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In the following article, I intend to share my own opinion about Abkhazia and the Abkhazians, as well as to bring more clarity to the issue of self-identification in its general understanding. Being the son of an Abkhazian and a Mingrelian, with Gurians, Russians, and Germans in my ancestry, up to a certain age, when asked about my nationality, I would answer either Abkhazian or half Abkhazian and half Mingrelian. Today, I recognize the difference between the concepts of nationality, cultural affiliation, state interests, clan lines, as well as ancient, anthropogenetic lines, etc. Therefore, to the question posed above, I could answer more extensively: from the Arshba clan; by nationality and culture — Abkhazian; Homeland — Abkhazia; I consider as my state the one governed by people who help me and my family live with dignity; Balkan-Caucasian race, part of the larger Caucasoid race, probably Alpine or Caucasian type with admixtures; possibly a West Asian or Mesopotamian cluster of Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA haplogroups. This is the approach that will be discussed further.

Abkhazia defended its independence in a heavy, bloody, patriotic war in 1992 ^[18] and today is an independent country, whose sovereignty is recognized by a small number of states in the world, led by Russia ^[1]. Throughout history, the degree of sovereignty of states constantly changes. Periods of growth of statehood or imperial influence alternate with brutal conquests and devastation. The emergence and strengthening of states are replaced by their collapse or decline. Once united peoples acquire new cultural identities, begin to speak different languages and write in different scripts, while other peoples unite and their cultures merge.

Abkhazia has always been a place of convergence of various cultures — Greek, Roman, Persian, Arabic, Turkic, Russian, Slavic, and many others. According to church sources, the ancient Abkhazians received Christianity from the apostles of Christ himself — Simon the Zealot (buried in New Athos) and Andrew the First-Called. Slightly later, the Apostle Matthew also preached in Abkhazia. Christianity spread in Abkhazia after the apostles as well, through the first Christians exiled by Rome to Pitsunda. And the existing lists of bishops of the First Ecumenical Council of 325 in Nicaea (Beneshevich, 1908, pp. 285, 303; Lebedev, 1916, pp. 69, 102; Voronov, 1973, p. 103) ^[2], show the participation in it of the Abkhazian bishop Stratophilus of Pitiunt. To understand the importance of this event, it is worth noting that from the entire territory of the former USSR, only one more bishop from Crimea participated in the Council. Stratophilus of Pitiunt belonged to the Pontic (Cappadocian) Church. In this church, the first bishop of the Armenian Church, Gregory the Illuminator, was ordained, who then ordained a bishop for Abkhazia. It should be noted that in Eastern Georgia, the process of Christianization proceeded mostly from Syria, through the Antiochian Church, from which it received autocephaly.

Modern historical science can, albeit not always confidently, trace almost all the main rulers of Abkhazia over the last two millennia ^[3]. One of them — Leon II (767–811 AD) — son of Theodosius. He succeeded his father's brother Leon I. The mother of Leon II was the daughter of the Khazar Khagan, who contributed to the enthronement of his grandson in Abkhazia. At the same time, Byzantium was ruled by Emperor Leo the Khazar, the son of the second daughter of the Khazar Khagan Irene. Thus, both Leon of Abkhazia and Leon (Leo) of Constantinople were sons of two sisters, i.e., cousins on the maternal side with a common grandfather — the powerful Khazar Khagan. Both Khazaria and Byzantium relied on the Abkhazian Kingdom ^[28] as the first line of defense during the Arab invasion of their territories, which helped Leon II proclaim the independence of his state in 780. During the reign of the Abkhazian king Constantine III (899–929), the rivalry between the Armenian and Abkhazian kingdoms for Kartli continued. In the late 90s, Constantine gave his daughter in marriage to the son of the Armenian king Sumbat, and in 904, during the period of the disintegration of the Armenian Kingdom and under Arab invasion, the Armenian king Sumbat I ceded Kartli to Constantine III and cemented this alliance by giving his daughter in marriage to Constantine III. From this moment on, the Abkhazian kings sat in Kutaisi and sent their eldest sons to Kartli. The Abkhazian king also ruled over Kakheti and Hereti ^[4].

