SUKHUM, May 28,/ITAR-TASS/. An extraordinary session of Abkhazia's parliament on Wednesday will discuss the country's current situation and ways to get out of it, Parliament Speaker Valery Bganba told ITAR-TASS.
On Tuesday, Raul Khadzhimba, chairman of the opposition party Forum of the People's Unity of Abkhazia, stated that the Coordinating Council of opposition parties and movements decided "to assume provisional leadership to tackle the formation of all necessary organizations".
Nugzar Ashuba, Secretary of the Security Council of Abkhazia, referred to the goings-on in the republic as an attempt at a coup.
He said that during the talks held earlier Tuesday between Abkhazia's President Alexander Ankvab and the opposition leaders who demanded resignation of the government, the prosecutor-general, and the heads of eastern districts of Abkhazia, "agreement was almost reached; and at that time opposition supporters attempted to storm the presidential administration, and the entire framework (of understanding) was ruined".
Following that, "The President did not dismiss anyone and he did not tender his resignation", Ashuba said.
On whose part is the army
The chiefs of Abkhazia's security organizations have stated Wednesday that they support the lawfully elected president of the country and do not accept "unconstitutional methods of struggle which are conducive to a destabilization of the situation in the country".
This is said in a joint statement signed by Defense and Interior Ministers Mirab Kishmariya and Otar Khetsiya, Aslan Bzhaniya, Chairman of the State Security Service (SSS), and Raul Lolua, chief of the SSS Special-Purpose Center.
The leaders of the security-related organizations of Abkhazia express an "Utter concern over the current developments in the country". "The security agencies are outside politics. However, we are categorically against unconstitutional methods of struggle which are conducive to a destabilization of the situation in the country. An escalation of the struggle may lead to disastrous consequences to the State. We earnestly call on all forces to stick to legal actions exclusively within the framework of the Constitution of the Republic of Abkhazia. We support the lawfully elected president of the country," the statement emphasizes.
Abkhazia's President did not leave the country
He is inside Abkhazia, an official at the presidential information department announced on Wednesday.
"I have not left the country. I am in Abkhazia. Together with the Security Council members, we discuss various options for the development of events. My aim and the purpose of the actions of my colleagues have been one and the same: to avert development of events according to a scenario that would be irreparable to our country," the information department official quotes Ankvab as saying.
Ankvab said a large group of people, among them gunmen, "came to Abkhazia's television and virtually seized it". "Of course, the guards could take adequate measures. However, all are well aware of what those measures could have led to. They were not taken and it means that we still have a chance to bring the situation back to the legal framework," Ankvab stated.
"Juridically, that was, of course, an attempt at seizing power by force, in an armed way," he emphasized.