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The price of independence

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  • The price of independence

    The price of independence

    Tags: Russia, Abkhazia, Politics, Kosovo , Georgia, Commentary, Interview, World
    Young Ricardo
    Jun 18, 2011 10:05 Moscow Time
    Photo: RIA Novosti

    Our guest today is Andranik Migranyan, Director of the Institute for
    Democracy and Cooperation in New York City. We're talking about the
    third anniversary of Kosovo's independence, as some say. Some people
    certainly believe that. What do you think Georgian people think of
    Kosovo's so-called independence?

    It's clear for me and I read several times that Georgian leaders,
    including Saakashvili were against Kosovo's recognition as an
    independent state, because they were afraid that Russia would follow
    the example of Western countries, like the US and some European
    countries, and recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia, because Russian
    leaders have emphasized many times that there's no difference between
    the Kosovo case and that of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

    What about the accusations that Georgia has against the break-away
    Abkhazia conducting a deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing? We
    understand 240,000 Georgians were killed.

    There are, of course, cases of ethnic cleansing. But this ethnic
    cleansing happened, as in Kosovo, on both sides. We know about ethnic
    cleansings of Serbs by Kosovars and we remember ethnic cleansings of
    Kosovars by Serbs. And in Georgia we have Gali District, which is
    predominantly inhabited by Georgians, which means that not all
    Georgians were `kicked out'. Some Georgians left and some stayed, and
    they live in this compact district, which is almost 100%
    Georgian-populated. There were, of course, many Georgians, who had to
    leave, and unfortunately it's a sad consequence of ethnic clashes. We
    know about similar cases concerning Armenians in Azerbaijan and Azeris
    in Armenia. 2,000 Armenians living in Baku had to leave all their
    property, homes and flee the country. The same happened to Azeris in
    Armenia. There were yet similar cases in India and Pakistan, and many
    other places. Unfortunately, it's a result of this kind of tragic
    developments.

    But Russia supports Abkhazia. Is that correct?

    Russia supports Abkhazia, but it demanded Georgia on behalf of
    Abkhazia to show respect towards it. And Russia was right. Georgia has
    several times invaded Abkhazia, committed a lot of crimes in its
    territory. Under Gamsakhurdia and later under Shevardnadze there were
    attempts to solve the problem by force. Instead of solving the
    problem, it created a huge gap between the two nations, making
    reconciliation between Georgians and Abkhazians close to impossible.

    What about the accusation against Kosovo that it's a transit point for
    children and women being trafficked for prostitution and other crimes
    like that?

    Yes, I have read about that in media. Unfortunately, I haven't been
    there for a long time. But I've read that Kosovars committed other
    severe crimes, killing Serbs and selling their organs, which is
    terrible. And if I'm correct Carla Del Ponte, investigator of The
    Hague Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, mentioned that a couple of
    times. And, of course, Kosovars are well-known in Europe for different
    kinds of criminal activities - drug dealing, prostitution - which
    we've read a lot about, at least in the media.

    What can Russia do to bring some peace? Can they bring the two sides together?

    This is an old question. Last time I was in Georgia - that was right
    before the Rose Revolution - I saw things that are very important for
    Georgians to understand. Usually, they accuse Moscow of all their
    problems, and they ignore or disrespect Abkhazians and others. At that
    time we told them to talk to Abkhazia with more respect, treat
    Abkhazians as equals, as normal neighbours that you live together
    with, try to solve the problem instead of ignoring Abkhazians and
    Ossetians and blaming Russia for all their ill fate. Sociologically,
    Georgians are Soviet regime's spoilt kids, who were one of the
    dominant ethnic groups, had real money and real opportunities and
    considered others to be inferior to them. Of course, they are
    infuriated older people who lived in that country. That's a serious
    problem, which means the roots of problems between Georgia and
    Abkhazia are in Georgia, not in Abkhazia or in Russia.

    http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/06/18/52014085.html

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