Andrew Andersen (Ed.)

ETHNIC MAKEUP OF ABKHAZIA

BEFORE & AFTER THE ETHNIC CLEANSING OF 1992-1993

Leaving aside dramatic changes of Abkhazia’s population during the periods of Ottoman and Russian expansion, as well as the complicated ethnic composition of the Apsua people that included Adygh, Georgian and other elements, we would like to offer you here an outline of Abkhazian ethnic history of the 20^th century only.

According to the 1897 census, the ethnic makeup of the district of Sukhum and the district of Sochi (that included a part of modern Abkhazia and historically was often incorporated into it) looked as follows:

The district of Sukhum

Ethnic group	amount	%
APSUA	28 121	21.4
GEORGIANS (INCL. MEGRELS & SVANS)	74 846	42.1
RUSSIANS & UKRAINIANS	20 893	11.7
ARMENIANS	18 212	10.2
GREEKS	20 673	11.7
OTHERS ( ESTONIANS, GERMANS, ETC…)	5 087	2.9
TOTAL	167 632	100

Please note that in some subdistricts Megrel

Georgians were registered as Apsua due to

the confusing Russian concept of “Abkhazets”

The district of Sochi

Ethnic group	amount	%
SHAPSUG & APSUA	731	12.6
GEORGIANS	836	14.4
RUSSIANS & UKRAINIANS	805	13.8
OTHERS (GREEKS, ESTONIANS, ARMENIANS, ROMANIANS, CZECHS, GERMANS, ETC…)	3 439	59.2
TOTAL	5 811	100

Incl. the town of Sochi

Ethnic group	amount	%
GEORGIANS	440	95.5
RUSSIANS & UKRAINIANS	11	2.4
OTHERS	9	2.1
TOTAL	460	100

The below excerpt from the ethnic map of the South Caucasus by Andrew Andersen and George Partskhaladze based on the variety of Russian statistics of the late nineteenth and early 20^th centuries depicts rather complicated ethnic palette of Abkhazia where predominantly Georgian settlements are lemon-colored and predominantly Apsuan settlements are ghost-greenish. Pink color goes for Armenians, golden for Greeks, light brown for Russians, and light blue for the settlements with German and Estonian majorities.

Please keep in mind that the above map does not show the variations of population density which was much higher, for example, around Sukhum and lower near Lykhny or Tamysh.

The population of the towns of Sochi and Sukhum also increased dramatically but there are no data regarding its exact ethnic composition prior to the beginning of the First World War.

(NB: Here we use the old turkified and russified names of some towns like, for example, “Sukhum” or “Tamysh” because those were official place names in 1901-1918)

Almost three years of Georgia’s independence and 58 years of Soviet domination that followed, resulted in some changes in the ethnic makeup of the province

According to 01.01.1979 census

Ethnic group	amount	%
APSUA	83 000	17.1
GEORGIANS	213 000	43.8
RUSSIANS	80 000	16.5
ARMENIANS	73 000	15
GREEKS	14 000	3
UKRAINIANS	10 000	2.1
OTHERS (JEWS, ESTONIANS, GERMANS, ETC…)	13 000	2.5
TOTAL	486 000	100

According to 01.01.1992 census

Ethnic group	amount	%
APSUA	94 767	17.7
GEORGIANS	244 872	45.7
RUSSIANS	76 413	14.3
ARMENIANS	78 041	14.6
OTHERS (GREEKS, UKRAINIANS, JEWS, ESTONIANS, GERMANS, ETC…)	40 968	7.7
TOTAL	535 061	100

The below map shows ethnic composition of Abkhazia and surrounding districts of Georgia, as of 1989.

Please click on it for better resolution

The next map below (unfortunately, in Russian) shows ethnic composition of Abkhazia’s 6 districts and two major cities before ethnic cleansing.

The “pies” clearly show that Georgians (red section) formed the largest ethnic group except Gagra, Gudauta and Tkwarcheli districts. In Gagra ethnic majority was shared almost equally between Georgians an Armenians (yellow section) whereas Apsua (green section) were dominant in Gudauta and Tkwarcheli. In the district of Gali, Georgians formed almost 100% of total population.

AFTER THE WAR AND ETHNIC CLEANSING OF 1992-1993:

The below results of 1997 census demonstrate the shocking decrease of Abkhazia’s population from 535 061 in 1992, to 145 986 in 1997. That leaves Abkhazia with the total loss of 71% of its pre-war population in spite of the fact that right after ethnic cleansing, Abkhazia accepted thousands of immigrants from Russia, Turkey and Arab countries.

More than half of Abkhazia’s pre-war population was massacred or forced to flee to Georgia, Russia, Greece, Israel and other countries, their property confiscated, re-sold or destroyed.

In many cases Georgians were slaughtered not only for their ethnic background but for Georgian last names or “Georgian appearance”

According to 01.01.1997 census

Ethnic group	amount	%
APSUA	53 993	37
GEORGIANS	43 442	29.7
RUSSIANS	18 110	12.4
ARMENIANS	17 747	12.2
OTHERS	12 694	8.7
TOTAL	145 986	100

The below map shows ethnic composition of Abkhazia’s 6 districts and two major cities after ethnic cleansing.

The “pies” now show that Apsua (green section) became dominant in 4 out of 6 districts except Gulripshi and Gali where Georgians are still the largest group (red section) and in both the cities of Sukhumi and Ochamchire formed the largest ethnic group except Gagra, Gudauta and Tkwarcheli districts.

SOURCES:

Andersen, A. and Partskhaladze, G.           Atlas of Contemporary History of the South Caucasus: 1901-2008, In print

Brook, S.,            Population of the World, (Rus.), Moscow, Nauka,1986

Nadareishvili, T., Plot against Georgia, (Rus.), Tbilisi, Pirveli Stamba,2002

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