Yesterday, March 31, the President of Georgia George Margvelashvili made an annual statement in the Parliament. In his report on the situation, by Georgian tradition, he could not do without ungrounded attacks on South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Russia.
Correspondent of the news agency "Res" asked the Plenipotentiary Presidential Envoy of the RSO for post-conflict settlement Murat Dzhioev to comment on the positions of the report.
The talks about this report were held for a long time, as well as the intrigues around the question, whether the Georgian government will be present at voicing the report by the President of Georgia.
Margvelashvili himself said that such attendance "is a tradition of the new Georgian state." Georgian Prime Minister Garibashvili said that it was not necessary for the government to sit in the parliamentary chamber and the report "can be heard on TV", "that we need to promote the rooting of a new reality."
Without thinking long about the correlation of "tradition" and "new reality" within the Georgian leadership, one thing is clear that for Mr. Margvelashvili has become a tradition, inherited from predecessors, in his speeches to make unsubstantiated, detached from the reality attacks against South Ossetia and Abkhazia, development of their relations with the Russian Federation. In this report, he again called South Ossetia and Abkhazia as the "occupied territories ", that "the unity and integrity of Georgia is a common goal, and that this goal remains the cornerstone of the Georgian policy to achieve it." One could, of course, think that the question is about the integrity of the Georgian state, the unity of which is falling apart at the seams, but the phrase "to achieve it" opens the card: Margvelashvili has in mind the goal of annexation of the territory of the neighbouring states –the Republic of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
It turns out that the goals, traditional for the Georgian authorities, for achieving of which they have repeatedly committed aggression against South Ossetia and Abkhazia, remain in force. Otherwise, how can`t they understand that South Ossetia has no concern with the territorial integrity of the Georgian state recognized by the international community in 1992. South Ossetia was part of the Georgian SSR within the USSR from 1922 to 1990. In June 1990, the Supreme Council of the GSSR canceled all legislative acts adopted in the Georgian SSR in the Soviet era, finding them not meeting the interests of the Georgian people. Thus, by the will of the then Georgian political elite South Ossetia found itself outside the legal framework of the Georgian SSR, respectively, outside the present-day Georgia. In December 1991 collapsed not only the Soviet Union, but also the Georgian SSR.
The formation and the development of the Republic of South Ossetia took place in full accordance with international law; no one can lawfully accuse South Ossetians of violating the territorial integrity or sovereignty of Georgia. The fact that the international community has retroactively recognized Georgia within the borders of the former GSSR is a manifestation of political will, but not of law.
As for the concept of the "occupied territories" in relation to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, it was always groundless. In June 2012, within the framework of the Geneva discussions on security in Transcaucasia, conducted since 2008 in accordance with the Medvedev-Sarkozy agreements, was held a detailed discussion on the admissibility of the term "occupied territories" in relation to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and neither the international experts invited by the European Union, nor the representatives of Georgia had any arguments that would characterize Russian-South Ossetian and Russian-Abkhaz relations as the "occupation".
Now, after the signing of new agreements between South Ossetia and Russia, which secured a new, higher level of bilateral relations between the two sovereign states, in Georgia began to use the term "annexation". You see, the border treaty between the two neighboring countries, which enshrines the line of demarcation of the territories of the two neighboring states in accordance with the norms of international law, from the viewpoint of the Georgian politicians is an indicator of "annexation".
Thus, I think that the Georgian authorities are trying to cover up their own annexationist plans in regard to South Ossetia. How else can one interpret that the repeated appeals of the authorities of the Republic of South Ossetia to the Georgian party, including in the framework of the Geneva talks, to start working together on the delimitation of the state border between South Ossetia and Georgia, meet no understanding. But the Georgian authorities do not miss a moment to throw accusations against South Ossetia and Russia in connection with the delimitation works along the state border between South Ossetia and Georgia.
In his report Margvelashvili has said again that "Russian armed forces continue manipulations of the barbed wire." We have repeatedly stated that the Russian armed forces have no relationship to the delimitation works along the border between South Ossetia and Georgia, and Russian border guards ensure border security of the Republic of South Ossetia in accordance with the bilateral agreement.
The people of South Ossetia could not ignore a rapprochement between Georgia and NATO dangerous to the security of the region, NATO structures on the territory of Georgia, as well as the training centers. It is well to remember that in 2004 and 2008, Georgia unleashed war against us, using weapons, mostly supplied by the Western countries, the troops trained by the USA and NATO instructors. South Ossetian-Russian cooperation, apparently, from the point of view of the Georgian authorities and their patrons, "prevents" to implement pro-NATO and revanchist plans of Georgia, including in the sphere of ensuring security of the people of South Ossetia. How else can one interpret yesterday's statement of Margvelashvili: "The Russian Federation is a major problem for our country." Political ambitions and requirements of the patrons can, of course, obscure eyes, depart memory, but not so much. At least one thing: looking back into the recent historical past, one could wonder whether Russia was not next to where would have been this "country," whose provinces would have been separate lands, out of which Russia has formed Georgia.
Judging by the speech of Margvelashvili, the Georgian authorities intend to follow the policy of politicizing the problem of refugees and internally displaced persons. It is being prepared the next UN General Assembly resolution, which annually, since 2009, is passed by Georgia and reflects only the Georgian position on the issue of refugees, taking into account only the problem of ethnic Georgians, while it is still out of focus of the resolution the problem of more than a hundred thousand Ossetians expelled from Georgia by ethnicity and found refuge in Russia and South Ossetia.
In view of politicization of the issue of refugees and bringing this issue to the UN General Assembly, where South Ossetia is not represented, the discussion of the problem of refugees at the Geneva talks has lost its relevance and cannot be considered until the Georgian authorities abandon to bring the resolution to the UN General Assembly, trying to "increase the number of supporters" of the resolution.
In South Ossetia believe that the refugee problem is important, it should be addressed, but to ensure, in accordance with international law, voluntary, dignified and safe return, it is necessary to create the appropriate conditions, it is necessary to establish relations between the two neighboring states - Georgia and the Republic South Ossetia. Otherwise, all the talks on this subject are populist and politically engaged.
And the last thing I would like to note in connection with the speech of Margvelashvili is the repeated mention of the concept of "unresolved conflicts". I think it's time to be realistic and recognize that the Georgian-South Ossetian relations is not a conflict within Georgia but unsettled relations between Georgia and the neighboring country – the Republic of South Ossetia.
