Abkhaz
(Аҧсуа)

Total population
ca. 200,000 – 600,000
Regions with significant populations
Turkey 39,000 – 500,000 [1][2][3][4]  Abkhazia 94,606 [5]  Georgia (without Abkhazia) 3,527 [6]  Russia 11,366 [7]  Syria 5,000 – 10,000 [4][8]  Germany 5,000 [4]  Ukraine 1,458 [9]
Languages
Abkhaz, Turkish, Russian, Georgian
Religion
Mostly Sunni Islam and a sizeable minority Eastern Orthodox (in Abkhazia)
Related ethnic groups
Abazins, Adyghe, Ubykh

The Abkhaz or Abkhazians (Abkhaz: Аҧсуа, Apswa) are a Caucasian ethnic group, mainly living in Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. A large Abkhaz diaspora population resides in Turkey, the origins of which lie in the emigration from the Caucasus in the late 19th century known as muhajirism. Many Abkhaz also live in other parts of the former Soviet Union, particularly in Russia and Ukraine.^[10]

Origins[link]

The Abkhaz language belongs to the Northwest Caucasian languages group. Classical sources speak of several tribes dwelling in the region, but their exact identity and location remains controversial. The Abasgoi and Apsilai of the Graeco-Roman authors are considered as the predecessors of modern-day Abkhaz.

The integration of various smaller ethnic subgroups into the modern-day Abkhaz people was basically completed by the late 10th century, but some of these groups were deprived of their homeland when the Russian conquest of northwestern Caucasus forced them to become muhajirun and emigrate to the Ottoman possessions.

History[link]

Russian researchers have suggested that the ancestors of the contemporary Abkhaz were the ancient Zygii, known from the first century BC when they were mentioned by Strabo as Apsils. It has been proposed that they were responsible for the Tsebelda culture.

When the Anchabadze dynasty established the Kingdom of Abkhazia in the 780s and freed themselves from the Byzantine hegemony, Abkhazia became a part of the Georgian cultural world. The local nobility, clergy and educated class used Georgian as a language of literacy and culture. Georgian would remain the second language for many Abkhaz until Russian replaced it in the early 20th century. From the early 11th to the 15th century, Abkhazia was a part of the all-Georgian monarchy, but then became a separate Principality of Abkhazia only to be conquered by the Ottomans.

Towards the end of the 17th century, the region became a theatre of widespread slave trade and piracy.^{[citation needed]} According to a theory developed by Pavle Ingorokva in 1950s and some other Georgian scholars, at that time a number of the North Caucasian pagan Adyghe tribes migrated from the North Caucasus mountains and blended with the local ethnic elements, significantly changing the region's demographic situation. These views were described as ethnocentric and having little historical support.^[11][12] They served as intellectual support to the Stalin-era assimilation policy^[13] and had a profound influence on the Georgian nationalism in the 1980s.^[14]

The Russian conquest of Abkhazia from the 1810s to the 1860s was accompanied by a massive expulsion of Muslim Abkhaz to the Ottoman Empire and the introduction of a strong Russification policy. As a result, the Abkhaz diaspora is currently estimated to measure at least twice the number of Abkhaz that reside in Abkhazia. The largest part of the diaspora now lives in Turkey, with estimates ranging from 100,000 to 500,000, with smaller groups in Syria (5,000 – 10,000) and Jordan. In recent years, some of these have emigrated to the West, principally to Germany (5,000), the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Austria and the United States (mainly to New Jersey).^[15]

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Abkhazia was shortly occupied by the Democratic Republic of Georgia, but was conquered by the Red Army in 1921 and eventually entered the Soviet Union as a Soviet Socialist Republic associated with the Georgian SSR. The status of Abkhazia was downgraded in 1931 when it became an Autonomous SSR within the Georgian SSR. Under Joseph Stalin, a forcible collectivization was introduced and the native communist elite purged. The influx of Armenians, Russians and Georgians into the growing agricultural and tourism sectors was also encouraged, and Abkhaz schools were briefly closed. By 1989, the number of Abkhaz was about 93,000 (18% of the population of the autonomous republic), while the Georgian population numbered 240,000 (45%). The number of Armenians (15% of the entire population) and Russians (14%) grew substantially as well.

