Saturday, May 26, 2012

Georgia

Disqualified South Ossetian Candidate Won't Meet With Russian Official

Disqualified presidential candidate Alla Dzhioyeva addresses her supporters in the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali.

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December 02, 2011

TSKHINVALI -- Alla Dzhioyeva, the disqualified South Ossetian presidential candidate, says she does not see any reason to hold talks with a Kremlin representative who arrived in the breakaway Georgian province on December 2.

Dzhioyeva said she saw no point in meeting Sergei Vinokurov, a representative of Russia's presidential administration, accusing Russian officials of siding with her political opponents.

South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in the 1990s, and Russia recognized its independence after a brief war with Georgia in 2008.

Dzhioyeva's supporters have been rallying against a Supreme Court decision to invalidate the November 27 presidential election, which preliminary polls showed Dzhioyeva was winning.

Parliament later set a new date for presidential elections and barred Dzhioyeva from taking part.

Dzhioyeva said her supporters would "disrupt" that March poll if she is not allowed to participate.

On December 2, Dzhioyeva said her supporters would not cast ballots in Russian parliamentary elections on December 4 in protest.

South Ossetians are also Russian citizens.

compiled from agency reports

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Comment Sorting

Comments

by: chokha from: germany

December 02, 2011 10:56

I cannot understand why the term "south ossetia" is used instead of the terms tskhinvali region or shida kartli.

Has there ever been a "great ossetia" and a southern part has been split off? No, there has not!
The term "South Ossetia" was introduced by the tsarist regime in the 19. century. In 1917 the bolsheviks demanded autonomy for this region to fight against the mensheviks (social democrats) of the tbilisi administration.

There is no natural frontier between the Tskhinvali region and the rest of Georgia (i.e. great rivers, mountains etc.). Between Tskhinvali and "North-"Ossetia (in Russia) stands the mighty Caucasus. There is only one single pass that links Tskhinvali with Ossetia (Roki-Pass).
All the infrastructur of the Tskhinvali region is linked with the rest of Georgia.

And if you are looking for something like "ossetian architecture" in Tskhinvali region you won't find any.
The medieval churches and fortresses are build by georgians. It is georgian territory for more than 2000 years. Georgian Peoples keep living there for all that time.
A few hundred years ago ossetians startet to settle there, too. But that does not mean that Tshinvali belongs to Ossetia.

Or would you say in the USA that California or Texas is now belonging to Mexico because many Hispanics are living there now??????

In Response

by: Claus from: Germany

December 02, 2011 13:50

I would presume they're using "South Ossetia" because that's what the unrecognized state in which these events are happening is calling itself. Neither Bibilov nor Dzhioyeva were running for the presidency of the Tskhinvali region, after all.

Using "South Ossetia" doesn't imply that it ought to belong to the same state as North Ossetia, either. In fact, that's what Bibilov stood for and the South Ossetians just seem to have overwhelmingly voted against a merger with the North. Also, there are states calling itself "Republic of South Sudan" or "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" and neither of them consider this to mean they ought to be part of Sudan or Cyprus - indeed quite the opposite.

And for the USA: California and Texas actually were parts of Mexico until the middle of the 19th century. The US still doesn't have a problem with the state with the biggest Hispanic population calling itself "New Mexico". It doesn't mean they'd want to belong to Mexico again. Oh, and Mexico has two states by the name of Lower California that never were a part of the US state of California.

In Response

by: Steve

December 02, 2011 16:24

Actually, a prior referendum in South Ossetia favored a continued independence from Georgia and the desire to become a part of Russia at a future date - something that Russia doesn't currently support.

If the latter were to happen, there could be one Ossetian republic in Russia or two. Consider the two Carolina and two Dakota states in the US.

In Response

by: Andrew from: Auckland

December 03, 2011 09:46

Whatever Steve/Averko, if you truly believe there was any free or fair referendum in South Ossetia, or in Chechnya for that matter, you are obviously not aware of the massive fraud that tends to ensue whenever the Russians control a vote.

Russia does strongly support the integration of Shida Kartli/South Ossetia into Russia, both Putin and Medvedev have spoken of it, and gave their support to Bibilov who openly advocates it.

However it seems South Ossetians are not as pro Russia as ethnic cleansing apologists such as yourself like to think.

In Response

by: Steve

December 02, 2011 14:06

The Albanians in Kosovo only started to predominate in that region over the past 120 years for at least one reason that isn't so noble. Especially at RFE/RL, this reference to Kosovo is politicaly incorrect unlike some others.

As for the Russian Empire, Georgia sought to become affiliated with it out of a fear of Ottoman Turkey in the 1800s.

The area presently referred to as South Ossetia is in the category of a disputed territory. Georgia is unable to control it, with much of South Ossetia's territory preferring to stay separate from Georgia.

Georgia doesn't recognize Kosovo's independence, along with the majority of other countries. These other countries include Moldova and Azerbaijan, with disputed territorial issues of their own.

In Response

by: Andrew from: Auckland

December 03, 2011 09:53

So explain Steve, why when Ossetians really only became even a large group in that Georgian province in the late 19th century, and did not become the majority in the city of Tskhinvali in the 1960's, their increase due to Russian policies, that you support the separatists in South Ossetia, but not those in Kosovo? FYI I support neither, but feel the answer should be local autonomy in both cases, something the Georgians offered, but the Serbs did not.

BTW, other countries that support Georgia include Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the UK, US, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Norway etc etc etc.

In Response

by: Daniel from: Chicago

December 10, 2011 17:56

Other states "support" Georgians because they are told to or paid to by the US and its minions. No one cares or even knows what Georgia has made itself into. As for the Ossetian comments: do you people even read history books not written by Georgian propagandists? I highly recommend "The History of the Alans". Very eye opening. Will put doubts on the Kartvelian version of Ossetian and their own history, i.e. you will stop believing their lies. "Georgia" never owned any land that they are claiming, and on top of this they were serfs of the Islamic Empire and Muslims. Have a nice day.