The 1992-93 civil wars in Georgia and in Moldova ended with de facto separation of Abkhazia and of Transnistria, respectively. Despite a critical mass of IDPs, Georgians constitute some 20% of the total Abkhazian population and Moldovans some 25% of the Transnistrian population. These Georgians mostly self-identify as ethnic Mingrelians, which Georgia considers as being part of the Georgian ethnic nation and which constitutes a large portion of the population on the Georgian side of the de facto border. Mingrelians in Abkhazia are thus cut from their kin, and while their Abkhaz passports identify them as Georgians, some political actions are taken to institutionalize the Mingralian category. Moldovans in Transnistria are represented as being part of the Transnistrian multicultural people that are different from the Bessarabian Moldovans in Moldova. Based on fieldwork, this paper grasps how these two ‘enemy’ groups in Abkhazia and in Transnistria are represented and categorized using history narratives in order to instrumentally include or exclude them within the state-building efforts, depending on the needs of the moment and on internal political struggles.
