18 ~ 20 July 1999
Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia
This
conference was organized and co-sponsored by the Alliance of Invalids and
Veterans of War “Demetre Tavdadebuli” and the National Conference of Viet Nam
Veteran Ministers in the United States.
The hosting organizations for this first and historic conference were
the “Demetre Tavdadebuli,” the
Georgian Foundation of Sciences Revival ”Intellect,”
and the Union of Wives of Invalids and Lost-Warriors. There was a previous
conference for Veterans held in Tbilisi in September of 1998 but it was not an
international venture in the way that this particular conference was.
II. CONFERENCE MISSION
The
Alliance of Invalids and Veterans of War - “Demetre
Tavdadebuli” made initial contact with Vietnam Veterans of America at the
National Headquarters in Washington, DC. They were looking for a liaison to
American Vietnam Veterans for information and guidance that might be helpful
for the younger veterans of Georgia, particularly in the area of social
readjustment to civilian life and all that it encompasses. They were also looking for assistance in how
to organize themselves in such manner that the government officials would take
note of the unique factors ailing those who directly fought in wars and how various
kinds of trauma might be addressed both in the areas of health care and
disability compensation and pensions.
The contact was given to me, the National Chaplain of Vietnam Veterans
of America to pursue and link up with these veterans through the Internet. This was done and over a period of six to
nine months, it was deemed appropriate to call a convene a conference for
veterans of Georgia as well as their neighboring nations. The National Conference of Viet Nam Veteran
Ministers would gather a team of experts from a variety of disciplines to
address every area that would be pertinent to Veterans and Victims of War.
III. CONFERENCE DEMOGRAPHICS
The
conference registered 142 participants mainly from the Republic of
Georgia. The participants represented a
wide segment of the community: Veterans; citizen-soldiers; widows; wives;
family members of those killed in war; psychologists and psychiatrists;
university professors; government officials; members of the military, and;
members of the media (both broadcast media and print media).
The
participants came from: Georgia; Azerbaijan; Chechnya, and; Uzbekistan.
The
presenters from the International community also came from a variety of
disciplines: two psychiatrists; two Commissioners of Veterans Services from
their respective countries; two veterans from two very different and distinct
wars, and; one Roman Catholic Priest who served in the Vietnam war as a
soldier.
These were
the presenters:
Dr. Jos
Weerts, M.D. - Psychiatrist from The Netherlands
Dr. Jőao
Monteiro-Ferreira, M.D.-Psychiatrist from Portugal
Mr. John
Adole - Commissioner of Veterans Services - Nigeria
Mr.
Augusto Salgado - Commissioner of Veterans Services -
Portugal
Mr. James
Doyle - Vietnam Veteran - Secretary to the Vietnam
Veterans Peace Initiative, Inc. - United States
Mr. Marius
vanNiekerk - South African Veteran - South
African Veteran Association - residing in Stockholm, Sweden
Father
Philip G. Salois, M.S. - Vietnam Veteran - President
and Founder, National Conference of Viet Nam Veteran Ministers and
National Chaplain to Vietnam Veterans of America - United States
There was
a call for papers prior to the Conference.
The presenters submitted their written presentations. These, in turn, were translated into the
Georgian and Russian languages and published in the three languages (including
English) in a bound book which was given to each registered participants at the
beginning of the conference. The papers
were either read or summarized with the assistance of simultaneous translation
by qualified interpreters.
IV. MAJOR CONFERENCE THEMES
The major
conference themes were as follows:
1) Country by
country historical overview of war and
recent conflicts.
2) Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder
3) Veteran
advocacy for health and welfare
benefits.
4) Women and
war.
5) Disabled
veterans and prosthetics
6) Spirituality
and healing from war
7) Veteran
Service Organizations
V. REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA
Georgia’s history
goes back over 2500 years and has one of the oldest living languages in the
world. The first written evidence of
the Georgian language dates back to the 7th BCE. In the latter part of the 19th
Century, Georgia became part of the Russian Empire. When the Russian Empire disintegrated on 26 May 1918, Georgia was
declared an independent nation and acknowledged by world’s leading powers. This was short-lived, however, when, in
February-March, 1921, Georgia once again lost its independence and became part
of the Soviet Union.
On April
9, 1991, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia adopted a declaration
to reestablish the independence of the state of Georgia. On July 31, 1992, Georgia became to 179th
member of the United Nations. Since,
1993, it has been a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS). On April 27, 1999, Georgia was
adopted in the Council of Europe as is 41st member.
As in
every other nation in the world, Georgia is not exempt from being a home of
various tribal and ethnic peoples.
Among some of these groups are the Abkhazian, Svani, Lazi, Karti and
Ossetian to name a few. The Abkhazians inhabit the northwestern part of the
Republic of Georgia. These people are
primarily of the Muslim faith whereas the people of Georgia are Orthodox
Christian.
December
22, 1991 began the occupational struggle in which Abkhazia began fighting for
its self-determination. On December 29,
1991, the Presidium of the Supreme Council of Abkhazian ASSR passed a
resolution, according to which Abkhazia established a mono-nationalistic
army. The Military Council was formed,
where out of nine members six were Abkhaz, two were Armenians and one
Russian. On January 25, 1992, this same
Presidium of the Supreme Council of Abkhazian ASSR adopted a law “ceasing
execution of Soviet laws and legal acts on the territory of the Abkhazian
Republic.” According to this law, Abkhazian
separatists declared Abkhazia independent from Georgia. On July 23, 1992, Abkhaz separatists “legalized” their independence in the
respective document by restoring an Abkhazian constitution of 1925.
