ABKHAZ
(Own name:Absua)

Indigenous North West Caucasian people some 90.000 to 100,

000 of whom live in Abkhazia. According to Abkhaz sources, half a million Abkhaz live in exile in Turkey and the Middle East, where they constitute part of the Çerkes diaspora.

Abkhaz are closely related to Abaza, who moved east wards between the fourteenth
and sixteenth centuries, where they took to Islam under the influence of their
new neighbours. They now live in Karachai-Cherkessia. Until the 1860s they were
seen as one people living at the eastern coast of the Black Sea. Abkhaz
territory came under Russian rule in 1864, and Abaz in the early nineteenth
century. Both peoples are absolute minorities in their republics. Many
particularly Muslim Abkhaz, fell victim to a comprehensive population transfer
program between Turkey and Russia. When they left their land was given to
Christians.

Note: This information is taken from "The North Caucasus: Minorities at a Crossroads" written by Helen Krag and Larsh Funch.