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South Ossetia

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South Ossetia (Ossetian: Хуссар Ирыстон, Khussar Iryston; სამხრეთ ოსეთი, Samkhret Oseti; Южная Осетия, Yuzhnaya Osetiya) was an autonomous oblast of Georgia in Soviet times. The majority of the territory including the capital of Tskhinvali is administered by the government of the de facto independent South Ossetian Republic, which declared independence from Georgia. South Ossetia's declaration of independence is not recognised by any country. However parts of eastern and southern South Ossetia are controlled by the Georgian government. Georgia does not recognise South Ossetia as a distinct or independent entity. However in April of 2007, the Georgian government created a temporary administrative unit (Provisional Administrative Entity of South Ossetia ) headed by ethnic Ossetians (former members of separatist government) which would enable Tbilisi to administer the region through local leaders, negotiate with Ossetian authorities regarding its final status and conflict resolution.

Political status

The United Nations, European Union, OSCE, Council of the European Union, NATO and most of the countries around the world recognize South Ossetia as an integral part of the Georgian state and its constitution. However, the de facto independent republic governed by the secessionist government has held a second independence referendum on November 12, 2006, after its first referendum in 1992 was not recognized by the international community as valid. As expected the referendum turned out a majority for independence from Georgia. However, it was not recognized internationally by the UN, European Union, OSCE, NATO and the Russian Federation, given the lack of ethnic Georgian participation and the legality of such referendum without recognition from the central government in Tbilisi. The European Union, OSCE, NATO and the USA condemned the referendum. Parallel to the secessionist held referendum and elections, the Ossetian opposition movement (The Salvation Union of South Ossetia) to Kokoity, organised their own elections in which both Georgian and some Ossetian inhabitants of the region voted in favour of Dmitri Sanakoev as the alternative President of South Ossetia. The alternative elections of Sanakoev claimed full support of the ethnic Georgian population. In 2007, Dmitri Sanakoev became the head of the Provisional Administration of South Ossetia.

On July 13, 2007, Georgia set up a state commission, chaired by the Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli, to develop South Ossetia's autonomous status within the Georgian state. According to the Georgian officials, the status will be elaborated within the framework of "an all-inclusive dialogue" with all the forces and communities within the Ossetian society.

History

Medieval and early modern period

The Ossetians are originally descendants of Iranian-speaking tribes from Eurasian Steppes. They became Christians during the early Middle Ages, under Georgian influence. Under Mongol rule, they were pushed out of their medieval homeland south of the Don river in present-day Russia and part migrated towards and over the Caucasus mountains, to Georgia where they formed three distinct territorial entities. Digor in the west came under the influence of the neighboring Kabard people, who introduced Islam. Tualläg in the south became what is now South Ossetia, part of the historical Georgian principality of Samachablo where Ossetians found refuge from Mongol invaders. Iron in the north became what is now North Ossetia, under Russian rule from 1767. Most Ossetians are now Christian (approximately 61%); there is also a significant Muslim minority.

South Ossetia under Russia and the Soviet Union

The modern-day South Ossetia was annexed by Russia in 1801, along with Georgia proper, and absorbed into the Russian Empire. Following the Russian Revolution, South Ossetia became a part of the Menshevik Georgian Democratic Republic, while the north became a part of the Terek Soviet Republic. The area saw brief clashes between the Georgian governmental forces and Ossetians led by Ossetian and Georgian bolsheviks in 1920. The Soviet Georgian government established by the Russian 11th Red Army in 1921, created the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast (i.e. district) in April 1922. Although the Ossetians had their own language (Ossetian), Russian and Georgian were administrative/state languages. At present, Russian is the only administrative language used by the separatist government in Tskhinvali. In the Soviet time, under the rule of Georgia's government, it enjoyed some degree of autonomy, including to practice Ossetian language and teach it in schools.

Georgian-Ossetian conflict

The tensions in the region began to rise amid the rising nationalism among both Georgians and Ossetians in 1989. Prior to this, the two communities of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast of Georgian SSR had been living in peace with each other except for the episode in 1920. Both ethnicities have had a high level of interaction and high rates of intermarriages.

