Information message in connection with the 102nd anniversary of the genocide of South Ossetians
In connection with the 102nd anniversary of the genocide committed against the South Ossetians by the Georgian Democratic Republic in 1920, the Embassy of the Republic of South Ossetia in Russia sent an Appeal to the diplomatic missions of foreign states accredited in Russia.
The press release says:
“These days, the Republic of South Ossetia, the entire Ossetian people, united by historical memory and duty to past and future generations, once again is resembling and paying tribute to the memory of the innocent victims of the Georgian genocide of 1920.
The events of 100 years ago that took place in Transcaucasia against the backdrop of global changes after the First World War and the formation of a new socio-economic and political formation in the 20s. XX century, most tragically reflected on the fate of the Ossetian people.
The nationalist political forces that came to power in parts of the former Tbilisi and Kutaisi provinces of the Russian Empire, within the framework of the so-called. Georgian Democratic Republic, committed genocide in 1920 against the Ossetian population, part of which is historically living on the southern slopes of the Caucasus Range.
Starting from June 17, 1920, Georgian troops marched with fire and sword throughout South Ossetia. Almost all the villages of South Ossetia were burned and devastated, the masses of the Ossetian population, mainly women, children, the elderly, were massacred. In the city of Tskhinval on Osetinskaya street, visiting the houses of Ossetians in a row, the Georgian Mensheviks exterminated the entire male population.
More than 5,000 civilians of the Ossetian nationality became victims of this criminal policy. The surviving South Ossetians were forced to flee to North Ossetia. More than 50 thousand people (more than 75% of the population of South Ossetia at that time) went through difficult mountain passes to North Ossetia, a significant part of whom died from hunger, cold, typhoid and cholera.
At the same time, a Georgian government commission was established to expel the surviving Ossetians and divide their property between Georgian settlers from different regions of Georgia, mainly from Dusheti and Kazbegi districts. The government newspaper of the so-called Georgian Democratic Republic "Ertoba" at that time wrote: "Our republic is evicting Ossetians to where they aspired – to a socialist paradise." Terror against Ossetians and other "non-Georgians" was the state policy of the Georgian authorities of that time.
The events of 102 years ago are fresh in our memory, because Georgia's policy has not fundamentally changed over the past century - it is also filled with hatred for everything non-Georgian, increasing pain and suffering. This is best evidenced by the recurrences of crimes against the world and humanity committed by the Georgian regimes in 1920, and in 1989-1992, and in 2008.
And today, once again calling for justice, for the legal assessment of these acts and the punishment of the criminals sheltered by the Georgian authorities, we are grieving for the murdered innocent victims of the genocide, the memory of which will forever remain in our hearts.”