Hence the
Georgian-Abkhaz War of 1992-93 is seen as another annexation expedition of
Russia and its strategic allies, with the aim of total occupation of Georgia
and incorporation of Abkhazia into the Russian Empire. The military provocation of 1992-93 which
took place in North West Georgia resulted in unaccountable destruction.
As a
result of the military provocation of 1992-93, 300,000 residents of Abkhazia
were subject to ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Much of the ethnic Georgians were deported and exiled from its historic
land. The war resulted in total
destruction of agriculture and industry.
The full-scale program of denationalization of Abkhazia is in
place. Russian military and their
families, Turkish and middle Asian citizens arrived in Abkhazia for permanent
settlements. There is almost no trace
of Georgian cultural life in Abkhazia, where the best of the Georgian cultural
heritage is destroyed, robbed or damaged.
At
present, Abkhazia has installed an illegitimate government headquartered in its
capital city of Sochumi on the Black Sea.
This conflict is not resolved although the war itself has ended. Small skirmishes still flare up on occasion.
VI. REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN
A small
delegation of the Azeri Society of Invalid Soldiers known as the “Karabakh” Society came to the Tbilisi
Conference. They outlined their history
as a nation and describe their war with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh
region.
VII. REPUBLIC OF CHECHNYA
A
delegation of three veterans of the Russian-Chechen War were represented at the
conference and described the historical events leading up to their struggle for
independence. Their organization is
call “Salaam.” This nation is predominantly Muslim and firmly
believe that Allah has promised this land to be theirs and they will fight to
the end to fulfill Allah’s wish for Chechen independence and create an Islamic
state.
VIII. REPUBLIC
OF UZBEKISTAN
There was a
small delegation from the Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan. Dr Fuad Aliev, M.D. is a medical doctor who
has dedicated much of his professional
life to the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for Uzbeki Veterans who
fought in the Afghanistan War under the U.S.S.R flag. Nyckolay Kuzmin, a Uzbek Army veteran of the Afghanistan war is
the manager of the clinic MEDVA in Tashkent that receives and treats Uzbekistan’s
many war veterans from PTSD. They
provided the conference with the plight of post-Soviet veterans and how there
is very little medical care and social welfare available for these veterans. They number the Afghanistan War veterans in
their country at 60,000.
IX. TOPICS
OF GREAT INTEREST
There were
several papers presented on the topic of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Very little is known about this diagnosis in
this region. It is relatively a new
concept to an already existing fact of life in this war-torn region. Mental health professionals although know
something about the disorder, it is not an area that they received academic or
clinical education in. Our purpose was
to define it, describe its symptoms and begin to describe the research and
treatment modalities. Many examples
drawn from the American experience in the Vietnam War were used by way of
illustration.
June
Willenz, the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Women for the World Veteran
Federation submitted a written presentation on Women and War. Manana Mebuke, President of the Georgian Union
of Wives of Invalids and Lost-Warriors also presented a paper of the activities
of their organization to support the social welfare and well-being of families
of those killed in the line of duty during the war. Georgia is an economically poor nation. It is not able to provide monetary benefits to its disabled
veterans or survivor benefits. The
Union of Wives is an organization that has pooled its resources together
through community outreach to feed and clothe those veterans and families
members most hard hit by the war. They
have received some government grants but primarily the resources come from what
little they can contribute and a lot of hard work.
Prosthetic
devices is another major area of concern and great need. The amputees from Georgia, Chechnya and
Azerbaijan do not have the opportunities we have in America for prosthetic
devices and other devices such as wheelchairs, crutches, canes, etc. There is no technology in the Caucasus to
manufacture prosthetic devices and no financial resources to purchase
them. Our Portuguese delegation, one of
whom is an amputee, has offered to look into this matter and search out
possible organizations that may wish to contribute these kinds of materials and
technology.
X. SUMMARY and FUTURE PROJECTS
This Conference
was a strong first attempt at bringing scholarship and expertise to this very troubled
Caucasus nation and its neighbors. The
mutual exchange of ideas and stories brought about a tremendous awareness to
those in attendance particularly from the International Community.
It was
decided that there should be a TBILISI
2000 Conference with a different focus.
We felt it would be better for the second conference to make it a series
of seminars and hands-on workshops on how-to run self-help groups. We would like to help them in the techniques
of group process and group therapy. It
would be more of a training conference rather than an educational one.
We are
also looking at organizing a similar Conference in Tashkent, Uzbekistan for the
five Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrygzstan,
Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. The need in these former Soviet republics is great
and yet the political situation in these nations do not always necessarily make
it possible to all that we would like to do, particularly in the troubled
nations of the Transcaucasus. Time will
tell if some of our future projects will materialize.
Respectfully
submitted,
FATHER PHILIP G. SALOIS, M.S.
National Conference of Viet Nam Veteran
Ministers,
President and Founder
Vietnam Veterans of America,
National Chaplain