Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article

Selected article 1

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/1 The Abkhazian Armed Forces (Abkhaz: Абџьарирқәу Амҷқәа Аԥсны; Russian: Вооружённые силы Абхазии) are the military forces of Abkhazia. The forces were officially created on 12 October 1992, after the outbreak of the 1992–1993 war with Georgia. The basis of the armed forces was formed by the ethnic Abkhaz National Guard. The Abkhaz military is primarily a ground force but includes small sea and air units. According to the authorities of the Republic of Abkhazia, the Abkhazian Land Forces are organised along the Swiss model – in time of peace they have personnel of 3,000 to 5,000 and in case of war further 40–50,000 reservists are called out. Georgia regards the Abkhaz armed forces as "unlawful military formations" and accuses Russia of supplying and training the Abkhaz troops. (Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 2

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/2 The Sukhumi riot was a riot in Sukhumi, Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union, in July 1989, triggered by an increasing inter-ethnic tensions between the Abkhaz and Georgian communities and followed by several days of street fighting and civil unrest in Sukhumi and throughout Abkhazia.

The riots started as an Abkhaz protest against opening of a branch of Tbilisi State University in Sukhumi, and concluded with looting of the Georgian school which was expected to house the new university on 16 July 1989. The ensuing violence quickly degenerated into a large-scale inter-ethnic confrontation. By the time when the Soviet army managed to temporarily bring the situation under control, the riots resulted in at least 18 dead and 448 injured, mostly Georgians. The first case of inter-ethnic violence in Georgia, it effectively marked the start of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. (Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 3

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/3 The Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia (SSR Abkhazia) was a short-lived Soviet republic within the Caucasus region of the Soviet Union that covered the territory of Abkhazia, and existed from 31 March 1921 to 19 February 1931. The region was previously part of the Georgian Democratic Republic as an autonomy and was formed in the aftermath of the Red Army invasion of the country in 1921. It was declared on 31 March 1921 and on 16 December 1921 agreed to a treaty that united it with the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR). The SSR Abkhazia was similar to an autonomous Soviet republic, though it retained nominal independence from Georgia and was given certain features only full union republics had, like its own military units. Through its status as a "treaty republic" with Georgia, Abkhazia joined the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, which united Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian SSRs into one federal unit when the latter was formed in 1922. The SSR Abkhazia was abolished in 1931 and replaced with the Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Georgian SSR.

During its existence, the SSR Abkhazia was led by Nestor Lakoba, who served officially as the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars but controlled the republic to such an extent that it was jokingly referred to as "Lakobistan". Due to Lakoba's close relationship with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, collectivisation was delayed until after Abkhazia was incorporated into Georgian SSR. Abkhazia remained a major tobacco producer in this era, growing over half of the USSR's supply. It also produced other agricultural produce, including tea, wine, and citrus fruits, leading to Abkhazia being one of the wealthiest regions in the Soviet Union. Its sub-tropical climate also made it a prime holiday destination, with Stalin and other Soviet leaders owning dachas (holiday homes) in the region and spending considerable time there.

An ethnically diverse region, Abkhazia was nominally led by the Abkhaz people. Other major groups included Georgians, Armenians, Greeks, and Russians. Even though they did not form the majority, the Abkhaz were heavily favoured and the Abkhaz language was promoted as a result of the korenizatsiia policies of the era. Though the quasi-independent republic was downgraded in 1931, the Abkhaz people did not forget that it had existed. With the advent of glasnost and perestroika in the late 1980s, Abkhaz leaders called for their state to be re-formed and secede from Georgia, citing the SSR Abkhazia as a precedent. This led to them restoring the 1925 SSR Abkhazian constitution, which led to the 1992–1993 war between Abkhazian secessionists and Georgia, and the modern Abkhazia conflict. (Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 4

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/4 The August 2008 Russo-Georgian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Georgia, was a war waged against Georgia by the Russian Federation and the Russian-backed separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The fighting took place in the strategically important South Caucasus region. It is regarded as the first European war of the 21st century.


