The Ossetians or Ossetes are an Iranian ethnic group of the Caucasus Mountains, indigenous to the ethnolinguistic region known as Ossetia.
They speak Ossetic, an Eastern Iranian (Alanic) language of the Indo-European languages family, with most also fluent in Russian as a second language. The Ossetian language is neither closely related to nor mutually intelligible with any other language of the family today. Ossetic, a remnant of the Scytho-Sarmatian dialect group which was once spoken across the Pontic–Caspian Steppe, is one of the few Iranian languages inside Europe.
South Ossetia, officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, or The Tskhinvali Region, is a disputed territory in the South Caucasus, in the northern part of the internationally recognised Georgian territory. It has a population of 53,000 people who live in an area of 3,900 km2, south of the Russian Caucasus, with 30,000 living in Tskhinvali. The separatist polity, Republic of South Ossetia, is recognised as a state by Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria. While Georgia lacks control over South Ossetia, the Georgian government and most members of the United Nations consider the territory part of Georgia, whose constitution designates the area as "the former autonomous district of South Ossetia", in reference to the former Soviet autonomous oblast disbanded in 1990.
Eduard Dzhabeyevich Kokoyty is the former President of South Ossetia. His term in office lasted just under ten years, beginning December 2001 and ending December 2011.
Ossetia is a region located on both sides of the Greater Caucasus Mountains. The folk music of Ossetia began to be collected and recorded in the late 19th and early 20th century. After the Revolution of 1917, professional music appeared in Ossetia and in the following decades, a number of symphonies, ballets, operas and other institutions were formed. There is an Ossetian State Philharmonic. The first Ossetian opera was Kosta, by Christopher Pliev. Ilya Gabaraev is a famous Ossetian composer.
A presidential election in South Ossetia, an unrecognized republic within Georgia, was held 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 Ukrainian delegation was led by Nataliya Vitrenko of the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine. The election process was criticised by local civic society and the results were likely to be inflated.
Khetag Gazyumov is retired Russian and Azerbaijani freestyle wrestler of Ossetian origin. Competing in the 96 kg weight category he won bronze medals at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics and a silver at the 2016 Rio Games. He also won four gold and four silver medal at the European and world championships in 2009–2014 and a gold medal at the 2015 European Games.
Russia—South Ossetia relations refers to the bilateral relationship between Russia and the Georgian breakaway Tskhinvali Region, a disputed region in the South Caucasus, located on the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.
The Armed Forces of South Ossetia is the military of the partially recognised state of South Ossetia. The force numbers about 500 men, or 1,500, including reservists. In includes an Army and an Air Corp.
The Government of the Republic of South Ossetia is the political leadership of the only partially recognized, but de facto independent, Republic of South Ossetia.
The Parliament of South Ossetia is the unicameral legislature of the partially recognized Republic of South Ossetia. Members are elected using a system of Party-list proportional representation. South Ossetia has a multi-party system, and currently 4 political parties are represented in parliament. The parliament is headed by a speaker, who is elected from among the members. The current speaker is Pyotr Gassiev, member of parliament for United Ossetia.
South Ossetia–Venezuela relations refers to bilateral foreign relations between the Republic of South Ossetia and Venezuela. Venezuela recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia on September 10, 2009.
Alla Aleksandrovna Dzhioyeva (Ossetian: Джиоты Алыксандыры чызг Аллæ / Džioty Alyksandyry čyzg Allæ; Russian: Алла Александровна Джиоева is a South Ossetian teacher turned politician, who is currently Deputy Prime Minister in the South Ossetian government. She previously served as the Education Minister in 2002–2008. She won the 2011 presidential election, but the Supreme Court annulled the results, alleging that electoral fraud had been committed.
Anatoly Ilyich Bibilov is a Russian and South Ossetian military officer, currently serving as the 4th President of South Ossetia, a partially recognized, but de-facto independent state, succeeding Leonid Tibilov as President on April 21, 2017, following his election victory.
A presidential election was held in South Ossetia on 25 March, with a runoff scheduled on 8 April 2012. This election would choose the first full president since the country gained partial international recognition.
Donetsk–South Ossetia relations are foreign relations between the Donetsk People's Republic and South Ossetia. Both of them are disputed territories as Donetsk has considered as a Ukrainian eastern separatists. South Ossetia is to be considered as Georgia's territory.
Presidential elections were held in South Ossetia on 9 April 2017 alongside a referendum on changing the official name of the state to "Republic of South Ossetia–the State of Alania", or "South Ossetia–Alania" for short. Incumbent President Leonid Tibilov ran for a second and final term in office, but was defeated by Anatoliy Bibilov of the United Ossetia party.
A referendum on changing the territory's name was held in South Ossetia on 9 April 2017, alongside presidential elections. It was approved by 79.53%. The constitution will be amended to denominate the formal name of the country from "Republic of South Ossetia" to "Republic of South Ossetia–the State of Alania", referencing Alania, a state built by the Alan people. Modern Ossetians are descended from the Alans, although the name Ossetian is of Georgian origin.
Events in the year 2017 in South Ossetia.
Aza Konstantinovna Habalova is a South Ossetian politician. She currently holds the post of Minister of Finance in the Government of South Ossetia.
