Stamp Programs: Schedules & Galleries
Entity Information
Аԥсны Аҳәынҭқарра (Apsny Ahwyntqarra) in Abkhaz
Abkhazia: Background
Abkhazia (/ab-KAH-zee-ə/), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognized state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It covers 8,665 square kilometers (3,346 sq mi) and has a population of around 245,000. Its capital and largest city is Sukhumi.
The political status of Abkhazia is a central issue of the Abkhaz–Georgian conflict and Georgia–Russia relations. While Abkhazia has been recognized as an independent state by Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria, the Georgian government and nearly all United Nations member states consider Abkhazia a sovereign territory of Georgia. Lacking effective control over the Abkhazian territory, Georgia maintains an Abkhaz government-in-exile.
The region had autonomy within Soviet Georgia at the time when the Soviet Union began to disintegrate in the late 1980s. Simmering ethnic tensions between the Abkhaz — the region’s titular ethnicity — and Georgians — the largest single ethnic group at that time — culminated in the 1992–1993 War in Abkhazia, which resulted in Georgia’s loss of control over most of Abkhazia and the ethnic cleansing of Georgians from Abkhazia.
Despite a 1994 ceasefire agreement and years of negotiations, the dispute remains unresolved. The long-term presence of a United Nations Observer Mission and a Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States peacekeeping force failed to prevent the flare-up of violence on several occasions. In August 2008, Abkhaz and Russian forces fought a war against Georgian forces, which led to the formal recognition of Abkhazia by Russia, the annulment of the 1994 ceasefire agreement and the termination of the UN mission. On 28 August 2008, the Parliament of Georgia declared Abkhazia a Russian-occupied territory, a position shared by most United Nations member states.
Source: Wikipedia
Abkhazia: Postal History
Locals in Abkhazia call their homeland Аԥсны (Apsny), literally meaning “a country of mortals (mortal beings)”. The first stamps to be inscribed as such were released in 1993. Prior to Georgia’s independence in 1991 the region used stamps of the Democratic Republic of Georgia issued in 1919 and 1921, the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic issued in 1922 and 1923, and stamps of the Soviet Union from 1924 until 1993.
Most stamps of Abkhazia are believed to be bogus, produced in foreign countries solely for sale to collectors, but more recently Abkhazia has produced stamps that may have legitimate use locally within the borders of the disputed area. They are not recognized by the UPU.
Source: Wikipedia
Articles on Abkhazia stamps have appeared on The Philately, Abkhaz World, and The Caucasian Knot.
Abkhazia: History
The Abkhaz were vassals of the Byzantine Empire when they became Christian under Justinian I (c. 550). In the 8th century the independent kingdom of Abkhazia was formed. Later a part of Georgia, it secured its independence in 1463 only to come under the rule of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. Islam subsequently replaced Christianity in parts of the region. In 1810 a treaty with Russia was signed acknowledging a protectorate. Russia annexed Abkhazia in 1864, and the Soviet authorities proclaimed its autonomy as a region in 1919 and raised it to the status of a republic in 1921. It became an autonomous republic within the Georgian republic in 1930, and it remained part of Georgia when the latter attained independence in 1991.
In 1992, secessionists in Abkhazia staged an armed revolt against the Georgian central government in a bid to obtain Abkhazian independence. The rebels defeated Georgian forces and established control over Abkhazia in 1993, and in May 1994 a cease-fire was arranged. Despite the cease-fire and the subsequent deployment of a largely Russian peacekeeping force in the region, hostilities continued, and in 1999 the region formally declared its independence, a move that was not recognized by the international community.
Georgian accusations of Russian support for separatist ambitions in the region, as well as criticism of the ease with which Abkhazian residents were able to obtain Russian passports (by 2002 more than one-half of the population of Abkhazia had acquired them), served to strain relations between the two countries. The conflict was further aggravated following the 2004 election in Georgia of Pres. Mikheil Saakashvili, who made Georgian territorial unity and control of the country’s separatist regions—Abkhazia among them—a political priority. In 2006 Georgia was able to take control of a portion of Abkhazia’s Kodori Gorge, although the rest of Abkhazia remained outside Georgian control.
In the years that followed, Russia became increasingly influential in Abkhazia. Hostilities erupted in August 2008 in another Georgian separatist region, South Ossetia, as Georgian forces engaged with local separatist fighters as well as with Russian troops who had crossed the border there. Violence spread rapidly to other parts of Georgia, including Abkhazia, where Russia massed additional forces in the days following the initial outbreak of warfare in South Ossetia. Though a French-brokered cease-fire called for the withdrawal of Russian forces, Abkhazia later allowed Russia to take control of its border, railways, and airport and to control and build military bases in the region.
Source: Britannica
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