Georgian – South Ossetian Dialogue: A case study of “Youth Peace Express” project

Abstract

Georgian-Ossetian conflict has a long history; the last armed conflict happened between Georgian and Ossetian ethnic groups occurred in August, 2008. After that 5-days’ war in Tskhinvali region Tbilisi has no diplomatic relations with Moscow. Russian troops entered Tskhinvali on August, 8 and expelled Georgian military. Later, Russia recognized the independence of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In response, Georgia abolished diplomatic relations with Russia and two unrecognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are officially referred as the occupied territories. The following research is about particular project of “Youth Peace express”. The project providing the joint program of EU/UNDP and COBERM was supported by Georgian-Ossetian Civil Forum was carried out in 2014. The idea was to promote immediate and concrete initiatives through several meetings and discussions between the representatives of certain conflict sides. Likewise the project was a unique possibility to Georgian and Ossetian young scholars to travel to the Balkan Region and exchange ideas and beliefs about the conflict and start work through reconciliation and peace-building process between conflict divided societies. I was given the chance to participate in the whole implementation process of the project as a Georgian representative. Hence, the following research addresses the analyses of the current situation of Georgian-Ossetian conflict as well as it provides an observational case study of the specific project. The given thesis analyzes those identified expectations and identifies various discussed ideas and expectations from the Youth joint project that were meant to contribute to possible peaceful resolution of the conflict. The main hypothesis of the research derives from the Restorative Justice Theory saying that conflict can be transferred to peace through the implementation of Restorative Justice Practices through dialogue, interaction and negotiations between the parts of the conflict. Thesis based on the observational analyses of the particular Youth Peace Express project identifies several significant academic findings and enriches the Discipline of Peace Studies with the specific case-study of Georgian ethnic conflict.