More than thirty years have passed since the armed conflicts swept the South Caucasus. Amid the dramatic breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, dozens of ethno-political conflicts emerged in the former Soviet states. The nations living in the South Caucasus — once seen as coexisting with the “fraternity of peoples” concept — descended into war with one another, leading to more than 30 thousand deaths and the displacement of over 1.3 million people. Miserable stories of people affected by the wars in Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia and Abkhazia wars are still being heard.
Some three decades since the armed conflict in Abkhazia, thousands of IDPs still live in unbearable conditions, waiting for real homes. The news about IDPs going on hunger strike and sewing their mouths in quest of homes, accusing the government of unfair distribution of apartments. On January 16, Zurab Kiria, an IDP from Abkhazia, died after jumping from a run-down IDP residence, seeking for the attention of the authorities. IDPs in Georgia have repeatedly gone on extreme measures to protest their unbearable living conditions in the buildings.
To date, 38,753 families in Georgia are awaiting for the housing. For the time being, they are forced to live in state-owned buildings — former hospitals, schools, sanatoriums, and hotels. Some live with relatives or rent a flat. According to the Public Defender’s Office, IDP families often live in buildings with increased danger to life and health. The Ombudsperson also said the procedures for relocation from such buildings remains problematic, and the statistics on these buildings need to be clarified to aid the state better understand the scale of the problem.
“They are waiting to our death, perhaps”
Tamar Akhvlediani, 87, has been waiting for her own home for years. Hailing from village Aradu of Ochamchire District, Tamar fled the war from Abkhazia with her family and settled in Tskaltubo, popular Soviet-era spa resort in Imereti region. Currently, she lives alone in Samurgali — one of the delapidated Soviet sanatoriums. Her son, a military serviceman, works in Tbilisi, while the daughter is married in Kutaisi.
Regretfully looking back at her life and years left in Abkhazia, Tamar recalls they had greatly different life there, out of which only memories remain. Describing the harsh reality she had to face during the post-war period, she says adapting to a non-familiar environment and forcibly leaving home in a day has not been easy for her like other IDPs.
“They are waiting to our death, probably. They told us they do not have one-room apartments and left us so till today. They are torturing us. We agree to settle down wherever they decide. Here it’s raining like outside,” — notes Tamar.
“I’d walk back if they let me. What a life I left there.”
Nana Liparteliani lived in Kelasuri, not far from Sokhumi. When the Georgian-Abkhaz war broke out she was just 17, about to finish school. Remembering trees, road, and rivers from childhood, Nana says her most beautiful years are connected with Sokhumi, Abkhazia’s prominent subtropical town.
“I remember everything… I often dreamed about my house, but in my dreams, I always entered from behind the house, not through the gate, and was seeing the light in the window as if someone was living. In reality, no one lives there, it has been turned into a forest,” Nana tells us.
Lately, Sokhumi and childhood are no longer in her dreams. She now also awaits for housing. Nana says his brother and sister-in-law, along with their 4 children, have already been given an apartment.
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The story was published in Civil.ge/ in 02/02/2022 within the framework of the Berlin School of Journalism project.