In the practice of the Armenian nationalists, there is one tradition - to “mark” settlements on foreign lands with the names of their “heroes,” or rather the terrorists and executioners they claim. The most “significant” name here is the name of the Dashnak and Bolshevik executioner Stepan Shaumyan, the organizer of the genocide of the civilian population of Baku.

It was not by chance that the administrative center of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of Azerbaijan, Khankendi, was named “Stepanaket” in honor of Stepan Shaumyan. This was already an “application for miatsum” long before the Armenian nationalists began to demand the annexation of Karabakh to Armenia.

Other settlements where the armenians lived in Georgia and Azerbaijan were also named after Stepan Shaumyan. Thus, in Georgia, the former administrative center of the former Borchali district Shulaveri was renamed “Shaumyani”. One of the largest Srmenian villages in Abkhazia, Shaumyanovka, was also named after Stepan Shaumyan. Around this village, a scandal arose among the separatists in Abkhazia.

According to the historical and etymological research of Doctor of Philology V.E. Kvarchia, on the map of 1842, the existing area is designated as Tskybun (Abkh. Ҵҟыбын). The indigenous Abkhazians from here were evicted en masse by the Russian Empire during the Muhajir era. In connection with the opening of the Dranda Monastery in Upper Dranda in 1883, at the end of the 19th century, on the site of an empty Abkhaz village, the settlement of Bishops arose, in fact, as a monastic “economy”, therefore for a long time the settlement was also called “Bishops’ Dachas”.

However, the monks and clergy could not develop the land themselves, and the Russian colonial authorities began to populate these areas with Armenian immigrants from Turkey. The Armenians settled here as tenants; the first inhabitants of the village were the Kalajyans, who appeared here at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Others followed suit.

The most interesting thing is that the Armenian settlers in those days were only tenants, did not have citizenship of the Russian Empire and were Turkish subjects. Even initially, they did not have the right to build permanent houses and plant perennial trees, so they started growing tobacco. Step by step, the settlers “bite into” someone else’s land. During the First World War, the Armenians began to be called up to serve in the Russian army, they were given citizenship, and they entered into the rights that all citizens of the Russian Empire enjoyed. And the village was immediately renamed Kalaijanovka.

In another place, the Armenians, according to their “tradition,” would claim that they are “ancient and indigenous,” would bring their khachkars soured in vinegar, etc. and would begin to assure that the Kalaydzhyans lived in the “originally Armenian” Kalaydzhanovka since the time of Tigran the Great. But in Abkhazia at that time, such a scam would have been provocative, since just over 20 years had passed since the appearance of the first Armenian settlers and there were still living witnesses who remembered how the “ancients” were powerless alien tenants.

Therefore, the Armenians took a different path - instead of the usual “proving their ancient existence” on foreign land, they adopted the “revolutionary exploits” of their newly-minted “heroes”, among whom in the 20s of the last century the cult of the executioner and murderer Stepan Shaumyan began to develop.

The fact that Soviet power was established in Georgia and Georgia was occupied by the Bolsheviks due to the betrayal of the Armenians, who rebelled in the Lori zone, also played a role. The Bolsheviks “thanked” the Armenians by not only giving them Lori, but also beginning to mark areas far removed from the Armenian SSR with “Armenian toponyms.” Thus, in 1922, the Abkhaz Armenians achieved the decision of the Soviet government to rename one of their largest settlements in Abkhazia, Kalaijanovka, to Shaumyanovka.

Understanding the significance of the toponym, the Armenians subsequently defended the name “Shaumyanovka”. In the 1940s, local authorities changed the name to the Georgian version of Narinjovani, but then returned the name Shaumyanovka. Only in 1996, Shaumyanovka was returned to the Abkhaz name Tskybyn, but due to the renaming of the village, the Abkhazians, who were dying out on the separatist territory, did not appear there. But the number of Armenians continued to grow.

