Today Georgia is commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Abkhazia War, which ended with the area becoming a breakaway region of Georgia and leaving hundreds of thousands displaced.
The confrontation started on August 14, 1992 and lasted for 403 days. It was one of many conflicts precipitated by the breakup of the Soviet Union and was one of the bloodiest, most consequential and most unresolved battles of the time.
In recognition of the date Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said that he believes the sides will manage to correct the mistake made 25 years ago.
"The history of our [Georgians and Abkhazians’] cohabitation is exemplary and we do not have the right to live in this reality. There must not stand a foreign power between us. This is harmful for us, Georgians and Abkhazians and for the future of our children”, Kvirikashvili said.
He added that "this huge mistake” will be corrected and a time will come when Georgians and Abkhazians will live together with love and respect.
President Giorgi Margvelashvili said that the Russian state policy had played a role in starting the conflict in Abkhazia. He added the consequences of this conflict still remain among top challenges for Georgia.
"I deeply believe that a day will arrive when together with Abkhazians and Ossetians we will begin building a strong, developed, democratic and peaceful state where security and economic welfare, protection of political rights, maintenance of ethnic, religious and cultural identity of each and every citizen will be guaranteed”, Margvelashvili said.
During the 1992-93 conflict, tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers lost their lives and about 300,000 people were displaced.
Significant human rights violations and atrocities were reported on all sides and peaked in the aftermath of the Abkhaz capture of Sokhumi – the main city in the region - on September 27, 1993. This was followed by a large-scale campaign of ethnic cleansing against the ethnic Georgian population, according to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
A United Nations Secretary General fact-finding mission reported numerous and serious human rights violations were committed by both sides during the Abkhazia war.
Between 13,000 and 20,000 ethnic Georgians and approximately 3,000 Abkhaz were reported to be killed, more than 250,000 Georgians became internally displaced and 2,000 went missing.