Under Bagrat II (978–1015), the capital of the state had already been moved from Anakopia (New Athos) to Kutaisi, founded by his maternal ancestor Leon II (767–811) on the site of an ancient city ^[5]. Bagrat's mother was the Abkhazian princess Gurandukht (975–978), his father was Gurgen, ruler of the northern part of Tao-Klarjeti, from the Kyurikid dynasty, a junior branch of the Armenian royal Bagratid dynasty. Bagrat called himself the king of the Abkhazians and wrote about it ^[6] in ancient Georgian, or Armenian-Georgian ^[7], and possibly Greek-Abkhazian-Armenian-Georgian ^{[8] [26] [27]} in Asomtavruli script. All ancient monuments of writing in Abkhazia, before the influence of the Ottoman and Russian empires, were first written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek, and then in Georgian (scripts: Asomtavruli, Mkhedruli, Khutsuri). Incidentally, in the "Life of Constantine the Philosopher. 9th century," it is said that Saint Constantine the Philosopher (Saint Cyril), justifying in Venice his intention to create a script for the Slavs, cited as examples other peoples "... who give praise to God each in their own language; such are the following: Armenians, Persians, Avazgians, Iberians ..." which gives reason to assume that the Abkhazians (Avazgians) of the 9th century had worship in their own language ^[9].

In Sasanian sources (224–651), we encounter the first historical mentions of the country of Gurzan ^[22]. The Sasanians call the inhabitants of this country Alans, and the Alans, as is known, were descendants of the Massagetae; in turn, the Massagetae were also called Abasgians, Iberians, and Alans ^[24]. The future Georgian ethnos is not yet mentioned in Sasanian sources ^[23]. After the transfer of the kingdom's capital to Kartli in 1122, the terms "Sakartvelo" first appeared — in Georgian sources ("Life of Ioan Euthymius" and in the translation of "Life of Mediolanum") and "Gurjan", "Gurzan" — in Arabic, Persian, Syrian, and other sources. From this time until the 15th century, this state, along with the name "Abkhazia," was also called "Sakartvelo," "Gurjan," "Gurjistan," "Gurzan," from which the Russian name "Georgia" and "Georgians" originated ^[15].

As reactionary as it may sound, many sources show that it was the Abkhazian people who descended from the mountains to the outskirts of Tiflis in 1122, expelled the Muslims from there, and began to rule there ^[10]. And this is the reign of David IV — the Builder (1089–1125). Samples of David's letters addressed to the kings and prominent dignitaries of the country have been preserved, in which David is titled "King of Kings of Abkhazia (first of all), Shaki (Hereti), Alania, and Rus" ^[11]. So, once again reconquered Tiflis becomes the capital of the state. The Abkhazian kings (exactly as they signed themselves and are referred to in all Arabic and Persian sources, and the population of the kingdom is accordingly always called Abkhazians ^[12]), right up to Queen Tamar's daughter Rusudan (1222–1245), successfully ruled the strongest state in the region — the "Abkhazian Kingdom" (from the 8th century) or "Sakartvelo" (from the 11th century), which existed for almost 5 centuries ^[13], and this is firmly confirmed by the common gene pool of the peoples of the entire Western Caucasus ^[14].

In 1242, Rusudan signed peace with the Mongols, by which she recognized herself as a vassal. After this, according to the Armenian historian Hetum (13th century), the eastern part began to be called — Georgia, the western — Apvas (Abkhazia). In subsequent periods, the country was first divided into two, and then into a larger number of principalities. The principalities fell under multidirectional influences: religious, linguistic, cultural. An era of wars and fragmentation began.

