Izolda Khagba

Mussa Ekzekov, the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the WAC, as part of a working visit to Jordan that began on August 25, arrived in Amman, the capital of Jordan, and visited the office of the “Diwan Abaza” public organization (an organization that unites Abkhaz and Abaza of Jordan - ed.), where he met with representatives of the Abkhaz-Abaza ethnic group of Amman.

The peculiarity of the Jordanian, as well as the Egyptian Abkhaz-Abaza Diaspora is that all its representatives belong to the same Abaza family and officially bear the Abaza surname, but not all families remember their historical surnames.

Ekzekov expressed sincere joy for the meeting with representatives of the Abkhaz-Abaza Diaspora of Jordan and noted that, according to the Charter of the Congress, one of the most important tasks of the WAC is to unite the people of the Abaza around the world.

“We know that the number of our brothers and sisters in Jordan is not small.  Our goal is the creation by joint efforts of all the necessary conditions for the preservation and development of the language, culture, traditions in order to transfer all this wealth to our children.  We want our children to live in the same cultural and informational space, and our common homeland Apsny to flourish,” Ekzekov said in his welcoming speech.

The Chairman of the Supreme Council of the WAC noted that the ancestors of the Abaza people preserved their amazing language and culture for thousands of years, and this allowed the ethnos to survive today.

“I am convinced that in Jordan, and in Turkey, and in other countries, you (representatives of the Diaspora - ed.) not only preserve the qualities that ancestors passed on to your parents, but also carry the [Abkhaz-Abaza] culture, developing  the culture of the country in which you live.  We are a unique nation.  We only met, we don’t know you yet, but we love you already, because there is a strong sense of connection,” Ekzekov emphasized.

He told the audience about the projects that the WAC and ANO “Alashara” are implementing in Abkhazia and Karachay-Cherkessia, and about the principles of the Congress.

“We do not affect politics.  We use soft diplomacy.  We have only one choice - to be together, to unite, to help.  Welcome to the world of Abaza!  We will build together,” called Ekzekov.

The head of the Congress also invited the Jordanian Diaspora to participate in all annual sporting and cultural events held by the WAC and “Alashara”, if possible, and promised his full support.

The head of the “Diwan Abaza” public organization, Hasan Abaza (Chichba), in turn, spoke about the history of the organization, whose main goal is to unite all representatives of the Abkhaz-Abaza ethnic group in Jordan and create conditions for developing relations with their historical homeland.

“Initially, our goal was to gather representatives of all [Abkhaz-Abaza] surnames so that people would know each other, learn about their roots.  The next was the establishment of relations with Abkhazia, obtaining [Abkhaz] citizenship.  Today, “Diwan Abaza” includes about 4,000 people.  750 people have already received [Abkhaz] passports.  We hope that this process will continue,” Hasan Abaza said.

The head of “Diwan Abaza” noted that, until recently, many representatives of the Diaspora did not know anything about their historical homeland.  Thanks to “Diwan Abaza”, the Ministry of Repatriation of Abkhazia, and now the WAC, the Abkhaz and Abaza of Jordan today have the hope of a close relationship with Abkhazia, which they could not even dream of before.

Hasan Abaza noted that the goals and objectives of the WAC in all countries of the Diaspora’s residence are similar to those of “Diwan Abaza” in Jordan.  In his opinion, the main condition for success is the constant communication of the Diaspora with the homeland, the interaction of people, and most importantly - children, youth.

“Our children, who went to the summer camp in Abkhazia this summer (Ministry for repatriation of Abkhazia organized a camp for children from Turkey and Jordan - ed.), came home and brought back the most positive memories.  Now there are even more people who want to visit their homeland, people want to personally get to know Abkhazia, its culture and traditions,” said Hasan Abaza.

At the end of the meeting, the members of “Diwan Abaza” filled out questionnaires for joining the World Abaza Congress.

The visit of the WAC delegation to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan takes place from August 24 to 27.  It is included in the schedule of foreign visits of Congressional leadership for 2019, which was approved by members of the Supreme Council in 2018.