Inar Gitsba, Executive Secretary of the World Abaza Congress, and Inver Alshundba, a member of the Supreme Council of the WAC, met with representatives of the Abkhaz-Abaza and Circassian diasporas in the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR) on Tuesday October 6 in Damascus, at the newly opened Embassy of the Republic of Abkhazia in Syria.

At the beginning of the meeting, representatives of the Congress conveyed a welcoming word from the chairman of the Supreme Council of the WAC Mussa Ekzekov, and then spoke in detail about the goals and objectives of the Congress, about its activities, successfully implemented projects and plans.

 Representatives of the diasporas, in turn, showed great interest in the work of the WAC, asked numerous questions, and also expressed their full readiness to implement joint projects.

Commenting on the agenda of the meeting, Inar Gitsba noted that the issue of establishing a regional branch of the WAC in the Syrian Arab Republic was discussed.

 A member of the Supreme Council of the WAC, Inver Alshundba, in turn, added that at the meeting it was decided to work out a protocol of mutual cooperation between the WAC and Adyga Khasa.

 “In the near future the text of this document will be prepared by both sides. All efforts are directed for the benefit of our people, in the name of the idea of ​​uniting the Abkhaz-Abaza people, ”he said.

 For further interaction, a working group was created, which included six representatives of the Syrian diaspora. Inar Gitsba explained that joint projects will be developed within the committee.

Following the meeting, it was decided to work out two more issues: the possibility of training representatives of the Abkhaz-Abaza diaspora in Syria at the Abkhaz State University and the opportunity to organize a summer camp in Abkhazia for Abkhaz-Abaza and Circassian children from Syria.

At the height of the patriotic war of the people of Abkhazia on December 14, 1992, the world was shocked by a terrible fact committed by the Georgian side. Over the village of Lata, the enemies shot down a helicopter carrying women, old people, children and wounded soldiers from the besieged Tkuarchal to Gudauta.

 As a result of this barbaric act, 85 people died, including 35 children. Eight pregnant women were among the victims of the Latin tragedy. By the time the Patriotic War was in full swing, few people could be surprised with death. But the death of 84 people, half of whom were children, and the rest were women and old people, made the whole of Abkhazia bleeding to death shudder. This tragic event plunged the entire young Republic into deep mourning and mournful numbness. The Abkhaz people were in the grip of an all-consuming grief. It seemed that life had stopped, stood still in those terrible days, as if the sky over Abkhazia had turned black.

 But grief has united the peoples of Abkhazia even more firmly in the face of a real overt threat of destruction. The people of Abkhazia withstood and won.

 The tragedy of December 14 will remain an unhealed wound of this war.