Upper Abkhazia (Georgian: ზემო აფხაზეთი, romanized: Zemo Apxazeti; Abkhaz: Аҧсны хыхьтәи, romanized: Apsny xyxjtwj), commonly known by its administrative name, Azhara Municipality, is a geographical term and municipality of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia. The term was first introduced in 2006, to denote the northeastern part of the disputed territory of Abkhazia, that had remained under Georgian control after the 1992 War in Abkhazia. From September 2006 to August 2008 its main village, Chkhalta, hosted the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and was the seat of the Azhara municipal community. This situation came to an end in the Battle of the Kodori Valley in August 2008, when Upper Abkhazia was conquered by the Russo-Abkhazia armies, which had already controlled the rest of Abkhazia. Even though the area was no longer controlled by Georgia, the Georgian Government kept its municipal status as a sign of not recognizing any changes to the Abkhazian administrative divisions made by the breakaway republic. The current seat of the municipal government-in-exile is Tbilisi.
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Upper Abkhazia in the context of Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia
The Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia is an administration established in exile by Georgia as the de jure government of its separatist region of Abkhazia. Abkhazia has been de facto independent from Georgia – though with limited international recognition – since the early 1990s. Ruslan Abashidze, elected in May 2019, is the current head of the government-in-exile. The government-in-exile is partly responsible for the affairs of some 250,000 internally displaced persons who were forced to leave Abkhazia following the War in Abkhazia and the resulting ethnic cleansing of Georgians from the area.
Between September 2006 and July 2008, the Georgian recognized government was headquartered in Upper Abkhazia, the only part of Abkhazia controlled by Georgia after 1993. It was forced out of all of Abkhazia in August 2008 during the Russo-Georgian war by the Abkhazian armed forces. Upper Abkhazia is a territory that has population of c. 2,000 (1–1.5% of Abkhazia's post-war population) and is centered on the upper Kodori Valley (roughly 17% of the territory of the former Abkhaz ASSR).
Upper Abkhazia in the context of Kodori Valley
The Kodori Valley, also known as the Kodori Gorge (Georgian: კოდორის ხეობა, Abkhaz: Кәыдырҭа, romanized: Kwydyrta), is a river valley in Abkhazia, a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus. The valley's upper part, populated by Svans, was the only corner of the post-1993 Abkhazia directly controlled by the central Georgian government, which since 2006 officially styles the area as Upper Abkhazia (Geo. ზემო აფხაზეთი, Zemo Apkhazeti). On August 12, 2008, Russo–Abkhazian forces gained control of the Upper Kodori Valley, previously controlled by Georgia.