Georgia: “We Have the Right to Unify”

Lana Kokaia

Georgian journalist based in Tbilisi

Tuesday, 14 March, 2023

The link has been copied

It was an argument on TikTok that changed Daur Buava’s life.

The 28-year-old ethnic Abkhazian blogger was already well known for the channel he has been running since 2020, where he calls on the people of the Caucasus to live in peace and friendship.

But three years ago, an argument about the status of Abkhazia on TikTok inspired him to promise a Georgian Tik-Tok user that he would come visit Tbilisi.

“Adult Georgians and Abkhazians argue with each other on social networks like children. They insult each other, threaten each other,” he said.

His interlocuter did not believe he would come, but by the next day, Daur - known on social media as Tarielovich - was already in Zugdidi, posting his first video from the other side of the Enguri River.

“I only had 400 lari (150 US dollars) in my pocket,” said Buava, a former security guard at a Gagra hotel. “I stayed in the hostel in Zugdidi, I had dinner, had a shower and headed to Tbilisi next day. I did not plan all of this, it happened spontaneously. My arrival in Tbilisi was a matter of principle.”

As soon as he got to Tbilisi, he met the TikTok user in a bar. It was a transformative experience for both of them

“When we sat at the table, he raised the first glass to drink to those Abkhazians who died during the Georgian-Abkhazian war, after that he drank the toast for Georgians,” Bauva said. “With this warm gesture, I saw this person in a different light. The man who was arguing with Abkhazians online all the time was now drinking a toast to the memory of the Abkhazians who died in the war.”

During what was intended to be just a holiday, Buava posted videos from Tbilisi and other cities in Georgia.

“It is carefully organised propaganda that Georgians are our enemies,” he continued. “I saw only warmth and kindness everywhere in relation to Abkhazians. I say in my videos that Georgians are not our enemies. We are one whole and we have more things in common than differences.”

But as a result of the messages that he repeats in his Tik-Tok videos, on May 19, 2022 Buava became the first citizen of Abkhazia accused of treason.

Abkhazia's de facto security service alleged that his postings served “the propagandist purposes of the Georgian government,” also claiming that he was wanted on drugs charges.

“They say a lot of things about me, that I have a split personality, mental disorder and so on,” Bauva said, adding that his relatives living in Abkhazia had been summoned for interrogation and had their houses searched. “The fact that I was declared an enemy of the nation was more of a demonstrative act, to show people that if someone does something similar, the same thing will happen to them.”

Soon after moving to Tbilisi, the Abkhazian blogger founded the youth movement Amra - sun in Abkhaz - with Georgian friends Shmagi Samkharedze and Mikheil Kvatashidze. The organisation aims to foster dialogue between young people in both territories, producing podcasts, videos and discussions on Georgian-Abkhazian friendship and the prospects of living together.

“We have a very strong team,” he explained. “Four people arrived from Ossetia. They are working on videos with us, they are supporting us. We also have Circassians in our team and this is just the beginning.”

In August 2022, Buava introduced another Abkhaz, Ruslan Gamisonia, to his TikTok audience.  Gamisonia also moved to Tbilisi-controlled territory and spoke out about the necessity of dialogue between Georgians and Abkhazians.

However, in January 2023 Sukhumi opened a case against Gamisonia on charges of "illegal crossing of the state border and public appeals,” alleging that he had previously been convicted for murder and rape.

Asked about the de facto agency's charges, Buava told IWPR that he cut all ties with Gamisonia after getting to know him.

But Buava said that ten more Abkhazians had recently arrived in Tbilisi from different regions of Abkhazia, seven of whom had decided to stay to seek work in Tbilisi due to the jobs shortage back home.

This summed up the lack of opportunities in his native region, Buava continued.

“After graduating, there are no other opportunities to pursue further education other than in Russia,” the blogger said, explaining that he too had studied in Russia. Now learning English, he plans to apply to Sokhumi State University in Tbilisi to get a degree in political science.

Buava was born in Tkvarcheli (known to Abkhazians as Tkuarchal), after the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, and said that his generation knew nothing “about the life before the war. When they were born, Abkhazia was already separated. They never heard the Georgian language, nor did Georgians live next to them, as it was before the war”.

If the impasse between the two sides continued, Buava warned that there was a danger of Abkhazia assimilating with Russia.

“Everyone speaks Russian everywhere; government officials also speak Russian in public. The Russian rouble is in circulation; the constitution and laws are written in Russian, fewer and fewer people speak the Abkhazian language,” he said.

The blogger now has Georgian citizenship and has no plans to return to Abkhazia, fearing that he would be arrested or even killed.

He said that he would continue trying to find common ground for the young people living on both sides of the Enguri River.  

“Government officials must do everything for those young people who see our future together,” Buava said, adding, “We have a full right to unify, because we are brothers and sisters and we have a common, long-standing history.”