Comment of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia, Murat Dzhioev to IA "Res" in connection with the media information on the denial of receiving a delegation of two influential European institutions - the German Marshall Fund and the Robert Bosch Foundation, - which had planned to visit Georgia in April, by the President of Georgia Saakashvili. The delegation was refused to enter Georgia due to the fact that it was composed of the well-known German diplomat, now a Bosch Foundation expert Dieter Boden and a member of the Bundestag from the Green Party Viola von Cramon. As a result, the visit has failed and the Georgian Foreign Ministry is trying to have an explanation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany.
- Actually, the authorities of Georgia have demonstrated once again that even in the West they make friends selectively. Accustomed to the constant support of the Western public officials and institutions, Mr. Saakashvili and his entourage give a hostile reception of any information or statement, irrelevant to their interests and facilities, immediately taking the attack against the "guilty" politicians and diplomats.
At this time, the German diplomat and a member of the Bundestag have become undesirable for the Georgian authorities only for the fact that they objectively expressed their vision of the possibilities of stabilizing the situation in the relations between Georgia and South Ossetia, Georgia and Abkhazia. Ambassador Dieter Boden was working for many years in our region and he is not aware of the situation from the tendentious material published in the West, but, that is called, from within. Being the head of the OSCE in Georgia, he was closely involved in the settlement of the Georgian-Ossetian relations, and having the position of the UN representative office - the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict. And even then, holding official positions in organizations that favored Georgia, it was Mr. Boden who had such qualities as high objectivity, competence; he did not follow the ambitions of the Georgian authorities. Now he has fallen into disfavor of Saakashvili because of his statement that the territorial integrity of Georgia is an illusion and that Tbilisi has to "apologize to the Abkhazians and the Ossetians as well as the Nazi Germany apologized to its victims." But Mr. Boden said the real truth. South Ossetia was never a part and has no relation to the territorial integrity of Georgia. As the autonomous republic South Ossetia was included in the Georgian SSR by the Bolsheviks in 1922 and remained there until 1990. Having rejected the Soviet legacy, the Supreme Council of Georgia in June 1990 finally abolished all the legislative acts adopted in the GSSR in the Soviet era, including the decree on the inclusion of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast into the GSSR. This abolished all the legal bases of staying of South Ossetia in Georgia. South Ossetia was never the part of the Georgian state, recognized by the international community. So, any argument that the territory of South Ossetia is the part of Georgia – is not just an illusion, but a propaganda myth. The fact that Georgia has committed aggression against South Ossetia was declared not only by Boden. Independent Commission of the European Union proved by the facts that the war in August 2008 had been launched by Georgia and this fact is no longer concealed in Georgia itself. I`d like to remind the words of the former President Shevardnadze in an interview to "Asaval-Dasavali" that "the competent EU Commission has determined that we shot the first." As for the apologies, we repeatedly said that international condemnation of the Georgian government for its aggression against South Ossetia, its repentance would have cooled the hotheads in Tbilisi and would have contributed to the progress at the Geneva international discussions on security in Transcaucasia. The Georgian authorities have been adopting the policy of boycotting the undesirable leaders and diplomats for a long time. Let us recall the de facto expulsion from Georgia the Head of the OSCE Mission to Georgia, the English diplomat Roy Reeve on the eve of the war in August 2008. He was "guilty" towards Saakashvili that, seeing the Georgian preparations for the war, he was trying to maintain at least fragile peace; he repeatedly stated the need of signing between Georgia and South Ossetia, a legally binding document on the nonuse of force in the settlement process. Or let`s recall how the British diplomat, Deputy Head of OSCE Mission in Georgia, Ryan Grist was persecuted not only by the Georgian authorities, for the fact that after the August 2008 he declared the truth. So, an attack against the German politicians – is a continuation of policy and unacceptance of the truth by the Georgian authorities. It should be cited the diplomat, who was working in Tbilisi; in the late 90s he said the then president: "I don`t visit you often, but the better I know the Georgian authorities, the more I am convinced of your rightness." Hopefully, the current demarche of the Georgian authorities against Dieter Boden and Viola von Cramon will help many in the West to see the matter in more reality.
