The author of the new book about the history of the struggle of Abkhazia for independence and the 1992-1993 Patriotic War, Selçuk Symsym told the WAC web information portal on how the book was created and why he chose this particular topic.
Said Bargandzhia
The new book about the struggle of Abkhazia for independence, written in Turkish by our compatriot Selçuk Symsym, was presented in the Turkish city of Sakarya on October 7. It’s full name is «We have no other homeland! The war for the independence of Abkhazia 1992-1993.»
The narrative of the book is not limited to the period of hostilities. It includes the results and prerequisites of the war.
The political processes that took place in the USSR during the rule of Mikhail Gorbachev (the last General Secretary of the KPS Central Committee - editor’s note) gave a new impetus to the desire of the Abkhaz to use the inalienable right of any people to determine their political status.
Abkhazia sought to restore the status of the sovereign Federal Socialist Republic, which existed before 1931. This was reflected in the Abkhaz «letter of the sixty» in 1988 from a group of intellectuals to the upcoming XIX All-Union Party Conference. It was followed by the 1989 Lykhny appeal to the highest authorities of the USSR with the same demand and the participation of Abkhazia in a referendum on the preservation of the USSR in 1991. It is from 1988 that the book begins.
«The book begins with a description of the events of June 17, 1988, when the Abkhaz intelligentsia wrote a letter in order to get protection against the atrocities of the Georgians and sent it to Moscow. It contains all the significant events of that period until the hoisting of the Abkhaz flag, which marked the victory, on the Ingur river on September 30, 1993,» said the author.
In his opinion, the Abkhaz-Abaza Diaspora in Turkey is not well acquainted with the events preceding the beginning of the war, and with the chronology of the 1992-1993 Georgian-Abkhaz war. He noted that there are not many written sources in Turkish, telling about the events from 1988 to 1993, when Abkhazia won the war for its independence.
«As I understand it, even in Abkhazia itself there is a lack of written material. How many writers have published important work on this topic in Abkhazia? Is it enough? In my opinion, no! There should be even more of these publications, and they should acquaint readers with all the details,» Symsym said.
The author interviewed more than 400 people for writing the book. About 250 of them are commanders and soldiers from Abkhazia. The rest are from Turkey. These are those who took part in the war, or members of the Abkhaz Diaspora, who provided various assistance during the war for the independence of Abkhazia.
«I talked to almost all the commanders of the Western Front who are still alive, interviewed many who fought on the Eastern Front,» Symsym said.
He noted that he also studied a large number of publications, videos, documentaries, books about the period of 1992-1993.
«I have studied about 150 articles, about 50 books published in Russian, English, Georgian and Abkhaz languages. I studied the military archives of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Abkhazia. I carefully studied all the newspapers from 1992-1993,» Symsym added.
He also stressed that after the publication in Turkish, the book will be released in Abkhaz, Russian and English.
«In particular, we want to translate it into English, to acquaint the European reader with the subject matter. Georgia tells the story of this war by distorting the facts. It prepares hundreds of reports and articles that are not true, in order to manipulate the consciousness of the European community. I believe that it is necessary to repel these articles and publications prepared for the purpose of propaganda. I think we could not tell our story well beyond the borders of Abkhazia and Russia,» said the author.
It took about two years to write a book of 730 pages. In order to collect all the necessary material, the author traveled to Abkhazia dozens of times, to many cities in Turkey and Europe.
In the near future, book presentations are planned in other Turkish cities, such as Istanbul, Izmit, Düzce, Inegel, Eskishchehir, Bozuyuk, Bilecik, Ankara and Kayseri.
The author also plans to publish a series of books in which he will talk about the events of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, examining each period separately.
Earlier, in 2016, the writer and historian Selçuk Symsym published the book «The Political History of the Abkhaz (Abaza) of the 19th and 20th Centuries». It describes the period from the ancient centuries to the Patriotic War of the people of Abkhazia in 1992-1993 and contains 690 pages.
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