The 1992-1993 War in Abkhazia left the Abkhaz an ethnic plurality of ca. 45%, with Russians, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks, and Jews comprising most of the remainder of the population of Abkhazia. The 2003 census established the total number of Abkhaz in Abkhazia at 94,606.^[5] However, the exact demographic figures for the region are disputed and alternative figures are available.^[16] The de facto Abkhaz president Sergey Bagapsh suggested, in 2005, that less than 70,000 ethnic Abkhaz lived in Abkhazia.^[17]

In the course of the Syrian uprising, a number of Abkhaz living in Syria remigrated to Abkhazia.^[8]

Religion[link]

The Abkhaz people are principally divided into Orthodox Christian and Sunni Muslim communities but the indigenous non-Abrahamic beliefs have always been strong.^[18] Christianity was introduced, in the 6th century, by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, and further enforced under the kings of Georgia in the High Middle Ages. The Ottoman takeover in the 16th century, missionaries such as Sufi preachers and the pressure from the Adyghe tribes (most of whom had converted to Islam) from the North precipitated the decline of Christianity and the region became largely Muslim until the 1860s when muhajirism left Christians in majority.

This section looks like an image gallery. Wikipedia policy discourages galleries of random images of the article subject; please improve or remove the section accordingly, moving freely licensed images to Wikimedia Commons if not already hosted there. (January 2010)

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  Children waving miniature Abkhazian flags

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  Parade exhibiting Abkhazian flags

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  Abkhaz and Georgian generals

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  Conference of Abkhazian nobility in 1839

See also[link]

• Afro-Abkhazians
• Women in Abkhazia

Notes[link]

References[link]

Georgians
ქართველები
Kartvelebi

David IV Tamar of Georgia George V Petre Bagrationi Mary Eristavi Joseph Stalin Ekaterine Dadiani Konstantine Abkhazi Lamara Chkonia George Balanchine Rustaveli E. Shevardnadze John Shalikashvili Katie Melua Ambrosius I. Chavchavadze
Total population
c. 4.3[1] — 5 million
Regions with significant populations
Georgia 3,956,000[2]
Russia 198,944[3] European Union 250,000[citation needed]  United States 200,000[citation needed]  Israel 72,000[4]  Turkey 91,500[1]  Ukraine 34,199[5]  Greece 23,159[6]  Brazil 20,750[citation needed]  Azerbaijan 14,900[7]  Japan 14,000  Italy 12,670  Kazakhstan 4,990[8]  Singapore 3,500  France 2,500  Canada 2,500  Armenia 1,105  Argentina 1,050  Mexico 1,000  United Kingdom 3500
Languages
Georgian (including Mingrelian and Svan), Russian (about 10% of the population)[2]
Religion
Predominantly † Eastern Orthodox Christianity (Georgian Orthodox Church) (83.9%) also some Georgiano-Latin, Greek, and Armenian rites of the Roman Catholic Church (0.8%). Muslim minority (9.9%), chiefly Sunnis of the Hanafi school.[9] In diaspora (Chveneburis, Saingilo and Fereydanians) mainly Islam
Related ethnic groups
Laz

Part of a series on
Georgians ქართველები
The Kartvelian people
Nation
Georgia
Ancient Kartvelian people
Iberians · Colchians
Subgroups
Mingrelians · Svans · Adjarians · Khevsurians · Tushetians · Chveneburi
Culture
Music · Media · Sport · Calligraphy · Cinema · Cuisine · Dances · Costume · Calendar · Mythology · Architecture
Language
Alphabet · Dialects · Grammar
Religion
Georgian Orthodox Church Christianity · Catholicism Islam · Judaism Saint Nino · Saint George
Symbols
Borjgali · Cross of Bolnisi · Grapevine cross · Cross of Saint George
History of Georgia
v t e

The Georgians (Georgian: ქართველები, kartvelebi) are Caucasian ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America.

The majority of Georgians are Eastern Orthodox Christian and largely adhere to the national autocephalous Georgian Orthodox Church, which originated in the 4th century. There are also Georgian Catholic and Muslim communities in Tbilisi and Adjara.

The Georgian people went through a complex process of nation-formation and currently comprise a diverse set of geographic subgroups, each with its characteristic traditions, manners, dialect and, in the case of Mingrelians and Svans, language. The Georgian language, with its own alphabet and long written tradition going back to the 5th century, is the language of literacy and education of all Georgians living in Georgia as well as the official language of the country. Georgian, Mingrelian and Svan, together with Laz spoken by the related Laz people form the Kartvelian language family.

