Twenty-three years ago, November 23, 1989 a march of tens of thousands of Georgian extremists, organized by leaders of nationalist movements, with the complicity of the authorities of Georgia was stopped on the outskirts of Tskhinval. The march to Tskhinval was aimed at intimidating of Ossetians and it was to be followed by their expulsion from the territory of South Ossetia. Georgian nationalists plan was thwarted then, however, those November days were a prologue to the long struggle of the people of South Ossetia for the right to life, liberty, and human dignity.
Repeated armed invasions of 1990 - 1992, 2004 and 2008, carried out by Georgian gunmen and army units and their barbaric atrocities have cost the people of South Ossetia enormous sacrifices and immeasurable suffering. Thousands of our fellow citizens have become victims of armed aggression and genocide carried out by different regimes of Georgia over the past twenty years. The only possible way for Ossetians to survive was to restore its independent statehood. Now the Republic of South Ossetia is a country that has received international recognition.
Georgia still denies recognizing the current reality and continues to dream of revenge. Georgia's new authorities camouflage their intentions with regard to South Ossetia through rhetorical tricks, talking about the possibility of attracting the Ossetians by all sorts of bonuses and economic gains. The goal for Tbilisi remains the same - to establish its control over South Ossetia.
Imperial ambitions, which Tbilisi continues to cherish, are groundless in connection with South Ossetia. Georgia has never had a legal right to the territory of South Ossetia, which has been incorporated into the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1922 against the will of the Ossetian people. By denunciation of all state acts adopted in 1921, Georgia in 1990 completely destroyed any state-legal ground for South Ossetia to remain the part of Georgia.
The people of South Ossetia have repeatedly reaffirmed the will to independence in referendums in 1992, 2001, 2006. South Ossetia's status is defined by its people and is not negotiable. South Ossetia is an independent state over 20 years, its international recognition started in 2008. This objective reality is undeniable, and sooner or later, Georgia will also have to admit that.
And if the new Georgian government seeks to normalize relations with the Republic of South Ossetia, then, first of all, it must agree to sign a legally binding agreement on non-use of force, accept responsibility for the genocide of the people of South Ossetia, and punish the perpetrators of crimes against our people and compensate for the damage caused to our country. Good relations between the Republic of South Ossetia and Georgia can be built only on this basis. Any South Ossetian people will not accept other ideas that seem enticing to new Georgian leadership.
Tskhinval, November 23, 2012