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WHAT IS THE SO-CALLED “SOUTH OSSETIA”?
By Andrew
Andersen
South Ossetia
also known in Georgia as
Shida Kartli and Samchoblo,
is an inalienable part of Georgia
that was granted administrative autonomy after the Soviet conquest of Georgia in
1921. As of today, there are several myths developed by Russian imperial
propaganda and occasionally repeated by various media due to the fact that
there is a limited number of people both in the
west and in the east who had a chance to learn the detailed history of the
region.
Myth Nr. 1:
There was once a united Ossetia partitioned by the Bolsheviks after
1917between Russian Federation
and Georgia.
That statement is
simply not true. There was, in fact, no “South Ossetia”
at all until the second half the 19th century when it appeared
as a pure ethnographical but in no way political term. Even if one looks at
the geographical map of the area one will notice that “the two Ossetias” are isolated from one another by the Main
Caucasus mountain range, the natural border between Russia and Georgia. Until the construction
of the strategically important Roki tunnel in
1985, the Main Caucasus range had only two narrow passes between the “two Ossetias” completely blocked by snow and thus
impassable during most of the year, except the summer months.
If you take a
detailed look into the regional
history you will find out that modern South
Ossetia never ever existed as a separate political entity but
always was a part of eastern Georgian provinces or eastern Georgian states
even during the periods of fragmentation. After the incorporation of
Georgian states into the Russian Empire in the first half of the 19th
century, the territory of modern South Ossetia existed in the form of
several districts and cantons of the Tiflis province (former East Georgian
Kingdom) and a canton of the Kutais province
(former Kingdom of Imereti).
It is difficult
to say for sure when exactly did the Ossetians
settle in Georgia,
but there is some evidence that it did not happen until the 19th
century. According to Russian historian Nikolai Dubrovin
(1837-1894) “... it was the shortage of arable land that was the reason for
the resettlement of some Ossetians across the Main Caucasus Range
and voluntarily accepted the bondage imposed on them by georgian
landlords. After having settled the gorges of Big Liakhvi,
Small Liakhvi, rekhula
and Ksani rivers, they became the serfs of the
princely families of Eristavi and Machabellli. Those settlers are now called ‘the south Ossetians’ further subdivided into various tribal
groups named after the gorges they reside. Those groups include the Ksanians, Liakhvians, Gudushaurians, Magran-Dvaletians,
Jamurians, etc. Many Ossetians
also settled in Khevi and Mtiuli
gorges”[i]
An indirect proof
of the hypotesis od Dubrovin is the fact that the majority of South Ossetians used and still use to have Russian or russified last names while the last names of the
majority of traditional inhabitants of Georgia no matter what their ethnic
backgrounds was, were either Georgian or Georgianized.
Myth Nr. 2:
It was Joseph Stalin who granted South Ossetia to Georgia.
That is as far
away from the truth as the previous myth. Independed
Georgia re-created in
1918, included the territory of modern South Ossetia and afther the Soviet conquest of 1921was incorporaed into the USSR
having South Ossetia as an autonomous
province.
Let us add to the
above that there is no single map or atlas published in Russia, the USSR
or in the west until 2008 that would show any “united Ossetia” or South
Ossetia not being a part of Georgia.
Please see the prehistory of the conflict and the chronologies as well as the maps for further details.
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