Courting Europe: Diplomatic Battlegrounds and the Georgian–Abkhazian Conflict

ABSTRACT: This article critically engages with Georgian narratives that frame the Georgian–Abkhazian conflict as a confrontation with Russia rather than with Abkhazians: a discourse that denies Abkhazians’ agency and recasts them as hostages of Russian power. It revisits a pivotal moment: the EU’s recognition of Georgia’s Soviet borders, which included Abkhazia, in 1992. Rather than reflecting a neutral stance on a complex territorial dispute, EU recognition empowered an unelected Georgian junta that had ousted the country’s first democratically elected president just months prior. Since then, Georgia has sought to extend its sovereignty over Abkhazia with support from the EU. In the absence of a coherent independent strategy for Abkhazia, the EU’s alignment with Tbilisi has constrained its role as a potential mediator, contributed to Abkhazia’s international isolation and deepened its reliance on Russia. This article argues for a more nuanced approach that acknowledges Abkhazian agency and opens pathways for engagement.