Abkhaz ASSR (before 1992) Abkhazia (after 1992) Supported by: CMPC (1992–1993) /  Russia Georgian SSR (before 1990) / Georgia (after 1990) Supported by: Vladislav Ardzinba (1990–2005) Sergei Bagapsh #(2005–11) Alexander Ankvab (2011–14) Raul Khajimba (2014–20) Aslan Bzhania (2020–present) Shamil Basayev †(1992–1993) Sultan Sosnaliyev #(1992–1993) Musa Shanibov #(1992–1993) / Boris Yeltsin #(1991–1999) Dmitry Medvedev(2008–2012) Vladimir Putin(2000–2008, 2012–present) Givi Gumbaridze (1989–1990) Zviad Gamsakhurdia (DOW) (1990–92) Eduard Shevardnadze # (1992–2003) Mikheil Saakashvili (2004–13) Giorgi Margvelashvili (2013–18) Salome Zourabichvili(2018–2024) Mikheil Kavelashvili (2024-Presesent) The Abkhazia conflict is a territorial dispute over Abkhazia, a region on the eastern coast of the Black Sea in the South Caucasus, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

[15] The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) conventions of Lisbon, Budapest and Istanbul have officially recognized the ethnic cleansing of Georgians,[16] which UN General Assembly Resolution GA/10708 also mentions.

The medieval Kingdom of Abkhazia managed to unite whole Western Georgia into a single political entity and transferred its capital to the Georgian city of Kutaisi.

In order to eliminate the Byzantine religious influence, the dynasty subordinated the local dioceses to the Georgian Orthodox patriarchate of Mtskheta.

Eventually Kingdom of Imereti declined due to power struggle within its ruling elites and constant Ottoman invasions, leading to these principalities gaining semi-independent status as they frequently acted independently and at times titled themselves as kings.

In the 1570s, the Ottoman navy occupied the fort of Tskhumi on the Abkhazian coastline, turning it into the Turkish fortress of Suhum-Kale (hence, the modern name of the city of Sukhumi).

As a result, Abkhazia came under the increasing influence of Turkey and Islam, gradually losing its cultural and religious ties with the rest of Georgia.

According to the Soviet historical science, Turkey, after the conquest has aimed at obliterating the material and spiritual culture of Abkhazia and forcibly convert the population to Islam.

[24] Following the Russian Revolutions, Georgia initially joined the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic and subsequently became independent as the Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG) governed by Georgian Mensheviks, while Abkhazia fell under control of a group of local Bolsheviks and the Red Army of Russia following a Bolshevik-led rebellion against the local Abkhazian self-government, Abkhaz People's Council (APC).

This later led to the Sochi conflict between Georgia and Soviet Russia over ownership of Abkhazia and the territories of the former Black Sea Governorate.

On 18 March 1989, a group of Abkhazian intellectuals wrote letter to the Kremlin, expressing their desire to upgrade the status of Abkhazia to independent SSR within the Soviet Union or join Russia as an autonomous republic.

[26] The local Abkhaz authorities endeavored to regulate the flow of information by censoring newspaper articles and television programs deemed to threaten the peace of multiethnic autonomy.

On August 15, 1990, the Georgian section of Abkhazian radio appealed to the Chairman of the Ministerial Council to safeguard the rights and freedoms of expression.

In response to this appeal, the Abkhaz authorities imposed a ban on radio broadcasts concerning the Georgian language and interfered with the editorial policies of journalists.

[27] Although the government managed to end the violence and maintain peace at that time, the conflict developed further and resulted in the next years in what is often referred as "war of laws".

Ardzinba, who was a charismatic but excitable figure popular among the Abkhaz, was believed by Georgians to have helped to instigate the anti-Georgian violence of July 1989.

Ardzinba created the Abkhazian National Guard that was mono-ethnically Abkhaz, and on 24 June 1992, attacked the building of the Abkhazian Interior Ministry, a last stronghold of Georgian authority in Abkhazia, severely beating the ethnic Georgian minister Givi Lominadze and installing Abkhaz Alexander Ankvab.

[30] Meanwhile, the Abkhaz leader Vladislav Ardzinba intensified his ties with hard-line Russian politicians and military elite and declared he was ready for a war with Georgia.

In April–May 1998, the conflict escalated once again in the Gali District when several hundred Abkhaz forces entered the villages still populated by Georgians to support the separatist-held parliamentary elections.

The new Georgian government of President Mikheil Saakashvili promised not to use force and to resolve the problem only by diplomacy and political talks.

For the first time after the war, this government was located in Abkhazia, and it was headed by Malkhaz Akishbaia, Temur Mzhavia and Ada Marshania.

It regretted the attempts to alter pre-war demographic composition and called for the "rapid development of a timetable to ensure the prompt voluntary return of all refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes.