To the Georgian, Abkhaz and Circassian Communities
5 November, 2019
The reason for writing this appeal is due to a meeting held on October 28 at the Headquarters of the Central Circassian Organization Khase in Jordan between the representatives of the Adyghe community of Jordan, Adyghe representatives from Turkey and U.S.A., members of the Circassian cultural center in Tbilisi and the Georgian ambassador in Jordan.
To our great regret, this event was overshadowed by a provocation organized, in our opinion, by third party groups. This incident became possible due to the fact of disagreement taking place in the relationship between Georgian and Abkhaz peoples.
We do not want to go into the “cause” of what has happened, but we find it absolutely necessary to appeal to all parties of the incident, regarding the disputed points, which were used to provoke those who participated in the event.
One of the pillars of the Circassian ethics, Habze, is to honor and respect the status of the guest. The Hospitality virtue was so developed that even an enemy with blood on his hands could appear in a Hachesh (Guest house) of a Circassian and becomes a welcomed guest there. What has happened in Amman is a blatant case of violation of this Habze principle. This is not about some everyday case, but about a scandal of interethnic, of an international dimension. This incident is absolutely unacceptable from the point of view of the principles of classical diplomacy. Even during the bloody wars, the parties of the conflict found the strength to sit down at the same table and conduct a humanitarian dialogue.
It should be noted that the Georgians are not only the geographical neighbors of the Circassians. It has become customary that our peoples have long been connected by dynastic marriages and allied relations. We were, are and will be close friends. However, one cannot fail to say that Abkhazians, are our half-brothers. No one is closer to the Circassian than the Abkhazian, and there is no one closer to the Abkhazian than the Circassian. We are always committed to the idea of our vital, mental and historical unity.
We hope that in the era when Georgia is building a modern democratic state, it will adhere to democratic values in everything. At the beginning of the Declaration on the Principles of International Law (October 24, 1970), it states: “By virtue of the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, enshrined in the UN Charter, all peoples have the right to freely determine their political status without interference from outside and to exercise their economic, social and cultural development, and each state is obliged to respect this right in accordance with the provisions of the Charter.”
Of course, it is quite hard to build a peaceful dialogue with a party that was your military adversary less than 30 years ago. However, the historical experience shows that ignoring objective economic and cultural factors for the sake of emotions is a dead end for the political evolution. There are many examples of reconciliation of the parties to armed conflict. For example, we can take the quick resuscitation of diplomatic relations between the United States and Japan, when the U.S. used nuclear weapons against the second one.
In addition, it should be noted that the provocation that happened was possible due to the degradation of the Circassian political, social and cultural institutions. We ceased to be a single mental organism due to territorial disunity. Each fragment of the Circassian ethnic group that finds itself in a separate cultural cauldron evolves, transforms in its own way.
Despite all of these difficulties and problems, we believe in our common future. May Almighty God (Great T’ha) help us.
Arambi Hapay
Mohamed Cherkesov
Auladin Dumanishev
Ibrahim Yaganov
Aliy Bgana
Zaurbek Kozhev
Timur Aloev