Located in Caucasus at the edge of Europe, the Georgian people have fought to protect their Christian identity in the face of immense pressure from the neighboring Muslim empires. By the early 11th century they formed a unified kingdom which emerged as a dominant regional power until it was weakened by internal divisions following the death of George V the Brilliant, the last of the great kings of Georgia. To ensure its survival as a Christian kingdom, the country was soon forced to forge an alliance with the Russian Empire, which was viewed as a replacement for the fallen Eastern Roman Empire, Georgia's traditional ally. Eventually being annexed by Russia in 1801, Georgians briefly regained national independence from 1918 to 1921, and finally, in 1991 from the Soviet Union.

Etymology[link]

Georgians call themselves Kartvelebi (ქართველები), their land Sakartvelo (საქართველო), and their language Kartuli (ქართული). According to The Georgian Chronicles, the ancestor of the Kartvelian people was Kartlos, the great grandson of the Biblical Japheth. Ancient Greeks (Strabo, Herodotus, Plutarch, Homer, etc.) and Romans (Titus Livius, Cornelius Tacitus, etc.) referred to early eastern Georgians as Iberians (Iberoi in some Greek sources) and western Georgians as Colchians.^[10]

Origins[link]

Most historians and scholars of Georgia as well as anthropologists, archaeologists and linguists tend to agree that the ancestors of modern Georgians inhabited the southern Caucasus and northern Anatolia since the Neolithic period.^[11] Scholars usually refer to them as Proto-Kartvelian (Proto-Georgians such as Colchians and Iberians) tribes.^[12] Some European historians of the 19th century (for example, Wilhelm von Humboldt and Paul Kretschmer) as well as Georgian scholars (R. Gordeziani, S. Kaukhchishvili and Z. Gamsakhurdia) came to the conclusion that Proto-Kartvelians might be related linguistically and culturally to the indigenous (pre-Indo-European) peoples of ancient Europe including the Etruscans, Pelasgians and Proto-Basques.

The Georgian people in antiquity have been known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Colchians and Iberians.^[13][14] East Georgian tribes of Tibarenians-Iberians formed their kingdom in 7th century BCE. However, western Georgian tribes (Moschians, Suanians, Mingrelians and others) established the first Georgian state of Colchis before the foundation of the Iberian Kingdom in the east.^[15] According to the numerous scholars of Georgia, the formations of these two early Georgian kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia, resulted in the consolidation and uniformity of the Georgian nation.^[16]

Proto-Georgian tribes:

• The ancient Jewish chronicle by Josephus mentions Georgians as Iberes who were also called Thobel (Tubal).^[17]

• Diauehi in Assyrian sources and Taochi in Greek, lived in the northeastern part of Anatolia, a region that was part of Georgia. This ancient tribe is considered by many scholars as ancestors of Georgians. The Georgians of today still refer to this region, which now belongs to present-day Turkey, as Tao-Klarjeti, ancient Georgian Kingdom. Some people there still speak Georgian.^[18]

• Colchians in the ancient western Georgian Kingdom of Colchis. First mentioned in the Assyrian annals of Tiglath-Pileser I and in the annals of Urartian king Sarduri II. Also included western Georgian tribe of the Meskhetians.^[15][19]

• Iberians also known as Tiberians or Tiberanians, in the eastern Georgian Kingdom of Iberia.^[15]

Both Colchians and Iberians played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the modern Georgian nation.^[20][21]

According to the scholar of the Caucasian studies Cyril Toumanoff:

Appearance[link]

Alpine type of Georgian, Svan. Mestia (1888 -1900)

Georgians are classified as Caucasoids (Europoid or Europid),^[23] and often have brown hair and brown eyes.^[24] Georgians who have historically lived in alpine areas of less sunny western Georgia — especially Mingrelians and Svans- tend to have lighter features, with higher frequency of blond hair and light blue or green eyes.

Studies of human genetics suggest that Georgian Y-DNA typically belongs to Haplogroup J2, also found in Greece and Italy, as well as Haplogroup G.^[25]

Culture[link]

Language and linguistic subdivisions[link]

Georgian is the primary language for Georgians of all provenance, including those who speak other Kartvelian languages: Mingrelians, Svans, and the Laz. The language known today as Georgian is a traditional language of the eastern part of the country which has spread to most of the present-day Georgia after the post-Christianization centralization in the first millennium AD — today Georgians regardless of their ancestral region use Georgian as their official language. The regional languages — Mingrelian and Svan — are languages of the west that were traditionally spoken in the pre-Christian Kingdom of Colchis, but later lost importance as the unified Georgian Kingdom emerged. Their decline is largely due to the capital of the unified kingdom, Tbilisi, being in the eastern part of the country — known as Iberia — effectively making the language of the east an official language of the Georgian monarch.

