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Should the republic of South Ossetia retain its current status as an independent State, and be recognized by the international community? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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South Ossetia, a mostly unrecognized republic in the South Caucasus, formerly the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic with its capital in Tskhinvali, held a referendum on independence on November 12, 2006.
The voters in the independence referendum organized by Tskhinvali answered the question: "Should the republic of South Ossetia retain its current status as an independent State, and be recognized by the international community?" [1]
Parallel to the referendum and elections, the Georgia-backed Ossetian opposition movement organized its own elections in Eredvi, inhabited by ethnic Georgians, in which five Ossetian presidential candidates opposed to Eduard Kokoity took part. On the alternative referendum the voters answered the following question: "Should South Ossetia engage in discussions with Tbilisi concerning a federal State uniting it with Georgia?" According to the Electoral Commission of Alternative Elections, 42,000 voters turned out for the elections held in the territories under Georgian control, but Tskhinvali claimed that the voters numbered only 14,000. Dmitry Sanakoyev was elected by 88% of voters as the alternative President of South Ossetia. [1]
On 13 November 2006, the Central Election Commission of South Ossetia announced the results of the referendum. 99% of voters supported independence, [2] with voter turnout at 95%.
| Choice | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| For | 51,565 | 99.88 | |
| Against | 60 | 0.12 | |
| Total | 51,625 | 100.00 | |
| Valid votes | 51,625 | 98.97 | |
| Invalid/blank votes | 538 | 1.03 | |
| Total votes | 52,163 | 100.00 | |
| Registered voters/turnout | 55,163 | 94.56 | |
| Source: Direct Democracy | |||
The Georgian government has declared both the election and the referendum illegal, but it was believed to support the Salvation Union of Ossetians, the organization in charge of holding the alternative elections. Kokoity thus accused Tbilisi of staging the alternative elections that aimed at "dividing the Ossetian people". [3] [4] [5]
On 12 September 2006, the Chairman of the Russian State Duma, Boris Gryzlov, welcomed the appointed South Ossetian referendum and announced that Russian parliamentarians would observe the voting process. On 13 September 2006, the Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues, Merab Antadze, issued a statement, condemning Gryzlov's statement as "destructive." [6]
The European Union Special Representative to the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby, downplayed the forthcoming South Ossetian referendum and said in Moscow, on 13 September 2006, that the referendum would not contribute to the conflict resolution process in South Ossetia. [7]
On 13 September 2006, the Council of Europe (CoE) Secretary General Terry Davis commented on the problem, stating that:
The secessionist authorities of the South Ossetian region of Georgia are wasting time and effort on the organisation of a "referendum on independence" in November. [...] I do not think that anyone will recognise the result of such a referendum. If the people in power in South Ossetia are genuinely committed to the interest of the people they claim to represent, they should engage in meaningful negotiations with the Georgian government in order to find a peaceful, internationally accepted outcome. [8]
The head of the Institute of CIS Countries and the member of the Russian State Duma, Konstantin Zatulin, is quoted during his visit to Artsakh in October 2006, where he spoke only about Artsakh and Transnistria, as saying:
Recognition of the so-called unrecognized states is not far off. Unrecognized republics have all attributes of state system and stable democratic system. [9]
On 2 October 2006, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Chairman-in-Office, Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, said during his visit to Tbilisi:
I also call the South Ossetian authorities’ intention to hold a referendum counterproductive. It will not be recognized by the international community and it will not be recognized by the OSCE and it will impede the peace process. [10]
On 11 November 2006, Secretary General of NATO Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in a statement:
On behalf of NATO, I join other international leaders in rejecting the so-called “referendum” and “elections” conducted in the South Ossetia/Tskhinvali region of Georgia. Such actions serve no purpose other than to exacerbate tensions in the South Caucasus region. [11]
On 11 November 2006, Luis Tascón, a member of the National Assembly of Venezuela, said during a press-conference in Tskhinvali: "Those people who wish to be free, will be free." [12] He also hinted that Venezuela might eventually recognize the South Ossetian independence, claiming that president Chávez would make a correct decision. He also noted that his presence in Tskhinvali did not guarantee the recognition the South Ossetian independence by Venezuelan Government. [13]
On 11 November 2006, Sergei Fyodorov, an observer and Latvian Parliament member of Russian nationality, [14] and a member of Socialist Party, stated during a press-conference in Tskhinvali that all peoples had the right for self-determination, and it could not be ignored. He also made a commitment to inform the other members of the Latvian Saeima of his observations. [15]
On 13 November 2006, the European Union foreign ministers said that the vote did not contribute to conflict resolution. The OSCE and the Council of Europe reiterated that they would not recognize the referendum and condemned it as unproductive. [16] An EU statement was later joined by Ukraine. [17]
South Ossetia, officially the Republic of South Ossetia or the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked state in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated population of just over 56,500 people (2022), who live in an area of 3,900 square kilometres (1,500 sq mi), with 33,000 living in the capital city, Tskhinvali.
