Tiraspol, 29 May. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Signing the independence act was the second significant event aimed at recognizing the country after the announcement of the creation of the Soviet South Ossetian republic within the USSR.
South Ossetia is celebrating Independence day today. The local Supreme Soviet adopted the Act on the Proclamation of the Sovereign State of South Ossetia on 29 May 1992. This document enshrined the course chosen by the people of the republic in a referendum, where over 99% of the voters supported the establishment of a separate state and the subsequent reunification with Russia.
According to the act, "the territory of the Republic of South Ossetia is indivisible," where only the Constitution and laws of the Republic of South Ossetia are valid. On the basis of the act, all state attributes were adopted, and the necessary institutions of power were formed.
Vitaly Yankovsky, head of South Ossetia's Representative Office in Pridnestrovie, said that this fateful decision to build an independent state was preceded by a series of tragic events: the disintegration of the USSR, the invasion of the Georgian armed forces into the territory of South Ossetia, whose goal was either physical elimination or displacement of the South Ossetians from the ancestral land. In 1987, Tbilisi had adopted a program for the development of the state language, suggesting that all document production should be translated into Georgian.
"The Georgian elites openly declared the need for secession from the USSR and, as a counteraction to this, the residents of South Ossetia announced that they wanted to stay in the Soviet Union, they wanted to build their future according to their traditions, language and culture. Georgia did not like this, and a number of aggressive measures were taken against the Ossetians. This stirred up the entire Ossetia and prompted the Supreme Soviet to adopt the Independence Act. Because they understood that without their statehood it is impossible to protect people, to guarantee their rights," noted Vitaly Yankovsky.
The South Ossetian people had to stand up for their statehood again in August 2008. On the night of 8 August, Georgia subjected the capital of South Ossetia to massive shelling and made an attempt to establish control over the country. But the plans of the Georgian nationalists failed to come true. Following the signing of a plan for the peaceful settlement of the conflict, Russia recognised the independence of South Ossetia on 26 August.
After that South Ossetia's sovereignty was recognized by the member states of the UN: the Republic of Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru, Vanuatu, as well as the Republic of Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Today, the independence of South Ossetia, as well as Abkhazia, has been recognized by Syria.
The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and the Republic of South Ossetia have maintained close bilateral relations for more than two decades. The first treaty on friendship and cooperation was signed in 1994. In 2006, the parties renewed the agreement, in which they confirmed mutual recognition. Pridnestrovie's representative office was established in South Ossetia in 2007. For all these years, Tiraspol and Tskhinval have maintained close ties, both at the diplomatic and socio-economic and cultural levels.
