Interview of the Head of the Presidential Executive Office of South Ossetia (ex-co-chair of the Joint Control Commission from the South Ossetian side, ex- Presidential Envoy to the RSO on post- conflict settlement) Boris Chochiev with IA "Res"
-Mr. Chochiev, recently Georgia renamed the Reintegration Ministry into the Ministry of Reconciliation and the Equality of Citizens, and its head Paata Zakareishvili said that "today Georgia offers Abkhazia and South Ossetia, not forgetting anything, to start all from scratch." He also stressed that "Tbilisi is trying to return Abkhazia and South Ossetia on a voluntary basis and by conscious decision of Sukhum and Tskhinval." He considers the reason for the failure of Georgia at the talks the name of this office.
How can you comment this?
- We cannot talk about any "return, because" South Ossetia has never been part of Georgia. One should not confuse the former GSSR and Georgia. South Ossetia has never been and will never be part of Georgia. We must always remember that the main direction of the Georgian policy, regardless of personalities representing its power at a particular historical juncture, is based on the slogan "Georgia for Georgians." Either you must be a Georgian, or a second-rate citizen.
Our people too well experienced all the horrors of this policy. In1920, the horde of Jordania and Dzhugeli burned the entire South Ossetia, killing several thousand people. In the 30s the best part of the intelligentsia of South Ossetia was shot. Ossetian schools were closed, twice changed the alphabet, even the classes on teaching the Ossetian language as a subject were reduced. Ossetians in Georgia were considered second-rate citizens; their basic rights in every way were infringed. The characteristic fact: the majority of Ossetians living up to1991 in GSSR outside South Ossetia not even studied the Ossetian language at school as a subject and did not speak Ossetian! From year to year the Georgian population was growing, and the Ossetian population declined sharply, indicating the forced assimilation of Ossetians. Is not this a cultural genocide?! And not only cultural. In the 1940s began the planned forcible eviction of South Ossetians to North Ossetia. Each new leader of Georgia, who came to power in the late 80's, started with the aggression against South Ossetia. First Secretary of the Communist Party of Georgia Gumberidze in 1989 was at the forefront of the 40000th horde approaching to Tskhinval, Gamsakhurdia in 1991 began a new genocide of Ossetians, comparable only to the genocide of 1920. The haloed democrat Shevardnadze, who seized power in a military coup, immediately began barbaric artillery bombardment of Tskhinval. The touted as a follower of European values Saakashvili, who overthrew Shevardnadze, also immediately after the legalization of his seizure of power in 2004 began shelling Tskhinval and then committed a barbaric military aggression in 2008.
Georgia tried to assimilate the South Ossetians, make them Georgians, but it did not happen. The unleashed war and the genocide of 1991-1992 was a failure. Georgian authorities tried to involve us in Georgia through the negotiation process, but our negotiators showed high professionalism, and Georgia, having realized that through diplomatic channels they did not defeat us, disrupted the negotiating process. The Georgian Parliament adopted a Resolution which announced the Russian peacekeepers the "occupiers." In 2008 Georgia withdrew from the JCC format, again unleashing a war in which suffered a crushing defeat. Russia, as always in its history, has once again fulfilled its mission of liberation, coming to the aid of the people of South Ossetia, and saved them from total destruction. And now Georgia, changing the name of one ministry, naively believes that this is the equivalent to all the sufferings and misery of our people, we must forget everything and start from scratch
- What deduction, in your opinion, can be drawn from these facts?
- The conclusion is clear: it does not matter for us who is in power in Georgia, what are the names of presidents, ministers, the names of ministries. Georgia wants to seize the territory of South Ossetia and destroy Ossetians or expel them from their native land. Any discussions of Georgia's proposals are totally unacceptable.
I thought Zakareishvili more astute political scientist and realistic politician. But, unfortunately, his statements indicate the contrary. I would give advice to him and his supporters- not the names of the ministries should be changed, but they should think about the recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and the establishment of diplomatic relations, if Georgia's desire to normalize relations with South Ossetia is sincere. South Ossetia will never be part of Georgia. Better to let the "ministry of equality" ensure equality for the few Georgian citizens of Ossetian nationality.
Georgia at this stage will come out with various "humanitarian" offers through controlled resources, including the Internet, distracting people from the issues of recovery and consolidation. We, the people and leaders of South Ossetia, should primarily think about the state interests, the interests of the Ossetian people.
- What, in your opinion, are these interests?
- Our strategic interest and our goal - the restoration of the Republic of South Ossetia, which was destroyed by three barbaric military aggressions of Georgia, by longstanding economic blockade, It`s necessary to build primarily housing, create jobs, develop infrastructure, urban and rural improvement of our homeland, the tight integration with North Ossetia and reunion with Great Russia, which has always protected us from external enemies. This is the centuries-old dream of our people, and it is time to move the work on its implementation from the sphere of conversation to the sphere of real activities.
