sentences:  Only in 1978 were there any concessions from either the Georgian or Soviet government, including the upgrading of the Sukhum Pedagogical Institute into a full university, Abkhaz State University.It was with the onset of perestroika within the Soviet Union that gave renewed hope to the Abkhaz in their desire to leave the Georgian SSR.On 17 June 1988, an 87-page document, known as the 'Abkhazian Letter', was sent to Mikhail Gorbachev and the rest of the Soviet leadership.