Abkhazia

Аҧсны/აფხაზეთი/Абхазия
Aphsny/Apxazeti/Abhazia

Flag Coat of Arms
Official languages	Abkhaz, Russian
Political status	De Facto Independent
Capital	Sukhumi
Capital's coordinates	43°01′N 41°02′E
President¹	Sergei Bagapsh
Prime Minister¹	Alexander Ankvab
¹ Separatist government
Chairman of the Supreme Council²	Temur Mzhavia
Chairman of Cabinet of Ministers²	Irakli Alasania
² Pro-Georgian Government in exile
Independence – Declared – Recognition	From Georgia 23 July 1992 none
Area – Total – % water	8,600 km² Negligible
Population - Total (2000 est.) - Density	250,000 29/km²
Currency	Russian ruble
Time zone	UTC +3

Abkhazia ( Abkhaz Аҧсны/Aphsny, Georgian აფხაზეთი/Apxazeti, Russian Абха́зия/Abhazia) is a region of 8,600 km² (3,300 sq.mi.) in the Caucasus. It is formally an autonomous republic within Georgia but is de facto independent, although not recognised as such internationally. The capital is Sukhum (Sokhumi)².

Geography and Climate

Abkhazia covers an area of about 8,600 km² at the western end of Georgia, on the north shore of the Black Sea. The Caucasus mountains to the north and the northeast divide Abkhazia from Circassia. To the east, the region is bordered by Svanetia. To the southeast, Abkhazia is bounded by Samegrelo; and on the south and southwest by the Black Sea.

The republic is extremely mountainous (nearly 75% is classified as mountains or foothills) and settlement is largely confined to the coast and a number of deep, well-watered valleys. The Greater Caucasus Mountain Range runs along the region's northern border. The Gagra, Bziphi, and Kodori Ranges branch off from the Main Caucasus Range. The highest peaks of Abkhazia are in the northeast and east (along the border with Svanetia) and several exceed 4,000 meters (13,120 feet) above sea level. The climate is extremely mild, which in the Soviet times caused it to become a popular holiday destination known as the "Georgian Riviera". It is also renowned for its agricultural produce, including tea, tobacco, wine and fruits.

Landscape

Abkhazia is well known for its beauty and contrasting landscapes. The landscapes of the region range from coastal forests ( endemic pine forests near Bichvinta/Pitsunda) and citrus plantations, to eternal snows and glaciers to the north of the republic. Because of Abkhazia's complex topographic setting, most of the territory has been spared from significant human cultivation and development. Therefore, a large portion of Abkhazia (nearly 70% of the territory) is still covered by forests today. Abkhazia is also well known for the high number of endemic species of plants that are found only in the Caucasus, only in Georgia, or only in Abkhazia.

Southeastern Abkhazia, a part of the Colchis Lowland, is covered by Colchian forests ( alder, hornbeam, oak, beech), or by citrus and tea plantations. The foothills, up to an elevation of 600 meters (1,968 feet) above sea level, are covered by deciduous forests (with evergreen elements), and include tree species such as oak, hornbeam, beech, and buxus. The forest cover from 600 to 1,800 meters (1,960-5,904 ft.) above sea level is made up of both deciduous and coniferous species of trees. The most common species are beech, spruce, and fir. The mixed forest zone is home to some of the tallest trees in Europe and the world, where some specimens of the Nordmann Fir (especially around Lake Ritsa) reach heights of over 70 meters (230 feet). The zone extending 1,800-2,900 m (5,904-9,512 ft.) above sea level is made up of either subalpine forests or alpine meadows. Territory lying above 2,900 m (9,512 ft.) is mainly covered by eternal snows and glaciers.

Climate

Because of Abkhazia's proximity to the Black Sea, its climate is very mild, considering the northern latitude. The Caucasus Mountains are greatly responsible for moderating the region's climate, as they shield Abkhazia from cold northerly winds.

The coastal areas of the Republic have a subtropical climate, where the average annual temperature in most regions is around 15 degrees Celsius. Average winter (January) temperatures vary between 4 and 6 degrees C, while average summer (July) temperatures are anywhere between 22 and 23 degrees C. The coastal territory rarely experiences strong frosts during the winter.