Following the 1991 Georgian independence referendum, the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic declared independence as a sovereign state amidst the dissolution of the Soviet Union. A year later, the South Ossetia war and the Abkhazia war resulted in Georgia's partial loss of territory in what had been the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast and the Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, respectively, to two internationally unrecognized separatist movements that were supported by the newly independent Russian Federation. A series of ceasefire agreements brokered by Russia in 1992, 1993, and 1994 resulted in the establishment of the "Joint Control Commission" in South Ossetia, but Georgians were ethnically cleansed from Abkhazia by 1998. In 2000, Vladimir Putin became Russia's president, while Georgia experienced the Rose Revolution in 2003 and moved towards forging closer ties with the United States and NATO. Consequently, Georgia–Russia relations deteriorated rapidly by 2006 and spiralled into a diplomatic crisis by 2008.


On 1 August 2008, the Russian-backed South Ossetian forces started shelling Georgian villages, with a sporadic response from Georgian peacekeepers in the area. Intensifying artillery attacks by the South Ossetian separatists broke a 1992 ceasefire agreement. To put an end to these attacks, Georgian army units were sent into the South Ossetian conflict zone on 7 August and took control of most of Tskhinvali, a separatist capital and stronghold, within hours. Some Russian troops had illicitly crossed the Georgia–Russia border through the Roki Tunnel and advanced into the South Ossetian conflict zone by 7 August before the Georgian military response. Russia falsely accused Georgia of perpetrating "genocide" and "aggression against South Ossetia"—and launched a full-scale land, air and sea invasion of Georgia, including its undisputed territory, on 8 August. Russia called the offensive against Georgia a "peace enforcement" operation and fought Georgian troops in and around South Ossetia for several days together with separatist forces, until Georgian forces retreated. Russian and Abkhaz forces opened a second front by attacking the Kodori Gorge held by Georgia, while Russian naval forces blockaded part of the Georgian Black Sea coastline. The Russian air force attacked civilian targets both within and beyond the conflict zone. This was the first war in history in which cyber warfare coincided with military action. An information war was also waged during and after the conflict. Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France, personally negotiated a ceasefire agreement on 12 August.


During the war, the Georgian cities Zugdidi, Senaki, Poti, and Gori were temporarily occupied by Russia, and Georgians were ethnically cleansed from South Ossetia. On 26 August 2008, the Georgian government severed diplomatic ties with Russia after the latter recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent sovereign states. The war displaced approximately 192,000 people across Georgia. In 2012, Putin admitted to a delegation of journalists that the Russian government had prepared an actionable plan to invade Georgia in 2006–2007 and that "it is no secret" that the Russian military provided training to South Ossetian separatists. In 2021, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia's maintenance of "direct control" over the two separatist regions meant that it was legally responsible for the grave human rights violations occurring there. In 2022, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Mikhail Mindzaev, Hamlet Guchmazov, and David Sanakoev, who are all charged with committing war crimes against the Georgian people in August 2008. In 2025, the European Court of Human Rights ordered Russia to pay €253 million in damages to more than 29,000 Georgian victims suffering from the adverse effects of Russian military occupation. (Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 5

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/5 The history of Abkhazia, a region in the South Caucasus, spans more than 5,000 years from its settlement by the Lower Paleolithic hunter-gatherers to its present status as a partially recognized state. (Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 6

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/6 Abkhazia and South Ossetia are two regions that broke away from Georgia amidst the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. South Ossetian separatists declared independence during the South Ossetia war from January 1991 to June 1992 and were followed by Abkhaz separatists during the Abkhazia war from August 1992 to September 1993. Both separatist movements received support from Russia, but their declarations of independence gained only limited international recognition.

The Georgian government eschews the choronym "South Ossetia" ("South" relative to Russia's North Ossetia—collectively Ossetia) and instead refers to it as the "Tskhinvali Region" within Shida Kartli, although the eponymous capital city Tskhinvali is not controlled by Georgia. In addition to Georgia, the majority of the international community regards Abkhazia and South Ossetia as Georgian territory under Russian occupation.

After the Russian invasion of Georgia in August 2008, Russia recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent sovereign states. Three United Nations members besides Russia recognise Abkhazia and South Ossetia: Nicaragua in September 2008; Venezuela in September 2009; and Syria in May 2018. Three other United Nations members formerly recognised the separatist regions' independence: Vanuatu granted recognition in May 2011, but rescinded in March 2019; Tuvalu granted recognition in September 2011, but rescinded in March 2014; Nauru granted recognition in December 2009, but rescinded in July 2026.

