Renaming South Ossetia to Alania. When will South Ossetia be renamed?
The President of South Ossetia signed a decree on holding a referendum on renaming the republic to South Ossetia-Alania. The plebiscite will take place on the presidential election day, April 9. Leonid Tibilov came up with this initiative in December 2015.
The decree of South Ossetian President Leonid Tibilov states:
“Guided by the desire of the people of the Republic of South Ossetia to restore the ancient name of their state as an integral part of the cultural and historical heritage and their identity, based on historical and spiritual continuity between generations and paying tribute to the grateful memory of those who heroically defended and preserved the lands of their ancestors for those living today, Turning to the historical origins of the revived tradition of Alan statehood, recognizing its continuity and striving to strengthen the foundations of its reliable future, in accordance with paragraph 16 of Article 50 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Ossetia, I signed a Decree calling a referendum of the Republic of South Ossetia. A referendum on restoring the historical name of our state will be held throughout the Republic of South Ossetia on Sunday, April 9, 2017.”
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In a separate windowThe idea of renaming South Ossetia to South Ossetia-Alania is supported by many both in Tskhinvali and Vladikavkaz. However, some of my interlocutors saw the combination of presidential elections with a referendum as a smart pre-election move that could bring additional votes to the current president.
In 1994, the first president of North Ossetia, Akhsarbek Galazov, in difficult socio-political conditions, made a fundamental decision and renamed the republic North Ossetia-Alania. At that time there was a crisis in Russia, the consequences of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict were acute, and the Ossetian people needed a unifying national idea.
Leader of the Ossetia Foundation for Promoting Interethnic Relations Lev Laliev believes that this step should have been taken a long time ago:
“This should have been done earlier. Not now, before the presidential elections, but after his victory in 2012, when Tibilov had just become president. This is a big step for rapprochement and unification. In order for our people not to remain divided, it is necessary to establish a common name for the republics. Every person strives to leave something good behind. Leonid Tibilov retaining his post is a plus for him, but even if he is not elected, it is still a plus for him. Under the name of Alanya, we must strive for unification.”
Leader of the Communist Party of South Ossetia Stanislav Kochiev says that the idea of renaming the republic “was in the air” and Leonid Tibilov proposed it back in 2015, “because the processes should take place in parallel with North Ossetia.” Stanislav Kochiev says:
“Ossetians are direct descendants and heirs of Alans. Now there are many contenders for this inheritance from our neighbors. But we are the heirs of cultural, moral, and material wealth. We must return our historical name, but we must also preserve Ossetia, the whole world knows us as Ossetians now. Combining a referendum with presidential elections is a financial saving, and in material terms it is the least expensive thing. I am confident that the referendum will attract voters to the ballot box and increase turnout on April 9.”
Supporter of ex-president Eduard Kokoity Taimuraz Kokoev supports the president’s initiative, but believes that renaming alone is not enough to strengthen national identity:
“I believe that the current South Ossetian government is reacting to the attempts of our eastern neighbors, who are persistently trying to lay claim to the Alan heritage, but just renaming Alania will not change the socio-economic situation of the population of both Ossetian republics. There must be a specific program for the revival of Alanya, including spiritual, cultural and ideological. Revival must occur in the self-awareness of each of us who considers himself an Alan. Renaming alone is not enough. Politicians who undertake to rename the republic Alanya are responsible for the further development of this idea, for the revival of Alanya.”
Publicist and political scientist Leonid Kochiev believes that the decision of the South Ossetian president to hold a referendum on the day of the presidential elections serves to increase Leonid Tibilov’s rating:
“I am absolutely convinced that combining the referendum on renaming South Ossetia with the presidential elections is a PR move. I can't say whether this is good or bad. Why rename it to Alanya. Iryston originally means the country of the Aryans, our ancestors, and this has been proven by European and world science. Alania sounds, but then why not call it Scythia, Sarmatia. There is a country of the Aryans - Iryston, I can suggest options for the name Alan Republic Iryston or As-Alan Republic Iryston, I am convinced that the name “Iryston” must definitely remain in the name of our state.”
North Ossetian public figure Tamerlan Tsomaev considers it natural to rename South Ossetia:
“In the future, the reunification of the south and north of Ossetia is inevitable, therefore the southern part of Ossetia also needs to be renamed. And then Ossetia-Alania will be united within Russia.”
In accordance with paragraph 16 of Article 50 of the Constitution, a referendum will be held on the question: “Do you agree with the amendment to Part 1 of Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Ossetia, stating it in the following wording: 1. The Republic of South Ossetia - the State of Alania - is a sovereign democratic legal state, created as a result of self-determination of the people of the Republic of South Ossetia. The names Republic of South Ossetia and State of Alania are equivalent.”