In the same year, the influential South Ossetian Popular Front (Ademon Nykhas) demanded unification with North Ossetia as a measure to defend Ossetian autonomy. On 10 November 1989, the South Ossetian Supreme Soviet approved a decision to unite South Ossetia with the North Ossetian ASSR, part of Russia. A day later, the Georgian parliament revoked the decision and abolished South Ossetian autonomy. Additionally, the parliament authorized the suppression of newspapers and demonstrations.

According to a TIME Magazine January 1991 article, “Last September (of 1990), as the rest of Georgia was moving toward independence, the South Ossetian regional council declared the area to be a "Soviet Democratic Republic" loyal to Moscow. The parliament in Tbilisi responded by dissolving the autonomous region altogether. Conflicts between the Georgian police and local separatists have resulted in at least 12 deaths.”

Following Georgia's independence in 1991 under the nationalist leader Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the Georgian government declared Georgian to be the only administrative language throughout the country. Throughout the Soviet era Georgian, along with Russian, were the state and administrative languages, since it was stipulated as such in both the 1936 and 1979 constitutions of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. Similar to the Abkhazian conflict, this caused great concern in South Ossetia, whose leaders demanded that Ossetian become the language of their state. The Ossetian minority continued to seek greater levels of autonomy, but were faced with increasing nationalist sentiment among the Georgian majority. Violent conflict broke out towards the end of 1991 during which many South Ossetian villages were attacked and burned down as well as Georgian houses and schools in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. As a result, approximately 1,000 died and about 100,000 ethnic Ossetians fled the territory and Georgia proper, most across the border into North Ossetia. A further 23,000 ethnic Georgians fled South Ossetia and settled in other parts of Georgia. Many South Ossetians were resettled in uninhabited areas of North Ossetia from which the Ingush had been expelled by Stalin in 1944, leading to conflicts between Ossetians and Ingush over the right of residence in former Ingush territory.

At the time of the dissolution of the USSR, the United States government recognized as legitimate the pre-Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact 1933 borders of the country (the Franklin D. Roosevelt government established diplomatic relations with the Kremlin at the end of that year). Because of this, the George H. W. Bush administration openly supported the secession of the Baltic SSRs, but regarded the questions related to the independence and territorial conflicts of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and the rest of the Transcaucasus — which were integral part of the USSR with international borders unaltered since the 1920s — as internal Soviet affairs.

In 1992, Georgia was forced to accept a ceasefire to avoid a large scale confrontation with Russia. The government of Georgia and South Ossetian separatists reached an agreement to avoid the use of force against one another, and Georgia pledged not to impose sanctions against South Ossetia. However, the Georgian government still retains control over substantial portions of South Ossetia, including the town of Akhalgori. A peacekeeping force of Ossetians, Russians and Georgians was established. On November 6 1992, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) set up a Mission in Georgia to monitor the peacekeeping operation. From then, until mid-2004 South Ossetia was generally peaceful. In June 2004, tensions began to rise as the Georgian authorities strengthened their efforts against smuggling in the region. Hostage takings, shootouts and occasional bombings left dozens dead and wounded. A ceasefire deal was reached on August 13 though it was repeatedly violated. Presently the situation is tense though largely peaceful, although Moscow and Tskhinvali view the recent Georgian military build-up with concern. The Georgian government protests against the continually increasing Russian economic and political presence in the region, as well as the uncontrolled military of the South Ossetian side. It also considers the peacekeeping force to be non-neutral and demanded its replacement. This criticism was supported, for example, by Richard Lugar, however on October 5 2006, Javier Solana, the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union, ruled out the possibility of replacing the Russian peacekeepers with the EU force. EU South Caucasus envoy Peter Semneby admitted later that "Russia's actions in the Georgia spy row have damaged its credibility as a neutral peacekeeper in the EU's Black Sea neighbourhood.