Beyond United Nations members, Abkhazia and South Ossetia recognise each other. They are also recognised by Transnistria, a state with limited or no international recognition: Furthermore, three internationally unrecognised states that no longer exist had recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia: the Republic of Artsakh (2006) within Azerbaijan; and the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic (both 2014/2022) within Ukraine. Excluding the erstwhile Republic of Artsakh, all of the internationally unrecognised states that have diplomatic ties with Abkhazia and South Ossetia are similarly classified as Russian-occupied territories. (Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 7

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/7 The Kingdom of Abkhazia (Georgian: აფხაზთა სამეფო, romanized: apkhazta samepo; lit. 'Kingdom of the Abkhazians', Greek: Αμπχαζικό βασίλειο, romanized: Ampchazikó vasíleio) was a medieval feudal state in the Caucasus which was established in the 780s. Through dynastic succession, it was united in 1008 with the Kingdom of the Iberians, forming the Kingdom of Georgia.

Byzantine sources record that in the early years of the 10th century Abkhazia stretched three hundred Greek miles along the Black Sea coast, from the frontiers of the thema of Chaldia to the mouth of the river Nicopsis, with the Caucasus behind it. (Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 8

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/8 The War in Abkhazia was fought between Georgian government and paramilitary forces, and a coalition of Abkhaz separatist forces and North Caucasian militants between 1992 and 1993. Ethnic Georgians who lived in Abkhazia fought largely on the side of Georgian government forces. Ethnic Armenians, who formed the Bagramyan Battalion and Russians within Abkhazia's population largely supported the Abkhazians and many fought on their side. The separatists received support from thousands of North Caucasian and Cossack militants and from the Russian military forces stationed in and near Abkhazia. Ukrainian volunteers fought on the Georgian side. The conflict coincided with the civil war within Georgia proper, where supporters of the ousted president Zviad Gamsakhurdia clashed with the post-coup government led by Eduard Shevardnadze.

Significant human rights violations and atrocities were reported on all sides, peaking in the aftermath of the Abkhaz capture of Sukhumi on 27 September 1993, which was followed by a large-scale campaign of ethnic cleansing against the ethnic Georgian population. A fact-finding mission dispatched by the UN Secretary General in October 1993 reported numerous and serious human rights violations committed both by Abkhazians and by Georgians. Approximately 5,000 ethnic Georgians and 4,000 Abkhaz were reported killed or missing, and 250,000 Georgians became internally displaced or refugees.

The war heavily affected post-Soviet Georgia, which suffered considerable financial, human and psychological damage. The fighting and subsequent continued sporadic conflict have devastated Abkhazia. (Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 9

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/9 The 1998 Gali clashes took place in the Gali district of Abkhazia, after ethnic Georgians launched an insurgency against the Abkhazian separatist government. The conflict is sometimes referred to as the Six-Day War of Abkhazia; however, this name only takes into account the Abkhazian offensive that lasted from 20 to 26 May 1998, while hostilities and insurgent attacks had already occurred before that date. (Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 10

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/10 The Battle of Gagra may also refer to:


Selected article 11

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/11 Presidential elections were held in Abkhazia on 26 August 2011. This was the fifth such election since the post of President of the Republic of Abkhazia was created in 1994. The election was held to elect the successor of president Sergei Bagapsh who died in office on 29 May 2011. (Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 12

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/12 Presidential elections were held in Abkhazia on 12 December 2009, the fourth such elections since the post of President of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia was created in 1994. The result was a victory for incumbent president Sergei Bagapsh, who received 63% of the vote, winning a second term in office. Bagapsh competed against four opposition candidates: former vice president and prime minister Raul Khajimba, who came second behind Bagapsh in the 2004 presidential election, and newcomers Beslan Butba, Zaur Ardzinba and Vitali Bganba. Khajimba had stated that he, Ardzinba and Butba would support each other should one of them reach the second round of the election. Bagapsh was inaugurated on 12 February 2010. (Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 13

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/13 The 2008 Georgian drone shootdowns refer to a series of military incidents involving Georgian Unmanned aerial vehicles brought down over the breakaway republic of Abkhazia between March and May 2008. The skirmishes were part of a larger context of tensions between Georgia and Russia, eventually leading up to the Russo-Georgian War.

