By Michael Stott and Margarita Antidze

TBILISI, July 4 (Reuters) - The European Union needs to help solve "one of the most forgotten ethnic cleansings of the 20th century", the mass expulsion of Georgians from their lands in the pro-Russian territory of Abkhazia, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

More than half the population of Abkhazia, a sliver of land bordering the Russian Black Sea coast, fled their homeland after separatists broke free from Georgian control in 1992 and fought a war against Tbilisi.

The Abkhaz now run the war-scarred province from the city of Sukhumi -- just along the coast from the Russian Winter Olympic candidate city of Sochi -- enjoying tacit support from Moscow.

The region's unilateral declaration of independence has not been recognised by any foreign government and it remains politically and economically isolated.

Saakashvili appealed to the world community not to turn a blind eye to the plight of thousands of Georgians who cannot return to their homes in Abkhazia. The region is effectively sealed off by a buffer zone controlled by Russian peacekeepers.

"What we've got there is 80 percent of the population thrown out and you've got people there who are openly saying they will not let people go back," he said, speaking in English.

Figures on how many Georgians and other non-Abkhaz peoples such as Armenians and Greeks lived in Abkhazia before the war are disputed. Most sources say the population has fallen from more than 500,000 at the start of the 1990s to under 200,000.

"We have people there on the ground who believe ethnicity is reason enough to kill people, to drive them out from their homes", Saakashvili said.

"What we need ... is a strong stance from the international community that people should be allowed to go back".

EUROPEAN PARTICIPATION

Saakashvili said United Nations efforts in the region had been "pretty disappointing", so Georgia was now pinning its hopes on the European Union.

"That's why we want to engage more and more European participation in that part of the world," he explained.

International police could ensure a safe right of return for refugees and once they returned and met their former neighbours again, mutual understanding would improve, he said.

"It was one of the most forgotten ethnic cleansings of the 20th century", he said. "How do you change it? By applying the soft power of the 21st century."

Saakashvili said he also believed that "people power" -- the same force which saw him swept to office in a 2003 uprising which toppled the previous government -- could solve Georgia's other territorial conflict in the province of South Ossetia.

War in that region, located in central Georgia not far from the capital Tbilisi, also led to a breakaway local administration declaring independence from Georgia in 1992, again without international recognition.

A recent outbreak of violence in the region has stirred concern that war could break out again but Saakashvili said he was committed to resolving the situation peacefully.

"There is no military solution to this situation," he said.

Most of the local population were now switching sides and starting to talk to the central government in Tbilisi because they understood that there was no alternative, he added.

"We see desperate attempts by some local representatives of security services trying to block this process but they will not succeed," Saakashvili said, in an apparent reference to Moscow.

"The universal solution to all these kinds of situations is to give more democracy," he said. "We should give the say to the people."

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