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Russia Armed Us Well, I Won't Hide It

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  • Russia Armed Us Well, I Won't Hide It

    RUSSIA ARMED US WELL, I WON'T HIDE IT

    Kommersant, Russia
    Sept 26 2005

    Speaker of the Parliament of South Ossetia Znaur Gassiev talks with
    Kommersant special correspondent Olga Allenova about the possibility
    of uniting the two Ossetias.

    What was the gist of the agreement you signed with Taimuraz Mamsurov
    before the celebration of the North Ossetian Independence Day?

    Politically, it is a very important document. Intentions to unite
    the two Ossetias have been codified for the first time. That means
    that preparations for unification will continue. The agreement covers
    economic and cultural cooperation, with the goal of leading us to the
    "X moment" when unification will take place. A similar agreement
    was signed at the same time with Abkhazia, although the political
    import there is different. There it is a matter of standing up foir
    the interests of unrecognized states.

    Why hadn't such an agreement been signed with North Ossetia before?

    We had similar agreements under [former North Ossetian presidents]
    Galazov and Dzasokhov, but there was practically no political element
    in them.

    Are you placing hope on Taimuraz Mamsurov?

    I don't know Taimuraz well. I don't know how the Kremlin is oriented
    toward him in this issue, whether they are in consultations, and so
    on. That is to say that the Kremlin did not say, Ossetians, sits down
    and agree on unification. So far that is only an intention. But the
    desire of the people to return to their roots is so strong that they
    won't want to change course. The people are ready to go all the way.

    All the way to Russia?

    Yes, of course. Let's work it out. The situation would be the same
    without Russia, or Tatarstan or Mongolia. We want in where the other
    half of our people already are. That's all. Of course, we want into
    a strong state that will protect us. So there is a pull toward Russia.

    We all speak Russian. I can't say in Ossetian the things I am saying to
    you in Russian. All Ossetians are like that. Take a Georgian village
    and an Ossetian village. In the Georgian village, they can't put two
    words together in Russian, but in the Ossetian village they speak
    it not badly. That is, they have no pull to the Russian language,
    and we do.

    Do you think that unification is realistic?

    You can say a lot about the legal aspects of our situation, but the
    real situation is that Russia and America are butting heads, and we
    are stuck in the middle. America is defending Georgia's interests,
    and we are defending Russia's interests and our own. We are a divided
    people that wants to be united.

    But Georgia won't let you.

    Georgia has no choice. Georgia made a lot of mistakes and didn't
    learn anything from them. Gamsakhurdia did a lot of harm to Georgia's
    image. It would be easier for them to solve the problems with us
    without force. Generations of Ossetians had grown up in Georgia before
    Gamsakhurdia started the war. It is wrong to say that Georgian and
    Ossetians are incompatible. I know that for myself. I grew up and
    reached old age in Soviet times and lived among Georgians, studying
    and working in Tbilisi. We have no ethnic prejudice. The Abkhazians
    and Georgians have it very strongly. But it is not in our nature.

    Those two relapses, in the 1920s and 1990s, that School No. 5 [in
    1991 and 1992, victims of the Ossetian-Georgian conflict were buried
    in the courtyard of School No. 5 in Tskhinvali, because the city's
    cemetery was held by Georgian forces], those orphaned children that
    everyone knows, it all resounds deeply in the people. And the pull
    in us is not specifically to Russia because everything is good there,
    but to unification of the people.

    Under Yeltsin, things in Russian were undefined. The first years
    under Putin too were not noteworthy for us. He had his own problems.

    But now Russia is showing some interest in us. You understand that
    Georgia won't gain anything from a war here. Because the people
    won't allow it. Yes, the sides are unequal. Georgia is a state of
    five million, and there aren't even 100,000 of us. But still they
    won't get anything out of it.

    Will Russia help you?

    Not only will it help, it is helping now. Why pretend otherwise? In
    1991, we faced the Georgians with sticks and slingshots, because we
    didn't have any weapons. A year ago, things were different. They had
    to withdraw. Now even more. Were you at the parade? Did you see the
    equipment? Yes, their army is also better than it was 15 years ago.

    Then, it was a semi-criminal band made up of people Gamsakhurdia let
    out of prison. They weren't ready for a real war either. Now they have
    a real army. America saw to that. If they go against us one on one
    here, they will get nothing but bitterness. But we will see nothing
    but bitterness too. We have a different spirit. We convinced ourselves
    of that in last year's war. They withdrew last summer because the
    guys here are fighting on their own ground. And Russia armed us well,
    I won't hide it.