All of these languages comprise the Kartvelian language family along with the related language of the Laz people, which has speakers in both Turkey and Georgia.

Dialects of Georgian include Imeretian, Racha-Lechkhumian, Gurian, Adjarian, Imerkhevian (in Turkey), Kartlian, Kakhetian, Ingilo (in Azerbaijan), Tush, Khevsur, Mokhevian, Pshavian, Fereydan dialect in Iran in Fereydunshahr and Fereydan, Mtiuletian, Meskhetian.

Religion[link]

Georgian Statehood

Kingdom of Iberia Kingdom of Colchis Kingdom of Diauehi Kingdom of Lazica Unified Georgian Kingdom Partitions Kingdom of Kartli Kingdom of Abkhazia Kingdom of Hereti Kingdom of Kakheti Kingdom of Imereti Kingdom of Kartli and Kakheti Kingdom of Tao-Klarjeti Georgian Principalities Principality of Svaneti Principality of Meskheti Principality of Abkhazia Principality of Guria Principality of Samegrelo Democratic Republic of Georgia Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic Republic of Georgia Georgia

Wall Painting in Georgia's ancient Monastery, Shio-Mghvime

Christianity, first preached by the Apostles Simon and Andrew in the 1st century, became the state religion of the Eastern Georgian Kingdom of Iberia in 327, although most of the Georgian population was already Christian.^{[26][27][28][29]} The final conversion of Georgia to Christianity in 327 is credited to a Roman woman St. Nino of Cappadocia, a relative of the great martyr St. George, and Susanna, sister of the Patriarch of Jerusalem.^[30] The Georgians' new faith, which replaced pagan beliefs, allied them permanently with the Eastern Roman Empire, while placing them on the front line of conflict between the Christian and Islamic worlds. As was true elsewhere, the Christian church in Georgia was crucial to the development of a written language, and most of the earliest written works were religious texts.Medieval Georgian culture was greatly influenced by Eastern Orthodoxy and the Georgian Orthodox Church, which promoted and often sponsored the creation of many works of religious devotion. These included churches and monasteries, works of art such as icons, and hagiographies of Georgian saints. In addition, many secular works of national history, mythology and hagiography were also written. Today, 83.9% of the Georgian population, most of whom are ethnic Georgian, practices Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Cuisine[link]

The Georgian cuisine is specific to the country, but also contains some influences from other European culinary traditions, as well as those from the surrounding Western Asia. Each historical province of Georgia has its own distinct culinary tradition, such as Megrelian, Kakhetian, and Imeretian cuisines. In addition to various meat dishes, Georgian cuisine also offers a variety of vegetarian meals.

The importance of both food and drink to Georgian culture is best observed during a Caucasian feast, or supra, when a huge assortment of dishes is prepared, always accompanied by large amounts of wine, and dinner can last for hours. In a Georgian feast, the role of the tamada (toastmaster) is an important and honoured position.

In countries of the former Soviet Union, Georgian food is popular due to the immigration of Georgians to other Soviet republics, in particular Russia. In Russia all major cities have many Georgian restaurants and Russian restaurants often feature Georgian food items on their menu.^[31]

Geographic subdivisions and subethnic groups[link]

Geographical subdivisions[link]

Georgian youth in traditional costumes

The Georgians have historically been classified into various subgroups based on the geographic region which their ancestors traditionally inhabited.

Even if a member of any of these subgroups moves to a different region, they will still be known by the name of their ancestral region. For example, if a Gurian moves to Tbilisi (part of the Kartli region) he will not automatically identify himself as Kartlian despite actually living in Kartli. This may, however, change if substantial amount of time passes. For example, there are some Mingrelians who have lived in the Imereti region for centuries and are now identified as Imeretian or Imeretian-Mingrelians.

Last names from mountainous eastern Georgian provinces (such as Kakheti, etc.) can be distinguished by the suffix –uri (ური), or –uli (ული). Most Svan last names typically end in –ani (ანი), Mingrelian in –ia (ია), -ua (უა), or -ava (ავა), and Laz in –shi (ში).

