Georgia started the 2008 war with Russia by illegally attacking the town of Tskhinvali, a major EU-sponsored report has concluded. "There is the question of whether the use of force by Georgia in South Ossetia, beginning with the shelling of Tskhinvali during the night of 7/8 August, was justifiable under international law. It was not," the study says. Georgia's use of multiple rocket launchers and heavy artillery in the Tskhinvali assault was neither necessary nor proportionate to repel alleged attacks by South Ossetian separatists, the report adds. It said Russia had the right to defend Russian peacekeeping soldiers stationed in Tskhinvali. But it described Russia's subsequent mass-scale incursion into Georgia as illegal and disproportionate. The EU declined to make any political comment immediately after its publication, however. "The EU hopes that its findings can contribute towards a better understanding of the origins and the course of last year's conflict and, in a broader perspective, serve as an input to future international efforts in the field of preventive diplomacy," it said in a statement. The Swiss investigation also put some interesting numbers on the "five-day war." Eight hundred and fifty people were killed in total, with 100,000 people displaced, 35,000 of whom still cannot go home more than one year later. Over 100 US military advisers were "reportedly" in Georgia on 7 August and "an even larger number of US specialists and advisors are thought to have been active in different branches of the Georgian power structures and administration," it said. The 1,150-page long study is the culmination of nine months of work by a 20-strong team of legal and military experts based in Geneva and headed by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini. EU member states last year launched and paid for the €1.6 million investigation.
A new English-language website has been launched for the government of Abkhazia. This marks one way in which the Abkhaz government is reaching out to the world following its struggles to maintain its centuries-old culture and identity. For centuries, the Republic of Abkhazia, which is located at a strategic crossroads between Europe and Asia, has struggled to maintain its centuries-old culture and identity. Since the devastating 1992-93 war with Georgia, the Abkhaz government has worked hard to rebuild its economy and reach out to the world. Miles of pristine Black Sea coastline and tree-covered mountains have made Abkhazia a favorite vacation spot for visitors from Russia and other neighboring countries. Our nation is known for its wines and unique cuisine. Last month, Abkhazia celebrated the one-year anniversary of its official recognition by Russia and Nicaragua, an event that has propelled us onto the world stage. They were recently joined by Venezuela. On September 30, we invite the world to join us in celebrating the 16th anniversary of our victory over Georgian forces. This website contains information on visiting Abkhazia, as well as promising investment opportunities in trade, agriculture and manufacturing- please see http://www.therepublicofabkhazia.org/
Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić says that Serbia will soon see how successful its attempts were at deterring countries from recognizing Kosovo. He told daily Danas that it would be seen in the next couple of weeks whether Serbia’s delegation at the UN General Assembly had been able to convince about 30 countries under pressure to recognize Kosovo independence not to do so. “Great pressure is being put on over 30 countries. We held meetings with all of them. Lobbying for new recognitions of the unilateral independence declaration continue by those who have done so in the past,” Jeremić told Danas.
Greece voiced frustration at the lack of progress in United Nations-backed talks for resolving its long-running dispute with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia over the latter country’s official name. “Greece has participated in good faith” in negotiations on the name issue over the past 15 years, Anastassis Mitsialis, the country’s ambassador to the UN, stressed in his address to the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate. “The persistence of the leadership in Skopje in pursuing exclusivity over the name by denying a geographic qualifier and the anachronistic rhetoric and policies that run contrary to the principle of good neighbourly relations raise serious questions as to its real motives,” Mr. Mitsialis noted. The Interim Accord of 13 September 1995, which was brokered by the UN, details the difference between the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece on the name issue. It also obliges the two countries to continue negotiations under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General to try to reach agreement. Since 1999, Matthew Nimetz, the UN’s Personal Envoy on the issue, has been holding talks with the two sides and proposed compromise names. Last week, he said he believes some momentum is building on the issue with a number of ideas on the table. The next round of talks will resume once the Greek elections are over and a new government is installed.
Greek and Turkish Cypriot negotiators are running out of time to avoid a partition of the island that would bring huge costs and increase instability in the Mediterranean. The two sides launched talks last September aimed at reunifying Cyprus, divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkey invaded. The International Crisis Group (ICG) urged Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat and President Demetris Christofias, to speed up peace talks on creating a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation and to put a final settlement to referenda in their communities in early 2010. "Failure will mean an indefinite partition, leading to more strains in EU-Turkey relations, new frictions in the east Mediterranean, less EU-NATO cooperation, acceleration of the centrifugal forces scattering the Turkish Cypriots and new risks to the prosperity and security of Greek Cypriots," it said in a report. The ICG also said the European Union must "rapidly engage in support of the process" and called on the EU, the United States and Russia to organise a donor conference to commit financial support for a settlement. The ICG said that, if a strong new government emerged from the Greek parliamentary election on 4 October, Greek leaders "might engage with the Cyprus question again," a development that could ease Turkish-Greek tension. "Neither Christofias nor Talat has any desire to walk away from the negotiating table. The danger is that they will simply run out of time," it said.
The government has said it will include demands voiced by minority groups in its democratization package. While the government has started to consider the demands of minorities, topics concerning minorities will be added to the democratization package. The government is planning on meeting a portion of the demands that do not require a constitutional change. A significant amount of these demands consists of matters that require changes to regulations and bylaws. The rest is a matter of determination as the legal groundwork for them is ready but the laws have not been effectively implemented. Taking into consideration EU criticism of Turkey's implementation of reforms, the government will seek to enforce laws on a wider scale. The status of the Halki seminary, which the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate has been struggling to reopen, is still under consideration at the Ministry of Education. While Ministry of Education lawyers have deemed that the seminary cannot be reopened according to the demands of the patriarchate, alternatives the lawyers have offered were rejected by the patriarchate.
A Special Session of the Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) met on September 25, 2009 from 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The meeting was hosted by the Chairman of SCOBA, Archbishop Demetrios of America, at the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America in Manhattan. The session was attended by SCOBA members: Archbishop Demetrios, Chairman (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese); Metropolitan Philip, Vice-Chairman (Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese); Metropolitan Christopher, Secretary (Serbian Orthodox Church); Archbishop Nicolae (Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese);
Metropolitan Joseph (Bulgarian Orthodox Church); Metropolitan Jonah (Orthodox Church in America); Archbishop Antony (proxy, Ukrainian Orthodox Church); Archpriest Alexander Abramov (Representation of the Moscow Patriarchate in the USA). Also present were the General Secretary and members of the SCOBA Study and Planning Commission representing the SCOBA member Churches. The entire short discussion responded to the call for an “Organization of Episcopal Assemblies” in North America. These assemblies have been authorized by the Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference which met at the Orthodox Center of Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy, Switzerland, June 6-13, 2009. (The conference is also referred to as "4 Chambésy.") It was decided unanimously by the Hierarchs that the first such Episcopal Assembly shall be convened during Post-Pentecost Week of 2010, which will fall in the last week of May, likely May 26-27, at a location to be announced later. The Hierarchs also outlined an initial staging process, combining Hierarchs of SCOBA with sub-committees, which will formulate the outline of the form and agenda of the Assembly. There is general consensus among the SCOBA hierarchs and qualified ecclesiologists that SCOBA in its current form does not represent a proper response to the stipulations of 4 Chambésy.