Eduard Dzhabeyevich Kokoyty is an Ossetian politician who served as the second president of South Ossetia of the partially recognized state of South Ossetia from 2001 to 2011.
The Georgian–Ossetian conflict is an ethno-political conflict over Georgia's former autonomous region of South Ossetia, which evolved in 1989 and developed into a war. Despite a declared ceasefire and numerous peace efforts, the conflict remained unresolved. In August 2008, military tensions and clashes between Georgia and South Ossetian separatists erupted into the Russo-Georgian War. Since then, South Ossetia has been under Russian occupation.
The Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations, also commonly and colloquially known as the Commonwealth of Unrecognized States, rarely as CIS-2, is an international organization in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus of three breakaway states in the territory of the former Soviet Union, all of which have limited to no recognition from the international community.
Presidential elections were held in South Ossetia on November 12, 2006, coinciding with the South Ossetian independence referendum. Incumbent Eduard Kokoity was seeking a second full five-year term. He was re-elected with more than 98.1%. According to the de facto authorities, the election was monitored by a team of 34 international observers from Germany, Austria, Poland, Sweden and other countries at 78 polling stations. The election process was criticised by local civic society and the results were likely to be inflated.
Dmitry Ivanovich Sanakoyev is a South Ossetian and Georgian politician, a former official in the secessionist government of South Ossetia and later, from 2007 to 2022, served as the Head of the Provisional Administration of South Ossetia, a rival entity established in the Georgian-controlled territories in the South Ossetia region by the Georgian government.
The People of South Ossetia for Peace movement was the opposition party and political movement in South Ossetia which was formed by the ethnic Ossetians who had been formerly members of the secessionist government in Tskhinvali and outspoken critics of de facto separatist regime in Tskhinvali, headed at that time by Eduard Kokoity.
The 1991–1992 South Ossetia War was fought between Georgian government forces and ethnic Georgian militias on one side and the forces of South Ossetian separatists and Russia on the other. The war ended with a Dagomys Agreement, signed on 24 June 1992, which established a joint peacekeeping force and left South Ossetia divided between the rival authorities.
Georgia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) enjoy cordial relations. Georgia is not currently a member of NATO, but has been promised by NATO to be admitted in the future.
An international diplomatic crisis between Georgia and Russia began in 2008, when Russia announced that it would no longer participate in the Commonwealth of Independent States economic sanctions imposed on Abkhazia in 1996 and established direct relations with the separatist authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The crisis was linked to the push for Georgia to receive a NATO Membership Action Plan and, indirectly, the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo.
The 2008 Russo-Georgian War was a war between Russia, alongside the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and Georgia. The war took place in August following a diplomatic crisis between Russia and Georgia, both formerly constituent republics of the Soviet Union. The fighting took place in the strategically important South Caucasus region. It is regarded as the first European war of the 21st century.
The Russo-Georgian War broke out in August 2008 and involved Georgia, Russian Federation, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
This article describes the background of the Russo-Georgian War.
Russia–South Ossetia relations refers to the bilateral relationship between Russia and the Republic of South Ossetia, a disputed region in the South Caucasus, located on the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Russian-occupied territories in Georgia are areas of Georgia that have been occupied by Russia after the Russo-Georgian War in 2008. They consist of the regions of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and the former South Ossetian Autonomous Region of Soviet Georgia, whose status is a matter of international dispute.
Presidential elections were held in the disputed territory of South Ossetia on 10 April 2022. As none of the presidential nominees obtained at least 50% of the votes, a runoff was held on 8 May 2022, between the top two candidates, Alan Gagloev and incumbent president Anatoly Bibilov.
South Ossetia is a partially recognized and Russian-occupied separatist state internationally recognized as part of Georgia. It is mainly inhabited by Ossetians, an ethnic group also dominant in North Ossetia, which is part of Russia. South Ossetia separated itself from Georgia following the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War with the help of Russia, remaining ever since as a state closely allied with this country.
Parliamentary elections were held in South Ossetia on 12 May 1999. They were the third elections in the then unrecognized state since its de facto independence following the First South Ossetia War and the first elections after the territory became a semi-presidential republic with a new constitution ratified on 27 November 1996. Prior to this, South Ossetia had no executive branch of government, and the Speaker of Parliament was the head of state.
The Administration of South Ossetia, officially the Administration of the temporary Administrative-Territorial Unit on the Territory of the Former Autonomous Region of South Ossetia, is an administrative division that Georgia regards as the legal government of South Ossetia. The administration was set up by the Georgian government as a transitional measure leading to the settlement of South Ossetia's status. The area lies within the territory of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast which was abolished by the Georgian government in 1990. Since then South Ossetia has no formal autonomous status within Georgia.