To centralize power and form a mono-ethnic state, any rulers purposefully get rid of possible undesirable connections with the past. But today, most such distortions of facts are successfully leveled by modern science, since the very nature of scientific discoveries is such that it is simply impossible to hide them for long, and with DNA data, together with archaeology, anthropology, philology, and other related disciplines, a fairly clear historical picture emerges starting from the period of 20,000 BC ^[19]. The main migrations of the proto-Abkhazians over the last millennia are revealed — from ancient Iran and Anatolia to Germany through the Mediterranean and the Balkans, and then a return to Ukraine and already in the form of Cimmerians, reunification with ancient ancestors again in the Caucasus ^[20]. Later, from the Caspian Sea side, a repeated return to the Caucasus in the form of Sarmatians — probably as an Anatolian mixture of Massagetae and Cimmerians. And even later, the Alans emerge from the Sarmatians. Unfortunately, these details are not always useful to the people who govern states, and more often simply unknown to them. It is easier for them to order their pseudo-historians to work on autochthony and cut out or rework inconvenient details to suit themselves, and sometimes this worked, but, as a rule, not for long. The closest example of such a reinterpretation of history is the joint Moscow-Tbilisi policy of the last two centuries under the common name "Ertoba" (unity). Perhaps even in the name of a worthy goal — the reunification of the peoples of the once great Abkhazian Kingdom — Tbilisi, obviously with the participation of Moscow, chose the wrong course. The ideologues of "Ertoba" did not take into account or did not want to take into account the relevance of the fact of the rather long isolation of these peoples from each other, and the measures themselves turned out to be excessively harsh. History is being rewritten in the crudest way, alien ideology is imposed on small peoples, forced displacements or deportations of people are carried out ^{[16] [17]}, troops are used and even foreign ones (Russian in the Caucasian War of 1817, German in 1917), and under Stalin and Beria, with the introduction of Abkhazia into the Georgian SSR, the last wedges are driven in. Such a policy could not have been successful from its very beginning and after numerous uprisings, it nevertheless gave rise to a large-scale war in Abkhazia on August 14, 1992 ^[18], and on August 8, 2008 in South Ossetia. The result of these wars and the actions preceding them was the complete and apparently irreversible secession of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the other peoples (Mingrelians, Svans, Adjarians, etc.) were also one step away from a similar outcome.

Perhaps everything would have been different if the new, united country had not been called Sakartvelo, highlighting only one region — Kartli. Perhaps a more thoughtful policy towards non-Kartvelian-speaking peoples would also have helped in unification. And perhaps the main reason for the current disintegration of the once united ethnos was the actions of competing neighbors, and today's situation is already in the hands of the main world hegemon, moving, firstly, along the path of systematic dismemberment of all of Eurasia, and secondly, acting against any possible rapprochement between Tbilisi and Moscow (and in the case of Russia surrendering Abkhazia, this rapprochement would be quite predictable).

The facts of direct participation of third forces in the political events of our region are well known. Among recent such interventions, we can mention the same Russia's actions in the Georgian-Abkhazian war, when it supported first one, then the other side of the conflict, in order to prevent the formation of strong states on Russia's borders after the collapse of the USSR. And the one who brought troops into Abkhazia, T. Ketovani, today lives comfortably near Moscow, on the dachas of the Russian Ministry of Defense, and no one remembers either the introduction of troops into Abkhazia or the Russian URAL trucks with morphine and weapons brought into Georgia by him. In 2008, the West provoked M. Saakashvili into a destructive attack on South Ossetia for Georgia, pursuing an obvious goal — to complicate as much as possible the possible process of Georgia's integration with Russia. And the main confirmation of foreign involvement in the events of the region in recent centuries is the unjustified cruelty and frankly artificial short-sightedness of the "Ertoba" figures, when it was possible to peacefully educate people about their joint millennia-old history, and that would have been enough for the same purposes. And what is the result:

• 1 million (Adyghes, Ubykhs, Shapsugs, Abkhazians, Laz, and many other peoples of the Caucasus) were deported in Muhajirism;

• half a million Adyghes and Circassians were deported, and half a million killed in the Caucasian War;

• Turkey has long absorbed the Laz and after the Treaty of Kars continues to look predatorily at Adjara, slowly populating it with its citizens;

• Abkhazia and South Ossetia are gradually becoming parts of Russia, and only about 100,000 Abkhazians remain in Abkhazia;

• Georgia has been deprived of a third of its territories compared to the Georgian SSR;

• and the Rulers of the World are always in profit from the fragmentation of any states and are also against their possible, unnecessary alliances.

