Ossetians and Georgians Reach Across Front Line

While negotiations between officials in Tbilisi and South Ossetia have run into a dead end, non-governmental organisations on both sides are attempting to establish contacts.

Often assisted by international NGOs, they meet in neutral venues, since the rival legal systems of the two countries complicate any meeting on home turf.

South Ossetia broke free of Tbilisi’s control in a short war in 1991-2, but civilians could easily pass backwards and forwards until 2008, when Russia stopped a Georgian attempt to establish control and recognised South Ossetian independence.

Since then contacts have frozen, and South Ossetia’s only access to the outside world is over the mountains to Russia.

Peace talks held in Geneva have got nowhere, and neither side is showing any signs of making the concessions necessary to make peace. Despite the lack of encouragement from the governments, and even from most ordinary people, some activists are trying to reforge links between the two sides, saying this will eventually help secure a permanent end to the conflict.

Malkhaz Gagua, the editor of the Georgian newspaper Rezonansi, took part in one of the first meetings between Georgians and Ossetians, which was organised by IWPR in Kiev several months after the 2008 war ended.

“It was a unique opportunity to talk to fellow journalists and the contacts we made at that meeting persist to this day. I was particularly amazed by meeting Ossetian colleagues. Then not even six months had passed since the war, but we could sit around a table and talk without aggression or unpleasant feelings. For journalists such conversations are vitally important,” he said.

The participants continued their meetings, often as part of the Georgian-Ossetian Civil Forum, which normally meets in Istanbul. Timur Tskhovrebov, the editor of South Ossetian newspaper 21st Century, said the two sides were often far apart politically – with Ossetians insisting on independence, and Georgians denying it – but said the talks were the only venue they had to make their case to Georgians directly.

“South Ossetia’s biggest problems now are with Georgia. I think that the more we have contacts with them, the better. We are not surrendering the priority of our independence, which we will not surrender under any circumstances, but we can we not agree on all the others? Why should we not explain the Ossetian position?” he said.

“We need to strengthen our international authority and to use any platform we can, including forums.”

These forums are organised by the Dutch organisation IKV Pax Christi, with funding from the Netherlands foreign ministry. Cinta Depondt, coordinator of the Caucasus programme, said the group hopes to include politicians and analysts before too long. Politicians and analysts from the two sides already meet through a separate programme arranged by the George Mason University.

The university’s school for conflict analysis and resolution has organised nine meetings, with the most recent one – in July – featuring 26 politicians, analysts, journalists, and others.

Paata Zakhareishvili, the head of Georgia’s Institute for the Study of Nationalism and Conflict, said the individuals had managed to forge a method of interaction that allowed them to robustly exchange opinions without causing offence.

“The most important thing is that the level of trust is very high. There have been very sharp discussions, but they have not turned into abuse and no one has got angry. The discussions have ended very calmly, but everyone has been able to express their position,” he said.

“I think that many people have stayed with their previous opinion, but I do not think everyone has. For many people these discussions have made them, if not rethink their opinion, then at least think.”

The participants focused on problems related to living conditions, including the provision of water to border villages, and natural gas to the region that Georgians call Akhalgori, and Ossetians call Leningorskiy.

Although the participants failed to find a common position on the larger questions, they agreed on the water and gas questions, which is not a minor achievement in the circumstances.

“I think that at such meetings both sides open their eyes and ears. They are ready to accept the truth about what is happening on one side or the other. And after this, there is time for consideration, analysis and conclusions about where we have a point of agreement and how to continue further. The most important thing is to assess the situation in reality, and not how we want to see it,” said Dina Alborova, head of the Agency of Social-Economic and Cultural Development in South Ossetia’s capital, which Ossetians call Tskhinval and Georgians call Tskhinvali.

But the gatherings are not always easy. South Ossetia lacks an independent press, which means journalists are often technically state employees, which can make it difficult for them to attend events intended for non-governmental groups. Apart from Kiev and Istanbul, other neutral venues used for Georgian-Ossetian meetings have been Baku and Yerevan, where several NGOs have gathered individuals from the two sides to discuss issues of common concern.

Groups would like to host meetings in Georgia and South Ossetia, themselves, but rules set by one side are hard to obey without simultaneously violating rules set by the other. Late last year, Georgia implemented what it calls Rules for the Conduct of Activities in the Occupied Territories of Georgia, which restrict activities in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The rules state that all projects with any activity in either of the two republics must receive preliminary agreement from the Georgian government. According to Ekaterina Tkeshelashvili, Georgia’s minister for reintegration, the government welcomed civil society projects but insisted that they be in accordance with Georgian law.

“We are not set in stone. We are ready to use the mechanisms laid out in the rules flexibly,” she said.

Kosta Dzhugayev, an adviser to the president of South Ossetia, said that the country would welcome cooperation with western donors, but insisted the latter could set no prior conditions for their work, which would make it very hard for them to abide by the Georgian rules that demand them to agree their actions in advance.

“There have been attempts to do this, including with large financial resources behind them. It is clear that money is not the decisive factor, however. The decisive fact is our political priorities,” he said.

And even if donors could negotiate the two competing legal systems, on both sides there are groups that oppose any dialogue with the other. Maria Plieva, a blogger in the South Ossetian capital and a participant in the joint forums, said she often comes under pressure because of what she does.

“It is some time now that I have not just been writing pure journalism. These happened because pretty much every newsmaker in Tskhinval is banned from talking to me. They not only refused to give comments, but even avoid random meetings. Apart from this, there are often threats, or I am put under pressure, or I am confronted by members of parliament or representatives of the information ministry. They have done all they can to make my image in society a negative one,” she said.

All the same, she intends to stick with it.

“I think that if we do not meet people from Georgian society, then we will never be able to understand each other and our whole life will be war. The absence of information about each other, or contacts or understanding on specific questions, leads to aggression and that leads to war. And I want the next generation to live in peace. Apart from us no one will talk about peace. We must speak without intermediaries. And that is why these meetings are important,” she said.

Zarina Sanakoeva and Goga Aptsiauri work for Radio Liberty and have both participated in different joint meetings.