Shida Kartli by Levan Urushadze

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See also South Ossetia

This is a signed article by Dr. Levan Urushadze. It may be edited for spelling errors or typos, but not for substantive content except by its author. If you have created a user name and verified your identity, provided you have set forth your credentials on your user page, you can add comments to the botton of this article as Wikinfo:Peer review.

Shida Kartli (Inner Kartli) - one of the regions of the Republic of Georgia) is a mountainous region of 3,900 sq km of Georgia. Part of this region, so-called "South Ossetia" is a de facto independent, rebelious region of the Republic of Georgia. Administrative center of Shida Kartli is Gori. Other important town of the region is Tskhinvali.

Ossetians have been the ethnic majority in South Ossetia since the end of the 19th century, indigenous inhabitants of the region are Georgians. Shida Kartli is one of the ancient regions of Georgia.

In 1918-1921 the region was a part of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG), In 1921-1990 part of the Georgian SSR.

In 1989, the South Ossetian separatists demanded unification with North Ossetia (Russia). On 10 November 1989, the South Ossetian Supreme Soviet approved a decision to transform the Autonomous District into the South Ossetian ASSR, which would form part of Georgia. In March, 1990 this illegal decision was abolished by the former Supreme Soviet of the Georgian SSR.

Since November 14, 1990 the region is a part of the Republic of Georgia. Conflict between Ossetian separatists and Georgian population of the region broke out towards the end of 1991. As a result, a large number of Georgian refugees (more than 25,000) fled the region. In 1992, after the military coup d'etat in Georgia of December-January, 1991-1992, a ceasefire was negotiated at the initiative of Russian President Boris Yeltsin. The governments of Georgia and South Ossetia reached an agreement to avoid the use of force against one another, and Georgia pledged not to impose sanctions against South Ossetia. A peacekeeping force of Ossets, Russians and Georgians was set up.

References

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