The text contains toponyms and terminology used in the self-proclaimed republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
The historical competition between the peoples of the Caucasus for the Alan heritage is reaching a new level
At the beginning of this year, a long-term discussion about which peoples in the North Caucasus can lay claim to the status of direct descendants of the Alans and the Alanian kingdom received new impetus.
Tibilov Initiative
This impulse is due to the fact that the President of South Ossetia, Leonid Tibilov, signed a decree on holding a referendum to rename the Republic of South Ossetia to the Republic of South Ossetia - the State of Alania. The referendum will take place on April 9, simultaneously with the presidential elections.
Historians of South Ossetia have repeatedly emphasized the need for such a renaming. Because in South and North Ossetia they are convinced that the unification of the two Ossetian republics is inevitable. And renaming Alania is seen in Tskhivanle and Vladikavkaz as an important step in approaching this goal.
However, we previously wrote in detail about the fact that this initiative is not clearly perceived by everyone in South Ossetia itself. Because some residents believe that in this way Leonid Tibilov is gaining political points for himself before the elections and distracting the population from the more real and serious problems of the republic.
In addition, such initiatives of the Ossetians are met with mute rejection from other peoples of the Caucasus. We have already written earlier about the course of a long-standing debate between the three nationalities of the North Caucasus about who owns the Alan heritage - Ossetians, Ingush or Karachay-Balkars.
Historical competition
Let us recall that the medieval kingdom of Alania existed in the Caucasus from the beginning of the 1st millennium to the middle of the 14th century, until it fell under the invasion of the Mongols. The history of its emergence and flourishing occupies the minds of not only scientists, but also a huge number of social activists, bloggers and activists in the Caucasus.
Because many people want to be considered the heirs of one of the most ancient and powerful states of the Caucasus. That is why three peoples of the Caucasus at once - Ossetians, Karachay-Balkars and Ingush claim to be considered the descendants of the legendary kingdom.
It so happened that the Ossetians managed to achieve more politically in this dispute. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was the Ossetians who added the word Alania to the name of their republic of North Ossetia in 1995.
Having staked out the Alan brand in other cultural and political niches, the Ossetians managed to ensure that the majority of Russians began to steadily associate the modern Ossetians, as the descendants of the ancient Iranian-speaking people, with the heritage of the ancient Alans.
Alan relay of the Caucasus
However, other peoples of the Caucasus claiming the Alan heritage have also succeeded a lot. Thus, in 1998, the Ingush authorities managed to assign the name Magas to the new capital of Ingushetia, founded four years earlier.
This decision was made with a long-term historical and political aim. Because Magas is the name of the capital of the ancient Alanian kingdom. Thus, according to the medieval author al-Masudi, “the capital of the kingdom of the Alans is called Ma’as, which means piety.”
However, the Karachay-Balkarians living in two neighboring republics of the Caucasus - Karachay-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria - were still destined to have their say in this dispute.
Due to the multinational nature of the republics of their residence, the Karachais and Balkars, like the Ossetians and Ingush living in mononational republics, could not consolidate their Alan heritage through political decisions.
However, throughout this period, the Karachais and Balkars called their native language Alan, and themselves Alans. However, this did not in any way register the Alan heritage of the Karachay-Balkars in the minds of the other peoples of the Caucasus.
Karachay protest
However, in November 2014, a very representative International Scientific Conference “Ethnogenesis, history, language and culture of the Karachay-Balkar people” was held in Moscow at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
As a result of the conference, many articles, interviews, programs and stories were published. The main goal for which this Conference was convened was to confirm the 1959 thesis of linguist Umar Aliyev about the Alan origin of the Karachay-Balkars.
In North Ossetia, the reaction to these claims of the Ingush and Karachay-Balkars to the Alan heritage is ambiguous: some believe that the neighbors of the Ossetian people are attempting to rewrite history, others do not see anything wrong in the fact that the neighbors want to identify themselves with the ancestors of the Ossetians.
And here, against the backdrop of Tskhinvali’s preparations for a historic referendum for South Ossetia on renaming the republic to Alania, Karachay social activists came out with an official protest against such an initiative and sent a letter of warning to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The leadership of the Congress of the Karachay People insists that the very renaming of South Ossetia to Alania contradicts historical facts and threatens that this initiative will cause tension in the Caucasus in interethnic relations and even in the international sphere, as happened in the case of the Republic of Macedonia.