    But you admit it yourself, that Russia is on one side, and America
    on the other.

    Americans are pragmatic. They armed Georgia, but stipulated in a
    separate document with an article 3 that that army is not to take
    part in the solution of the conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia
    with weapons. America doesn't need accusations that people there are
    being killed with its weapons. In August a year ago, Georgia broke
    that agreement, and America ordered Georgia to withdraw those forces
    within two hours. The U.S. ambassador to the OSCE told me that when
    he was here.

    And, finally, as soon as they attack us, all of the North Caucasus will
    rise to our aid. Chechens went to Abkhazia then, but everyone will
    come to us. So they can't solve the problem militarily. All that's
    left is the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 on the rights of nations
    to self-determination. A nation should be united. In today's world,
    if it's not a single state, it is hard for it to survive.

    I didn't see a single official representative of the Russian
    authorities or any deputies in the Independence Day parade. At least
    Fatherland Party leader Rogozin used to come. Russia is helping you,
    but that help is somehow underground, not in the open. Will Russia
    support unification?

    I wouldn't stake my life on it, but it is possible, very possible. It
    all depends on how Russia and America divide their spheres of
    influence. But look, world events are pushing Russia and America
    into each other's arms. Yes, America is stronger, it is the only
    superpower left, but it still can't butt heads with Russia. It
    is forced to take Russia into account. There are many indications
    behind the scenes in recent times that Russia is interested in the
    unification of the two republics at the very highest level. The fact
    that we don't see anyone here with Rogozin's rank... I'll tell you a
    secret, just without mentioning any names. People with status a lot
    higher than Rogozin's have been here.

    Did they decide about unification?

    No. That was not in their competency, they had other functions. But
    Russia isn't hiding to that it has taken guardianship of us. Its goals
    are clear. Russia is being crowded out of the Transcaucasus, and it
    doesn't want to be. Russia only has two tiny bits of the Transcaucasus
    left - Abkhazia and us. Anyone can see what is happening in Armenia. It
    is coming under Western influence. But here, in these two spots,
    there is clear orientation toward Russia. I won't be surprised if
    Ossetia will be united in a year or two. But everything depends, I
    say again, on how the two superpowers reach an agreement. It is hard
    to tell. Both of them, Putin and Bush, are in their last terms. Who
    will go farther and how events unfold is still unknown.

    If Russia reached an agreement with Georgia and they make you go back
    to Georgia, then what?

    Everything will depend on what they agree on and what guarantees
    they give us. Saakashvili stated in the Parliamentary Assembly of
    the European Council that he gives us more autonomy than they have
    in North Ossetia... if only anyone believed it. They promised so much
    in Ajaria too, and what was the result? Well, I'll say it again.

    Everything is in God's power, everything is possible. Here it is
    still 50/50. Russia or Georgia.

    Do you think the Ossetians can forget the war?

    If there won't be any agitation on the state level from both sides
    that you can't forget the war, then everything can be forgotten. Time
    heals. Algeria boiled over once. You remember the Algerian people's
    freedom movement against France. Thousands of people died. And wise
    de Gaulle didn't get too wise. He let Algeria go. The French radicals
    rose up against him, there were assassination attempts. Algeria went
    its own way. Now it is asking to come back. Five million Algerians live
    in France. Because that wise decision showed the Algerians that they
    had it better with France. And they all remained French-speaking. The
    battles died down, generations changed, and life took its own course.

    Listening to you, I am reminded of a Georgian politician who said
    that, when Georgia joins Europe, South Ossetia and Abkhazia will ask
    to join it on their own.

    Yes, maybe, but that is 50/50 too. Any one of those possibilities
    is realistic. Dissension never leads to a constructive life. We
    have to give up dissension and come into each other's arms, without
    extremity. You have to be a little bit of a de Gaulle.

    Politicians in Georgia say that a strong, united Ossetia is not in
    Russia's best interests. Especially after Beslan, when part of the
    Ossetians understood that Russia cannot protect them.

    No. That's not true. Ossetia never was a strong community and it
    never will be. They tell that horror tale for nothing. Who are we?

    There aren't even 600,000 of us. Chechnya - that's really a special
    people, a warrior people. Hell broke loose there. Ossetia, no. There
    is no danger to Russia here. Then the North Caucasus is mainly
    Muslim. Ossetia is the only Orthodox Christian republic here. It is
    dangerous for Ossetia to be part of Russia. But where else is there?

    If the world were suddenly made perfect, it would matter to Ossetia
    where it lived.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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