The press center of the World Abaza Congress informed about the visits of the WAC to Western Europe and summed up the results of the passing year.
Said Bargandzhia
The World Abaza Congress summed up the results of the working visit of the WAC delegation to Western Europe and informed about the results of the organization’s activities in 2019 at a press conference on Monday, December 23.
The press conference was attended by a member of the Supreme Council of the World Abaza Congress Viacheslav Chirikba, the Executive Secretary of the WAC Inar Gitsba and the head of the Congress Web Information portal Amina Lazba. The Chairman of the Supreme Council of the WAC Mussa Ekzekov was also available at the conference via Skype.
Mussa Ekzekov praised the work of Congress in 2019 as “good.” He spoke about the importance of fulfilling the task of meeting and establishing contacts with representatives of the Abkhaz-Abaza Diaspora everywhere.
“Our main task is to visit our brothers and sisters wherever they live, not to leave anyone without attention - both in Abkhazia and beyond. Today we have opened 11 Regional offices around the world and 26 Councils of local branches in the cities and villages of Abkhazia and Turkey. Of course, we planned to visit all the villages of Abkhazia, but this year we did not have time. This work is being actively carried out; next year we will bring it to the end. We really want to create conditions under which we would hear every person, and we will definitely come to this. I think the work of the Congress this year is quite effective. We are still learning - we ourselves are learning and are teaching others to create conditions for a better life on our own, not to wait for someone to do this for us. Our thoughts are aimed at creation, prosperity and success. Experience shows that we manage to do the job,” said the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Congress.
He recalled that representatives of the Abkhaz-Abaza ethnic group today live in many regions of the world, including Abkhazia, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Adjara, European countries, Russian regions - Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Adygea.
“We set ourselves the task of uniting representatives of our ethnic group, wherever they live. Our happiness consists in being united, friendly, in order to sincerely love each other,” the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the WAC said.
Mussa Ekzekov noted that the Congress pays special attention to the younger generation.
“Our work is aimed at ensuring that children are born healthy, that parents show foresight in the upbringing of children, accustom them to the beauty of their native language, national music. We must prepare children for life, taking into account reality and prospects,” said Ekzekov.
Participants in the press conference spoke in detail about the past visit of the WAC delegation to European countries, which took place in December. They noted that, on behalf of the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the WAC, four Regional offices were opened in Western European countries.
Viacheslav Chirikba, a member of the Supreme Council of the WAC, announced the creation of the Regional office of the Congress in the UK capital, noting that the task of creating the London branch of the WAC was fulfilled successful.
“The London diaspora is not very numerous. I know many of its members since 1990, when I arrived in London for a conference, then [First President of Abkhazia] Vladislav Ardzinba was with us. Since then, naturally, young people have grown up and are very actively involved in many actions and cultural initiatives of the Diaspora,” Chirikba shared his observations.
He believes that the meeting with compatriots in London was a success.
“There were representatives of different generations. I talked about the goals of the WAC, the work plans, and the WAC assistance for possible diaspora initiatives in London. It was decided to open the London Regional office and its asset headed by Yeshim Atryshpha was elected. We are all encouraged by this event and look forward to a fruitful joint work with our brothers and sisters in London,” concluded a member of the Supreme Council of the WAC.
The WAC Executive Secretary Inar Gitsba, in turn, spoke about the trips of the Congress delegation to Belgium and the Netherlands. He noted that members of the delegation were worried before the meeting, scheduled in the Netherlands, because “they did not fully understand how many people would come, whether the Congress would be interested for compatriots or not, its goals and objectives.”
“But, when we arrived at the meeting place, our worries disappeared: there were a lot of people, not even enough seats. Our compatriots from the Netherlands showed very great interest. We talked about the Congress, about plans, about the possibility of joining the Congress,” said Inar Gitsba.
He added that the youth of the Abkhaz-Abaza Diaspora in the Netherlands showed activity. The newly created Regional office was led by young activist Ergun Ashuba.
The next visit was to the Kingdom of Belgium. According to the executive secretary of the WAC, the meeting there also took place in a “family atmosphere” and its main result was the opening in Belgium of the Regional office, headed by Daur Alamiya, the son of an outstanding Abkhaz public and political figure, famous poet Gennady Alamiya.
“For us (WAC - ed.), the fact that the regional branch was headed by the son of Gennady Alamiya, Daur is a special pride because, as everyone knows, Gennady Alamia made an invaluable contribution to the preservation of the ethnocultural values of the Abkhaz-Abaza people and the Congress as a whole”, - said Gitsba.
During the press conference, the head of the web information portal of the World Abaza Congress, Amina Lazba, told reporters about the results of the stay of the WAC delegation in Germany. There was also opened the Regional office of the Congress, which became the fourth branch in Western Europe.
Lazba said that, according to available information, the Abkhaz-Abaza Diaspora in Germany is the largest in Europe and the second largest in the world after Turkey. The delegation member said that in Germany there are more than 10,000 representatives of the people of Abaza.
“In Germany, the Abkhaz cultural center has been operating for 27 years, which unites more than 100 representatives of the Abkhaz-Abaza Diaspora. They meet every month and perceive each other as one big family. And our meeting was held in a warm, friendly, I would say, family atmosphere. We saw that as they communicate with us, [members of the Diaspora] they are imbued with the ideas of the Congress. As they themselves said, they missed such meetings with representatives of the people from Abkhazia,” shared the head of the web information portal of the WAC.
The most important outcome of this meeting, in her opinion, is that the participants in the conversation decided to hold next year a meeting of the Abkhaz-Abaza Diaspora from all over Germany.
“Having experience in holding the cultural and sports festival “Abaza”, with joint efforts we will be able to organize such a large-scale and unique event,” said Amina Lazba.
At the press conference, the journalists were shown the videos made during the visit of the WAC delegation to the countries of Western Europe. In the video, representatives of the Abkhaz-Abaza Diaspora living in European countries talk about themselves, and the WAC delegates talk about the goals and objectives of the Congress. From these stories it is clear how the representatives of the Abkhaz-Abaza Diaspora sincerely rejoice in getting to know the WAC.
The working visit of the delegation of the World Abaza Congress to the countries of Western Europe took place from December 6 to 16. Visits to the countries of residence of the Abkhaz-Abaza Diaspora are one of the priority directions of the work of the WAC in the implementation of the main goal - to unite representatives of the Abaza people living today in different countries and regions of the world.
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