At the same time, it is also clear why the letter of protest was sent to Moscow and not to Tskhinvali. Since all political processes in South Ossetia are closely supervised by the Kremlin and the Russian White House. This fact was once again emphasized by the recent visit of Russian Presidential Aide Vladislav Surkov to Tskhinvali.
Boris Semenov
Firstly, these are the presidential elections of the republic, scheduled for April 2017, secondly, a referendum on joining Russia, and thirdly, a referendum on renaming the state. There is no certainty yet about when the last two events will take place. Speaker of Parliament Anatoly Bibilov and the president Leonid Tibilov After a series of discussions, we came to the conclusion that a plebiscite on joining the Russian Federation should take place after the election of the head of a partially recognized state.
Fruits of Georgian influence
But even less is known about the renaming of South Ossetia. This project was announced by Leonid Tibilov almost a year ago. During a conversation with journalists, he said that the renaming would show the world the problem of a divided people, that is, the problem of Ossetians forced to live in two different states. “I will instruct the relevant services and make a proposal to parliamentarians to consider this issue. The whole world should know that there is a problem of a divided people,” the president said last December. Everyone liked the idea, and they began to talk about it in both Ossetias. Almost no one had any doubts about the outcome of such a referendum - the people would unanimously vote “yes”.
What is the reason for such confidence? It's a matter of historical and linguistic aspects. The word "Ossetia" came into the Russian language from Georgian, in which the territory where the Alans lived ( ancestors of Ossetians — Auto.) in the period after the Mongol conquests, was called “Oseti”. “The name arose in certain circumstances due to the fact that Alania in Georgian is called “Oseti”, and the Alans are called “Axis”, both today and two thousand years ago - exactly the same. And this Georgian tradition was transferred into Russian official practice by Georgian emigrants in Russia, who worked in the Russian administration as translators, civilian and military officials,” says the Ossetian scientist, Doctor of Historical Sciences Ruslan Bzarov. Once in the Russian language, this name spread throughout the world. Among the Ossetian intelligentsia, there have been debates for quite some time about the “restoration of historical justice,” that is, about the introduction into widespread use of the word “Alania” as a name for Ossetia. During Soviet times, no serious attempts were made in this direction. Such a practice did not exist at all.
However, local tensions often arose related to the policies of the leadership of the Georgian SSR, which included South Ossetia. Tbilisi adhered to aggressive methods of introducing the Georgian component into the life of Ossetians. So talk about Alanya at that time could have been perceived as anti-government.
But times have changed, and as a result of the geopolitical shock caused by the collapse of the USSR, South Ossetia received de facto independence, which at that time, however, was not recognized by anyone. Sovereignty had to be paid at a terrible price - the republic became truly independent from Georgia only after the 1991-1992 war.
Unsuccessful efforts
On the wave of rising self-awareness as a result of a decisive break with Georgia, talk began about renaming the state. Under the first leader of independent South Ossetia Torese Kulumbegove the idea did not become particularly popular, because military operations, although they had ceased to be intense, nevertheless continued sluggishly, and any minor incident could trigger another massive bloodshed. But after some time, the situation returned to normal, and now the republic’s leadership began to think not only about the defense capability of their country, but also about other pressing matters.
The highest power in the country has passed to Ludwig Chibirov, under him the story of the renaming began, which has not ended to this day. The top officials of the unrecognized country increasingly began to pay attention to the fact that the state should be rid of the name of Georgian origin. Our North Ossetian colleagues took the first steps in this direction - they added the word “Alania” to the former name of their republic. One of the first to speak at the parliamentary level about the need to follow the “brotherly example” was the politician Kazbek Chelekhsati, at that time part of the highest legislative body. In the 90s, this idea was also supported by another prominent political figure Vyacheslav Gobozov, who currently holds the post of Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Republic of South Ossetia. “I am one of those people who have been pushing for this renaming since the presidency of Ludwig Chibirov,” says Gobozov. He has achieved and, apparently, continues to achieve. But until recently, all these efforts had no effect - the idea “stalled” and began to slowly become covered with dust in the minds of those in power. A couple of times some forces tried to resurrect the project. Even the local clergy got involved in 2003: they delivered a message to the people. But the priests were also powerless. Ten years later, a well-known journalist in Ossetia Robert Kulumbegov publishes material in which he calls for Ossetia to be called Alania as soon as possible. The article is sharply critical and ends with an argument that substantiates the full authority of his call: “After all, the name of our country must have historical roots, and we must bear our self-name, and not be a copy of a document written by some embassy clerk from the words of a Georgian emigrant.” The priests and the press were powerless. Who is destined to get this all off the ground? The answer is simple - Leonid Tibilov.
