The validity of the term "occupied territories" with regard to South Ossetia will be discussed at the Geneva talks on June7-8. This has been announced today at a briefing in Tskhinval by the head of the South Ossetian delegation at the Geneva discussions, the Plenipotentiary of the President of South Ossetia on post-conflict settlement Boris Chochiev.
According to him, the decision was taken on March 29 at the 19th round of the Geneva discussions on security and stability in Transcaucasia. "The first day of the talks was devoted to preparatory work, an informational session has also been held, during which representatives of the EU, UN and OSCE in the course of the bilateral consultations have tried skate round the main issues that are of vital importance for us,"-said Chochiev. The same for the South Ossetian side, recalled the ambassador, are the issues of non-use of force against South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as the fate of the citizens of South Ossetia, illegally held in prisons of Georgia. "Nevertheless, we managed to reach an agreement that these issues would be paramount to the plenary meeting," - said Chochiev. He added that during the meeting the South Ossetian side informed the participants of the debates on the situation in South Ossetia. "It was said that the number of violations for crossing the state border of South Ossetia and Georgia had reduced, as after 2008, people gradually began to get used to the desired regime; they understood the significance of the existing state border", - said Chochiev. He also said that at the discussions the Russian side had presented the draft statement of the nonuse of force. "The draft stated that the co-chairs had confirmed the necessity of signing a legally binding document on the nonuse of force, but it was negatively received by majority of those present, however, we were able to ensure that the project remained on the agenda, and we will raise the question of its approval", - underlined Boris Chochiev. He has stressed that the agreement Medvedev - Sarkozy oblige Georgia to grant South Ossetia and Abkhazia legal guarantees of the nonuse of force. "We, like Abkhazia, have our own versions of the future document on the nonuse of force, but they are not approved by the U.S., UN, EU, European Union and Georgia - said Chochiev. - They have combined their efforts and continue to demand that Russia would give Georgia assurances on nonuse of force. The South Ossetian side declared that Russia had not been a party to the conflict but it had fulfilled the obligation to provide aid to South Ossetia to repel the Georgian aggression."
Chochiev recalled that in 1996 South Ossetia and Georgia had signed in Moscow a Memorandum of nonuse of force. "One of its points has stated that in case of breach of the agreement Russia is the guarantor of security for the other side", - said the ambassador.
According to him, at the Geneva discussions the South Ossetian side again raised the issue of the concept the "occupied territory" in relation to South Ossetia. "At the instigation of of the Georgian authorities and with the approval of the U.S. leadership U.S. Department of State, PACE, the EU three times used the term" occupied territory "in relation to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which for us is, of course, unacceptable. And we were able to achieve holding an information session on this issue at the next round of the Geneva talks in June",-stressed Boris Chochiev.
He added that at the meeting was also reached an agreement with the Georgian side that mutual transferring of the detainees will be continued within the frames of the MPRI.
"We will also apply for the Georgian side has returned to the issue of the South Ossetian people, serving life imprisonment in the Georgian prisons," - said Chochiev. According to him, it is necessary to bring to the world community the objective information about the events in South Ossetia. "Earlier, the Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze has stated that the country does not prevent the entry of the international organizations in South Ossetia. The question has arisen: Why they have not come to the Republic, to see the first hand situation, to make sure that South Ossetia is not an occupied territory. We have nothing to hide, and we are convinced we are right, "- Chochiev has concluded. He added that in this respect, the format of the Geneva discussions and MPRI is very important as an opportunity to bring the position of South Ossetia to the international community.
