Konstantin Ozgan

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Konstantin Ozgan was the foreign minister of the de facto independent, though internationally unrecognised Republic of Abkhazia from 1996 to 1997, when he was replaced by Sergey Shamba. Ozgan had succeeded Leonid Lakerbaya.

In Soviet times, Ozgan was the first secretary of the Gudauta Raikom and later chairman of the Abkhaz Oblast Soviet. He has been accused by Georgian intellectuals of being responsible for the July 1989 clashes in Sukhumi, in which 25 people died.

After rising to the position of Abkhaz foreign minister in 1996, following Lakerbaya's resignation, 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.

After being replaced as foreign minister, Ozgan was appointed Vice Premier of Abkhazia. In 1999, he headed the Abkhaz commission that was to oversee the unilateral repatriation to the Gali District of ethnic Georgian displaced persons. On April 2, 1999, Ozgan survived an assassination attempt when four colleagues were seriously injured by a landmine.

Though he no longer occupies as much of a public role as he once did, as of 2004, Ozgan remains a deputy in the Abkhaz parliament. A 2002 bid for the position of speaker was unsuccessful.

In recent years, Ozgan joined the opposition movement against former President Vladislav Ardzinba, which in 2005 was successful in installing opposition candidate Sergei Bagapsh as President. One of his recent proposals was an unsuccessful attempt to have the segment of the Abkhaz constitution overturned that demanded that a presidential candidate have lived in Abkhazia for more than five years before running for office.

Preceded by Leonid Lakerbaya

Foreign Minister of Abkhazia 1996–1997

Succeeded by Sergey Shamba