Konstantin Ozgan - Minister For Foreign Affairs

Minister For Foreign Affairs

Konstantin Ozgan rose to the position of Abkhazian foreign minister in 1996, when his predecessor Leonid Lakerbaia resigned. He handled much of the early negotiations with the United Nations. He met then Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze multiple times, as part of a regular series of negotiations during his two years in office.

As one of the entity's more moderate leaders, he once proposed a five year moratorium on discussions of Abkhazia's future political status as an interim compromise, in a similar fashion to the deal Russia had at that time with Chechnya. While this was the closest the two sides had come to agreement, it was rejected by the Georgian side.

In the earlier stages of Ozgan's term, he had overseen some of the more successful negotiations between the two sides. However, in 1997, tensions began to rise again. Ozgan accused the Georgian government of being behind terrorist attacks on Abkhaz soldiers. He also demanded that the Commonwealth of Independent States lift sanctions before any Georgian refugees could return to their homes – a policy which has since continued under his successors.