Georgia's drone program was developed in 2007 when the Georgian government purchased dozens of unmanned aircraft from the Israeli Elbit Systems, using the drones to fly over Abkhazia and document Russian military movements in the region. In February and March 2008, as Moscow increased its ties with the separatist region, Georgia intensified its drone surveillance program. The first drone shootdown took place allegedly on March 18 over the Gali district.

According to Abkhaz claims, as many as seven Georgian drones were shot down in five different operations between the Gali and Ochamchire districts of Abkhazia. Georgia only admitted to three incidents, including the April 20 shootdown over the village of Gagida. The latter triggered an investigation by the United Nations that revealed the drone was brought down by a Russian military jet.

The UN accused both Georgia and Russia of violating the 1994 Moscow Ceasefire Agreement that had put an end to the Abkhazia War, Georgia by using drones over the conflict zone and Russia by shooting them down, although Tbilisi argued its surveillance program was justified to observe Russia's own militarization of the region. On May 30, Georgia announced an end to its drone program, but that failed to bring down tensions in the subsequent months. (Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 14

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/14 In classical antiquity and Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (/ˈkɒlkɪs/; Ancient Greek: Κολχίς) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi (Georgian: ეგრისი) located on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia also including the region of Abkhazia.

Its population, the Colchians, are generally believed to have been primarily early Zan-speaking tribes, ancestral to the modern Laz and Mingrelian peoples. According to David Marshall Lang: "one of the most important elements in the modern Georgian nation, the Colchians were probably established in the Caucasus by the Middle Bronze Age."

It has been described in modern scholarship as "the earliest Georgian formation", which, along with the Kingdom of Iberia, would later contribute significantly to the development of the Kingdom of Georgia and the Georgian nation.

Colchis is known in Greek mythology as the destination of the Argonauts, as well as the home to Medea and the Golden Fleece. It was also described as a land rich with gold, iron, timber and honey that would export its resources mostly to ancient Hellenic city-states. Colchis likely had a diverse population. According to Greek and Roman sources, between 70 and 300 languages were spoken in Dioscourias (modern Sukhumi) alone.

Colchis territory is mostly assigned to what is now the western part of Georgia and encompasses the present-day Georgian provinces of Samegrelo, Imereti, Guria, Adjara, Svaneti, Racha; Abkhazia; modern Russia's Sochi and Tuapse districts; and present-day Turkey’s Artvin, Rize, and Trabzon provinces. (Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 15

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/15 Gali District is one of the districts of Abkhazia. Its capital is Gali, the town by the same name. The district is smaller than the eponymous one in the de jure subdivision of Georgia, as some of its former territory is now part of Tkvarcheli District, formed by de facto Abkhaz authorities in 1995.

Gali District was populated almost entirely by Mingrelians, sub-group of ethnic Georgians, in the pre-war Abkhazia. The majority of Mingrelians fled the district following the inter-ethnic clashes in 1993–1994 and again in 1998. From 40,000 to 60,000 refugees have returned to Gali District since 1998, including persons commuting daily across the ceasefire line and those migrating seasonally in accordance with agricultural cycles. Gali District is now the only district of Abkhazia with ethnic Georgians constituting clear majority.

The population of the district was 29,287 according to the 2003 census conducted in Abkhazia but that figure is questioned by many international observers; it was estimated at 45 thousand in 2006 although Abkhazian authorities contested this number claiming that at least 65,000 refugees had returned.

Together with the Kodori Valley, Gali District is one of the two real troublespots while the situation is relatively peaceful in the rest of Abkhazia. It was a battlefield of the 1998 escalation of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. (Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 16

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/16

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Abkhazia 2 2 0 0 10 0 +10 6
 Western Armenia 2 1 0 1 12 1 +11 3
 Chagos Islands 2 0 0 2 0 21 −21 0
Source:

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Kurdistan Region 2 2 0 0 6 0 +6 6
 United Koreans in Japan 2 1 0 1 1 3 −2 3
 Székely Land 2 0 0 2 0 4 −4 0
Source:

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Northern Cyprus 2 2 0 0 9 1 +8 6
 Padania 2 1 0 1 7 2 +5 3
 Raetia 2 0 0 2 0 13 −13 0
Source:

