Georgia becomes NATO's outpost in the Caucasus
Interview Dragana Trifkovic with South Ossetian Defence Minister Valery Jahnovets for German Zuerst
Dear Mr. minister, Please tell us at the beginning about the conflict that took place in the early 90s of the last century on the territory of South Ossetia. What was the cause of the conflict, as the peace agreement was reached in 1992. years?
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, all 15 former Soviet republics became independent states. The status of national autonomy was decided by each new state at its own discretion. In particular, on the basis of a significant weakening of the central government, already in December 1990. the decision of the Parliament of Georgia abolished the Autonomous Region of South Ossetia. In Georgia, fascist slogans such as “Georgia-Georgians”, “feel out of Georgia” appeared, and these ideas gained the level of state policy, led by the new nationalist leadership.
However, at the root of the conflict were not inter-ethnic but political conflicts. The people of South Ossetia did not want to live in Georgia, because they foresaw that the rights and freedoms of the entire people and each citizen individually would be permanently reduced. In the late 1980s and 1990s political conflicts escalated into open military conflict. In South Ossetia, Georgian Penal units burned more than 100 villages, killed more than 1,000 people, tens of thousands of residents became refugees, despite the fact that the population of South Ossetia does not exceed 70,000 inhabitants. Over 100,000 citizens of the Ossetian national minority were expelled from the interior of Georgia, carried out by the Georgian authorities in order to realize the national –state idea: Georgia –Georgians.”