Slow-action readiness
His announcement on December 28 last year inspired many to become active again on this key toponymic issue. Later, Tibilov, speaking on February 19, 2016 with a message to the people and parliament, confirmed his intentions to initiate the process of renaming the state. Thus, having duplicated his message, the president finally convinced everyone of the reality of the project.
The aforementioned Gobozov spoke again, who, like everyone else, connects the renaming with the restoration of historical justice. But here one question arose - what exactly should we call the republic? Leonid Tibilov proposed an option that was drawn up by analogy with the name of the North Ossetian republic - South Ossetia-Alania. Other politicians began to propose alternative names. Someone cited the State of Israel as an example and insisted on the correctness of the wording “State of Alanya”. Others even want to do without the addition “Alania”; instead, in their opinion, the self-name “Iryston” is best suited.
Local journalists, realizing that there were disagreements, organized a social survey, proposing three options: the Republic of Alania, the Republic of South Alania and the Republic of South Ossetia-Alania. Of the almost three thousand respondents, the absolute majority chose the first option - 61%, second place went to the last option - 24.6%, the rest preferred the second name.
In general, the people were ready to vote for real. But after such loud statements, the president suddenly stopped demonstrating his participation in the project. He said that the event should take place in the near future, that is, in 2016, but it did not work out. Leonid Tibilov, apparently, was immersed in other matters. He stopped talking about it, and to relevant questions he gave evasive answers, devoid of any specifics. So at the beginning of August he visited the camp for schoolchildren and university students “Alania-2016”. During a meeting with students, he was asked a question: when will we finally rename the country? Leonid Kharitonovich replied - work is underway, we are preparing. That's all.
Many people are not happy with this slowness. Vyacheslav Gobozov argues that there is no way to postpone the procedure - historical justice and the “emotional impulse” that the population should receive will be very useful for the country.
The expectations of patriots are easily explained, however, one must be understanding of President Tibilov’s arguments. Renaming is not a purely domestic political issue. This procedure will also affect North Ossetia. If a partially recognized state chooses a name for itself in which there will be no “Georgian influence” at all, then this will raise the issue of renaming before North Ossetian legislators. Since there is no South Ossetia, then there should not be North Ossetia. The problem of a divided people will no longer appear so clearly on the political map. But at one time in Vladikavkaz, the top officials of the republic retained the phrase “North Ossetia” before the new name “Alania” precisely for this reason. Leonid Tibilov understands all this, which is why he proposed the “South Ossetia-Alania” option - in this case, no controversial issues will arise, and Vladikavkaz colleagues will not be forced to rack their brains over how to rectify the situation.
But preliminary polls show that the population prefers to call their country the Republic of Alanya. What remains for Tibilov? To look for political solutions, that’s why he’s holding out. However, there is information that the corresponding referendum may be held in parallel with the upcoming presidential elections, but the question that will be put to the population is still not formulated.
According to preliminary data, Bibilov, who won the presidential elections in South Ossetia, announced the people’s desire to return to the Russian Federation.
According to preliminary data, Speaker of the South Ossetian Parliament Anatoly Bibilov wins the first round of the presidential election. As stated by the head of the Central Election Commission of the republic, Bella Plieva, referring to the preliminary results of the Central Election Commission, according to preliminary data, Bibilov is gaining 57.98%, the current president Leonid Tibilov is 30%, Alan Gagloev is 11.01%. A total of 77 polling stations were opened, five of them in Russia. The overall turnout was 81%. To win, a candidate must receive more than 50% of the votes.
In addition to the election of the head of the republic, a referendum was also held on renaming the republic. According to Bella Plieva, giving South Ossetia the equivalent name “State of Alania” was supported by 78% of voters. The final results of the referendum will be announced within five days.
Despite the fact that between the leaders of the presidential race, the Speaker of the Parliament of South Ossetia Anatoly Bibilov and the current head of the republic Leonid Tibilov there was no fundamental political difference, but some intrigue still remained, the president of the Foundation for the Unity of the Russian and Georgian Peoples is sure Vladimir Khomeriki. According to the Bell of Russia’s interlocutor, during the short history of independence, the republic’s leaders change quite often, all this suggests that the majority of its residents are dissatisfied with the isolating international situation.
“If you do not compare status, temperament and character, as well as minor differences in political views, there is practically no fundamental difference between Bibilov and Tibilov. Moreover, Ossetian society is for the most part united and fully oriented toward integration with Russia. Therefore, the Ossetian people will continue to choose a leader who will be completely focused on the Russian Federation,” the expert explained.