The 1897 Russian census (which accounted people by language), had Imeretian, Mingrelian and Svan languages separate from Georgian.^[32] During the 1926 Soviet census, Mengrelians and Svans were accounted separately from Georgian.^[33] Mingrelian and Svan languages are both Kartvelian languages and are closely related to the national Georgian.

Outside of modern Georgia[link]

Laz people also may be considered Georgian based on their geographic location and religion. According to the London School of Economics' anthropologist Mathijs Pelkmans,^[34] Lazs residing in Georgia frequently identify themselves as "first-class Georgians" to show pride, while considering their Muslim counterparts in Turkey as "Turkified Lazs".^[35]

Subethnic groups	Name in Georgian	Settlement area	Language (other than Georgian)	Approximate number	Difference(s) from mainstream Georgians (other than location)
Shavshians	შავში shavshi	Shavsheti	Imerkhevian dialect ?
Klarjians	კლარჯი klarji	Klarjeti	Imerkhevian dialect ?
Lazs	ლაზი lazi	Chaneti (Lazistan)	Laz language	50,000 (1970 est.)[36]	Religion: Muslim
Chveneburi	ჩვენებური chveneburi	Black Sea coast, Northwestern Turkey		60,000 (1979)[37]	Religion: Muslim
Ingilo	ინგილო ingilo	Saingilo	Ingiloan dialect	12,000	Religion: Muslim[citation needed]
Pereidneli (Fereydan Georgian)	ფერეიდნელი pereidneli	Pereidani	Fereidanian dialect

Linguistic subdivisions[link]

The language known today as Georgian is a traditional language of the eastern part of the country which has spread to most of the present-day Georgia after the post-Christianization centralization in the first millennium AD — today Georgians regardless of their ancestral region use Georgian as their official language. The regional languages — Mingrelian and Svan — are languages of the west that were traditionally spoken in the pre-Christian Kingdom of Colchis, but later lost importance as the unified Georgian Kingdom emerged. Their decline is largely due to the capital of the unified kingdom, Tbilisi, being in the eastern part of the country — known as Iberia — effectively making the language of the east an official language of the Georgian monarch.

All of these languages comprise the Kartvelian language family along with the related language of the Laz people, which has speakers in both Turkey and Georgia.

Notes[link]

See also[link]

• Georgia
• Culture of Georgia
• Georgian language
• Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church
• History of Georgia
• Demographics of Georgia
• European American
• Georgian American
• List of Georgians
• Peoples of the Caucasus
• Chveneburi — Georgians in Turkey
• Georgians in Iran

Vladislav Ardzinba Владислав Арӡынба
1st President of Abkhazia
In office 26 November 1994 – 12 February 2005
Succeeded by	Sergei Bagapsh
Leader of the Communist Party of Abkhazia
In office 8 November 1990 – 27 December 1991
Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Abkhazia
In office 1990–1994
Deputy of the Supreme Soviet
In office 1987–1989
Personal details
Born	(1945-05-14)May 14, 1945 Lower Eshera, Sukhumi District, Abkhazian ASSR, Georgian SSR, USSR
Died	March 4, 2010(2010-03-04) (aged 64) Moscow, Russia
Nationality	Abkhaz
Spouse(s)	Svetlana Jergenia
Signature

Vladislav Ardzinba (Abkhaz: Владислав Арӡынба, May 14, 1945 – March 4, 2010) was the first President of Abkhazia. A historian by education, Ardzinba led Abkhazia to de facto independence in the 1992-1993 War with Georgia, but its de jure independence from Georgia remained internationally unrecognised during Ardzinba's two terms as President from 1994 to 2005.

He was a member of the first parliament to be elected democratically in the Soviet Union in 1989.^[1]

Early life and career[link]

Vladislav Ardzinba was born in the village of Lower Eshera, Sukhumi District, Abkhaz ASSR, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union^{[citation needed]}. After graduating from the Historical Department of the Sukhumi Pedagogical Institute, Ardzinba studied at the Tbilisi State University where he received a doctoral degree^{[citation needed]}. He then worked for eighteen years in Moscow specialising in ancient Middle Eastern civilizations under Yevgeniy Primakov, then head of the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow, and later Russian foreign and Prime Minister^{[citation needed]}. He then returned to Sukhumi and he served there as the director of the Abkhazian Institute of Language, Literature and History from 1987 until 1989, when he was elected a Deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union from Gudauta^{[citation needed]}. From there, he was involved closely with national issues, including Abkhazia, and quickly emerged as one of the most active proponents of the Abkhaz secessionist cause. While a deputy to the USSR Supreme Soviet, Ardzinba, himself an orthodox Communist,^[2] forged close ties with the hardliners in Moscow, particularly with the parliamentary chairman Anatoly Lukyanov and other members of the hardline communist groups in Moscow that were responsible for the August 1991 coup attempt.^[3]