Higher elevations of Abkhazia, above 1,000 meters (3,280 ft.) above sea level have a maritime, mountain climate, experiencing relatively cold winters and long, warm summers. Elevations above 2,000 m (6,560 ft.) above sea level have colder winters and shorter summers. Abkhazia's highest regions have a cold, summerless climate throughout the year.

Abkhazia receives high amounts of precipitation, but is known for its unique micro-climate (transitional from subtropical to mountain) along most of its coast, causing lower levels of humidity. The annual precipitation along the coast ranges from 1,100 to 1,500 mm (43-59 inches). The foothills, the lower ranges, and the interior gorges of the Republic receive anywhere between 1,000 and 1,800 mm (39-71 in.) of precipitation annually. Some of the interior gorges that are sheltered from the moist influences of the Black Sea receive the lowest amounts of precipitation. The higher mountainous regions receive 1,700-3,500 mm (67-138 in.) of precipitation per year. Although there is usually no significant snowfall in the coastal regions, the mountains of Abkhazia do receive significant amounts of snow. Avalanches in the northeast sometimes pose a threat to populated areas. Snow depths often exceed 5 meters (18 feet) in some of the high, mountainous areas facing the Black Sea.

Demographics

The demography of Abkhazia has undergone major changes since the 1990s. At the time of the last Soviet census in 1989, it had a population of about 500,000, of whom 48% were Georgians (principally Mingrels) and only 17% of whom were Abkhazians.

In 1993, a major war led to Abkhazia breaking away from Georgia, during which virtually the entire Georgian population - about 250,000 people - were displaced in what was alleged to be a campaign of ethnic cleansing. The conflict has not yet been resolved, and Abkhazia's much-reduced population is now largely ethnically Abkhazian.

After the expulsion of the ethnic Georgians, the Abkhazians became an ethnic plurality in Abkhazia (about 45%), with Russians, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks, and Jews comprising most of the remainder of the population of Abkhazia.

History

Early history

The earliest archaeological evidence of human settlement in the Western Caucasus is thought to date back to about 4000- 3000 BC. Current Abkhazian nationalists call these early tribes "proto-Abkhazians", and write that such tribes "lived along a swathe of the Black Sea coast roughly corresponding to the present Abkhazian republic"¹.

In the 1st millennium BC ( 9th- 6th centuries BC), the territory of modern Abkhazia was a part of the ancient kingdom of Colchis (Kolkha), which was absorbed in 63 BC into the Kingdom of Egrisi. Greek traders established ports along the Black Sea shoreline. One of those ports, Dioscurias, eventually developed into modern Sukhumi, Abkhazia's traditional capital.

The Roman Empire conquered Egrisi in the 1st century AD and ruled it until the 4th century, following which it regained a measure of independence, but remained within the Byzantine Empire's sphere of influence. The Abkhazians were converted to Christianity during the rule of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in the mid- 6th century. Abkhazia was made an autonomous principality of the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century — a status it retained until the 9th century, when it was united with the Georgian kingdom of Imereti. Actual independence from Constantinople ebbed and flowed during this period, which Abkhazians consider as a time of Abkhazian Kingdom. It is certain that Byzantine authority would have faded farther away from the towns, as one penetrated the mountains.

In the 16th century, the area was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, during which the Abkhazians were partially converted to Islam. The Ottomans were pushed out by the Georgians, who established an autonomous Principality of Abkhazia (Abkhazetis Samtavro in Georgian), ruled by the Sharvashidze dynasty.

Abkhazia within the Russian Empire and Soviet Union

The expansion of the Russian Empire into the Caucasus region led to small-scale but regular conflicts between Russian colonists and the indigenous Caucasian tribes. Various Georgian principalities were annexed to the empire between 1801 and 1864. The Russians acquired possession of Abhkazia in a piecemeal fashion between 1829 and 1842, but their power was not firmly established before 1864, when they managed to abolish the local Principality. Large numbers of Muslim Abkhazians — said to have constituted as much as 60% of the Abkhazian population, although contemporary census reports were not very trustworthy — emigrated to the Ottoman Empire between 1864 and 1878.

