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Argument: Georgia suppressed South Ossetian culture/identity

Issue Report: South Ossetia independence

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“How is South Ossetia different from Kosovo?”. 11 June 2006 – “the blame for the South Ossetian problem lies with the Georgian leadership of the early 1990s. Tbilisi made the fatal decision to prohibit the use of the Ossetian language in official documents in the region. This prompted Ossetians to demand that the region’s status be changed from an autonomy to a republic. In response, the Georgian authorities abolished the autonomy. The developments that followed are well known: the Ossetian authorities realized that their people would not be guaranteed the right to preserve and develop their national and cultural identity as long as they remained part of Georgia, and proclaimed independence.”