South Ossetia plans to recognize as a genocide the August 2008 events, during which Georgia launched a military offensive against the breakaway republic and partially destroyed its capital of Tskhinval, President Anatoly Bibilov told Sputnik
TSKHINVAL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th August, 2019) South Ossetia plans to recognize as a genocide the August 2008 events, during which Georgia launched a military offensive against the breakaway republic and partially destroyed its capital of Tskhinval, President Anatoly Bibilov told Sputnik.
The South Ossetian Parliament ruled in 2007 to recognize as a genocide the 1920 events, during which the army of then Menshevik-dominated Georgia intruded into South Ossetia. According to the parliament, around 5,300 South Ossetians were either killed or died when trying to leave the republic. This amounted for around 6-8 percent of the total population of the republic.
"Yes. We are discussing it," Bibilov said, when asked whether South Ossetia planned to recognize the 2008 events as a genocide.
"There is no doubt we will link it to the 1920 genocide," he specified.
According to the South Ossetian president, while the 2008 events have not left so many people killed, the death toll is still enormous for the republic.
"Many wonder how many people should be killed in order to recognize certain events as a genocide? For us, 500 [killed] people means a genocide already. Maybe 500 people is nothing grave for nations that have a population amounting to 10 or 20 billion people or even 1 billion people. But for such a small ethnic group as Ossetians, 500 [killed] people means a genocide," Bibilov specified.
He accused Georgia of being brutal during the 2008 operation.
"The intensity of shelling of Tskhinval and other settlements, the number of people killed � we cannot fail to see this as a genocide of the Ossetian people," Bibilov emphasized.
Georgia has been in conflict with Abkhazia and South Ossetia since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The two republics sought independence from Tbilisi, which viewed such a decision as unacceptable. The 2008 attack was repelled by the Russian Armed Forces, sent to the republic to protect Russian citizens. While Russia recognized in 2008 the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgia continues to see the republics as its territory.