Modern Abkhazian historians insist that large areas of the region were left uninhabited, and that many Armenians, Georgians and Russians (all Christians) subsequently migrated to Abkhazia, resettling much of the vacated territory. This version of events is strongly contested by Georgian historians (see Lortkipanidze M., The Abkhazians and Abkhazia, Tbilisi 1990) who argue that Georgian tribes ( Mingrelians and Svans) had populated Abkhazia from ancient times, since the Colchis kingdom. According to Georgian scholars, modern Abkhazians are the descendants of the North Caucasian tribes ( Adygey, Apsua), and are the ones who were moving down to Abkhazia from the North Caucasus mountains throughout history and merging there with the existing Georgian population. Either way, by the beginning of the 20th century, Abkhazians were a minority in the region. The Encyclopædia Britannica reported in 1911 that in the principal town, Sukhum-kaleh (modern Sukhumi; population then 43,000), two-thirds were Mingrelian Georgians, and one-third Abkhazians.

The takeover of the Bolsheviks following the Russian Revolution in 1917 led to Abkhazia being granted a degree of cultural and political autonomy, until in 1931 Stalin made it an autonomous republic within Soviet Georgia. Despite its nominal autonomy, it was subjected to strong central rule from Tbilisi, and the policy of "Georgianization" was forcibly imposed. Georgian became the official language, the Abkhaz language was banned, and cultural rights were repressed, with thousands of Abkhazians killed during Stalin's purges. Lavrenty Beria encouraged Georgian migration to Abkhazia, and many took up the offer and resettled there. Later, in the 1950s and 1960s, Vazgen I and the Armenian church encouraged and funded the migration of Armenians to Abkhazia. Currently, Armenians are the largest minority group in Abkhazia.

The repression of Abkhazians was ended after Stalin's death and Beria's execution, and Abkhazians were given a much more powerful role in the governance of the autonomous republic. As in most of the smaller autonomous republics, the Soviet government encouraged the growth of culture, and particularly of literature. Ethnic quotas were established for certain bureaucratic posts, giving the Abkhaz a degree of political power that was disproportionate to their minority status in the republic. This was interpreted by some as a "divide and rule" policy whereby local elites were given a share in power in exchange for support for the Soviet regime. In Abkhazia as elsewhere, it led to other ethnic groups — in this case, the Georgians — resenting what they saw as unfair discrimination, thereby stoking ethnic discord in the republic.

The Abkhazian War

As the Soviet Union began to disintegrate at the end of the 1980s, ethnic tension grew between the Abkhazians and Georgians over Georgia's moves towards independence. Many Abkhazians opposed this, fearing that an independent Georgia would lead to "Georgianization", and argued instead for the establishment of Abkhazia as an independent republic in its own right. The dispute soon turned violent in Sukhumi on 16 July 1989. Sixteen Georgians were said to have been killed and another 137 injured when they wanted to enroll in a Georgian University instead of an Abkhazian one. After several days of violence, Soviet troops restored order in the city, but blamed rival nationalist paramilitaries for "provoking" confrontations.

Georgia declared independence on 9 April 1991, under the rule of the former Soviet dissident Zviad Gamsakhurdia. Gamsakhurdia's rule became unpopular, and that December, the Georgian National Guard, under the command of Tengiz Kitovani, laid siege to the offices of Gamsakhurdia's government in Tbilisi. After months of stalemate, he was forced to resign in January 1992. He was replaced as president by Eduard Shevardnadze, the former Soviet foreign minister and architect of the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Shevardnadze inherited a government dominated by hardline Georgian nationalists, and although he was not an ethnic nationalist, he did little to avoid being seen as supporting the government figures and powerful coup leaders who were.

On 21 February 1992, Georgia's ruling Military Council announced that it was abolishing the Soviet-era constitution and restoring the 1921 Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Georgia. Many Abkhazians interpreted this as an abolition of their autonomous status. In response, on 23 July 1992, the Abkhazia government effectively declared independence, although this gesture went unrecognized by any other country. The Georgian government accused Gamsakhurdia supporters of kidnapping Georgia's interior minister and holding him captive in Abkhazia. The Georgian government dispatched 3,000 troops to the region, ostensibly to restore order. Heavy fighting between Georgian forces and Abkhazian militia broke out in and around Sukhumi. The Abkhazian authorities rejected the government's claims, claiming that it was merely a pretext for an invasion. After about a week's fighting and many casualties on both sides, Georgian government forces managed to take control of most of Abkhazia, and closed down the regional parliament.

