CoE Secretary General Speaks of Conflict Zones, Russia’s Role

Terry Davis: the situation has become much more difficult in South Ossetia, after the armed clashes that occured there last August.

Terry Davis, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE), who visited Georgia on April 14-16, said at a news conference in Tbilisi on Saturday, that he visited Georgia mainly because he was asked by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to take “a personal interest” in those proposals which were offered by the Georgian side to solve the South Ossetian conflict.

“I came because, when President Saakashvili came to Council of Europe, he made a very important statement about the proposal for dealing with South Ossetian problem and he asked me as a Secretary General of Council of Europe to follow up these proposals by taking a personal interest,” Terry Davis said.

He said that currently “in South Ossetia, to my great regret, the situation has become much more difficult, particularly with the events last year.” The CoE Secretary General was referring to those armed clashes which erupted between Georgian troops and South Ossetian militias last August.

Terry Davis also urged the Russian side to be more “consistent in their approach to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.” But he also added, that “it is very unfair to simply criticize Russia.” He said that Russia plays an important role in keeping the peace in the conflict zones.

“Russian peacekeeping forces [in Abkhaz conflict zone] have suffered large numbers of casualties, soldiers have been killed and even large numbers have been wounded,” Terry Davis said.

“But it is certainly true that Russia is often criticized for not doing enough in case of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and what I always say to Russians that there is a connection, indeed Russia and Georgia have a common interest in preventing separatism. As the Secretary General of Council of Europe I support territorial integrity of Georgia, that means Abkhazia and South Ossetia are part of Georgia… Just as I maintain territorial integrity of Georgia, I maintain territorial integrity of Russia… Russia should also defend the territorial integrity of Georgia,” the CoE Secretary General stated.

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