The political course of modern Georgia continues to follow the paradigm of forced reintegration of the small peoples of the country, the negative subtext of which, in the minds of patriotically minded people, is artfully replaced by slogans about the unity of the people, preservation of culture, centralization of power, etc. Allegedly, the confirmation of the correctness of the chosen path should be today's accomplished fact of the unification of the Kartvelian-speaking peoples under the flag of Tbilisi. But from a historical and genetic point of view, the opposite picture is revealed: once a single people, today they live dispersedly in separate countries of the Western Caucasus and continue to speak their own languages. These are Georgians in Georgia, Ossetians and Abkhaz-Adyghe peoples in Russia, Laz in Turkey, Abkhazians and South Ossetians in their own independent countries, not to mention the other peoples who jointly lived in the Abkhazian Kingdom and shed their blood for it.

At the same time, in today's Georgia, under the aforementioned slogans of unity, the Soviet, unjustifiably exaggerated and largely invented history of the Kartli region ^[21] is still taught in schools, with the Abkhazian Kingdom mentioned in passing, and with the Abkhazian kings neatly woven into the line of semi-legendary kings of Kartli. Naturally, without frequent mentions of the words 'Abkhazian' or 'Armenian'. The state language of the country is only Georgian, without Mingrelian and the others. This means that conclusions have not been drawn and the last, most numerous stronghold of the former great state may soon end its journey if nothing changes. In the same USA, at the level of cities and states, several state languages successfully coexist, from English to Russian and Chinese. One can cite Canada, Switzerland, and many other developed countries that have united multilingual peoples. And in China, the country is united by a single, ancient script, not by language. There are many examples in the world of prosperous countries not only with peoples speaking different languages, but even belonging to different races, religions, levels of development, etc. Their formula for success is the same — a person has the right to independently choose their culture, language, and religion. And as for us, the peoples of the former Abkhazian Kingdom, contrary to our genetic, cultural, and historical ties, the correct approach lies in mutual recognition and respect for our current differences, which, combined with the planning of mutually beneficial projects, can lead to a genuine dialogue.

At the same time, Abkhazia, which won the war of 1992 but laid down almost all of its youth in it and suffered enormous damage in the amount of $100 billion (for comparison: the entire external debt of the USSR at the time of its collapse was ~$140 billion), has been trying to recover from the consequences for the third decade. The leadership of Abkhazia continues to balance between personal enrichment, the poverty of its own state, and the possibility of finally allowing foreign capital into the country. The passports still contain the 'nationality' field, which is certainly the main reason for most of today's problems. This field, like the overall ethnocratic course, does not allow one to grow either a citizen or a taxpayer and are themselves time bombs. A people who have survived a war, especially a winner, on the one hand, wants to continue to see, even in their passport, their former enemy, on the other hand, does not want to give their country to foreign, mainly Russian, investors. The solutions seem obvious and the choice of tools is huge: from the return of their own and attraction of foreign migrants to examples of Japanese, Norwegian, and many other well-known economic breakthroughs. It will be necessary to equalize the rights of all citizens, again returning the term 'Abkhazians' to its true historical meaning; significantly reduce corruption and redirect the freed-up funds to social programs; raise the overall level of education; launch projects for foreign investment, taking into account the priority of the country's interests; develop free media, political and any other competition, and in general, act for the future. Today, Abkhazia has almost everything to implement the above. There are opportunities to preserve its culture and language in a multi-ethnic society ^[29], there is recognition and protectorate of Russia, there is a forced, partially rethought policy of Georgia, there is a huge, rich, and almost undeveloped territory with the most favorable climate for living and working. And, of course, losing all this in the near future no longer seems to threaten Abkhazia, but not using these opportunities would be a major economic and political mistake. Only one thing remains: to look a little further than today's short-term personal well-being and make a decision in favor of your own children, and they will undoubtedly appreciate it.

Each people decides its own fate and bears responsibility for its decisions, and only time shows whether it will be or not. In the theory of evolution, there is a thesis about a certain average size of a creature that increases the chances of successful adaptation of a species to environmental changes. If we apply the same thesis to groups of beings or peoples and add to this the available historical data on the revealed inviability of too small or too numerous peoples, and in our case also add the facts of permanent residence in this territory over the last millennia ^[19], then we all have good chances for a bright future.