The population dynamics of the village is interesting. In 1959, 1,365 people lived in the village of Shaumyanovka, mostly Armenians. In 1989, and 1965 people lived in the village, also mostly Armenians. As a result of the 2011 census, the population was 2,145. This is at a time of unprecedented economic crisis in the separatist territory, at a time when the Abkhazian villages themselves are rapidly emptying and dying out, and the population was expelled from Georgian villages by the same militants of the Bagramyan battalion.

There is no exact data on how many Armenians live in Tskybyn now, but more than 2145. In 2017, in the village of Tskybyn, the Armenians of Abkhazia even celebrated their Amshen holiday with pomp, as in their “model” settlement in Abkhazia.

And recently, the number of the Armenian population of the village has increased sharply, including due to immigrants from Azerbaijani Karabakh, liberated from the Armenian occupation. In Karabakh, the name of the city of Stepanakert and the mention of the executioner Stepan Shaumyan have already been erased, and the historical name of Khankendi has been returned. Once again, having moved to Abkhazia, the Armenians once again decided to symbolically “mark the land” with the name of their bloody “hero”. During the restoration of the stele at the entrance to the village of Tskybyn, inhabited by ethnic Armenians, a sign was illegally restored indicating the Soviet name of the village - Shaumyanovka (in honor of Stepan Shaumyan), and here the “handwriting” of the Armenian “Artsakh” separatists is felt. They say that it was not possible to keep Stepanakert in Karabakh - we will bet on Shaumyanovka in Abkhazia. Perhaps this is a hint of where the separatist “Artsakh” will move in exile.”

By the way, the authorities of separatist Abkhazia, who have completely turned into puppets of the Armenian lobby, did not even think about officially “revoking” the so-called “recognition of independence” that had already been officially liquidated by the separatists themselves of “Artsakh”. Those. for the whole world, even for Armenia, “Artsakh” with its cult of Stepan Shaumyan does not exist. Still, for the separatist authorities in Sukhumi it not only exists, but even “gradually” claims rights” to the Georgian Abkhaz lands, “marking” with the name of the same Stepan Shaumyan Will there be “Artsakh in exile” in Abkhazia. The Abkhazians will again be expelled from their native land, as was the case during the Muhajir era?

The fact of the brazen renaming of an Abkhaz village in the Armenian style aroused the indignation of many Abkhaz users of social networks. Moreover, the Abkhazians had already suffered a sensitive moral blow the day before - the Kremlin took Pitsunda from them and is taking away the airport before their very eyes, intending to evict the Abkhazians from its environs. And here it turns out that the Armenian settlers, with their toponyms, also “claim rights” to the Abkhaz land.

“This is the case when there is no owner in the house and there is no one to put the abandoned tenants in their place,” wrote indignant Abkhazians on social networks, not realizing that Abkhazia already has “owners.” This is the Kremlin and the “tenants” - the Armenian lobby, who are simply planning step by step to deprive the Abkhaz people of their land rights.

The Armenian community of Abkhazia realized that they were a little hasty in renaming the village and “before their time” disturbed the consciousness of the doomed Abkhazians. And so that the Abkhazians do not begin to resist the settlement of their land by Armenian settlers that are still taking place “quietly and according to plan,” the Armenian community of Abkhazia published a statement stating that in connection with what happened, “residents of the village of Tskybyn apologize to the district administration.”

Later, the Armenian community of Abkhazia published another statement, saying that changing the sign was a private initiative:

“We understand that preserving the historical memory of settlements requires special responsibility and respect for traditions. It is necessary to coordinate such actions, especially those related to such important elements of toponymy, with the relevant authorities and society,” the statement said.

So far, it has been possible to defend the Abkhaz village from being renamed Shaumyanovka. But for how long? The separatist regime of Abkhazia is completely dependent on the Armenian lobby, which is increasingly bringing Karabakh Armenians to Abkhazia. People from both the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia travel to Abkhazia. The process of alienation of the Abkhaz people from their land is gaining momentum. It can only be stopped by the deoccupation of Abkhazia and the reconciliation of the Abkhazians with the fraternal Georgian people.

Grigol Giorgadze