In the village of Artsev in Tskhinval district of South Ossetia which borders on Georgia, has been held a round table organized by the Media Center "IR." In discussing the topic "Five years after the war" participated the Head of the Media Center "IR" Irina Gagloeva, her Deputy Zamira Dzhioeva, Foreign Minister of South Ossetia David Sanakoev, director of the secondary school in Artsev Mziya Dudayeva and the locals.
The meeting was also attended by a resident of Artsev - Marik Dudayev, who had been kidnapped by Georgian special services in 2004, illegally convicted and held in Georgian prison for nine years.
Residents of Artsev have talked about difficult years of the war, starting with the 1990s, how brutally the Georgians cracked down on civilians. The villagers also told about the most pressing challenges.
Zamira Dzhioeva has noted that before the Georgian aggression in the 1990s in Artsev there were about 700 houses, the population reached more than two thousand people.
"In Soviet times there was a large farm, school with more than 500 pupils, and now there are only 20 pupils. Who would have thought that overnight the life of local residents would change so dramatically? During the 20 hard years they have endured the hardships of war, "- said Dzhioeva.
The position of local residents was exacerbated by the remoteness of the village from the capital of the Republic and by the close proximity to the Georgian villages.
"We have no right to forget the events that took place in those years, because we achieved our independence only going through these ordeals," – said Dzhioeva.
Talking about the atrocities of the Georgians and remembering the innocent victims, the participants of the round table could not hold back their emotions.
"My father was killed in 1995 in the courtyard of his house, and then burned along with the house. We could find only some fragments of his body, put them into package and somehow buried in the cemetery, "- said a resident of Artsev David Kaziev. He told how he had had to leave his native village, rescuing his wife and little children.
The residents have recalled that the Georgian armed forces were killing teenagers, old people, how they were beating Ossetians within an inch of their life, tortured them, abused, stealing cattle and plundering their property. Many villagers are still considered the missing.
The Head of the Media Center "IR" Irina Gagloeva noted that these facts of genocide of the Ossetian people should never be forgotten, that "we should know we live next to the enemy who is capable of such actions".
"We must not forget it, because such a neighbor is capable to repeat such actions. We must go forward, develop, but, nevertheless, we have no right to forget this"- she said.
In turn, the Minister of Foreign Affairs David Sanakoev has expressed his disagreement with the sayings one can see in the media that South Ossetia is independent for only five years.
"We are independent for 21 years. Our rising generation should be aware of all the events taking place in the 1990s, they must know why were killed so many people, "- he said.
The villagers have called one of the most burning issues the lack of a normal road connection with Tskhinval and other localities of the Republic. In addition, Artsev is experiencing an acute shortage of drinking water - a local spring in summer is almost getting dry, and the nearby spring is located three kilometers from the village. There is not a first-aid station in Artsev, as well as a drugstore and other socially important facilities.
Another problem has arisen during the demarcation activities. According to the villagers, some of the Ossetian lands were left on the other side of the borderline in the territory of Georgia. In particular, the residents have indicated the area Bichkatysykh, where there are about twenty houses, inhabited by Ossetians.
"We have to wade through the woods, looking for a hole in the barbed wire to cross the border and do not be detained for illegal crossing the borderline," - said a resident of this area Zaira Kazieva.
At the end of the discussion, David Sanakoev assured the villagers that the relevant authorities would be informed of the issues discussed in the course of the round table.