Politics

The Republic of South Ossetia consists of a checkerboard of Georgian-inhabited and Ossetian-inhabited towns and villages. The largely Ossetian capital city of Tskhinvali and most of the other Ossetian-inhabited communities are governed by the separatist government, while the Georgian-inhabited villages and towns are administered by the Georgian government. This close proximity and the intermixing of the two communities has made the conflict in South Ossetia particularly dangerous, since any attempt to create an ethnically pure territory would necessarily have to involve population transfers on a large scale.

The political dispute has, yet to be resolved and the South Ossetian separatist authorities govern the region with effective independence from Tbilisi. Although talks have been held periodically between the two sides, little progress was made under the government of Eduard Shevardnadze (1993–2003). His successor Mikheil Saakashvili (elected 2004) made the reassertion of Georgian governmental authority a political priority. Having successfully put an end to the de facto independence of the southwestern province of Ajaria in May 2004, he pledged to seek a similar solution in South Ossetia. After the 2004 clashes, the Georgian government has intensified its efforts to bring the problem to international attention. On January 25 2005, President Saakashvili presented a Georgian vision for resolving the South Ossetian conflict at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) session in Strasbourg. Late in October, the U.S. Government and the OSCE expressed their support to the Georgian action plan presented by Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli at the OSCE Permanent Council at Vienna on October 27, 2005. On December 6, the OSCE Ministerial Council in Ljubljana adopted a resolution supporting the Georgian peace plan which was subsequently rejected by the South Ossetian de facto authorities.

Republic of South Ossetia

On August 26 2006, the high-ranking delegation of the United States Senators led by the Arizona Senator John McCain paid a visit to the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone. The group visited Tskhinvali and met with the de facto leader Eduard Kokoity. Speaking about his visit to Tskhinvali, Senator McCain said that the trip was "not very productive." Senator McCain said:

Because there was not a direct response to our questions about why OSCE has been blocked from doing its job; why there has been no progress on peace initiatives from Georgia, from the UN, from the OSCE, from other organizations - there has been no progress. I think that the attitude there is best described by what you see by driving in [Tskhinvali]: a very large billboard with a picture of Vladimir Putin on it, which says 'Vladimir Putin Our President'. I do not believe that Vladimir Putin is now, or ever should be, the President of sovereign Georgian soil.

On September 11, 2006, the South Ossetian Information and Press Committee announced that the republic will hold an independence referendum (the first referendum had not been recognized by the international community as valid in 1992) on November 12, 2006. The voters would decide on whether or not South Ossetia "should preserve its present de facto status of an independent state". Georgia denounced the move as a "political absurdity". However, On September 13 2006, the Council of Europe (CoE) Secretary General Terry Davis commented on the problem, stating that it would be unlikely if anyone accepted the results of this referendum and instead urged South Ossetian government to engage in the negotiations with Georgia. On September 13 2006 EU Special Representative to the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby, while visiting Moscow, said: "results of the South Ossetian independence referendum will have no meaning for the European Union". Peter Semneby also added that this referendum will not contribute to the peaceful conflict resolution process in South Ossetia

South Ossetians nearly unanimously approved a referendum on November 12, 2006 opting for independence from Georgia. The referendum was hugely popular, winning between 98 and 99 percent of the ballots, flag waving and celebration marked were seen across South Ossetia, but elsewhere observers were less enthusiastic. International critics claimed that the move could worsen regional tensions, and the Tblisi government thoroughly discounted the results. On November 13, Terry Davis, head of the 46-nation Council of Europe, called the referendum on "independence" as "unnecessary, unhelpful and unfair" because ethnic Georgians were not given the right to vote in it. On the other hand Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described it as a "free expression of the will of South Ossetia’s people through democratic procedures" and stated that the referendum's results must be taken into account by the international community.

Provisional Administrative Entity of South Ossetia

The Salvation Union of South Ossetia was founded in October of 2006 by the ethnic Ossetians who were outspoken critics and presented a serious opposition to secessionist authorities of Eduard Kokoity.

