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Background: South Ossetia/Georgia
A mountainous region torn between Georgia and Russia
Article published on the 2008-08-11 Latest update 2008-08-16 12:42 TU
Abkhazia and South Ossetia: the separatist regions of Georgia.
(Map: RFI)
The mountainous region of South Ossetia lies more than 1000 metres above sea level in the Caucasus between Russia and Georgia. The Ossetian ethnic group speak Ossetic, a language related to Farsi or Persian. Estimates of how many of them live in South Ossetia range from 22,000 to 70,000. They also live in North Ossetia, which is part of Russia, and in Georgia. About a third of South Ossetia's population are ethnic-Georgian. The majority of South Ossetians have voted to separate from Georgia and join Russia, a solution rejected by Tbilisi.
The region is no stranger to the clash of interests between its neighbours, as a look at its history shows:
1783: Russian Empress Catherine the Great and her favourite Prince Potemkin send troops into the Caucausus; the Russians encounter little resistance from the Ossetians but more from the Georgians and other ethnic groups.
1812: Popular rebellion aginst Russian rule in Georgia and Ossetia is put down by Moscow's troops.
1844: Russia dispatches a force to put down rebellion in the Caucasus led by Chechen rebel Imam Shamil; Ossetians generally fight on the Russian side in continuous fighting thoughout the century.
1918-1920: Uprisings in what is now South Ossetia against republics set up after the Russian revolution which opposed the newly-established Soviet Union.
1921-1922: The Red Army invades Georgia; the Soviet Union declares South Ossetia an autonomous oblast (administrative district) within the new Transcaucasian Republic; allowing local control over matters such as language and education.
1988: Formation of the South Ossetian Popular Front in response to mounting Georgian nationalism.
1989: As a crisis that will become terminal hits the Soviet Union, the Popular Front comes to power and demands that the oblast become an autonomous republic; the Georgian government rejects the call; protests and demonstrations on both sides.
1990: North Ossetia becomes part of Russia; a South Ossetian declaration of independence is rejected by Georgia; Georgian President Zviad Gamzakhurdia abolishes autonomous status, declares a state of emergency in the region and bans political parties there during a parliamentary election; Georgia sends in troops when the South Ossetian legislature tries to secede and join North Ossetia.
1992: After thousands of casualties and the flight of tens of thousands of refugees, a ceasefire is mediated by Russian President Boris Yeltsin; the agreement sets up a security corridor, creates the Joint Control Commission and the Joint Peacekeeping Forces, consisting of Georgian, Ossetian and Russian troops.
2001: An unrecognised presidential election is won by former communist wrestler-turned-entrepreneur Eduard Koltoi, or Kokoyev.
2003: Georgia's so-called "Rose Revolution" drives Eduard Shevardnadze out of power, to be replaced by Mikheil Saakashvili, a US-trained lawyer who advocates reducing Russian influence in the region.
2006: South Ossetians vote again for independence from Tbilisi in a referendum which is not recognised by the rest of the world; a simultaneous referendum among the region's Georgian population rejects the idea; Koltoi is re-elected in another unrecognised vote; the second-longest pipeline in the world is completed to link the oil-rich Caspian Sea to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, passing through Georgia without passing through Russia or Iran.
2007: Saakashvili resigns as president to face a new election.
2008: Saakashvili is re-elected in January; On 8 August Georgia sends troops into South Ossetia, Russia responds.
