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The first known
state of Georgia is Colchis, the land of the Golden Fleece. In all Georgian
literature on histroy Colchis is named Egrisi, of which descendants are claimed to be Megrelians (an ethinic group of
western Georgia).
However, based on some linguistic data, western as well as Abkhazian philologists
claim that the inhabitants of Colchis were Abkahzians. The half brother of Media Apsyrtos
(old Babylonian 'absu' (the abyss), or an Old
Abkhazian */a-psw-art- (the Abkhaz-pronoun
suffix-pronoun) bears the Abkhazian name by the explanation John Colarusso. Thismeans natives of
the eastern coast of the Black Sea were
Abkhazians and the Georgians, who live there now, were newcomers. So, the
present Abkhazians have the right of titled nation including the demand for
sovereignty and independence from Goergia. After
Colchis, Lazica occupied the ancient territory of Colchis as a successor state, which was
inhabited by Megrelians in the Georgian view or
Abkhazians in the Abkhazian view. The Laz people
who live in Turkish Lazistan now, speak a language
very akin to Megrelian, so one can determine the
main body of Lazicas were
Georgians.
If the
inhabitants of the kingdom
of Lazica
were Georgians, where were the present Abkhazians' ancestors at that time?
From the first or second century, Greek writers wrote about the Apsilae and the Abasgoi. There
are some opinions about their origin and identity. Maybe they were indigenous
to Abkhazia or the whole of Western Georgia, and until that time had been
simply called Colchians or Lazicas
together with other tribes and ethnic groups of Western
Georgia. Or else they were newcomers from the Northern
Caucasus, during these centuries. They may have had relations
with the present Svans (an ethnic group among
Georgians), or Adyge-Abkhzians. If they were native
Adyge-Abkhazians, present day Abkhazians, as the descendants
of indigenous inhabitants, have the perfect right of titled nation. One
typical Abkhazian opinion is that not only the Abasgoi
but also the Apsilae belonged to the Abkhazians.
One of the most extreme opinions of Georgians is that both of these groupes were Georgians, and the present Abkhazians
penetrated through the Caucasian
Mountains to Abkhazia
in the 17th century; according to this opinion, the Abkhazians have no right
to a titled nation and or even to autonomy, which they currently enjoy.
In the 11th
century B. C., the Assyrian inscriptions made reference to the "Abeshela", a tribe which lived in the North Anatolian
mountains. Then, in a medieval Georgian chronicle written by Juansher, mentions a toponym of
"Apshileti" (or the land of Apshils). Some scholars
insist that Apshil is the missing link between the
ancient Abeshela and the classic Apsils. Here we must take into account that V. Ardzinba, chairman of the supreme soviet of Abkhazia, is
a specialist in the history and languages of ancient Anatolia.
After the weakening of the Lasica (in Georgian Egrisi) kingdom, in the 6th century the Princedom of Abasgia became a direct vassal of the Byzantine
Empire. According to Prof. Mariam Lordikipanadze, the Abasgoi
annexed the "Apsilia north to the river Kodori" in the second century, and then after the
6th century the "Apsilia proper" between
the river Kodori and the river Egrisitsqali
(Ghalidzga). In the 730s the Arab general of Murvan the Deaf invaded Western
Georgia. Juansher wrote that the
"city of Tskhum
of Apshileti and Abkhazia" was burnt by him. Tskhum was at that time called the city of Apshileti,
which in the 8th century was incorporated into Abkhazia. So, according to the
theory of some scholars the Abkhazia Proper existed to the North of Tskhum (Sukhumi),
where the main body of the inhabitants became the ancestors of the presentday Abkhazians. The Tskhum
district of the Apsletia and the Apsletia Proper, between the Kodor
and Egrisitsqali, were inhabited by the Georgians.
In this view, Tskhum has even a Georgian etymology.
But, according to an other opinion, the Apshletis were the ancestors of the present day
Abkhazians, who now call themselves the Apsuas, and
the Abasgoi were their northern brothers who used a
language very akin to that of the Apshletis and
came across the mountains. Therefore, the present Abkhazians are indigenous
to the central as well as the northern part of Abkhazia.
One can find
two key factors in the ethnic issues of the Caucasia.
One is the institution of titled nation and the second is the theory of
"indigenousness" of inhabitants. As long as the institution of
titled nation was prolonged within the borders settled in Soviet times, the
claim of inheritance by the inhabitants would continue. One of the Russian
solutions to the conflict, namely to make the Georgian refugees go back to
the Gali and Ochamchile
regions under the protection of international peacekeeping army, was harshly
rejected by the Abkhazian side, because this was the /iskonnyj/
territory of Abkhazia, although these provinces were inhabited compactly and
densely by the ethnic Georgians before 1994. As for the Georgians, all
Abkhazia except the North-Western corner of the country is also the /iskonnyj/ territory
of Georgia. But,
neither sides has an accurate memory of their
ancient ancestors. Abkhazians have no explanation as to why they are called
Abkhazians and their country is called Abkhazia, when they themselves were called
Apsua and their country Apsuni. Only historiography
can fulfill their desire for national satisfaction about the past. So,
historiography wanders between the policy of titled nation and the theory of
indigenous inhabitants. Before trying to solve the conflict we must
understand each side's national sentiment about history as well as the
material interest which comes from it. Then we must wait for a new theory of
the past which depends neither on the system of tilted nation nor on the
theory of "indigenousness".
Click here to read the whole paper
Copyright (c) 1996 by the Slavic
Research Center
/ Hokkaido University
/ Japan
Originally published at: http://src-home.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/sympo/Proceed97/kitagawa.html
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