Georgian Defense Minister Criticized at JCC Session
On May 11 participants of the Joint Control Commission over South Ossetia condemned a statement made by Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili, who said on May 1 that he will resign if Georgia fails to restore control over breakaway South Ossetian by January 1, 2007.
“We are here to discuss each fact which can negatively effect the [conflict] resolution process and suddenly the Minister of Defense of Georgia declares during a live TV interview that if on January 1, 2007 they fail to celebrate New Year in Tskhinvali he will resign. Where is the logic? With this statement he [Irakli Okruashvili] nullifies our work and our efforts directed towards the peaceful resolution of the conflict,” Boris Chochiev, the South Ossetian chief negotiator and deputy chairman of the breakaway region’s government, told reporters.
“I think it was an irresponsible statement, which can only make the situation tense,” Teimuraz Kusov, who represents Russia’s North Ossetia side in the JCC, told reporters.
Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Giorgi Khaindrava said that the statement by the Georgian Defense Minister was “groundless.”
“Of course statements, and especially those which are groundless, create difficulties in relations [between the conflicting sides]. There is no such date – January 1 – indicated in the peace plan. Of course a person has the right to express their own opinion, but we are guided by the peace plan, which was developed by the Georgian government and which was initiated and approved by the Georgian President,” Khaindrava told reporters.
The quadripartite JCC gathered in the breakaway South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali on May 11 to discuss the creation of a group to develop a joint program on conflict resolution.
