KSANI GORGE AS PART OF THE SOUTH OSSETIAN AUTONOMOUS REGION AND THE PROTEST OF THE POPULATION

Abstract

The article examines the process of incorporating the Ksani Gorge into the South Ossetian Autonomous Region during the Soviet period and analyzes the protest of the local population against this decision. The study explores the historical background of the Ossetian issue in Georgia from the nineteenth century onward, focusing on Russian imperial and later Bolshevik policies aimed at creating administrative and political units based on ethnic divisions. Special attention is devoted to the establishment of the South Ossetian Autonomous Region in 1922 and the inclusion of historically Georgian territories, including the Ksani Gorge, within its borders.

The paper highlights the resistance expressed by the Georgian population of the Ksani, Didi Liakhvi, Patara Liakhvi, and Prone gorges, who repeatedly appealed to Soviet authorities against their incorporation into the autonomous region. The article demonstrates that both Georgian and part of the Ossetian population opposed the administrative changes imposed by the Soviet government. Using archival documents, official decrees, protest protocols, and contemporary press materials, the research analyzes the political motivations behind the creation of the autonomous region and its long-term consequences for Georgian-Ossetian relations.

The study also discusses the demographic, cultural, and political transformations that occurred in the region during the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, including the renaming of Georgian settlements, the displacement of the indigenous Georgian population after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War, and the ongoing process of occupation and cultural erasure in the Ksani Gorge.

Keywords: Ksani Gorge; South Ossetian Autonomous Region; Georgian-Ossetian Relations; Population Protest.