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Crossing Continents: Abkhazia - a Land Forgotten

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A Land Forgotten

17/08/2017

Abkhazia - a Land Forgotten

BBC Radio 4 - Crossing Continents, Abkhazia - a Land Forgotten

Tim Whewell travels to remote Abkhazia where the price of statehood is deep isolation.

Tim Whewell travels by horse-drawn wagon to remote Abkhazia on the edge of the Black Sea where the price of statehood is deep isolation.

It's a state that most of the world says doesn't exist. But remote Abkhazia, on the far north-east shore of the Black Sea, has had the trappings of independence for a generation, since it broke away from Georgia in a short but brutal war. Foreign reporters rarely visit Abkhazia - but Tim Whewell gets there by horse-drawn wagon, as it's hard to cross the frontier by car. He finds a stunningly beautiful country still recovering physically and psychologically from the war, that's determined to preserve its independence and ancient culture - including a pagan religion built around animal sacrifices. But the price of statehood is deep isolation - and a future for many young people without opportunities. How long can this "frozen conflict" - and others around the Black Sea - continue? 

Producer, Monica Whitlock.

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