New President Anatoly Bibilov assured that relations with the Russian Federation cannot undergo any changes for the worse. On the contrary, we will increase them. According to him, “the agreement that we signed with the Russian Federation, of course, will be implemented and integration into the Russian Federation will proceed.”
The only thing that can change in the republic after the elections is
renewal of the personnel of the country's leadership, believes the coordinator of the working group of the Center for the Study of Central Asia and the Caucasus of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Skakov. According to the expert, those personnel who were under Tibilov largely inherited from the former president Eduard Kokoity, apparently, will be replaced, and this is only good, because you cannot stay in power for too long.
“The political leadership of the republic has a very close relationship with Moscow, where there are no fundamental contradictions. Moreover, today in the republic there is no longer such a thing as clanism, which just a few years ago were actively fighting among themselves. The past elections and referendum betrayed a more distinct structure of statehood. Previously, there was tension between the Russian Federation and the republic related to the misuse of subsidized funds that the Russian Federation allocated to South Ossetia, but today the corruption component has been minimized as much as possible,” the expert noted.
“The referendum on renaming South Ossetia to the Republic of Alania is a more significant political event in the history of the republic than the presidential elections. The renaming will be the next step in rapprochement in order to prepare a motivational platform for reunification with the Russian Federation and will move us even further away from Georgia. Today, the ground is gradually being prepared for the unification of the same-rooted brothers - the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania and the Republic of South Ossetia-Alania, so we can finally put an end to the issue of returning the republic to Georgia. Renaming will only strengthen the motivation of the population to join the Russian Federation,” explained the publication’s interlocutor.
In turn, as Anatoly Bibilov, the leader in the presidential elections in the republic, told RIA Novosti, Tskhinvali will continue to discuss with Moscow the prospects of holding a referendum on South Ossetia’s accession to Russia.
Bibilov spoke about this referendum earlier as speaker of parliament. According to him, “there is a certain agreement between him and President Tibilov, which requires careful consultation with Russian colleagues, because this directly concerns Russia.” Bibilov noted that Russian law allows this, but still depends on the current international situation.
As for the position of Georgian society, there is also complete unity regarding the territorial integrity of the country, and all ongoing elections and referendums will never be recognized even with the slightest reservations. According to David Purtskhvanidze, the Georgian side will try to throw information at the international community. through Geneva or some other format. However, this will not move the territorial conflict forward due to the principled position of Tbilisi, which does not want to conduct a direct dialogue with the authorities of the republics it does not recognize, but only limits itself to protest statements.
“The chances of resolving the territorial dispute through various forms a few years ago were quite real, in particular using the confederation scheme, but the Ossetians and Abkhazians lost faith in international negotiation platforms, which turned into a regular farce, with considerable financial costs. Over the course of several years, about 40 meetings were held in the Geneva format, on which about $5 million was spent, with zero results from such meetings,” the expert explained.
Integration between Russia and South Ossetia is in full swing. Thus, the majority of residents of South Ossetia are Russian citizens, have the appropriate rights, and there are programs to increase salaries and pensions to the level of the Russian Federation. Formerly President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin instructed the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, after reaching an agreement with South Ossetia, to sign an agreement on the inclusion of individual units of the country's armed forces in the RF Armed Forces.
But whether the idea of the republic joining the Russian Federation is relevant for the Russian leadership remains a big question.
Anatoly Molchanov
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On April 9, simultaneously with the presidential elections in South Ossetia, a referendum on “returning the historical name to the republic” will be held. In addition to the current name, it is proposed to give the republic another, equivalent one - “State of Alania”. The head of the republic, Leonid Tibilov, states that the renaming “will create conditions and prerequisites” for the republic to join the Russian Federation. Kommersant correspondent NATALIA KORCHENKOVA studied the mood in South Ossetia on the eve of voting day.
South Ossetia has been living with an uncertain legal status for the third decade. Apart from Russia, its independence has so far been recognized only by Nicaragua, Venezuela and the Pacific islands of Nauru and Tuvalu (as well as other unrecognized and partially recognized republics, including Abkhazia, Transnistria, LPR and DPR). South Ossetia even has an ambassador to Nicaragua and Venezuela. True, for the sake of economy, the diplomatic mission is based in the capital of the Republic of Tskhinvali, which is called “Tskhinvali” here - in the Ossetian manner. The republic's budget mainly consists of financial assistance from Russia (see information).
