u/RangeOran

Türkiye does not recognise Abkhazia as an independent state. It upholds Georgia's territorial integrity, and the great majority of the international community takes the same position. That is the official policy, and it is well known.' What followed was the distinction on which the rest of the statement turned. 'But refusing to recognise a state's status is not the same thing as treating the people who live there as though they did not exist.'

Özdağ paired Abkhazia with Gagauzia, framing both as small communities caught between larger powers, though the substance of his remarks concerned Abkhazia. He described a foreign policy that had come to consist of photographs with heads of state, and set against it a list of people who fall outside the frame: the student who cannot return to university because a passport is not recognised, the patient who cannot reach the country where treatment is available, the family with no school in which to teach its children their own language.

The section of the statement most likely to be read closely in Sukhum concerned documents. Özdağ noted that the Abkhazian passport is accepted by a handful of countries, and that a considerable share of the population has therefore come to depend on a Russian passport in order to travel at all. That dependence, he argued, is not neutral.

'When that Russian document is slow in coming, or is withheld, or is refused elsewhere on account of the place where it was issued, people's lives are damaged by it. In this way Russia controls Abkhazia's door to the outside world not only through its economic and military weight, but through the passport as well.'

He put the consequence plainly. 'If the Abkhazian people pledge themselves to Russia and bow, all well and good; if not, they are stripped of every kind of basic human right.'
To that he added the restrictions arising from Georgia's law on the occupied territories, while stating that Georgia's sovereignty and security concerns were not being dismissed, and that neither the war of the 1990s nor the tens of thousands of displaced Georgians could be set aside. 'But between security concerns and the right of people to reach education, healthcare and their own families, a humane path must be found.'

The statement closed with four proposals addressed to the Turkish government.

One. Without altering its position on Abkhazia's political status, Türkiye should examine the legal means by which Abkhazian passports might be accepted, for limited purposes, as documents of identity and travel. Özdağ pointed to British administrative procedures for documents issued by authorities the United Kingdom does not recognise, to the Taiwan case, and to existing status-neutral travel documents. Where necessary, he said, Türkiye could devise a security-screened travel document of its own, or a form issued alongside a visa.

Two. Türkiye should establish, with the Georgian authorities and the relevant international organisations, a clear humanitarian exemption mechanism covering travel for health, education, scientific, cultural and family reunification purposes. He observed that Georgian law already provides for humanitarian assistance and special permissions. 'Where there is political will, there is also legal ground for a solution.'

Three. Passenger sailings should be opened between Trabzon and Sukhum, and if possible between Samsun and Sukhum, on terms open to inspection and designed to meet the security and customs concerns of both sides. The conditions for a weekly or twice-weekly civil air link should be examined. 'To say "it is legally difficult" is not a solution. It may well be an excuse for indifference.'

Four. A standing humanitarian dialogue table should be convened between Abkhaz civil society organisations in Türkiye, the relevant circles in Abkhazia, the Georgian authorities and international organisations. He was careful to define what it would not be. 'That table is not a bargaining forum over political recognition. It should be a table for solutions.'

On July 4, the official media outlets of the Turkish Labor Party (Emek Partisi, EMEP) published a statement calling for an end to the international isolation of Abkhazia. The statement was signed by party chairman Seyit Aslan. The statement asserts that the isolation policy violates the rights of Abkhaz residents to life, healthcare, education, freedom of movement, and family reunification. The statement also notes that the restrictions affect the large Abkhaz diaspora in Turkey, which the party estimates to number up to 600,000. EMEP calls for the recognition of the Republic of Abkhazia and, until such a process is completed, for Abkhaz passports to be recognized as valid documents at the Turkish border and for direct sea and air travel between Turkey and Abkhazia to be ensured.

The purpose of the visit was to participate in celebrations marking the 2510th anniversary of Sukhum and to sign a sister city agreement between the Abkhazian capital and the municipality of the same name in Ghana.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1wXJdotQ5aM6AzunVSeXrZj3V1CQGPCf3