Recently a new government led by Irakli Garibashvili came to power in Georgia. In his keynote speech to the parliamentarians Garibashvili also spoke on the issue of further participation of Georgia in the Geneva discussions. IA "Res" applied for comments on this matter to Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy of South Ossetia for post-conflict settlement, the head of the South Ossetian delegation at the Geneva discussions on security in Transcaucasia Murat Dzhioev.
- The political forces that won the presidential elections in Georgia at the end of October 2013 actually had come to power a year ago, when the bloc "Georgian Dream" won a victory over supporters of Saakashvili at the parliamentary elections. The leader of this bloc Ivanishvili has repeatedly publicly stated the responsibility of Georgia and Saakashvili personally, for the war against the people of South Ossetia in August 2008. It was expected that the supporters of Ivanishvili not personally responsible for the atrocities of the regime of Saakashvili, would take real steps to normalize relations with South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
However, the statements made by some leaders of the Georgian government and non-constructive position of the Georgian delegation at the Geneva talks do not give rise to any euphoria.
Mr. Garibashvili told the parliamentarians that his government would "continue to participate in the Geneva talks to resolve the Russian-Georgian conflict and is not going to yield to Russia in the issue of the status of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region."
It follows that the Georgian authorities are stubbornly trying to move away from the main goal of the Geneva discussions and steer the conversation into the direction of the Russian-Georgian relations. In fact, the Geneva discussions are conducted in accordance with the Medvedev and Nicolas Sarkozy agreements after the Georgian attack on South Ossetia and their main goal is to ensure lasting security of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by Georgia that is possible by the signing of legally binding bilateral agreements with solid international guarantees.
I`d like the new government of Georgia to assess and recognize the existing political realities, making steps to ensure real security in the region and to stop misleading the international community, trying to use it against the people of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
And more importantly - the status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia is not negotiable either in Geneva or anywhere else. It is determined by the peoples of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and recognized by many countries.
Some Georgian NGOs call on their government to dismantle the border signs on the border between South Ossetia and Georgia. How would you comment on the situation on the state border?
- All the demarcation works at the state border between the Republic of South Ossetia and Georgia, are carried out by the relevant services of South Ossetia in full accordance with the legislation and the sovereign right of the Republic of South Ossetia solely in the territory of South Ossetia at some distance from the border line. Neither the sovereignty, nor the territory of Georgia has been violated. If there are any attempts to dismantle the barrier or other structures, it will be considered a violation of our border and our frontier service will take all legal measures against the violators.
