Talk:Abkhaz people

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Someone should explain who the Abkhazians are. There is no use to redirect to the article "Abkhazia". This is an encyclopedia!

Can someone add more content about the religion of the Abkhaz?

Contents

[edit] Abkhazian population in Turkey

I looked it up and there are some huge variations in the estimates available.

Quoting [1]

  • The exact number of Abkhazians in Turkey is not known, as the official Turkish data on minorities are notoriously unreliable. Some specialists speak of more than 100,000 Abkhazians (G.A. Dzidzariya, Makhadzhirstvo i problemy istorii Abkhazii XIX stoletija. Sukhumi: Alashara, 1982, p. 493), while other authors estimate their numbers in Turkey (together with that of the closely related Abazas) at half a million (cf. I. Marykhuba, Abkhazija v sovetskuju epokhu. Abkhazskie pis'ma (1947-1989), Sbornik dokumentov. Tom 1. Akua (Sukhum), 1994; P. Overeem, "Report of a UNPO coordinated human rights mission to Abkhazia and Georgia", in: Central Asian Survey, vol. 14, no. 1, 1995, p. 18). According to the results of my own field research in Turkey, there are no fewer than 250 Abkhaz-Abaza villages in that country (V.A. Chirikba, "Distribution of Abkhaz dialects in Turkey", in: Proceedings of the Conference dedicated to the memory of Tevfik Esenç, Istanbul, forthcoming). In addition, a large number of Abkhazians are now living in cities and towns, the most numerous communities being in Istanbul, Ankara, Duzce, Inegol, Bilecik, Eskishehir, Samsun and Sinop.

I think we should give both an upper and lower estimate, rather than just the higher end or even a mean one:KillaShark 06:50, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

The accuracy of this page is in serious trouble! The author claims Abkhazians have always maintained a majority population in Abkhazia yet I can not find a single reference anywhere (Save extremist Abkhazian nationalist sites!) which supports this shadowy claim.

In fact, the general academic consensus is the reverse. Most claim that Georgians held a the majority. Still others suggest that Abkhazians are in fact proto-Georgians with a relatively recent Northern Caucasion influence. This author seems to engage in "orginal research" which is clearly not allowed. I suggest we remove his writings and request that a qualified person submit a body of work on this subject that meets more rigorous academic standards. We do not need to further pollute Wikipedia with more dogmatic pablum!Dynamisto1 13:00, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

Dynamisto, I would rather advice you to consult reliable sources before stating your opinions based on empty arguments. Both claims had sources, arguably reliable and academic. Who do you conceder as qualified person? The writing did meet "rigorous" academic approach. If you read carefully, you may analyze the sources which do meet academic standards. Polluting Wikipedia has been a major problem since the creation of this web site; however non-constructive attitudes only deepened its pollution instead of improving it. Before stating claim of invalidity of the section in the article, use reliable sources to support your arguments, otherwise they are useless blunders. Ldingley 13:37, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sources

Please present reliable and valid sources (primary and secondary) before labelling or challenging the claims made by the article. Thanks Ldingley 13:37, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV cleanup

This article is part of the NPOV backlog. Some minor, potentially loaded, text has been removed to reach NPOV. However, the tagged section, "History", does not cite a single source and therefore do not conform to WP:V (also see WP:RS). Since there has been no discussion suggesting further disagreement, the tag is removed. If you disagree with this, please re-tag the article with {{NPOV}} and post to Talk here. -- Steve Hart 18:28, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

In the history section, first paragraph, I changed the word "evicted" to "expelled". Eviction is a euphemism and is inconsistent with the use of verb expel later in the article in reference to Georgians in the 1990s. Eviction is usually related to the removal of tenants through legal methods. Lebenyu 19:27, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "related groups" info removed from infobox

For dedicated editors of this page: The "Related Groups" info was removed from all {{Infobox Ethnic group}} infoboxes. Comments may be left here. Ling.Nut 22:59, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Why georgians? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.77.28.177 (talk) 10:49, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Origins

The origins of the Abkhaz are disputed for several reasons. The language of the Abkhaz belongs to the Northwest Caucasian languages group which is distinct from the Georgian (Kartvelian) language family. However, scholarly opinion (mostly Western and Georgian) favors the notion that the indigenous people of Abkhazia were directly related to the Heniochi tribe, a proto-Georgian group that lived along the northeastern shores of the Black Sea, on the southern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains. According to Professor David Marshall Lang, the Henoichi tribe lived near the border of Colchis (Western Georgian Kingdom) and were eventually absorbed into that state in the first millennium BC.[2]

As far as I understand the word however is there because of the statement that heniochs were proto-Georgian. What source does support this? Here is what's written in the book by prof. Lang I've got (last three lines): Image:Lang page.jpg Alæxis¿question? 10:49, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

The whole paragraph seems contradictory to me. It looks like Western and Georgian scholars don't agree that Abkhaz language belongs to Northwest Caucasian group... Alæxis¿question? 10:54, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

The Henioch(o)i problem is very complicated. Actually there were two regions called Heniochia and the Heniochoi were presumabely an ethnically mixed people. Both the Classical accounts and their modern interpretations are very conflicting, but the subject itself is very interesting. I'll write more about them when I have enough time. --KoberTalk 13:12, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
Are Heniochoi called proto-Georgian tribe in the "Caucasian studies, University of London, 1964 Vol.1"? Alæxis¿question? 16:29, 24 May 2007 (UTC)