The group headed by the former defence minister and then prime minister of secessionist government Dmitri Sanakoev organized the so-called alternative presidential election, on November 12 2006– parallel to those held by the secessionist authorities in Tskhinvali. High voter turnout was reported by the alternative electoral commission, which estimated over 42,000 voters from both Ossetian (Java district and Tskhinvali) and Georgian (Eredvi, Tamarasheni, etc) communities of South Ossetia and Sanakoev reportedly received 96% of the votes. Another referendum was organised shortly after asking for the start of negotiations with Georgia on a federal arrangement for South Ossetia received 94% support. However the Salvation Union of South Ossetia turned down a request from a Georgian NGO, “Multinational Georgia”, to monitor it and the released results were very likely to be inflated.

“I, the President of the Republic of South Ossetia, declare before God and Nation that I will protect the interests of the South Ossetian people... I will take care of the security, well-being and revival of South Ossetia and its people,”

Dimitri Sanakoev said in his presidential oath, which he gave in the Ossetian and Georgian languages during the inauguration ceremony held on December 1 2006. Soon after Sanakoev formed his government, appointing Uruzmag Karkusov as Prime Minister, Jemal Karkusov (former Interior Minister in the secessionist government) as Interior Minister and Maia Chigoeva-Tsaboshvili (head of the Tbilisi-based non-governmental organization Iber-Ironi Georgian-Ossetian Union) as Foreign Minister.

“This is a historic day. A year ago no one could imagine that South Ossetian flags could appear here in the Georgian-populated village,” Vladimir Sanakoev, co-founder of the Salvation Union of South Ossetia, said.

There were large number of Ossetian flags also used by the South Ossetian secessionist authorities, flown alongside the Georgian flag in Kurta, near Tskhinvali. South Ossetian flags are usually displayed in Tskhinvali by the Separatist controlled territories of the breakaway region alongside of the Russian national flag.

Despite Georgia's non-violent and development-oriented steps, both the central Georgian government and Sanakoyev's adminsitartion considers any negotiations with Kokoity's government meaningless because of its dependence on Moscow. On the other hand, the Tskhinvali leadership and a majority of South Ossetians in the areas it controls dismiss Sanakoev as a "traitor" and perceive that Georgia wants to force a settlement on its own terms having "little respect for their aspirations and fears".

Initially the entity of Sanakoev was known as "the Alternative Government of South Ossetia", but during the course of 2007 the central authorities of Georgia decided to give it official status and on April 13 the formation of "Provisional Administration of South Ossetia" was announced. On May 10, 2007 Dmitry Sanakoev was appointed head of the provisional administrative entity in South Ossetia.

For the first time since the fall of Soviet Union, the former Ossetian secessionist leader gave a speech in the Georgian parliament on May 11, 2007.

In his speech in Ossetian language (full text), Sanakoev mentioned about the armed conflict which ignited the region in early 90s:

“Many of [Ossetians] took arms [in early 90s] and I was among them. But we all have understood that armed confrontation brought nothing but misfortune… It became clear for us that we were in impasse.”
He also mentioned that:
“vicious Soviet legacy, grave mistakes committed by the both sides and the imperialistic policy of divide and rule exerted by the external forces.”
Sanakoev also mentioned that despite of his high-level position in the South Ossetian secessionist authorities as Prime Minister he failed to build confidence between the two sides and make a breakthrough in the conflict resolution process “because it was beyond my powers.”
“There is only one solution – direct dialogue between the Georgian and Ossetian people, neutralizing external and internal destructive forces and their replacement with effective and healthy support of the international democratic community. European Union’s role in respect of confidence-building and economic rehabilitation is of vital importance. We should counter-balance antidemocratic propaganda by our movement’s brave peaceful initiatives and economic development projects,”
. As for current situation, Sakanoev mentioned that Tskhinvali secessionist authorities take instruction from “foreign supervisors” who try to thwart confidence-building and provoke hostilities between the two people.

"Our Ossetian children grow up in an environment of endless conflict, under constant stress and tension… They don’t know what is going on beyond checkpoints… We are losing entire generations,” “I will not allow it! We should not allow it,” he added. “This is our current challenge; this is our current goal: to create a new Ossetia, strong and delightful, free of violence: an Ossetia of free people.”