Simultaneously with the presidential elections in South Ossetia, a referendum will be held on returning the country’s “historical name” - Alania. Leonid Tibilov said that the renaming “will create the conditions and prerequisites for United Alania to join the Russian Federation.” Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili called this “another step towards the subsequent annexation of the occupied territories.”
Partially recognized candidate
Eight and a half years after the “five-day war”, houses reminiscent of battles - riddled with shells, with broken facades or completely destroyed - are not uncommon here. The Tskhinvali department store, which burned down in August 2008, has never been restored. But the State Drama Theater is under construction, in the Vincenzo cafe you can connect to free Wi-Fi, and advertising flashing with multi-colored lights invites you to go to the Adrenaline club on Stalin Street.
Three registered presidential candidates: the current head Leonid Tibilov, the head of the South Ossetian parliament, Lieutenant General Anatoly Bibilov and the KGB officer of the republic Alan Gagloev. Eduard Kokoity, who led South Ossetia in 2001-2011, was denied registration. The Central Election Commission (CEC), and then the Supreme Court of the republic, considered that his candidacy did not meet the residency requirement. This requirement was introduced back in 2001: only a person who had permanently resided in South Ossetia for ten years could become a presidential candidate. Under Eduard Kokoity, a clarification was made: “the last ten years.” Now, almost every day, supporters of Mr. Kokoity gather for rallies demanding that he restore his registration and dismiss the government: according to supporters of the ex-president, an average of 3 thousand participants attend the rallies. According to the republic’s administration, ten times fewer people go out onto the streets. But law enforcement officers are still guarding the city center with the support of paddy wagons, just in case.
On a weekday, there was a meeting of supporters at Mr. Kokoity’s headquarters—at least one and a half hundred people came. The leader appears to cheers and applause and calls “not to give up”: according to him, “serious consultations are underway in Moscow” on “equal conditions” for all nominated candidates. Eduard Kokoity assures Kommersant that the protests will be exclusively peaceful: “Our task is to prevent the escalation of the confrontation, where on both sides the people who defended South Ossetia achieved recognition of its independence. These people have combat experience behind them , and I wouldn’t want them to use this experience now.” He calls the refusal to register “unprecedented.” For example, as evidence of non-compliance with the residence qualification, the court was presented with “falsified logs” about border crossings. “Our border guards don’t wear white gloves. But here the paper is white and white. There’s a magazine that supposedly spent a year at a post in the mountains,” says the ex-president. In addition, he adds, there is virtually no registration of those entering the republic. Eduard Kokoity says that he was “less involved” in social and political life “by agreement with the administration” of South Ossetia: “It was regarded as if Eduard Dzhabeyevich was not in the republic.”
The ex-president persistently seeks a meeting with his successor: Leonid Tibilov allegedly promised to meet, but “the next morning he retracted his words.” In addition, Mr. Tibilov hid a Chevrolet Niva car in his election declaration, Mr. Kokoity claims, and in general “is completely controlled by those external forces who want to deprive the people of South Ossetia of the right to choose.” Eduard Kokoity admits that he is referring to Russian Presidential Assistant Vladislav Surkov: “He has completely failed and is failing the instructions of the President (Vladimir Putin.— "Ъ") in all directions. Donetsk, Lugansk, Abkhazia, South Ossetia - tell me, where is it calm, where is it stable?”
At rallies in support of Leonid Tibilov, Eduard Kokoity is asked “not to interfere with development and stability.” In a conversation with Kommersant, the head of South Ossetia notes that “the author of the wording” (about mandatory residence in the republic for “the last ten years”) is Eduard Kokoity himself. “The court decision is final and, of course, no one will change it,” the president emphasizes, and he could meet with his opponent if he stopped “protesting and disturbing public peace.” “I make every effort to ensure that there is no tension in society,” emphasizes Leonid Tibilov.
Referendum on Russian territory
On February 6, Leonid Tibilov signed a decree on holding a referendum in South Ossetia - voting will be organized on the same day as the presidential election “for the sake of economy,” he explained to Kommersant. It is proposed to approve a second, equivalent name for the republic - “State of Alania”. Part of Russia, North Ossetia added "Alania" to its name in January 1995.
The renaming is fundamentally important for the Ossetians, who consider themselves descendants of the ancient Alans. "Having appeared in the 1st century AD, by the 10th century the so-called Alan early feudal state was already a fairly large state association. It then included all the peoples of the North Caucasus, the population numbered 2 million people. But after the invasion of the Tatar-Mongols, Alania as such disappeared,” Ludwig Chibirov, the first president of South Ossetia, chief researcher at the Department of Cultural Anthropology of South Ossetians at the Vladikavkaz Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, tells Kommersant.
