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology Press, 2006, p. 78-79 (in Russian).


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the city or other towns, in fact live during a larger part of the year with their close relatives (usually

parents) in the village. There these supposedly urban residents actually work hard on the land and

with the livestock and thus receive most of their incomes from agricultural activities, after selling

the products and dividing the incomes. Such people usually do not have permanent jobs in the urban

areas, and sometimes they own ruined houses or flats in the city and are still saving money for re-

construction, living with relatives.

This peculiar social group of ethnic Abkhazians (officially urban residents, living on incomes

from agricultural occupations and staying most part of the year in the village with relatives) equals

to 12% of the local able-bodied population in the village Dzhgerda in Ochamchira district and to

9% - in Khuap, Gudauta district,

P. 173

but they are not registered in those villages35. One should not mix this social group with those urban

dwellers who often visit their relatives in the villages and reside with them for some time, mean-

while helping to cultivate land and care for domestic animals. The latter most time of their life

spend in urban areas and earn their main incomes from urban jobs, while the former reside in vil-

lages with the relatives for a longer time than in the urban settlements where they are registered, and

earn the living on the land plots of their relatives in the village.

On the other hand, like in any other region of continuing urbanization, considerable propor-

tion of ethnic Abkhaziansrural residents have already found jobs in the city or other towns and

live there for a long period of time, usually with the relatives. Besides, Abkhazia is a rather small

country, and since the late Soviet period relatively good roads connect most villages with the urban

areas. So many people from the villages go to work daily by bus or using their own cars. For exam-

ple, 8% of the able-bodied population in Dzhgerda and 7% - in Khuap in fact work in Sukhum or

other coastal towns on permanent basis, and most of them live there too, coming to these villages

where they are still officially registered only for weekends.One can safely assume that during the population census of 2003 both the former and the lat-

ter could have been registered twicein urban settlements and in villages, thus creating considera-

ble overestimation of the number of ethnic Abkhazians in the republic. The same could have oc-

curred with ethnic Armenians too, but on a much smaller level. On the other hand, neither ethnic

35 For details see: Yamskov A.N. Economic position and social-demographic characteristics of rural ethnicAbkhazians, in: Etnicheskaya ekologia: narody i ih kultury [Ethnic Ecology: Peoples and their Cultures].

Eds.: N.A. Dubova, L.T. Solovieva. Moscow: Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology Press, 2008, p. 151(in Russian).


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Georgians nor Russians were affected by such phenomenaafter the war of 1992-1993, there was

practically no rural Russian population in Abkhazia, while rural Georgians could not dare to com-

pete with Abkhazians for abandoned houses or jobs in the urban settlements.

Finally, in recent years alongside with the upsurge of Russian summer beach tourism a large

amount of seasonal jobs was created along the sea coast, from the Russian border and Gagra to Gu-

dauta and Sukhum. So a certain part of rural Abkhazians from the most distant mountain villages

have become migrant workers in their own republic. For example, 10% of the able-bodied popula-

tion in Khuap and 8% of the total population in Kaldakhuara leave these villages for the whole sea-

son, going to work and live in sea resort towns (usually 3 months, i.e. JulySeptember, but some-

times from the middle June to early October). Many of them finally settle down in these urban

areas.

The scale of outflow of population from ethnically Abkhazian villages to urban areas after the

war can be seen in the Table 3 below.

Analyzing data from the Table 3, one should note that it does not include information on

households, abandoned during the war or directly because of the war (for example, the cases when a

man, head of a household, was killed in action, and his wife and children moved to his or her rela-

tives). It also does not include information on households, abandoned by ethnic Georgians (mostly

Megrelians) who had to run away during the war. But few ethnically Georgian families (usually old

people with children, married to local Abkhazians) remained in some of the villages, and their

households were included in these statistics of the total amounts of households, as well as several

ethnically Turkish households (Dzhgerda), Armenian and Russian (Duripsh, Kaldakhuara), and a

considerable amount of ethnically mixed (Abkhazians with Turks, Georgians, Armenians, Russians,

Greeks).

In recent years one could see not only relocation of ethnic Abkhazians to urban areas or rural

settlements in the coastal zone. The process of resettlements inside official boundaries of some vil-

lages also accelerated, with people leaving the most distant parts with poor roads or isolated bysmall rivers and coming to central parts of the villages or closer to good roads

P. 174


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Table 3.

