Konstantin Ozgan

Infobox Officeholder
honorific-prefix =
name = Konstantin Ozgan
honorific-suffix =


imagesize = 200px
order = Deputy Speaker of the People's Assembly of Abkhazia
term_start = 2002
term_end = 2007
president =
predecessor =
successor =
order2 = First Vice Premier and Minister for the Economy of Abkhazia
term_start2 = 1997
term_end2 = 1999
deputy2 =
president2 = Vladislav Ardzinba
predecessor2 =
successor2 =
order3 = 4th Minister for Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia
term_start3 = August 1996
term_end3 = April 1997
deputy3 =
president3 = Vladislav Ardzinba
predecessor3 = Leonid Lakerbaia
successor3 = Sergei Shamba
birth_date = Birth date and age|1939|05|15|mf=y
birth_place = Lykhny, Gudauta district, Abkhazian ASSR, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
death_date =
death_place =
nationality = Abkhaz
spouse =
party =
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater =
occupation =
profession =
religion =


website =
footnotes =

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.

Early life and career

Konstantin Ozgan was born May 15 1939 in the village of Lykhny in the Gudauta district. 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.

From 1991 until 1996, Ozgan was a member of the People's Assembly of Abkhazia.

Minister for Foreign Affairs

Konstantin Ozgan rose to the position of Abkhazian foreign minister in 1996, when his predecessor Lakerbaya 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.

Vice Premier and Minister for the Economy

After being replaced as foreign minister, Ozgan was appointed Vice Premier of Abkhazia and minister for the Economy. 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.

Deputy of Parliament

Though he no longer occupies as much of a public role as he once did, Ozgan remained a deputy in the People's Assembly of Abkhazia. He lost a 2002 bid for the position of speaker to Nugzar Ashuba, and became deputy speaker instead. Ozgan failed to be re-elected in the 2007 elections.

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.

Notes

References

*cite web
url=http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/coe21/publish/no5_ses/p158_200.pdf
title=p158_200.pdf
publisher=
date=
accessdate = 2008-08-22