Abkhazian passport
Encyclopedia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
and Nauru
Nauru
Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...
, for other destinations Abkhazians use Russian passport
Russian passport
Russian passports are of two types: domestic passports issued to citizens of Russia for the purpose of certifying identity, international passports are issued for the purpose of international travel.- Internal passport :...
s for international travel.
History
Before the introduction of Abkhazian passports, Abkhazia still used Soviet PassportsPassport system in the Soviet Union
The Soviet passport is an identity document issued upon the laws of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for the citizen of the USSR. For the general purposes of identity certification Soviet passports contained such data as name, date of birth, sex, place of birth, nationality and citizenship...
. These arrived in 1991 in Adjara
Adjara
Adjara , officially the Autonomous Republic of Adjara , is an autonomous republic of Georgia.Adjara is located in the southwestern corner of Georgia, bordered by Turkey to the south and the eastern end of the Black Sea...
, where they were not needed since Adjara and the rest of Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
were introducing separate Georgian passports. They were then given by the Adjar leader Aslan Abashidze
Aslan Abashidze
Aslan Abashidze was the leader of the Ajarian Autonomous Republic in western Georgia from 1991 to May 5, 2004. He resigned under the pressure of the central Georgian government and mass opposition rallies during the 2004 Adjara crisis, and has since lived in Moscow, Russia...
to the Abkhazian authorities, although it is not known how or when. People who could not obtain a Soviet passport, for example because they had not yet turned 16 when the Soviet Union disbanded or many of the inhabitants of the Gali District received a 'form no. 9', meant to certify a loss of passport.
The Soviet passports were set to expire in 2008, and so a new passport was needed. The issue of an Abkhazian passport was first discussed towards the end of the nineties. In 2003 finally passports were ordered from a private Turkish printing company, but the first shipment of 25,000 passports was intercepted and confiscated by Georgian authorities. The passports had been meant to be distributed before the 2004 Presidential election
Abkhazian presidential election, 2004
On 3 October 2004 Abkhazia held its second Presidential elections since the post of President of the Republic of Abkhazia was created in 1994, and the first that were competitive. Election law prohibited incumbent President Vladislav Ardzinba from running for a third term and he instead backed...
, but when the second batch arrived it became clear that the passports contained errors and so President Vladislav Ardzinba
Vladislav Ardzinba
Vladislav Grigori-ipa Ardzinba 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...
decided not to distribute them. After Sergei Bagapsh
Sergei Bagapsh
Sergei Uasyl-ipa Bagapsh was the second President of the Republic of Abkhazia. He was Prime Minister from 1997 to 1999 and was later elected as President in 2005. He was re-elected in the 2009 presidential election...
was elected to the presidency he decided not to waste the invested money and to introduce the passports in January 2006 despite the errors. The first passport was issued to former President Ardzinba, and the second passport posthumously to activist and academic Tamara Shakryl
Tamara Shakryl
Tamara Shakryl was a linguist, academic and human rights campaigner from Abkhazia.Shakryl was a senior associate at the Institute for the Study of the Humanities at the Abkhazian Academy of Sciences...
, who had been the only victim during the 2004 post-election crisis. President Bagapsh himself was the first person to regularly apply for an Abkhazian passport.
The Abkhazian government said in 2007 that once the distribution of passports was completed, it would be the only legal form of identification within Abkhazia. It was announced that from the beginning of 2008, citizens could no longer receive a Russian pension without an Abkhazian passport. Abkhazian passports will be the only possible form of legitimation for voters in the December 2009 Presidential election
Abkhazian presidential election, 2009
On 12 December 2009, Abkhazia held its fourth Presidential election since the post of President of the Republic of Abkhazia was created in 1994. The election was won by incumbent president Sergei Bagapsh in the first round with 61% of the votes, thus gaining a second term in office. He was be...
.
On 20 October 2009 it was announced that a new passport will be introduced with additional security features, so as to satisfy all international criteria. The new passports will be printed by the Russian state enterprise Goznak
Goznak
Goznak is a Unitary enterprise in Russia, responsible for the production of coins and bank notes. Goznak was established on July 6, 1919, under the conditions of civil war, as an agency that administered the whole process cycle of bank note manufacturing. It incorporated several factories involved...