Attempts by other peoples to call themselves Alans are treated jealously here. When a petition to “rename Ingushetia to Alania” appeared on the Internet at the beginning of March 2017, a rally was held in Vladikavkaz in protest. The heads of both republics had to convince the protesters that there were no such plans. “People who can simply write or read—all of them have become historians today,” Ludwig Chibirov is indignant. He supports the renaming of South Ossetia: “We have a common history, language, culture, and a common name will bring us even closer together as a single ethnic whole. Unification with Russia is the age-old dream of our people.” In North Ossetia, they do not object to the residents of the south receiving a similar name, confirms Vitaly Cheldiev, a member of the committee on national policy of the North Ossetian parliament ("Patriots of Russia"): Ossetians in the north and south are a "single people" who simply live on opposite sides of the Main Caucasus ridge.
Holders of South Ossetian passports will also be able to vote in elections and referendums at consulates in Abkhazia, Moscow and North Ossetia, where many people from the south live. According to official data, the population of South Ossetia is about 53 thousand people. But in fact, 35-37 thousand live in it, Kommersant’s interlocutors in the republic admit: many moved to Vladikavkaz and other Russian cities, and even more could illegally obtain South Ossetian passports. After a discussion about the illegal issuance of documents that unfolded in early 2017, the KGB of South Ossetia stated that “under the previous government, more than 10 thousand passport forms were stolen,” but all of these passports “are wanted.”
It was planned to open two polling stations in North Ossetia (both at the South Ossetian consulate), but in early March the Central Election Commission of South Ossetia announced the opening of a third one - in the Prigorodny district. Leonid Tibilov approves of this decision: “There were a lot of appeals from residents of North Ossetia. To deprive them of the right to vote would be against the law.”
In the office of Anatoly Bibilov in the office of his party “United Ossetia” there is an oil portrait of Sergei Shoigu. The candidate tells Kommersant that they decided to open the additional site after the legal deadline had expired. “We have a consulate. Why open a station somewhere else? It is absolutely illegal to hand out republican passports left and right, which many compatriots need in order to register a car in South Ossetia (clearing a car through customs in the republic is several times cheaper than in the Russian Federation. — "Ъ"),” explains the candidate. But people who “do not live in the republic and are not involved in solving its problems” “should not have the right to choose its president.”
A political strategist who worked in the South Ossetian elections told Kommersant that the main field for “administrative resources and fraud” is in North Ossetia, where polling stations are less well controlled by observers. “The passports of South Ossetia are marked with voting marks. But a person can, for example, vote in the north and, without receiving this mark, go to vote again in the south on the same day (this is a three-four hour drive.— "Ъ")," says Kommersant's interlocutor. At the same time, Anatoly Bibilov, the technologist notes, is waging an active campaign. A couple of days after Leonid Tibilov's meeting with Vladimir Putin, he met with the head of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko.
Several hundred of his supporters come to a pre-election meeting with Anatoly Bibilov in Tskhinvali. Flags of United Alania, a youth movement supporting the candidate, fly above the crowd. In the Ossetian language, the candidate calls “not to divide people on the eve of the elections into Tibilovites, Bibilovites and Kokoytovites”: “We need to unite and boldly, with great love for the Motherland and our people, show a worthy example to the younger generation!” After the rally, participants gather in a circle and perform the Honga folk dance.
Not everyone in South Ossetia agrees that renaming it to the “State of Alania” will help unite under one flag with North Ossetia
“There is practically no entertainment in the republic, except for elections”
Everyone in the republic, without exception, advocates that South Ossetia should become part of Russia. But not everyone agrees that the renaming contributes to this. Anatoly Bibilov believes that the new name should not contain the word “state”. “People do not separate South and North Ossetia and want our republic to be called similarly: “South Ossetia - Alania”. We always say that we are a divided people, and we must show this division even in the names of our republics,” explains the candidate. He is convinced that this will interfere with potential entry into Russia: “What will a state do within a state? In the Russian Federation there is no such entity that would be called the “state of Chechnya” or “the state of Kabardino-Balkaria,” which means there cannot be a state of Alania "This is a referendum. Give the people the opportunity to choose!"
Leonid Tibilov assures that the wording “State of Alania” will not interfere with “the republic’s entry into Russia if such a decision is made in the Russian Federation.” “Personally, at the very beginning I thought that the republic should be named identical to North Ossetia,” he says. But then “historians and legal scholars studied the issue” and came to the conclusion that after the disappearance of the state of Alania, “it has been 600 years since we lost our statehood.” Eduard Kokoity even believes that the republic should remain with one name, “The State of Alania,” and that nationality “Alan” or “Alanka” should be indicated in passports: “There is no need to take half-hearted steps.”