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FOOTNOTES


^[1] International legal status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
^[2] History of Christianity in Abkhazia in the first millennium. D. Dbar 2001. p. 114.
^[3] Rulers of Abkhazia.
^[4] History of the Georgian people, ed. 1979, Javakhishvili I. A.
^[5] Kutaisi. V. Masalsky.
^[6] Inscription of King Bagrat in Asomtavruli.
^[7] Similarity of Armenian and Georgian scripts.
^[8] Book for reading on the history of the Middle Ages. Issue one. Vinogradov P.G. 1896.
^[9] Alphabetical writing and ancient Georgian script. T. Gamkrelidze (1989).
^[10] Abkhazia. Legal foundations of statehood and sovereignty. T.M. Shamba and A.Yu. Neproshin. 2004.
^[11] National Academy of Sciences of Georgia. Caucasian civilization in the context of globalization. R. Metreveli 2009. P. 34
Possibly here Rus corresponds to the possessions of the ruler Abukhvastro, who ruled Tsuketia, Tushetia, Khundzak, and all the pagans of those places. In Dagestani sources, the Avars, and sometimes other nationalities, are called Rus, or traced back to them. A connection is assumed with the ancient pre-Turkic ethnic layer of Eastern Europe — the Arsii (Rosses), Rossos-Mosokos (Masakha Huns?) of Albanian and Armenian sources (Mosokos were the name for Tushins living in the upper reaches of the Alazani, who were granted Alvani). This explains many misunderstandings in connection with the reports of medieval Arabic sources about the Rus (Rosses). The History of Shirvan and al-Bab, Arabic sources identify the raids of the Saririans (Sarir — Khunzakh) and the raids of the Rus on Arran. In N. Ganjavi, the leader of the Rus, Kintal (from the country of the Alans and Greeks), gathered an army from seven places. Kintal can be compared with the titles prince and nutsal, and seven places with the military-political union of the Didoyans — Antl Ratl (seven lands).
^[12] Abkhazians. Works. V.V. Bartold, volume II, part 1, pp. 861-865. 1963.
^[13] Maps 500-1000 AD.
^[14] Genetics of Abkhazians and the Western Caucasus. D.A. Arshba, 2014.
^[15] The meaning of the terms "Georgia" and "Sakartvelo" in medieval sources. G. Gumba 1994.
^[16] Muhajirism of Abkhazians and the Caucasus.
^[17] Population composition of Abkhazia in different periods.
^[18] War of Abkhazia and Georgia.
^[19] Ethnogenesis of the Abkhazians. D.A. Arshba, 2015.
^[20] Craniological and dental studies (Bioarchaeological Analysis of Mutual Relations of Populations of the Armenian Highlands and Eurasia Using Craniological and Dental Nonmetric Traits. Khudaverdyan 2012) of subjects from ancient burial grounds of Iberia, namely Samtavro (1100–600 BC) and Tserovani (1100–800 BC), in the Mtskheta area (ancient Armazi), reveal direct predecessors from the Shirochansky burial ground, Ukraine (1800–1100 BC), and assign them to the common cluster of the Belozerka culture (1200–1000 BC — Thracians, Cimmerians). The descendants of the Samtavro and Tserovani burial grounds are further identified in the burial grounds of the lower Don, Beglik (600–300 BC — Scythians, Maeotians).
^[21] Bun-Turks in Ancient Georgia. Jost Gippert, Frankfurt 2007.
^[22] P. 393, Melikishvili G.A. "On the history of ancient Georgia." – Tbilisi, 1959.
^[23] Pp. 137–141, Melikishvili G.A. "On the history of ancient Georgia." – Tbilisi, 1959.
^[24] "Iberians, Abasgians, and Alans are of one race ..." — John Tzetzes. Orig. Kissling 1826. Georgica. Information of Byzantine writers about Georgia. 1967 Vol. VII pp. 22–26.
^[25] Y-chromosomes of Abkhazians, Adyghes, Mingrelians, Georgians, and Ossetians.
^[26] Review of Hypotheses on the Origin of the Georgian Alphabet. L. Chkhaidze
^[27] Alexey Muravyov. On the origins of Kartvelian Christianity, the Armazian bilingual, and the features of Georgian writing. 2015
^[28] Abkhazian Kingdom. 786 AD
^[29] Development of the Abkhazian language in a multi-ethnic society: challenges and prospects. V. Chirikba 2012