The Abkhazians' military defeat was met with a hostile response by the self-styled Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus, an umbrella group uniting a number of anti-Russian movements in the North Caucasus, Russia ( Chechens, Cossacks, Ossetians and others). Hundreds of volunteer paramilitaries from Russia (including the then little known Shamil Basayev) joined forces with the Abkhazian separatists to fight the Georgian government forces . In September, the Abkhazians and Russian paramilitaries mounted a major offensive after breaking a cease-fire, which drove the Georgian forces out of large swathes of the republic. Shevardnadze's government accused Russia of giving covert military support to the rebels with the aim of "detaching from Georgia its native territory and the Georgia-Russian frontier land". The year 1992 ended with the rebels in control of much of Abkhazia west of Sukhumi. Significant " ethnic cleansing" occurred on both sides, with Abkhazians displaced from Georgian-held territory and vice-versa; some 3,000 people were reported to have been killed in this first phase of the war.

The conflict remained stalemated until July 1993, when Abkhazian (separatist) militia launched an attack on Georgian-held Sukhumi. The capital was surrounded and heavily shelled, with Shevardnadze himself trapped in the city. Although a truce was declared at the end of July, this collapsed after a renewed Abkhaz attack in mid-September. After ten days of heavy fighting, Sukhumi fell on 27 September, 1993. Newly appointed Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze narrowly escaped death, having vowed to stay in the city no matter what, but he was eventually forced to flee when separatist snipers fired on the hotel where he was residing. Shevardnadze had to rely on the Russian navy to evacuate him from Sukhumi.

The separatist forces quickly overran the rest of Abkhazia as the Georgian government faced a second threat: an uprising by the supporters of the deposed Zviad Gamsakhurdia in the region of Mingrelia (Samegrelo). In the chaotic aftermath of defeat, almost the entire non-Abkhazian population fled the region by sea or over the mountains. Many thousands died — it is thought that as many as 10,000 may have perished — and some 250,000-300,000 people were forced into exile.

Abkhazia today

The Abkhaz conflict has not been resolved; a ceasefire agreement was signed on 15 May 1994 and a United Nations peacekeeping force ( UNOMIG) was given the task of monitoring the agreement. A separate force from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was assigned to a peacekeeping mission.

Peace talks have taken place on and off over the last ten years but have achieved little of significance. Although there have been no major outbreaks of fighting in the meantime, border clashes and armed raids by both sides continue to inflict casualties.

A new constitution was adopted on 4 November 1994 which declared Abkhaz sovereignty. Elections were held on 23 November 1996 but these were not recognised by the Georgian government or the international community, as the elections were held after ethnic cleansing when majority of pre-war population had fled Abkhazia. The CIS imposed economic sanctions in January 1996 and the region is formally blockaded by both Georgia and Russia.

On 3 October 2004 presidential elections were held in Abkhazia. In the elections, Russia evidently supported then-Prime Minister Raul Khadjimba, also backed by seriously ailing outgoing separatist President Vladislav Ardzinba. Posters of Russia's President Vladimir Putin together with Khadjimba, who like Putin had worked as a KGB official, were everywhere in Sukhumi. Deputies of Russia's parliament and Russian singers, led by Joseph Kobzon, both a deputy and a popular songster, came to Abkhazia compaigning for Khadjimba.

Still, on 12 October Abkhazia's Supreme Court, after a series of contradictory decisions by the Electoral Committee, recognized that the new president would be businessman Sergei Bagapsh, accused by his rival's supporters of being pro-Georgian. Abkhazia's outgoing President Ardzinba claimed the decision was illegal and made under pressure from supporters of Bagapsh. The decision was cancelled by the Supreme Court that night. When supporters of Raul Khadjimba seized the building of the Supreme Court and destroyed the protocols from local electoral constituencies, new elections were prescribed.

