South Ossetian FM: Georgian special services try to involve Ossetian Diaspora representatives in their farce

Read it in Russian

The South Ossetian Foreign Ministry has made a statement in connection with the Nov 12 2006 referendum and presidential election in South Ossetia. REGNUM gives the full text of the statement:

“As was expected, having no single way to influence either the conduct or the outcome of the referendum and the presidential election in South Ossetia, the Georgian authorities are trying to influence these processes any way they can. Obviously, believing that the renaming of the Kodori Gorge into ‘Upper Abkhazia’ and the placement of the puppet ‘government of Abkhazia in exile’ there was a successful experience, the Georgian authorities have decided to apply it in South Ossetia, too. 19 days before the official election of the President of the Republic of South Ossetia, the Georgian propaganda has announced that the ‘Union for the Salvation of Ossetians’ – an organization formed just a few days ago – has decided to hold an ‘alternative election of the President of South Ossetia.’ South Ossetia has never had illusions about the ‘purity’ of the propaganda tricks used by the Georgian authorities in their theatrical shows. They have proved it once again by involving in their farce wanted criminals, political turncoats and crooks – characters whose ‘merits’ and reputation fully discredit any such ‘alternative.’ Nevertheless, they persist and are deliberately aggravating the tense situation in Georgian-Ossetian relations.

But what we are mostly concerned about is the reports that the Georgian special services are forcibly involving Georgia-based Ossetians in this farce. They acted in the same way in 1989-1992 when Georgian citizens of Ossetian nationality were pressured and threatened into taking part in the large-scale actions for the abolition of autonomy in South Ossetia. Later, Georgian nationalists subjected those people to severe repressions and mass ethnic cleansing.

The Ministry of South Ossetia expresses it strong protest to the Georgian authorities and urges the international community and all international human rights organizations to actively pressure the Georgian authorities in order to prevent one more anti-Ossetian campaign in Georgia and to avert the recurrence of the tragic events of 1989-1992.”