In January 2011, the Abkhazian government decided to transfer 44 objects of a historical and cultural heritage to local religious organizations for their permanent use. 42 cathedrals will be transferred to the Abkhazian Orthodox Church. The Catholic community will get the parish of the Apostle Simon the Zealot in Sukhumi and the Evangelical Lutheran Church will get the Lutheran church of St. John in Sukhumi. However the issue of allocating the lot for construction of the mosque is still unresolved.
The matter of Islam's role and prospects arose in the autumn of 2010. Then, one person was killed and two wounded during the shelling of a building in Gudauta used by local Muslim community as mosque. It was the sixth incident having to do with the Muslim community of Abkhazia in recent years. Then Spiritual board of Muslims in Abkhazia has put forward the initiative concerning establishment of Inter-religious council. The necessity of adoption of law on religion was also discussed then once again(see VK http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/society/7651.html for further information). After the incident taking place in July when the Sukhumi imam's life was attempted, and the Gudauta mosque shelling, it became obvious that actions against Muslims of Abkhazia were purposeful.
However, Abkhazian authorities didn't undertake any solid steps aimed at resolving the situation. The law on religion wasn't adopted, the Inter-religious council wasn't established, and crime wasn't uncovered. Thus, it is logical to conclude that the Abkhazian authorities either don't give attach any special importance to the matter, or just postpone the resolution for vague reasons for uncertain term.
In spite of the fact that there are no religious statistics in Abkhazia, according to the Abkhazian authorities, about one third of the Abkhazians by ethnicity are considered Muslims. Generally this number is made up by inhabitants and natives of Gudauta area, the so-called Bzyb Abkhazians. Formally, they are Muslims, but do not observe religious way of life. They don't go to mosque and observe Muslim traditions just partially. According to the Moslem Spiritual board, about 350 Abkhazians go to mosque regularly. However there are about three thousand Moslem repatriates observing Moslem traditions.
The issue of lot allocation for the construction of mosques arose continually even before 2008. However, after Russia's recognition of Abkhazia as an independent state, when the Abkhazian authorities announced their intention to promote the repatriation of exile Muhajirun, the matter became extremely acute. The major part of the Abkhazian diaspora lives in Turkey (its number is estimated at 400-800 thousand people). Virtually all of Abkhazians living in Turkey are Muslims. Currently 300-350 thousand people live in Abkhazian. However just 80-85 thousand are Abkhazians by ethnicity.
Repatriates can improve the demographic situation. However, it should be taken into consideration that if the Muhajirun return Islam returns too and it won't be as neutral as Islam Abkhazians got used to. Official aims of the Abkhazian authorities can not be achieved by current methods, and will inevitably lead to conflicts during their implementation. Abkhazia has to choose between accepting Muslim Abkhazians, practising Islam, thus building the national state, or reconciling to Abkhazian's being an ethnic minority in Abkhazia. The matter of mosque construction in Abkazia, which may seem an issue of no particular importance at the first glance, may become crucial for building the Abkhazian statehood.
VK reference:
According to polls carried out in 2003, 60 % of the polled inhabitants of Abkhazia consider themselves Christians, 16 % - Muslims, 3 % - adherents of the Abkhazian faith, 5 % - heathen, 8 % - atheists, 2 % people adhere to other religions, 6 % couldn't answer. Nowadays several dozens of orthodox churches, five pagan sanctuaries, two improvised mosques and one synagogue are operating in Abkhazia. Besides Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran religious communities, there are a Muslim and a Baptist community, as well as communities of Adventists, Pentecostals, a number of the small churches united in Association of evangelicals, the and Armenian apostolic church. As in Abkhazia till now there is no law on religion, religious communities can't be registered in the Ministry of Justice. Due to the fact that Abkhazian authorities haven't adopted law on religion yet, religious communities can not get registered in the Ministry of Justice.
Maria Platonova, Sukhumi. Exclusive to VK
