World
Abaza
Congress

We present to you a film by the AGTRK dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the “Grand Canyon” Development Area. In a conversation with the area's founder, philanthropist, and Chairman of the Supreme Council of the WAC, Mussa Ekzekov, we will trace the project's journey from its first steps to becoming a significant cultural and educational center.

As part of its collaboration with local branches, the World Abaza Congress provided targeted assistance to the Chkhortol School. Students received equipment for physical training and tennis.

Staff members of the World Abaza Congress took part in the unveiling ceremony of a monument to Tarba Khimtsa Gudzhovich, a WWII hero and second lieutenant of the 3rd Marine Brigade of the Baltic Fleet, a native of Abkhazia.

The event took place on May 25 in the courtyard of a school in the village of Michurinskoye in the Priozersk District of the Leningrad Region. The honor of unveiling the monument was given to the head of the district administration, Aleksandr Soklakov, and Tengiz Tarba, a representative of the Tarba family.

The ceremony's guests of honor included the hero's family and friends, Oleg Bartsits, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia, as well as representatives of the Abkhazian community and the "Apsny" cultural and educational society.

During the event, students from the Michurinsk School recited poems dedicated to the memory of war veterans. The gathered people then laid flowers at the foot of the monument - a sign of respect for the hero's heroic deed. After the official ceremony, the school principal gave the guests a tour of the school, including a visit to the museum and classrooms.

From May 20 to 22, the St. Petersburg Ethnoforum, a major scientific and practical event dedicated to the Year of Unity of the Peoples of the Russian Federation, was held in Russia's northern capital.

The Ethnoforum was organized by the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the St. Petersburg Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Particular attention was drawn to the speech by Mussa Ekzekov, philanthropist, Chairman of the Supreme Council of the WAC, and President of the "Alashara" Association, who shared his experience of implementing ethnoprojects in remote communities.

"It was a great honor for me to share the experience of the team working on the preservation and development of the Abaza people. The participants demonstrated through their own example that culture is a living force that helps people grow, unites them, and changes their attitudes toward family, their native village, their people and country," noted Mussa Ekzekov.

In his speech, he described how ethnic projects can become a genuine tool for territorial development - when residents themselves participate in creating programs, propose ideas, and take responsibility for the results, they develop a sense of ownership.

Information was presented on the results of "Alashara's" work in Karachay-Cherkessia - sports, educational, cultural, youth, and language projects implemented. It was emphasized that behind all the figures and events lies the most important thing - people who believed in themselves and became active participants in a common cause.

"I am confident that our method is applicable in any part of Russia, in any territory. We are demonstrating this in St. Petersburg, realizing cultural and social projects in the Grand Canyon development area. This method has been successfully implemented for many years by the World Abaza Congress," Musa Ekzekov emphasized.

Concluding his speech, he thanked the organizers of the St. Petersburg Ethnoforum and personally Academician Andrey Ivanovich Rudskoy, Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chairman of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Andrey Golovnev, Director of the Kunstkamera, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

During the forum's opening ceremony, a signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding "On Cooperation between the St. Petersburg Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Sciences of Abkhazia" took place.

The Ethnoforum attracted a large audience - cultural workers, scholars, politicians, businesspeople, leaders and activists of ethnic communities, artists, and traditional craftsmen. Numerous events were held during the forum, focusing on the most important topics: people, traditions, values, and the future of Russia.

The third conference of the Federation of Abkhazian National Games was held at the Sukhum office of the World Abaza Congress. The working meeting was attended by Congress staff, Federation President Adgur Gunba, and “Aimtsakyachara” team coaches.

Key topics on the agenda included scaling and promoting national sports. In particular, the popularization of traditional games such as "Akybrou" (an Abkhaz folk game of pegs – editor's note), "Amba" (a variation of blind man's buff – editor's note), and "Akhylpakhas" (translated from Abkhaz as "hat catching" – editor's note) were discussed. Furthermore, the participants discussed in detail the organization of the upcoming “Aimtsakyachara” championship.
Changes to the Federation's charter were approved by open vote; the leadership will be elected every five years by vote.

The Abkhazian National Games Federation was established in 2024. At the first founding conference, the initiative group elected a president and approved the organization's charter. The second conference was devoted to the formation of the internal structure and the distribution of positions.

Abkhazian State University celebrated the anniversary of renowned Caucasus scholar and Doctor of Philology Sergey Pazov. He pioneered the study of Abaza phraseology, authored the first university textbooks, and developed state educational standards for this subject. https://abaza.org/en/1305

The final round of the recitation competition in Abkhazia was held at the ASU Philological Faculty as part of the Abaza people Language and Literature Festival. School and university students from various cities and regions of the republic demonstrated their mastery of artistic recitation in the Abkhaz language.

The selected works featured a variety of themes, with most poems eulogising the beauty of their native land and the richness of their national culture. The general level of training and skill of the contestants was assessed by a jury consisting of Batal Khagush, Dean of the ASU Faculty of Philology and Journalism, and V.P. Akhra Ankvab, Professor and Director of the Center for Research of the Languages of the Peoples of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic (KCR), Sergey Pazov, Professor of Abkhaz Language and Literature at Gudauta Secondary School No. 2, Lyudmila Ristova, Teacher of Abkhaz Language and Literature, Zaur Meremkulov, Head of the Abaza Language Development Department of the “Alashara” Association, and Valentina Khalbad, Honored Teacher of the Republic of Abkhazia.

Following the results of the competition, seven winners among schoolchildren were announced, and a separate award was presented in the prose reading category. Six students will also travel to the Karachay-Cherkess Republic for the finals, which will be held in Cherkessk at the end of October. They will perform alongside Abaza participants at the final stage of the festival.

The "Abaza People Language and Literature Festival 2026" project is organized by the “Alashara” Association and the Abaza Language and Culture Center of the U.D. Aliyev Karachay-Cherkess State University.

The event is being held in coordination with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Abkhazia, and the Abkhazian State University (V.P. Ankvab Center for Abkhaz-Adyg Philology).

The Abkhazian delegation regularly participates in the festival: schoolchildren and students perform in the recitation competition, and scholars and specialists participate in the "Tabulov Readings" scientific and practical conference.

The World Abaza Congress team took part in a flower-laying ceremony at the memorial to the First President of the Republic of Abkhazia, Vladislav Grigorievich Ardzinba.

Vladislav Ardzinba entered the history as an outstanding state and political figure, the founder of the modern Abkhazian state, and a prominent orientalist. On May 14, the founder of the state independence of the Republic would have turned 81.

The World Abaza Congress team took part in a flower-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Sukhum.

Eight veterans of the Great Patriotic War currently live in Abkhazia. More than 55,000 of our compatriots fought in the Great Patriotic War, of whom 17,500 perished. Twenty-three people from Abkhazia were awarded the title "Hero of the Soviet Union."