Passport Turmoil in Akhalgori

Mari Otarashvili, Akhalgori

Representatives of the Akhalgori district passport unit at the de-facto militia office in South Ossetia request applicants for the Ossetian passports to provide notification on declining Georgian citizenship from the Ministry of Justice. This request hindered process of issuing Ossetian passports in Akhalgori that was quite intensive process for the past few months.

Before, applicants were asked to provide only ID. But now, applicants should attach a notification on his/her refusal on Georgian Citizenship to the ID card.

Majority of Akhalgori residents, who received Ossetian passports, had handed the notification and Georgian ID cards though they avoid speaking about it loudly. They had received updated version of Georgian IDs before giving in and did not need other documents for application.

Although, everybody complained that Ossetian forced passportization process was going on in Akhalgori, the information was not justified. In the contrary, everybody wanted to get Ossetian passport in Akhalgori but not everybody can get it.

“Lately, a lot of people applied for the passport and many of them got it. The main request was to give in Georgian IDs. But now they also request a notification from the Ministry of Justice that you declined Georgian citizen. How can I get similar document?!” a local woman complained.

Almost every retired person living in Akhalgori has so-called Ossetian passport, also employees of the agencies, which get funds from the Tskhinvali budget. Initially, the local de-facto authority did not have any requirements for issuing passports but then, after Ossetian passports became attractive for many locals, (because of pension/salary and transportation), de-facto government of South Ossetia instead requested document to prove that applicant had declined Georgian citizenship and given Georgian ID in. 

About 30-40% of Akhalgori district residents have already received Ossetian passports. Among them are those people, who had never arrived in Akhalgori at least for necessary procedures and received their passports in Tserovani IDP settlement (the locals complain).

They have not handed in Georgian IDs at Akhalgori militia office. They even paid some bribes (approximately 300 USD) for the Ossetian passport. 

Tskhinvali de-facto law enforcement agencies study the aforementioned fact and try to find out how certain people obtained Ossetia passports without arriving in Akhalgori district and who issued those passports on them.

It is noteworthy that some local retired residents could hardly get passports to receive their Ossetian-Russian pensions within two months but several people could not get at all.

“I can swear that I am saying the truth! Now I have to go and ask: how many years should I wait for it? I do not want anybody to deliver it to my home. They should at least issue the passport on me and I will go to pick it up,” a retired woman from Akhalgori district said who wants to get passport to receive Ossetian-Russian pension afterwards.

The minimal pension in Akhalgori district is equivalent to 300 lari in Russian rubles. Local de-facto council representatives say the pension will increase from January 2014. So, Akhalgori district residents prefer to get Ossetian passports.

Tskhinvali is going to look up the list of people with Ossetian passports. It is not known yet what criteria will be used to select people. Locals assume, those who permanently live in Akhalgori and regularly work in any agency there, will keep their passports.

De-facto government plans to give Ossetian passport to every resident of Akhalgori district, who permanently lives in the district, before March of 2014, when election of de-facto parliament of South Ossetia is scheduled. So, the passportization process shall finish by next spring. However, it is only plan and nothing is clarified. Moreover, the passportization process has hindered for three months already.