State Minister Hopeful over Possible Talks with Tskhinvali

Talks between Tbilisi and Tskhinvali may take place soon, Temur Iakobashvili, the Georgian state minister for reintegration, said on August 4.

He, however, underlined that possible talks would not be held in the frames of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC).

“We had negotiations with Russia and we may soon manage to resume the peace process in the Tskhinvali region, though not in the frames of the so-called JCC, but in another format,” Iakobashvili told journalists. He gave no further details.

“We have called for direct dialogue and we are ready to hold direct dialogue with the separatists.”

“There is an understanding on the Russian side that some sort of dialogue is needed,” Iakobashvili said, adding that this was the reason for his optimism that resumed talks were possible.

Iakobashvili was speaking with journalists after a session of the Special State Commission, which discussed Georgia’s Abkhaz peace plan, as well as recent developments in South Ossetia. Kakha Lomaia, the secretary of the National Security Council; Nika Gvaramia, the justice minister; Eka Zguladze, the deputy interior minister; and other officials, including a lawmaker from the parliamentary minority, Paata Davitaia, attended the session.

Yesterday, Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze spoke by phone with his Russian counterpart, Grigory Karasin. “Grigol Vashadze has assured us that the Georgian side intends to take measures to defuse tensions, including holding talks with the South Ossetian side,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a press release on Monday.

Meanwhile, South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity said on August 4 that “talks should be held [with the Georgian side] and these talks should be held only in the frames of the existing format” – reference to the JCC.

“We want to do everything through negotiations in order to maintain peace, but if there is no other alternative, we will take the most radical measures to settle this problem once and for all,” the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee quoted Kokoity as saying.

Negotiators from the Georgian, South Ossetian, Russian and Russia’s North Ossetian side make up a quadripartite negotiating body, the JCC, seen by Tskhinvali and Moscow as the main tool for negotiations.

Tbilisi, however, pulled out from this Russian-dominated body in March and instead proposed replacing it with a new negotiating body based on a 2+2+2 formula. The North Ossetian side, according to this proposal, would be replaced by the South Ossetian provisional administration and the OSCE and EU would also be included. Another option for Tbilisi seems to be talks in a format involving the South Ossetian side, Russia, and the EU or OSCE.