. The current design of passports is insufficiently secure for them to be used to cross the border with Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Abkhazia said it would start issuing passports to its citizens by the end of June 2010.
Number of people to hold an Abkhazian passport
By February 2007, they had been issued to 33,000 people. This number subsequently rose to 45,000 in April, 53,000 in May, 63,000 in August, 110,000 in July 2008, 141,245 on 12 October 2009, 142,625 on 1 November. and 146,121 on 7 December.On 7 December 2009, the ethnic break-down of passport holders was as follows:
| Nationality | Passport holders | Percentage |
| Abkhaz Abkhaz people The Abkhaz or Abkhazians are a Caucasian ethnic group, mainly living in Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. A large Abkhazian diaspora population resides in Turkey, the origins of which lie in the emigration from the Caucasus in the late 19th century known as Muhajirism... |
73,622 | 50.4 |
| Armenians Armenians in Abkhazia The Armenians in Abkhazia form the second largest ethnic group in the region of Abkhazia after the Abkhaz. Armenians settled in Abkhazia in late 19th and the early 20th centuries and are now the largest ethnic group in Gagra, Sukhumi and Gulripsh districts forming 20% of the Abkhazian population... |
32.363 | 22.1 |
| Russians Russians The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries.... |
17.795 | 12.2 |
| Georgians Georgians The Georgians are an 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.... |
12.156 | 8.3 |
| Ukrainians Ukrainians Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens... |
2.430 | 2.1 |
| Abazins Abazins The Abazins are a people who live mostly in Karachay-Cherkessia and Adygea of Russia.An Abazin diaspora exists in Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Egypt , and other Islamic countries, most of which are descendants of refugees from the Caucasian War... |
2.138 | 1.7 |
| Greeks Pontic Greeks The Pontians are an ethnic group traditionally living in the Pontus region, the shores of Turkey's Black Sea... |
1.500 | 1.0 |
| Other | 4.117 | 2.8 |
| Total | 146.121 | 100.0 |
Also, of the total number of passport holders, 9910 were under the age of 18, and 5759 lived outside Abkhazia.
Controversy
The issuing of passports in the Gali DistrictGali district
Gali district is a district 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...
is a priority for the government in order to better integrate its inhabitants into the rest of Abkhazia, but it has been controversial for various reasons. It has been criticised by the Abkhazian opposition on the grounds that the large majority of inhabitants of the Gali District are Georgians who possess Georgian citizenship. The Abkhazian government has responded to this by pointing out that Abkhazian citizenship law does not allow for dual citizenship (except for dual Abkhazian-Russian citizenship) and that therefore, Georgian citizens first have to renounce their Georgian citizenship before obtaining Abkhazian passports. Georgia in turn has accused Abkhazia of forcing its citizens in the Gali District to renounce their citizenship and take up Abkhazian passports, but this is denied by the Abkhazian government.
The Abkhazian government has declared that until 12 October 2009, 3522 residents of the Gali District had acquired an Abkhazian passport.
Design
The cover of the Abkhazian passport is dark green, it displays the coat of arms of AbkhaziaCoat of arms of Abkhazia
There are currently two entities claiming to be the government of Abkhazia, the partially recognised Republic of Abkhazia and the pro-Georgia Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia.- Republic of Abkhazia :...
with above it the short name of the country (Abkhazia) and below the word 'passport', both in Abkhaz
Abkhaz language
Abkhaz is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken mainly by the Abkhaz people. It is the official language of Abkhazia where around 100,000 people speak it. Furthermore, it is spoken by thousands of members of the Abkhazian diaspora in Turkey, Georgia's autonomous republic of Adjara, Syria, Jordan...
and in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
.
See also
- International recognition of AbkhaziaInternational recognition of Abkhazia and South OssetiaAbkhazia and South Ossetia are two breakaway republics in the Caucasus with disputed status over whether they are a part of Georgia or sovereign states. The Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia were recognised following the 2008 South Ossetia War between Russia and Georgia, by six...
- Foreign relations of AbkhaziaForeign relations of AbkhaziaThe Republic of Abkhazia is a self-proclaimed independent state a disputed region which is recognized by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, and Transnistria...