TSKHINVAL. Sept 11 (Interfax) - The recognition of South Ossetian genocide is more than a matter of principle for Tskhinval, South Ossetian Parliament Speaker Tadtayev told Interfax on Tuesday.
The State Duma responded to the appeal of the South Ossetian parliament on Tuesday and announced the establishment of a working group on the recognition of South Ossetian genocide.
"Regretfully, the events of June 1920 have not been given a proper legal evaluation over the past century. The issue was made a taboo after the political repressions of the 1930s, and it remained such practically till the collapse of the Soviet Union," Tadtayev said.
In his words, some documents were intentionally removed from archives.
"Still, the memory of atrocities committed by Georgian Mensheviks was passed from one generation to another. There are still elders who will tell you about their parents that witnessed the national catastrophe, which is comparable only with Tamerlane's invasion in the history of Ossetia," Tadtayev said.
South Ossetian deputies are in contact with Russian colleagues and are ready to provide every relevant material, he said.
"I dare say the rapid processing of our appeal is caused by the existent regional security threats and the allied relations between South Ossetia and Russia. As you remember, Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised the issue of South Ossetian genocide and regretted that human rights activists are not paying enough attention to the matter," Tadtayev said.
A lack of proper international response to actions of the Menshevik administration of the Georgian Democratic Republic must have created prerequisites for new outbreaks of genocide in 1989-1992 and 2004-2008, he said.
"A crime that goes unpunished repeats itself in almost every case. So, our call for Russia's recognition of South Ossetian genocide is based on international law and its description of signs and criteria of genocide," Tadtayev said.
"Today, we can see that Tbilisi is manically denying its defeat in the war against South Ossetia and Abkhazia, is refusing to sign the pledge not to use force, and is developing various programs of 'peaceful' takeover of the republic," Tadtayev said.
The recognition of genocide should prompt Georgia to drastically change its attitude towards South Ossetians and itself, he said.