Abkhazia marks Victory and Independence Day

September 30 is the Victory and Independence Day in Abkhazia. On this day in 1993 the Abkhaz armed forces ousted the troops of the State Council of the Republic of Georgia away from its territory and hoisted the national banner over the state border along the Inguri River. In Abkhazia, the 1992-1993 Georgian-Abkhazian conflict is treated as the Patriotic War.

This morning the Memorial of Glory, where remains of perished soldiers are buried, was visited by President, Sergey Bagapsh, Speaker of the Parliament Nugzar Ashuba, Prime Minister Sergey Shamba, MPs, government officials, war veterans, clergymen, broad public and guests from South Ossetia and Russia. They laid flowers and wreaths to the memorial and held a meeting there.

Vladimir Bogolyubov, acting Russia's ambassador to Abkhazia, announced the congratulation of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, which noted that Russia would support Abkhazia with friendly help and assistance.

Then, a solemn march of about 600 servicemen took place in Aidgylar Street near the Military Glory Park. Also today, the leaders of the republic, public, war veterans, students, and guests from South Ossetia, Northern Caucasus and Russian cities, representatives of the Diaspora, students, and young people laid flowers and wreaths to the tomb of the first President of Abkhazia Vladislav Ardzinba.

In the afternoon, the State Philharmonic Society housed a festive concert; the fireworks that followed have crowned the holiday.

Let us remind you that Georgia is also holding events dedicated to those days, but they are quite of a different character. Thus, September 27, the day of Sukhumi fall was marked as the Day of Remembrance and Hope. On that day memorial meetings were held throughout Georgia.

As a result of that war, more than 300,000 residents out of 500,000 of population of Abkhazia were forced to leave their homes.