A BROTHER LIVES FOR THE SAKE OF A BROTHER

BROTHERAS. People“s poet and writer of Abkhazia, Adygeia and Kabarda.
BAGRAT SHINKUBA and Honoured worker of arts of Abkhazia, poet, Honoured Tkhamada of Adyge Khase of Kabarda ZAUR NALOEV 
 
Spring has come to my homeland
 again. Trees has been covered with young foliage, cherry-plums has bloomed out with white flowers, rains has rustled, beams of sunlight has glided over sea surface... And against this background ruines of houses, gardens turned into wastes, anguish in peoples“ eyes - vestiges of the recent tragedy - showed more clearly.
I will always remember a day of August 14, 1992. Early in the morning I went from Sukhum to my native village Chlou to see my grandchildren. Already in my way I met columns of occupation troops of State Council of Georgia and in the village I learned that a war had started. I already couldn“t return to Sukhum because all roads were closed. The war came unexpectedly and people were not ready for it.
I have lived a long life and always believed that I knew my people. But already in the first days of the war I realized that had not it to the end: unarmed peasants were ready even with axes and spades to resist the enemy armed with tanks, cannons, planes.
Tragedy was inevitable. The invaders“ main object  was elimination of Abkhazia“s statehood. Peaceful population was exterminated, centres of Abkhaz culture, history, science were eliminated. So, state archives of Abkhazia, Abkhaz institute of language, literature and history, museum of Nestor Lakoba were burnt and State museum of local lore, State university, Republican library were plundered. All that testified about the people“s originality was subject to annihilation. It was a real genocide.
In this crucial moment our brothers - Abazins, Kabardians, Chechens, Ossets realized that Abkhaz people underwent deadly danger and hundreds of armed people come to the aid of it. One may ask what made them to do it? Young volunteers went to burning Abkhazia and neither closed frontiers nor steep mountain paths and numerous perils could stop them. Why?
Everyone who is familar with our history knows reply to this question. Community of our historical fates, traditions, cultures is unambiguous evidence of our brotherhood. This brotherhood lead the volunteers to Abkhazia, it prevented the aggressor from doing his dirty deed.
More than once in Abkhazia and Kabarda I heard people telling one legend. Once upon a time Abkhazes and Adygs squabbled. Immediately the most honoured old men were selected who had to restore peace between brothers. And here is what was made in accordance with their piece of advice. In a mountain clearing a hundred Abkhaz and a hundred Adyg women gathered. Each of them held a baby. As soon as priests uttered words of a vow women exchanged their sons with each other. This exchange consolidated brotherhood of the peoples forever. It was then when a heroic song «Let a brother live for the sake of a brother» was composed.
A lot of water flowed away in mountain rivers since then but the brotherhood lives. Many times it endured a test for strength, many events strengthened it. But, perhaps, nothing brought peoples of the Caucasus together so much as forced separation with the Homeland.
Still before I tried my abilities in poetry and prose when, being a post-graduate student-linguist, I studied languages of the Nothern-Western Caucasus I learned for the first time about Ubykh language - language of non-existent people. I began to collect materials on language and history of Ubykhs and once ran against information of Norvegian scientists Fogt who established that only 16 persons spoke Ubykh language and all they were old men. It shook me! Under this impression I conceived a novel «The last from the gone» but it was still a long way till realization of this conception. Now in Turkey several hundreds of Ubykhs reside but they don`t know their native language. And how I would be glad if somebody could say: «Navral shinkuba!» - «Ubykhs live!». Record of Ubykh speech of the last bearer of this language - Esench Tofik - made by my comrade linguist Kumakhov we listened to the three of us: I - Abkhaz, Kumakhov - Kabardian and his wife - Adyg. We didn`t understood it, then it was not a dialect, but an independent language.
It is a horrible tragedy - death of the language, death of the people - one of the most ancient in the Caucasus.
And the same destiny was prepared for my own people when Abkhaz schools were closed, Abkhaz language was prohibited and Abkhazes were declared Geogians.
Having separated Abkhazia by administrative borders from its nearest brothers in the Nothern Caucasus and imposing non-existent kinship with the people to which it was granted in black years of Stalin“s tyranny they led us, virtually, along the road of Ubykhs. God didn“t permit the tragedy to occur in full measure. Now our task is a correction of mistakes. We were separated for too long time with our brothers in the Nothern Caucasus and even stopped to understand languages of each other. It is necessary to create united scientific centre and form a group of scientists-linguists for working out Abkhaz-Adyg alphabet. Taking community of roots into consideration it is necessary to pay much attention to studying folklore, people“s art. Just only Nart epos is of a great value. Our cooperation must go in all directions - in economic, cultural and scientific ones.
No one of descendants of those whom the bad fortune led a long way from the homeland and who are now dispersed all over the world must not be forgotten by us even for an instant. Establishment of relations, cooperation, assistance to repatriation and all that a brother can do for a brother we must do for each other. It must become anxiety and for International Circassian Association which demonstrated its great capabilities in organization of resistance to Georgian aggressors in Abkhazia. It must become the main task of the national public movements, all peoples and leaders of the republics of the Nothern Caucasus. International Association of Abkhaz-Abazin people may render considerable assistance to that. By uniting efforts we will be able to overcome any obstacles.
Bagrat Shinkuba,
people“s poet of Abkhazia and Adygeia,
people“s writer of Kabardin-Balkaria
CONTENTS