APPEAL OF THE SUPREME SOVIET OF THE REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA TO THE UNITED NATIONS, PEOPLES AND GOVERNMENTS OF COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD

It has been several months already that USSR’s mass media and a number of foreign news agencies have been highlighting the processes going on in the area of Shida Kartli, in the former co-called ‘South Ossetian Autonomous Area’, i.e. in the area that is a geographic center of Georgia, a historical motherland of the Georgian people, the cradle of spiritual and material culture, representing it as an ethnic conflict in which the new government of the Republic of Georgia tries to rob the Ossetian people of their national ethnic autonomy.

The lies and allegations accompanied by videomaterials falsified by the central television, fail to even approximately reflect the reality.

In reality, an undeclared war has been on in Shida Karli between the center, i.e. the Union’s Government, and the Republic that refused to participate in creating a ‘renewed Federation’ and to sign the treaty of alliance.

Based exactly on the bureaucracy that managed to usurp the power in the illegally established Area, so-called ‘South Ossetia’, in 1922, today the Center is trying to enfetter, hand and foot, the Georgian people who follow the way towards successfully restoring the independent statehood taken away by force in 1921.

Active involvement of the Center in the actions of the Ossetian assaulters is apparent already from the fact that the troops of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs encourage their attacks on the Georgian police and civilian population. Modern arms and even missiles are supplied to the assaulters from military bases deployed in the region.

Coordinated activities of the Ossetian extremists, military units and mass media, in particular the central television of the USSR witness to the fact that a dilemma is put before the Republic of Georgia: either to sign the Alliance Treaty or to lose its indigenous territories of Shida Kartli and Abkhazia.

The situation shows that a new conflict is starting again in Abkhazia, as several hundreds on paratroopers arrived in the region without notification of the government of the Republic of Georgia. Georgia is faced with a threat of mass murderous resources of the Kremlin, pre-advertised by the above anti-Georgian campaign in media.

Efforts are made to hide the fact that there was no historical, legal or moral basis for creating the South Ossetian Autonomous Republic after occupation and factual annexation of Georgia, i.e. for giving the name of ‘ossetian’ to a part of Georgia (whereas the true Ossetia is located outside Georgia, in the North Caucasus). That had the only purpose of creating a political springboard for the Russian Communist Party on the territory of Georgia that by that time had been using the Ossetians for fighting against the Georgian Democratic Republic in Shida Kartli.

It is no surprise that even today the anti-Georgian putsch arranged by Ossetian communists in Shida Kartli is supported by political calls towards adherence to the USSR ideals and remaining within the Soviet Union.

The Georgian people are ready to protect both their independent statehood and territorial integrity.

Recognizing the right of the Ossetian population, i.e. the ethnic minority in Shida Kartli, for their national and cultural autonomy and adhering to accepted norms of the existing international law, the Government of the Republic of Georgia shall not allow them having an autonomy or other entity claiming statehood within the territory of Georgia.

The Government of the Republic of Georgia has already made a whole number of proposals for settling the conflict in Shida Kartli. The most important was the proposal to immediately end the bloodshed and disarm all armed units. That would provide for launching talks, ensuring for full safety of representatives of all people, and firstly, the Ossetian population living in Shida Kartli, together with talks for final settlement of the issue about the status of the Ossetian population in Shida Kartli.

Nevertheless, the assaulters still continue and even intensify their activities with support of the Soviet Army. In such conditions, measures taken by the Kremlin to create new seats of destabilization on the Georgian territory can be considered only as an aggression against Georgia.

In this situation, the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Georgia calls the peoples and governments of the countries of the world to:

1. Immediately set up a competent international Commission involving experts of the United Nations and the European Parliament to find the truth on the ground, so that the wide society would receive reliable information about the events going on in Georgia.

2. Provide assistance to Georgia with all means envisaged by the international law to protect the sovereign state from any form of aggression.

The Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Georgia,

Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Georgia Z. Gamsakhurdia

Tbilisi, 28 February 1991

(Bulletins of the Supreme Soviet of the republic of Georgia, 1991, # 2, pp. 123-125/Translation from Georgian)