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Panjab 2 2 0 0 6 0 +6 6
 Sápmi 2 1 0 1 5 1 +4 3
 Somaliland 2 0 0 2 0 10 −10 0
Source:
(Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 17

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/17 The 2007 Bokhundjara incident, in Georgia more commonly known as the special operation Kodori 2007, was a confrontation between Georgian Interior Ministry commandos and forces of Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia and Russia near the de facto border in Tkvarcheli District on September 20, 2007. The United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) launched an independent investigation of the incident. On October 11, 2007, it released a progress report, confirming the incident took place on Abkhaz-controlled territory at the foot of Mount Bokhundjara, thus confirming the Abkhaz version of the event. On October 27, 2007, Georgia released the arrested Abkhazians and handed them over to the U.N. observers as a "sign of good will." (Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 18

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/18 The Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as Abkhaz ASSR, was an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union within the Georgian SSR. It came into existence in February 1931, when the Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia (SSR Abkhazia or SSRA), originally created in March 1921, was transformed into the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Georgian SSR.

The Abkhaz ASSR adopted its own constitution on 2 August 1937. The supreme organ of legislative power was the Supreme Soviet elected every 4 years and its Presidium. The executive power was vested with the Council of Ministers appointed by the Supreme Soviet. The Abkhaz ASSR had 11 representatives in the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. (Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 19

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/19 The Divan of the Abkhazian Kings (Georgian: აფხაზთა მეფეთა დივანი, romanized: apkhazta mepeta divani, which is often translated as the Chronicles of the Abkhazian Kings) is a short medieval document composed in Georgian in the late 10th or early 11th century. It has come down to us as a 15th-century copy. The text was first studied and published by the Georgian scholar Ekvtime Takaishvili. It has also been translated into English and Russian.

It is usually attributed to the first king of all-Georgia, Bagrat III, who began his reign as the Abkhazian king in 978. Somewhat of a manifesto, this document may have been issued by Bagrat, a representative of the new dynasty of the Bagrationi, in support of his rights to the Abkhazian throne.

The Divan lists 22 successive rulers from Anos to Bagrat, and styles each of them as “king” (Georgian: mepe) (though until the mid-780s they functioned as the archons under the Byzantine authority). The text does provide the information about the family relationships among these rulers as well as the duration of the last 11 kings’ reigns, but lacks chronology. The two kings of the Shavliani clan (878–887) are omitted probably because they were regarded as usurpers. The dates and achievements of most of the early Abkhazian rulers remain conjectural.

The names below are given in original transliteration. The dates are as per Prince Cyril Toumanoff and other modern scholars.

  • Anos (ანოს) (c. 510–530)
  • Ghozar (ღოზარ) (c. 530–550)
  • Istvine (ისტვინე) (c. 550–580)
  • Phinictios (ფინიქტიოს) (c. 580–610)
  • Barnucius (ბარნუკ) (c. 610–640)
  • Demetrius I (დემეტრე) (c. 640–660)
  • Theodosius I (თეოდოს) (c. 660–680)
  • Constantine I (კონსტანტინე) (c. 680–710)
  • Theodor (თეოდორ) (c. 710–730)
  • Constantine II (კონსტანტინე) (c. 730–745)
  • Leon I (ლეონ) (c. 745–767)
  • Leon II (ლეონ) (c. 767–811)
  • Theodosius II (თეოდოს) (c. 811–837)
  • Demetrius II (დემეტრე) (c. 837–872)
  • George I (გიორგი) (c. 872–878)
  • Bagrat I (ბაგრატ) (c. 887–898)
  • Constantine III (კონსტანტინე) (c. 898–916)
  • George II (გიორგი) (c. 916–960)
  • Leon III (ლეონ) (c. 960–969)
  • Demetrius III (დემეტრე) (c. 969–976)
  • Theodosius III (თეოდოსი) (c. 976–978)
  • Bagrat III (ბაგრატი) (978–1014) (Full article...) (Full article...)


Selected article 20

Portal:Abkhazia/Selected article/20 The Battle off the coast of Abkhazia was a supposed naval engagement between warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and Georgian patrol boats during the Russo-Georgian War. (Full article...) (Full article...)


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