In fact, the referendum is intended to ensure a high turnout, and at the same time it can add popularity to its formal initiator Leonid Tibilov, Kommersant’s interlocutors in South Ossetia say. This is a good pre-election move, because residents “associate the topic of integration with Russia with security,” notes Vitaly Cheldiev. The level of political participation in the republic is already quite high. For example, the presidential elections in 2011 took place in two rounds and ended with protests and the calling of repeat elections. New presidential elections in April 2012 also took place in two rounds, in both of which the turnout exceeded 70%. A political strategist who worked in South Ossetia says that “people perceive the elections well because they lack action - there is practically no other entertainment in the republic”: “The mentality of the people there is reminiscent of the 90s, when many in Russia were in euphoria in expectation of change and sacredly believed in politicians."
“I tell them: stop celebrating, start working.”
Kommersant's interlocutors close to the leadership of South Ossetia have no doubt that the issue of the republic joining Russia will be postponed: Russia does not need either tension in the North Caucasus or new economic sanctions. Rubles are already used in the republic, the majority of the population has Russian passports and, accordingly, the right to vote in Russian elections, and South Ossetian military units will be able to be part of the Russian Armed Forces (Vladimir Putin approved the corresponding agreement on March 14).
The first deputy chairman of the parliament of North Ossetia, United Russia member Stanislav Kesaev, believes that it is more profitable for Russia to work with South Ossetia as a partner than as a “subject in its composition.” Russia resolves its strategic issues in the republic, including placing a military base there. “If NATO troops come very close to my borders in the Baltics, so much so that they look into Ivangorod, then why can’t Russia just like that look into the city of Gori, a strategic point in Georgia?” - he reasons. In addition, if the budget is distributed among the regions of the Russian Federation according to the principle “I first take it from you, and then sprinkle it from top to bottom, like a white-sided magpie,” then there is no direct obligation to the “strategic partner”: one can assess whether “he is able to feed himself or no,” says the parliamentarian.
The republic’s border with Russia is already “quite symbolic,” and nothing prevents it from developing even now, Mr. Kesaev notes: “I tell them: guys, stop celebrating, start working. The misfortune of all these small “banana republics” is that how many no matter how much money is invested in them, this money goes to no one knows where.” Anatoly Bibilov says that “there is a lot of help from Russia,” but in the republic “there is still no efficiency factor”: the investment program for the development of the republic is visible “only in budget items.” “They can tell me: we are building a theater, schools, kindergartens,” he explains. “Yes, we are building, and tomorrow we will again turn to Russia: our dear brothers, help us, we cannot maintain these buildings, help "We still have money. But Ossetians have never been people who beg for alms."
“If you compare what happened in 2008 and what we have today, these are two big differences,” argues Leonid Tibilov. “We have almost completed the restoration process, and this was not an easy issue. Today we are working on drawing up a new program for 2018-2019 years."
Mr. Tibilov is confident that as soon as Russia “is ready to accept South Ossetia into its space,” the republic “will receive the appropriate signal”: “For now, we would not like to give a political burden to our strategic partner.” When asked by Kommersant whether people in the republic are offended that Crimea became part of Russia immediately after the referendum, Leonid Tibilov replied: “We are not offended at all, we are happy for our friends. The fraternal people of Crimea have found their refuge.”
Leonid Tibilov emphasizes that the results of the 1992 referendum, when 99.89% voted for “reunification with Russia” with a turnout of 96.9%, “have not been canceled by anyone.” But Anatoly Bibilov is convinced that the desire to become part of Russia needs to be consolidated with a new referendum: “In 2006, another referendum was held - on the independent development of the Republic of South Ossetia - which neutralized the results of the 1992 referendum.” In his words, “if you don’t knock on the door, no one will open the door for you.” “There is an agreement between me and the president that such a referendum will take place after the presidential elections in 2017. It turns out that we must hold it literally within the next nine months,” says Mr. Bibilov.
During a direct line in April 2016, Vladimir Putin stated that if “the people of South Ossetia want to hold such a referendum,” then “we cannot ... resist it”: “But we do not yet know what will be the basis for this referendum How the questions will be formulated in their final form, we will think further depending on this.” After the meeting between Mr. Putin and Leonid Tibilov on March 21, 2017, the topic of South Ossetia joining Russia was not mentioned in their statements.
