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We Never Differentiated between Ossetians and Georgians in Our Village

October 16, 2009

Tea Tedliashvili, Gori

The Human Rights Center has already published an article about the village of Tsitelubani in Gori district. It is very interesting village – one of those villages where ethnic Ossetians and Georgians live together and despite 20-year-old conflict they manage to live in peace.

Although many Ossetians abandoned village after the conflict in the 1990s and moved to Tskhinvali or Vladikavkaz, Tsitelubani is still mostly inhabited by ethnic Ossetians. They admit that the conflict has not influenced the relationship between Ossetian and Georgian villagers.

“We have very good relationship with Georgian people; we have never differentiated between Ossetians and Georgians. We have always been kind to each other. It cannot be in another way. Besides Georgians, Muslim Meskhs also live in our neighborhood. They are perfect people,” said an Ossetian woman who asked us not to mention her surname in the article. She visits Tskhinvali after the war in August 2008 very often. She travels there through roundabouts because she does not have Russian passport which is to be produced to Russian soldiers at their checkpoints. Consequently, ethnic Ossetians prefer to take long ways to get to Tskhinvali.

Although Ossetians from Tsitelubani claim they have good relationship with Georgian neighbors, the war has changed their lives. It originated gaps between them which had never existed before. They cannot contact their relatives and friends in Tskhinvali.

Daughter of our respondent lives in Tskhinvali with her husband’s family and now she has to visit her daughter through roundabouts.

“My daughter managed to come here only once after the war and hardly returned back to her family. The roads are damaged and people cannot travel along them; people have to go through Ossetian villages Orchosani, Tsinagari; Georgians do not do any harm to our people. Here we have no problems; just the opposite; we have relatives among Georgian families,” said Mrs. Eteri.

She added that ethnic Ossetians abandoned the village during Gamsakhurdia’s presidency.

“They left their own houses and ran away. Some of them were compensated by the state, but others left homes. Their houses are still empty. One of my sons moved to Vladikavkas. He used to arrive here but I have not seen him for 7 years already. I have three children and I have not seen one of my grandchildren yet.”

Mrs. Eteri has not seen her grandchild because the traveling across the administrative boarder has been restricted and people cannot visit relatives. She said it is the most inconvenient part of this conflict.

Representatives of the Commission of the Council of Europe against Racism and Intolerance, who have been working in Georgia for three years, underline that they have not observed conflicts between Georgian and Ossetian people on ethnic grounds in Georgia yet. Commission representatives state the controversy between Ossetians and Georgians is more criminal than ethnic.

“Since there was war in Georgia short time ago, it is not strange to have conflicts on ethnic grounds in Georgia. However, we could not observe any of them yet. It is true particularly for the region where the war happened last year,” said member of the European Commission Eva Rasmussen.

See on the topic:

Government Does Not Pay Attention to Border Villages
 
http://humanrights.ge/index.php?a=article&id=4246&lang=en 

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