''Referendum in South Ossetia is addressed to the mankind'': Academic

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Referendum held Nov 12 in South Ossetia is about independence of the republic and its recognition by the international community. There is no doubt that this is a very important stage of developing of South Ossetia as a modern democratic state, deputy head of the Institute of History and Archeology of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Dr. Ruslan Bzarov said to REGNUM correspondent.

''It is not for the first time that a referendum in South Ossetia is being held, the republic defined the forms of its further state existence in the referendum of 1992. Later, in a referendum of 2001, a currently acting Constitution of the Republic of South Ossetia was enacted by the all-national vote. The issue of independence has been solved long ago. The current referendum confirms the earlier taken course of the Ossetian people for self-determination.''

''There is no doubt inside Ossetia about the future results of the referendum held today, but the world changes, and new generations of politicians and citizens of neighboring states should see one more proof of the accuracy of the yet another statement of the Ossetian people about how it sees its future. That is what we are speaking about, first of all. The issue arises, how legitimate is the current referendum, and how it will reach its goals. South Ossetia holds this vote, first of all, for itself, in order to live in a truly democratic state,'' Ruslan Bzarov observed.

According to the scholar, every vote is addressed to someone, and this time it is addressed to the mankind. ''In Latin, referendum means literally 'what has to be communicated,' and we communicate what we think, and nobody will ever be able to ignore it.''

''Statements of some international organizations and government structures of neighboring countries that they would not recognize results of the referendum are the best proof that they are extremely interested in the referendum results. The statements per se and the close attention paid to them are sufficient evidence of effectiveness of the business. Of course, we do not hope – just as they don't as well in Russia and in Europe – that on November 13, South Ossetia will be recognized as an independent state. What we are speaking of is that, as soon as the vote results are officially published, both South Ossetia, her allies and foes will actively refer to them. The card will be played, in which we are very interested,'' Bzarov stressed.