Soon the Supreme Court cancelled the later decision, and again named Bagapsh the new president. His supporters captured a local TV station, while Khadjimba's supporters took control over the parliament's building. Outgoing President Ardzinba replaced Khadjimba as prime minister with Nodar Khashba, who before this appointment served in the Ministry of Extraordinary Situations of Russia.

On 12 November supporters of Bagapsh, who was planning to be inaugurated on 7 December, took the building of Abkhazia's administration, making Nodar Khashba flee from his room. Capturing the major governmental offices in Sukhumi led to the death of one elderly woman, Tamara Shakryl. (Bagapsh's supporters claim she was killed by Ardzinba's guard.) The same day Russia made it clear that it would directly intervene in Abkhazian developments in case of threats to its interests in this unrecognized republic, and blamed Bagapsh for the disorders.

In response, Georgia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it "calls upon the Group of Friends of the UN Secretary General and the international community to give the proper reaction to such Russian declarations, to reiterate their support to Georgia's full sovereignty and territorial integrity and to warn Russia to abstain from any interference in Georgia's internal affairs."

In response to Georgia's accusations that Russia was sending its so-called peacemaking troops to Sukhumi, Russian lieutenant colonel Yevgeni Morenko, head of the Collective Peacemaking Forces in the region, told journalists on 12 November that only two armored troop-carriers were sent to Abkhazia's capital, "for better protection of the Peacemaking Headquarters".

On 14 November, Prime Minister Nodar Khashba, named by the relatives of Tamara Shakryl as responsible for her death and threatened by them, had to spend the night at Russia's Peacemaking Headquarters in Sukhumi. Tensions continued to mount as the day for Bagapsh's inaugural ceremony came. In early December 2004, however, Bagapsh came to an agreement with Khadjimba under which they would run in new elections under a national unity ticket, with Bagapsh as presidential candidate and Khadjimba as vice-presidential candidate. The ticket won the elections with over 90% of the vote, and the new administration took office on 12 February 2005.

Abkhazia's future

Abkhazian leaders have made alternating demands in recent years. At times, they have insisted on full independence, and at other times, they have requested associate membership in the Russian Federation. However, the Russian government has been slow to respond to the latter proposal, fearing the negative effect of such an action on its relations with Georgia. On 28 November 2003, Russian MP Vladimir Zhirinovsky tabled such a resolution in the State Duma, but saw it rejected. Nonetheless, many citizens of Abkhazia now possess Russian citizenship, and Abkhazians, unlike Georgians entering Russia, do not require a visa.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, European Union and United Nations have continued to insist that Abkhazia must remain part of Georgia, and that at the very least, the many Georgian refugees who fled after the 1992-1993 war must be allowed to return, before any acceptable vote on independence can be held.

The Georgian government has continued to insist on Abkhazia's reunification with Georgia, but has differed in its suggestions of means to achieve this, particularly under the government of current President Mikhail Saakashvili.

They have, at times, proposed two main peace deals. The first one would divide Georgia into seven autonomous entities, each with power over police and economic issues, but relinquishing power over defence and foreign affairs to the federal government. In a later proposal, it was suggested that Georgia and Abkhazia could form one federal Georgian republic, somewhat along the lines of Serbia and Montenegro.

The Georgian government has, at times, suggested that they may attempt to resolve the conflict by military means. After the 2004 removal of Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze from office after large public protests, Saakashvili suggested that Abkhazia and fellow separatist entity South Ossetia could be reintegrated in the same manner. However, over the following months, he distanced himself from this idea.

Saakashvili has also attempted to portray the Abkhaz dispute as being between Georgia and Russia, owing to the latter's support of the separatists, with the separatist government being portrayed as little more than a Russian puppet. To this end, they have pushed for either the complete removal of, or major changes to the mandate of, the Russian peacekeepers, and the removal of Russian military bases from Abkhaz territory. During 2003, they succeeded in achieving the latter demand, with Russia removing its bases, leaving only its peacekeeping force.

Both the Abkhazian government and opposition resolutely oppose reunification with Georgia under any circumstances.