Excessive drama unfolded within the Georgian capital Tbilisi final weekend as voters went to the polls, an election broadly seen as essential to the nation's future.
With out the village of Mejvriskhevi, simply 50 kilometers northwest of the capital, it would as nicely have taken place on one other planet.
Mejvriskhevi lies on the so-called administrative border (ABL) that separates the 2 sides of one of many longest-running conflicts within the Caucasus: that between Georgia and South Ossetia. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, long-standing tensions between ethnic Ossetians (centered within the South Ossetian Autonomous Area in northern central Soviet Georgia) and Georgians erupted into struggle. By way of a ceasefire in 1992, Ossetians retained de facto management over many of the Republic of South Ossetia, their breakaway state that had declared independence.
Relative calm reigned within the space till 2008, when Russia launched a five-day invasion of the remainder of Georgia from there. Moscow's troops have been occupying South Ossetia for 16 years and utilizing it as a Russian bridgehead into the center of Georgia.
Amid this panorama of unresolved battle and displaced communities lies a patchwork of Georgian villages the place folks reside largely as they all the time have – besides, in fact, for the semi-militarized ABL that runs by way of them.
Mejvirishhevi is one such place. Positioned within the south-eastern a part of the ABL, it’s the largest Georgian village within the area with its 2,300 inhabitants. It’s also one of the weak areas: the unofficial line that separates free Georgia from Russian-occupied South Ossetia runs straight by way of the nation.
“We do not know the place the precise border line shall be,” says Spiridoni Gigauri, a 72-year-old native from Mejvriskhevi. “Have a look at that home there,” he says, pointing to a home on a hill a number of hundred meters away that seems to frame the remainder of the village. “It’s occupied by the Russians,” says Gigauri.
The vagueness of the scenario and the precise location of the twisted boundary line results in common incidents. Whereas Mejvriskhevi and its surrounding space haven’t been topic to Russia's notorious “border coverage” – wherein Russian troops all of a sudden advance by way of the barbed wire fence demarcating components of the ABL and declare new land nearly in a single day – detentions of villagers happen recurrently. The newest case occurred on September 17, when two residents of Mejvriskhevi had been arrested by Russian troopers.
Whereas South Ossetia presents itself as unbiased, the Russian army presence within the area is overwhelming. Russian bases and amenities line the hillside, their intimidating towers seen even from Georgia's major east-west freeway, which passes inside a kilometer of the ABL in sure locations. From conversations with native Georgians, the impression is that Moscow's troops have virtually fully changed the native South Ossetian militiamen who fought in opposition to Georgian forces within the early 1990s.
“All patrols, all incidents – it’s all the time simply Russian troops [who are involved]says Gigauri. “Once in a while they convey two or three Ossetians simply to indicate that they exist, however it’s clear who’s in cost,” he says.
Spiridoni Gigauri: “We do not know the place the precise 'border line' needs to be.”
Regardless of all this, the election passed off right here, as in the remainder of Georgia, on October 26th. As in lots of locations within the countryside, the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) social gathering seems to have dominated.
“I voted for GD,” says Gigauri. “I wasn’t bribed or something – it was my choice. I had the sensation that they’d win anyway and that they’d one of the best hope for a very good future, however it’s nonetheless unlikely that we are going to ever get this nation again,” he says, pointing in the direction of South Ossetia.
Others had been extra enthusiastic. In an apple orchard simply exterior Mejvriskhevi, a gaggle of 20 locals took a lunch break from the autumn harvest and shared bread with brine till closing Cheese and spicy crimson Come on Sauce – and bottles of do-it-yourself wine, in fact.
“We’re all pleased with the outcomes [of the election]says a lady, whereas a number of of her colleagues nod in settlement. “I don't imagine this opposition propaganda about Russia. We’re a welcoming folks – we love everybody right here, whether or not they come from Europe, Russia or wherever,” she says.
“I like the concept [Georgia] Becoming a member of the European Union,” says one other man. “Virtually the whole lot about it’s good, besides this nonsense about homosexual marriage. We don’t want that right here.”
There’s little signal of the latest vote right here. A handful of GD posters are plastered on highway indicators and public buildings, together with the native police station. They don’t seem to be accompanied by any of the 4 largest opposition coalitions.
For a lot of others in Mejvriskhevi, it’s clear that whoever guidelines in Tbilisi doesn’t matter, given the pervasive safety issues actually on their doorstep.
“Not a single politician got here right here to speak to us [before the election] – not by the federal government or the opposition,” says Tamara Merabishvili, an aged villager. “It’s clear that nobody cares about us. “Why ought to I care about any of them?” she says.
Why ought to we apologize to them?
Merabishvili has two sons, each of whom work as bus drivers in Tbilisi. One of many two was himself arrested by Russians a decade in the past after by chance getting into Russian-controlled territory within the village. He was held in a Russian jail for a month and a half earlier than being launched.
“We are able to hear the Russians taking pictures virtually each night time,” says Merabishvili. “I don’t know in the event that they’re simply making an attempt to scare us or what, however we will barely sleep due to it,” she says.
Merabishvili's different son, 30-year-old Dato, is at present visiting his mom to assist with the autumn harvest. He was angered by the concept Georgia ought to apologize to South Ossetia for the 2008 struggle, a plan launched by GD chief Bidzina Ivanishvili shortly earlier than the election.
“The thought of Georgia 'apologizing' [for 2008] is loopy,” says Dato. “We allowed the Ossetians to reside peacefully on our land for a few years, many centuries. As a substitute of being grateful, they waged struggle on us. “Why ought to we apologize to them?” he says.
However, it’s clear that Dato has no antipathy in the direction of the Ossetians as a folks – an opinion confirmed by his two neighbors and his uncle. Everybody begins to recollect their earlier friendships with their estranged neighbors.
“I bear in mind the time earlier than that [2008] Warfare, like we used to drive by way of Ghromi,” Dato describes an ethnic Ossetian village only a few kilometers north of Mejvriskhevi. “The folks there have been so pleasant – they’d all the time cease us on the road and provides us their wonderful native beer and.” Khabidzgina [an Ossetian cheese-and-potato pie]. “I can’t perceive how we ended up killing one another,” he says.
A number of ethnic Ossetian households nonetheless reside in Mejvriskhevi and there are numerous intermarriages, says Dato. None of this was an issue.
“There are some households right here that everybody is aware of are Ossetians,” says Dato. “No person cares about it, no person makes a scene about it. There are not any issues simply due to an individual’s ethnicity,” he says.
It’s clear that Dato dislikes not the Ossetians, however the politics.
“I don’t care about these shitty politicians,” Dato says. “The conversations have been the identical for a few years and none of them embody us. I didn’t even vote within the election as a result of I don’t see the purpose in it,” he says.
When requested what he thinks will occur within the nation now, Dato succinctly illustrates how far the battle for energy is from his actuality.
“It’s harvest time,” says Dato. “I’ve to enter the fields alongside the Russians and acquire my harvest. That’s going to occur whether or not it’s this authorities or one other.”