GD to Abolish South Ossetian Provisional Administration
The Georgian Dream party has decided to abolish the provisional administration of South Ossetia established in 2007 by then-President Mikheil Saakashvili.
The provisional administration, established under a presidential decree signed by Mikheil Saakashvili on May 10, 2007, exists to this day, and has been led since November 2022 by Tamaz Bestaev, appointed by then-Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili.
During a November 17 briefing, Georgia’s disputed Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili criticized what he called the “unconstitutional elections” organized by the then–United National Movement government in the Tskhinvali region in November 2006, which he argued “resulted in the declaration of a so-called President of South Ossetia and the establishment of a so-called alternative government of South Ossetia.”
“With this step, the then government indirectly granted legitimacy to separatist processes, which was a clear and grave betrayal of Georgia’s state interests,” he claimed.
Papuashvili said that in 2007, “in violation of the Constitution, the administration of the provisional administrative-territorial unit was created, based on the same unconstitutional alternative government.”
With this decision, “the administrative borders of the South Ossetian Autonomous District – abolished in 1990 – were artificially restored,” Papuashvili claimed, adding that it “later became one of the contributing factors to the 2008 Russian military aggression and the occupation of Georgia’s historic region of Samachablo.”
Papuashvili further alleged that from today’s perspective, it is clear that “those decisions were part of a geopolitical game by external forces, in which Georgia was assigned the role of a ‘sacrificial pawn.’ The policy implemented by Saakashvili escalated the situation in the region and ultimately led the country to war.”
He pointed to what he described as Parliament’s assessment of this decision as “a blatant betrayal of Georgia’s national interests,” noting that this view is reflected in the ongoing constitutional lawsuit that seeks to declare the UNM and two other opposition parties unconstitutional.
He also insisted that “even the indirect use of the term South Ossetia by the UNM regime was from the outset a betrayal of the Constitution and national interests,” stressing that “there is no such thing as South Ossetia in Georgia’s legal or political space.”
“Accordingly, following consultations with the government, we have decided to abolish the administration of the provisional administrative-territorial unit established on the territory of the former South Ossetian Autonomous District,” Papuashvili stated.
He emphasized that the Akhalgori, Kurta, Tighvi, and Eredvi municipalities, “elected in full compliance with the Constitution in 2006 and being in exile today,” will continue to function. Papuashvili described them as “the only legitimately elected and functioning authorities in the Tskhinvali region and therefore the only lawful continuation of Georgia’s legal and constitutional framework.”
Also Read:
- 02/09/2025 – Tsulukiani Commission Presents 470-Page Report, Builds Case Against UNM, Others
- 01/04/2025 – Hard-Pressed, GD Brings the War Back into Focus
- 10/05/2007 – Sanakoev Appointed as Head of S.Ossetia Administration
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