South Ossetia

The Republic of South Ossetia (Ossetian: Республикæ Хуссар Ирыстон, Respublikae Xussar Iryston; Russian: Республика Южная Осетия, Respublika Yuzhnaya Osetiya; Georgian: სამხრეთი ოსეთია, Samkhreti Osetia) is a de facto independent republic within Georgia. Although it has declared its independence, its separation from Georgia has not been recognized by any other country. Georgia itself refuses to recognise South Ossetia as a distinct entity; the government calls it by the ancient name of Samachablo or, more recently, Tskhinvali region (after the republic's capital). South Ossetia is formally part of the Georgian region of Shida Kartli.

Demographics

The Republic of South Ossetia is not a territorially contiguous entity. It is, instead, something of a checkerboard of Georgian-inhabited and Ossetian-inhabited towns and villages in an arc around the largely Ossetian city of Tskhinvali. The capital and most of the other Ossetian-inhabited communities are governed by the separatist government in Tskhinvali, while the Georgian-inhabited villages are governed by the Georgian government. This close proximity and the intermixing of the two communities has made the conflict in South Ossetia particularly acute, as any attempt to create an ethnically "pure" territory would necessarily have to involve population transfer on a large scale.

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