Numbers and proportions of ethnically Abkhazian households, deserted after the war of 1992-1993

VillageYear of

observation

Official amount of house-

holds in the village (in-

cluding the deserted ones)

Amount of Abkha-

zian households, de-

serted after 1993

Share of the deserted

households in the

village

Chlou 2003 498 10 2%

Dzhgerda 2003 259 11 4%

Duripsh 2003 572 38 7%

Khuap 2006 147 20 14%

Kaldakhuara 2006 251 9 4%

that can be used irrespective of weather conditions. Traditionally ethnic Abkhazians used to live in

very wide-spread rural settlements, where groups of houses of close relatives (akhabla) were se-

parated from other parts of the supposedly the same village by small rivers, ravines or hills with

bushes or forests, and even fields or plantations. So traditionally planned Abkhazian village with a

population of a few hundreds can spread up to a dozen of kilometers. A good example of such

wide-spread village gives Dzhgerda, lying in the low mountains and foothills and connected by 15-

20 kilometers long road with Ochamchira town on the coast.

Unfortunately, it is not possible now to give more or less detailed review of changing settle-

ment patterns of other main ethnic groups, living in Abkhazia. First, there are no published mate-

rials on the topic, and secondour field studies were devoted to ethnic Abkhazians. So only some

very general remarks are presented below.

As it was already said about ethnic Georgians, their numbers in Sukhum, Gagra and other

coastal urban and rural settlements diminished dramatically, while in the rural areas in the center

and the North of the republic they almost disappeared, leaving behind only few families of old

people or members of ethnically mixed households in almost every Abkhazian or Armenian village.

On the other hand, in the South, in the Gal district and surrounding parts of Tkvarchal and Ocham-

chira districts ethnic Georgians (mainly Megrelians) still make up overwhelming majority of popu-

lation. There they live in practically monoethnic villages and Gal town.

36 The minimally possible figure, since there were totally 16 deserted households in Kaldakhuara. Out ofthem, 9 households formerly belonged to people with purely Abkhazian family names. But in contemporaryAbkhazia many ethnic Abkhazians have family names identical to that of Megrelians (Georgians), so one

can be almost sure that the actual amount of the ethnically Abkhazian households, deserted after 1993 due tourbanization, was larger than 9 in Kaldakhuara.


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Nearly all of the ethnically Armenian and Russian populations had to leave coastal zone to the

South from Sukhum and areas around the city because of the tremendous devastations during the

war. But many of them still live in Gudauta town and surrounding urban and rural coastal settle-

ments, as well as in the Gagra district. In Abkhazia, ethnic Ukrainians do not separate themselves

from Russians in a serious way, and their settlement patterns changed in the same direction. The

majority of both ethnic Russians and Ukrainians had to leave Sukhum

P. 175

and move to Russia during the war or immediately after it due to economic and security reasons.

Many ethnic Armenians also had to leave Sukhum because of the war and under the same circums-

tances, but later some rural Armenians came to Sukhum. Like ethnic Abkhazians, ethnic Armenians

also abandoned some distant mountain villages and moved to the urban and rural settlements in the

coastal zone to the North from Sukhum, especially in the Gagra district. For example, after the war

the majority of the Armenianpopulation of the village Atara Armyanskay [literally the Armenian

Atara, situated not far from the Abkhazian Atara in the foothills of the Ochamchira district] left

it and resettled to a village on river Psou, near the Russian border and not far from the famous sea

resorts of the Gagra district.

Ethnic Greeks left Abkhazia during the war, including those who used to live in Sukhum or in

the rural areas immediately to the North from the city. Only members of the mixed families are now

left in Abkhazia, like several Abkhazian-Greek households in Kaldakhuara, for instance.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we may assume that alongside with Russia Abkhazia is going to organize the

next population census in 2010. It is bound to become far more precise, since the social-political

situation and economic conditions in the republic are improving very considerably, especially if

compared with those of 2003. But even in case no more political considerations are going to influ-

ence the experts, organizing and carrying out the census and processing its results, they would haveto confront the same academic and practical problemhow to count the exact numbers of urban

and rural ethnic Abkhazians when many of them live both in the city and in the village. It means

that a certain overestimation of the numbers of ethnic Abkhazians in Abkhazia would most proba-

bly mark the next census as well, and practically nothing can be done to alleviate this problem.

The question of ethnic composition of population in Abkhazia, of absolute numbers and rela-

tive shares of main ethnic groups became a heavily politicized one in recent years. Up till now, eth-

nic Abkhazians have been enjoying overwhelming majority in all institutions of power in the repub-


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lic as a result of their war efforts and losses. But for how long time this political situation can con-

tinue, given regularly held free elections and no more immediate threat of armed invasion from the

outside, members of what ethnic communities can be able to share this power with the Abkhazians,

when it can happen and what it can cause in the republicall these questions are actually burning

issues in present day Abkhazia.

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2009 changes in the ethnodemographic situation in abkhazia in the post-soviet period

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