The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey)
August 9, 2008 Saturday
FINAL EDITION
Ethnic conflict is among the bitter legacies of the Soviet era
by JONATHAN S. LANDAY, McCLATCHY-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON
Until heavy fighting erupted yesterday, the feud between Georgia and
its rebel enclave of South Ossetia was one of the "frozen conflicts,"
the stalemated territorial contests between ethnic groups ignited by
the former Soviet Union’s collapse.
GEORGIA-SOUTH OSSETIA
South Ossetia is a mountainous enclave of 70,000 people in the
Caucasus bordering Russia. One-third of its population is
Georgian. The ethnic Ossetians, who speak a language related to Farsi,
seek union with their brethren across the mountains in North Ossetia,
which is inside the Russian Federation.
Georgia, whose 4.4 million people speak Georgian and Russian, voted
for independence after the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991. Ethnic
clashes erupted in South Ossetia in 1989 as the Soviet Union headed
toward breakup, prompting the deployment of Soviet troops. Sporadic
unrest continued after Ossetian leaders declared their intention to
secede.
The bloodshed abated after Russia, Georgia and Ossetian leaders agreed
to form a tripartite peacekeeping force in 1992. But talks failed to
resolve the standoff, and tensions flared anew after the 2004 election
of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who declared his intention
to reclaim the enclave, along with other secessionist regions of the
country.
South Ossetia, which receives political and economic support from
Russia, voted to secede in 2006, but the referendum wasn’t
internationally recognized. The dispute became enmeshed in the larger
tensions between the United States and Russia over the expansion of
NATO, which Georgia is seeking to join with American backing.
GEORGIA-ABKHAZIA
Georgia also is grappling with breakaway Abkhazia, a region of about
250,000 people on the Black Sea whose separatist leaders receive
strong backing from Moscow. Ethnic Georgians were a majority of the
population there when the Soviet Union collapsed and Georgia became
independent. Ethnic Abkhaz began agitating for independence and
fighting erupted, prompting Georgia to send in troops.
Georgia charges that Moscow provided the assistance that allowed
Abkhaz rebels to drive out the Georgian troops in 1993. Thousands of
ethnic Georgian civilians also fled.
MOLDOVA-TRANS-DNIESTER
Trans-Dniester, most of whose population speaks Russian and Ukrainian,
declared independence in 1990 from Moldova, which is dominated by
Romanian speakers. The declaration has never been recognized
internationally.
Hundreds of people died in fierce fighting that erupted after Moldova
became independent, prompting Russia to send troops. The narrow strip
of territory between the Dniester River and Ukraine has since gained
notoriety as a center of international organized crime.
Trans-Dniester’s leaders held a referendum in 2006 that reaffirmed the
independence declaration and set a goal of union with
Russia. Negotiations on ending the dispute have made no progress.
NATO has demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from
Trans-Dniester. But Moscow continues to maintain a base there,
ostensibly to protect a stockpile of weapons whose removal the
separatist leadership has blocked.
NAGORNO-KARABAGH
Nagorno-Karabagh is a region in Azerbaijan, an overwhelmingly Muslim
former Soviet republic. But the enclave’s population is mainly ethnic
Armenian and Christian. Ethnic clashes erupted even before the Soviet
collapse, in 1988, prompting Azeris to flee the region and neighboring
Armenia, and ethnic Armenians to flee Azerbaijan. The number of
displaced people is estimated at about 1 million.
Up to 30,000 people are thought to have died before Russia brokered a
1994 cease-fire. Internationally mediated talks between Azerbaijan and
Armenia have failed to resolve the dispute.