Role in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict[link]

He was a member of the first parliament to be elected democratically in the Soviet Union in 1989.^[1]

On December 4, 1990, Ardzinba was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Abkhazia.^[1] Ardzinba, a charismatic but excitable figure popular among the Abkhaz was believed by Georgians to have helped to instigate the violence of July 1989.^[4] Ardzinba managed to consolidate his power relatively quickly and reneged on pre-election promises to increase the representation of Georgians in Abkhazia's autonomous structures; since then, Ardzinba tried to rule Abkhazia relatively single-handedly, but avoided, for the time being, overt conflict with the central authorities in Tbilisi. In mid-1991, he negotiated and accepted the Georgian concession on the reform of the electoral law that granted the Abkhaz wide over-representation in the Supreme Soviet. However, Ardzinba created the Abkhazian National Guard that was mono-ethnically Abkhaz, and initiated a practice of replacing ethnic Georgians in leading positions with Abkhaz. As the Georgian-Abkhaz tensions rose, Ardzinba's rhetoric mounted, as he claimed in late July 1992 that "Abkhazia is strong enough to fight Georgia."^[5]

In August 1992, a Georgian military force ousted Ardzinba and his group from Sukhumi. They took shelter in Gudauta, a home to the Soviet-era Russian military base. Ardzinba benefited from his contacts with the Russian hardliner circles and military leaders to garner critical support in the war against the Georgian government.^[6]

Presidency[link]

Reverse side of a 10 apsar commemorative coin minted in 2008 celebrating Vladislav Ardzinba

After the hostilities ended in 1994 and the bulk of the Georgian population was forced out of Abkhazia, the Abkhazian parliament elected Ardzinba to the presidency, a move that was condemned by Georgia and the United Nations as illegal^{[citation needed]}. He won the first direct polls on October 3, 1999, without an opponent and was re-elected as president of Abkhazia.^[7] He installed an autocratic regime^[8] and remained politically untouchable until his health seriously deteriorated in 2003. He once stated that independence from Georgia is not negotiable, and he has tried to align the state with Russia, whose political and economic support was essential to the republic. As a leader of the Abkhaz side he met the two successive Russian presidents, Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, as well as a President of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze.

Under his rule, human rights records were extremely poor as most of the pre-war Georgian population of Abkhazia were deprived the right to return, and those who remained were subjected to systematic ethnic cleansing^{[citation needed]}. Ardzinba aroused some further criticism from the international community after issuing a decree banning Jehovah's Witnesses in 1995^{[citation needed]}.

During the last years of his presidency Ardzinba faced criticism for both failing to bring stability to Abkhazia and his increasingly low public profile. He had not appeared in public since 2002. As a result, the role of governing the state had been increasingly left to Prime Minister Raul Khajimba.

He had been in extremely poor health and underwent treatment in Moscow for some time. Despite increasing calls from the opposition (particularly the Amtsakhara movement) for him to resign he had stated that he would finish his term, which was supposed to end in October 2004, but in fact did not end until February 12, 2005, due to disputes over the election of his successor. There were also calls for him to be impeached. However, although the Abkhaz Constitution allows for impeachment, the process would likely have not been completed before the end of his term, so no serious steps were taken to bring it about. He was unable to run for a third term due to constitutional restrictions, and it is unlikely that his health would have enabled him to do so even if this was allowed.

He was replaced by the winner of the presidential election of 12 January 2005, Sergei Bagapsh. A previous election had been held in late 2004 after the murder of opposition leader Garri Aiba, but the result was controversial.

Death[link]

By 2010, Ardzinba's health was in decline and had been for some time.^[9][10] Ardzinba died on March 4, 2010, at the age of 64.^[1] He was in the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow at the time.^[1] He had been escorted there the previous week.^[10] The cause of death was not been released to the public.^[1][11] He is survived by his wife and daughter.^[1] The President of Abkhazia, Sergei Bagapsh, paid tribute: "His service to the Abkhaz people was boundless".^[1] Three days of mourning were declared in Abkhazia in remembrance of Ardzinba.^[12]