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Young Ossetians Considered Deserters

December 11, 2008

 

 Ossetians in the village of Rene faced problems

Saba Tsitsikashvili, Gori

Law enforcers have some questions for ethnic Ossetians and blame them for deserting in the face of crisis. The residents of Ossetian villages faced this problem in the recent war. Young Ossetian from the village of Rene in Kaspi district abandoned Georgia because here they might be imprisoned.  Residents of Rene refused to participate in the war between their brothers in August, 2008.

Residents of Rene compare what is going on now with the situation that existed in the 1990s. “When late President Gamsakhurdia was in office the attitude towards ethnic Ossetians was rather negative. We now fear that again that we will have to face the same kind of problem. We have relatives in Northern Ossetia and we do not know whether to go there or not?  Why should we go there? Georgia is our homeland. Nonetheless, if we stay here the situation will be terrible.”

Population of the villages of Chobalauri, Kodistskaro, Nigoza and Rene in the Kodistskaro Community complain about the situation following the Georgian-Russian of August. There are mixed Georgian-Ossetian families in this community. Mostly elderly people remained in the villages. Since August the young people from the villages abandoned their homes and went to Northern Ossetia out of safety concerns. They do not speak loudly about real reasons for departure. Now they just speak about poverty.  However, in private conversations they speak about concrete facts.

Lali Iluridze, 54: “Gia, nephew of my husband, lives in that village. His brother lives in Vladikavkaz. If Gia had joined the Georgian army here and his brother in Vladikavkaz, should they have fought against each other? Young residents of the villages really go to Vladikavkaz but the reason for their departure is because of the level of unemployment. Nobody abuses us here but we are very poor. My husband had a heart operation and now we cannot buy medicines. In this case what shall we do?”

Nazi Maldzigashvili, 65: “During the war we were afraid; we saw people were running from there but we had nowhere to go.”

Venera Pavliashvili, 60: Is it life? We live in poverty. We do not have water neither for drinking nor for irrigation. In addition, we did not go anywhere but we were very afraid during the war. When a sniper is shooting from the height, how he can differ whom to shoot.

Zaur Gochoshvili, 42: “Is it life? We have not had water for many years. They pretended to have supplied us with water in summer but we have to stand in the queue all day long to get water. They just repaired some old pipes and painted some old rusty pipes. We have been poisoned with the quality of the water. They invited doctors from the USA; examined us and then left. Nobody is left to look after us.”

“As for the war, everybody who was recruited in reserve went there. They were coming at night and taking young men. Dato Bukuri was taken at night and his father was so scared that he had a heart attack and died. The fellows had not way out but had to go to fight.  Otherwise they would have been arrested.”

“Koba Subeliani, Minister of Refugees and Accommodation, arrived here and inquired how Georgians and Ossetians lived here. He suggested us not to go anywhere. I do not trust such people. They come and go, make their promises and claim that are working on our side. They even come in rubber boots as if they are involved in doing something. In fact, nobody does anything.”

Nana Abuladze, 65: “My family is Georgian but we live together with Ossetian families here as one large family. Russians entered our village but how can I blame them for anything wrong. They bought food at the shops and did not grab us.”

T. Meladze: “10-15 families have abandoned the village. They are Khokhashvilis, Kokoshvilis. Badri Khokhashvili was recruited as a reservist and he went. Though he soon deserted the army claiming he could not shoot another human being. Not only he did so, others also behaved in the same war. However, they handed their weapons as far as I know. When they were recruited for the second time the young men left the villages along with their families. In order to cross the border at Tsinagara they had to pay 150 GEL for a person. There, Ossetian cousins met them and took them to Northern Ossetian. Those fellows did not have any way out. If they were called to the war, they could not shoot their relative. However, they did not go to prison either and would rather go to Vladikavkaz.

Marina Vazagashvili, governor of Kodistskaro Community, does not confirm the fact that Ossetian families have abandoned their villages. She said people go but this process started long ago. “Locals have relatives in Northern Ossetia and they always moved there but returned back too,” said Vazagashvili.

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