Paradise Lost: 20 Years of Independence in Abkhazia

3 minute read

If there is a place on earth that inspires more melancholy, reminiscence and regret than Abkhazia, I have yet to find it. A republic of sighs, home to 250,000 people who still mourn their dead as much as they plan their future.

“Do you remember how it used to be?” they say. “It was like a little Soviet Union.” This is a sweet memory, because the Soviet Union, to Abkhazia, was above all a place where dozens, even hundreds, of races lived under one roof in peace. The brutal ethnic war of ’92-’93 erased many things, but not the memory of a time before bloodshed.

This is equally bittersweet for photographer Yuri Kozyrev, who summered in nearby Sochi as a boy, and who remembers, like all children of the Soviet Union, the paradise that was Abkhazia. Imagine: high mountains dive toward a warm sea. Beaches against verdant forests, long promenades lined with ice cream vendors under palm trees.

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of Abkhazia’s first declaration of independence from Georgia. That initial gesture of July 23, 1992, was boycotted by the ethnic Georgians in government and ignored by the outside world. But soon enough, it began a cycle of attacks and reprisals, fueled by alcohol, old grudges, and the chaos of the Soviet collapse. Total war soon followed, one of the bloodiest and most fratricidal conflicts of a decade that saw plenty of both.

And though the Abkhaz people were victorious—they alone rule Abkhazia now—the republic they liberated has never quite come into being.

Kozyrev and I visited Abkhazia last year, traveling south along that fabled coastline, up into the mountains, down to the tense Georgian border in Gali. Kozyrev had been in Abkhazia during the war; it was my first visit. We were both, however, equally struck by how time just seems to stand still there. A rusting trawler lists on the beach in Sukhum, the radios in the beat up taxis all play songs about the war. In the mountain mining town of Tkvarchal, which starved and suffered under siege during the war, seems half-deserted and wholly inhospitable. Even the national pastime is a sleepy one: the Abkhaz are famous for their skill at dominoes.

Part of this torpor is forced upon them. Georgia and its allies, including the U.S., have been effective in isolating the republic, which it sees as perpetrators of ethnic cleansing against Georgians during and after the war. Only Venezuela, Nicaragua, Vanuatu and a couple of equally small states have recognized its independence. Georgia has blockaded all southern routes by sea and land, and so Abkhazia has to rely on the kindness of its neighbor and patron Russia, with whom it shares a land border.

Yet, they still have their natural gifts. The war did not erase the beaches or the mountains. Russians, particularly poorer ones who can’t afford the neon Shangri-la that Sochi is becoming, still flock to the shore.

The Abkhaz also have something they won at a heavy, heavy price: freedom. The question remains, twenty years later: what will they do with it?

Nathan Thornburgh is a TIME contributing writer and a founder of Roads & Kingdoms, a new journal of foreign correspondence, food, and photography. You can read his full report on his travels to Abkhazia with Kozyrev here.

Yuri Kozyrev is a contract photographer for TIME and was named the 2011 Photographer of the Year in the Pictures of the Year International competition.

An Abkhaz boy jumps from an abandoned Turkish freighter beached near central Sukhumi, Abkhazia. After more than 15 years of economic blockades by Georgia, investment in Abkhazia is almost nonexistent–the resorts are empty, and the economy is stagnant. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Ramas Beraia, an ethnic Georgian, lost his leg after stepping on a land mine on the banks of the Inguri River when he was 17. The UNHCR sponsored his retraining, as a shoe repairman. At least 40,000 ethnic Georgians, mostly Mingrelians, are believed to be living in the Gali region. A vast majority of the population has been expelled and most ethnic Georgians still remaining are not allowed to vote.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Moss has grown over the white marble statues and round ponds in the tropical botanical garden along the Gagra seashore.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
The former parliament building in Sukhumi, Abkhazia’s capital, still bears the scars of the conflict with Georgia in 1992 and 1993. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Russian tourists are regular visitors to the sanatoriums along the Gagra seashore. During the Soviet years, tourism was Abkhazia’s prime source of income. Abkhazia’s palm-lined beaches, framed against glacial mountain peaks, were a frequent backdrop for the Soviet film industry. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
After over 15 years of economic blockade by Georgia, investment in Abkhazia was almost nonexistent, the resorts were empty, and the economy was stagnant. Much of the tourism industry consists of Russian soldiers and low-income retirees on free or very cheap holiday. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
An Abkhaz man mows the lawn near an abandoned house where a Georgian family used to live. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Abkhaz troops in Sukhumi. Abkhazia’s defense minister, General Major Mirab Kishmaria, said he and other Abkhaz officers spilled blood to win their independence. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Abkhaz children on a playground in Ochamchira which used to be populated predominantly by ethnic Georgians. After the war, they abandoned their homes and victorious Abkhaz took many of them over. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
A poster of Abkhaz fighters killed during the war with Georgia in 1992 and 1993, with the caption 'For peace and freedom of Abkhazia!' in Sukhumi. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Russian tourists pose in front of an abandoned 19th-century palace of the Prince of Oldenburg in Gagra. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Ethnic Georgian children dance a Georgian dance at the Didtsifuri school, which is partially sponsored by the western Christian aid group WorldVision in the village of Dikhazaurga. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Abkhaz soldiers train at the Military Academy in Sukhumi. Abkhazia’s regular forces are believed to be small, with estimates of the standing army ranging from 1,000 to 5,000. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Ethnic Georgians on a wagon on the road to the town of Gali. There has been some improvement in ethnic Georgians’ mobility inside Abkhazia. In the past, their movements were heavily restricted. Now, some Georgians work as labourers in Sukhumi or Gagra, mainly in the construction industry.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Domino competitions are a serious business on the promenade in central Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia, a former Soviet vacation spot on the Black Sea. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Abkhaz boys play in a hot spring in Ochamchira.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME

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