Tbilisi (GBC) - “Following consultations with the government, we have decided to abolish the administration of the administrative-territorial unit established on the territory of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Region,” said Shalva Papuashvili, Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia.
According to Papuashvili, several legislative initiatives have been developed in consultation with the government, which will be tabled at today’s session of the Parliamentary Bureau. The Parliament plans to adopt these amendments by the end of the year.
“I would remind the public that in November 2006, under the United National Movement government, unconstitutional elections were held in the Tskhinvali region, resulting in the proclamation of a so-called president of South Ossetia and the formation of a so-called alternative South Ossetian government. Through this action, the government of the day granted indirect legitimacy to separatist processes, an egregious and grave betrayal of Georgia’s state interests.
Several months later, a Temporary Administrative-Territorial Unit Administration was established in June 2007, once again in breach of the Constitution, based on the very same unconstitutional ‘alternative government’. This decision artificially restored the administrative boundaries of the South Ossetian Autonomous Region, which had been abolished in 1990. This move later became one of the key factors enabling the 2008 Russian military aggression and the occupation of Georgia’s historic region of Samachablo.
From today’s perspective, it is evident that these decisions were part of an external power’s geopolitical manoeuvre, with Georgia cast as a sacrificial pawn. The policies implemented under Saakashvili’s leadership provoked an escalation in the region and ultimately drove the country towards war.
Against this backdrop, members of Georgia’s Parliament have assessed this decision as gross treachery against Georgia’s national interests, a view reflected in the constitutional lawsuit demanding that the United National Movement be declared unconstitutional. It must be emphasised that at a time when Georgia has spent years working to strengthen its policy of non-recognition, the United National Movement regime’s use of the term ‘South Ossetia’, even indirectly, was from the outset a betrayal of the Constitution and national interests. No ‘South Ossetia’ exists within Georgian legal or political space whatsoever.
Accordingly, following consultations with the government, we have decided to abolish the administration of the administrative-territorial unit established on the territory of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Region.
I should emphasise that the municipalities of Akhalgori, Kurta, Tighvi, and Eredvi will remain operational. These were elected in 2006 in full accordance with the Constitution. They represent the only legitimately elected and functioning government in the Tskhinvali region and thus constitute the sole lawful continuation of Georgia’s legal and constitutional framework,” declared Papuashvili.
