Dzitsoity: Disregard of referendum in South Ossetia by international organizations is temporary

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The referendum in South Ossetia was conducted in full compliance with the laws and Constitution of South Ossetia and is valid, the vice speaker of the South Ossetian parliament Yuri Dzitsoity said, while commenting to REGNUM on the statement of the speaker of the Georgian parliament Nino Burjanadze, who said in St. Petersburg that the referendums in South Ossetia and Abkhazia cannot be recognized as legal until the return of refugees.

“Georgia has committed ethnic cleansing of Ossetians forcing almost 100,000 people to leave their homes in the internal regions of Georgia. For some reason, Mrs. Burjanadze does not say that ethnic cleansings were carried out in almost all mostly Georgian villages of South Ossetia,” says Dzitsoity, specifying that 35% of Ossetians were expelled from Tamarasheni alone (village near Tskhinvali – REGNUM).

“If the speaker of the Georgian parliament actually believes that a referendum and, consequently, a statehood can be recognized only after the return of refugees, we can say: ‘return the 100,000 refugees you have expelled and then Georgia will have the right to be recognized as a state,’” says Dzitsoity. He notes that the fact that no single state has recognized the Nov 12 referendum shows that the great powers are not sufficiently democratic and follow the policy of double standards. “We can only regret that the states and the international organizations ignore the will of the people – the fundamental principle of democracy. However, I am sure that this will not last for long. There have been cases in world history when some states were finally recognized after a long period of non-recognition. I am sure that South Ossetia will not be an exception,” says Dzitsoity.

To remind, Nino Burjanadze said that the referendums in South Ossetia and Abkhazia are not valid, and Georgia is ready to recognize them provided that they involve all the people who lived in the territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia before the conflicts.