Today, on August 14, 29 years have passed since the beginning of an armed conflict in Abkhazia. The main phase of hostilities lasted 13 months and 13 days and ended on September 27, 1993 with the fall of Sokhumi. As a result of the war, about 300 thousand people had to leave the territory of Abkhazia. As a result of the hostilities, both sides suffered irreparable losses.

 

The war in Abkhazia was preceded by the gravest events, which have not been properly realized, investigated or assessed in the context of the conflict so far: the Tbilisi war, violent dispersal and killings of peaceful demonstrators, executions in Samegrelo, the war in Tskhinvali. The Russian influence on the Government that came to power as a result of the military coup significantly damaged the interests of the State. Nevertheless, none of these heinous crimes have been investigated and no one has been held accountable.

It is impossible to resolve a conflict and start the process of reconciliation when the truth has not been properly assessed or established. One of the first steps towards reconciliation should be to start the process of joint search for the truth by the parties to the conflict. To date, no Government has had the will or power to properly evaluate or investigate these processes, which makes it impossible to achieve civil, national reconciliation.

 

It is important that, while working on a political solution to the conflict, the Georgian authorities work with international partners to restore trust between peoples and reconcile them.