Many European and US observers and ambassadors who were present during Sanakoevs speech, welcomed his proposition and initiatives. On June 15, 2007 European Union, European Parliament and OSCE supported Georgian initiative for conflict settlement in South Ossetia. EU issued the following statement:

"The EU welcomes the Georgian government’s invitation to the South Ossetian society as a whole – i.e. representatives of all political forces and local groups – to participate actively in discussions on progress towards peaceful conflict resolution.”

On June 26 of 2007 Dmitry Sanakoev delivered a speech in European Parliament which was assessed by European delegates as historic. The speech lasted for 30 minutes and entirely in Ossetian language which set a precedent for the European Union. Most of the European diplomats and members of EU parliament welcomed Sanakoev initiatives and supported his peace plan for South Ossetia. Prior to this, the EU mission had met with both Sanakoev and Kokoity in January, 2007. Per Eklund, Head of the European Commission Delegation to Georgia said that “None of the two alternatives do we consider legitimate [in South Ossetia],”

In August of 2007, Kokoity Fandarast political campaign was launched by the The Salvation Union of South Ossetia and Vladimir Sanakoev, with a declared goal "of getting rid of Eduard Kokoity."

Geography

South Ossetia covers an area of about 3,900 km² on the southern side of the Caucasus, separated by the mountains from the more populous North Ossetia (part of Russia) and extending southwards almost to the Mtkvari river in Georgia. It is extremely mountainous, with most of the region lying over 1,000 m (3,300 ft) above sea level. Its economy is primarily agricultural, although less than 10% of South Ossetia's land area is cultivated, with cereals, fruit and vines the major produce. Forestry and cattle industries are also maintained. A number of industrial facilities also exist, particularly around the capital Tskhinvali.

Demographics

Before the Georgian-Ossetian conflict about two thirds of the population of South Ossetia were Ossetians and 25-30% Georgians. The present composition of the population is unknown, although according to some estimates there are 45,000 ethnic Ossetians and 17,500 ethnic Georgians in South Ossetia in 2007.

census 1926 census 1939 census 1959 census 1970 census 1979 census 1989
Ossetians 60,351 (69.1%) 72,266 (68.1%) 63,698 (65.8%) 66,073 (66.5%) 65,077 (66.4%) 65,200 (66.2%)
Georgians 23,538 (26.9%) 27,525 (25.9%) 26,584 (27.5%) 28,125 (28.3%) 28,187 (28.8%) 28,700 (29.0%)
Russians 157 (0.2%) 2,111 (2.0%) 2,380 (2.5%) 1,574 (1.6%) 2,046 (2.1%)
Armenians 1,374 (1.6%) 1,537 (1.4%) 1,555 (1.6%) 1,254 (1.3%) 953 (1.0%)
Jews 1,739 (2.0%) 1,979 (1.9%) 1,723 (1.8%) 1,485 (1.5%) 654 (0.7%)
Others 216 (0.2%) 700 (0.7%) 867 (0.9%) 910 (0.9%) 1,071 (1.1%) 5,100 (4.8%)
Total 87,375 106,118 96,807 99,421 97,988 99,000

Economy

Following a war with Georgia in the 1990s, South Ossetia has struggled economically. Employment and supplies are scarce. Additionally, Georgia cut off supplies of electricity to the region, which forced the South Ossetian government to run an electric cable through North Ossetia. The majority of the population survives on subsistence farming. Virtually the only significant economic asset that South Ossetia possesses is control of the Roki Tunnel that links Russia and Georgia, from which the South Ossetian government reportedly obtains as much as a third of its budget by levying customs duties on freight traffic. The separatist officials admitted that Tskhinvali received more than 60 percent of its 2006 budget revenue directly from the Russian government. In late 2006, a large international counterfeiting operation stretching from South Ossetia was revealed by U.S. Secret Service and Georgian police.

See also

Notes

External links



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