As a result of the events of the War in Abkhazia from 1992 to 1993, he became a supporter of independent Abkhazia and accepted an offer from Abkhazian leader Vladislav Ardzinba to serve as its Honorary Consul in the United Kingdom, virtually earning the title of Persona non grata in Georgia. Nevertheless, in the mid-2000s (c.2006) he considered returning to Tbilisi to discuss participation in a research-project funded by the Volkswagenstiftung. However, the day before he planned to book his ticket, he was alerted to a question that had been posed that week in the Parliament of Georgia to Georgia's ambassador-elect to the UK, namely: "When you get to London, what will you do about the anti-georgian activities of George Hewitt?" Seeing this, Hewitt immediately decided that he would make no further visits to the Republic of Georgia which over the years called for his dismissal from his academic posts. The British Foreign Office was prevailed upon to request that he desist from calling himself "honorary consul" of a state that the British government does not recognise. However, when asked to cite the treaty or convention which prohibits British citizens from calling themselves whatever they wish, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office accepted that there exists no such prohibition and simply requested that he cease so styling himself.