Mingrelian is a Kartvelian language that is mainly spoken in the Western Georgian regions Samegrelo and Abkhazia. In Abkhazia the number of Mingrelian speakers declined dramatically in the 1990s as a result of heavy ethnic cleansing of ethnic Georgians, the overwhelming majority of which were Mingrelians. Mingrelian has two dialects: Zugdidi-Samurzaqano (northwestern) and Senaki-Martvili (southeastern). The dialects are extremely close to each other.