View source for Ossetia

{{Short description|Ethnolinguistic region in the Caucasus}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025}}

{{Coord|43|N|44|E|display=title}}
[[File:Ossetia01.png|thumb|right|Map showing [[North Ossetia–Alania|North]] and [[South Ossetia]]]]
'''Ossetia''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=Ossetia pronunciation.mp3|ɒ|ˈ|s|ɛ|t|i|ə}} {{respell|o|SET|ee|ə}}, {{small|less common:}} {{IPAc-en|audio=Ossetia alternate pronunciation.mp3|ɒ|ˈ|s|iː|ʃ|ə}} {{respell|o|SEE|shə}}; {{langx|os|Ирыстон}} or {{lang|os|Ир}}, {{small|romanized:}} {{transliteration|os|Iryston}} or {{transliteration|os|Ir}}, {{IPA|os|iˈrəston|pron}}) is an [[Ethnolinguistics|ethnolinguistic]] region on both sides of the [[Greater Caucasus]] Mountains, largely inhabited by the [[Ossetians]]. The [[Ossetian language]] is part of the [[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern Iranian branch]] of the family of [[Indo-European languages]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Foltz|first=Richard|title=The Ossetes: Modern-Day Scythians of the Caucasus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YZswEAAAQBAJ |year=2022 |location=London |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-0755618453|author-link=Richard Foltz |page = 1 }}</ref> Most countries recognize the Ossetian-speaking area south of the main Caucasus ridge as lying within the borders of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], but it has come under the control of the ''[[de facto]]'' government of the Russian-backed [[Republic of South Ossetia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Group |first1=International Crisis |date=2010 |title=Appendix B: Map of South Ossetia |chapter=Appendix B |jstor=resrep37032.11 |journal= South Ossetia|page= 25 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Stepanova |first=Ekaterina |date=2008 |title=South Ossetia and Abkhazia: Placing the Conflict in Context |chapter=Placing the Conflict in Context |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep19160 | jstor=resrep19160|publisher=Stockholm International Peace Research Institute }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Manutscharjan |first=Aschot |date=2008 |title=Abkhazia and South Ossetia&nbsp;– Russia's Intervention in Georgia (August 2008) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep10010 |publisher=Konrad Adenauer Stiftung }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Markedonov |first=Sergey |title=The South Ossetia conflict |date=2015 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvdf0bmg.11 |work='Frozen conflicts' in Europe |pages=111–118 |editor-last=Bebler |editor-first=Anton |edition=1st |publisher=Verlag Barbara Budrich |doi=10.2307/j.ctvdf0bmg.11 |jstor=j.ctvdf0bmg.11 |isbn=978-3847401339 |access-date=16 March 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The northern portion of the region consists of the [[Republic of North Ossetia–Alania]] within the [[Russian Federation]].

==Recent history{{anchor|History}}==
{{For|earlier history|Alans|Sarmatians}}
{{see also|History of South Ossetia|History of North Ossetia–Alania}}
[[File:Caucasus-ethnic en.svg|thumb|right|The ethnolinguistic map of the modern [[Caucasus]] showing the Ossetian-inhabited territories in {{color box|#d9d33e}}]]
[[File:Ossetian tribes.png|thumb|right|Ossetian tribes (according to Boris Kaloev)<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://s23.postimg.org/aze2tqr9n/2fec9d793e3d.jpg?noredir=1 | title=Ocetnnckni paggerenke племен восле монгольского нашествия | language=ru | trans-title=Ocetnnckni paggerenke tribes after the Mongol invasion | access-date=4 February 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205071536/https://s23.postimg.org/aze2tqr9n/2fec9d793e3d.jpg?noredir=1 | archive-date=5 February 2017 | url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://s50.radikal.ru/i129/1003/22/2fec9d793e3d.jpg | title=Russian Ossetia map| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608082429/http://s50.radikal.ru/i129/1003/22/2fec9d793e3d.jpg | archive-date=8 June 2020 }}</ref>]]
* 1774-1830 – Expansion of the [[Russian Empire]] on Ossetian territory.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://pdc.ceu.hu/archive/00002841/01/sokirianskaia06.pdf | title = Sokirianskaia | publisher = CEU | place = [[Hungary|HU]] | access-date = 5 December 2008 | archive-date = 27 February 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120227091100/http://pdc.ceu.hu/archive/00002841/01/sokirianskaia06.pdf | url-status = dead }}.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Историческое топографическое статистическое этнографическое и военное описание Кавказа |url=https://runivers.ru/bookreader/book10422/#page/226/mode/1up |access-date=2025-05-21 |website=runivers.ru}}</ref>
* 1922 – Creation of the [[South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast|South Ossetian autonomous oblast]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=21 April 2016|title=South Ossetia profile|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18269210|access-date=25 September 2020}}</ref> [[North Ossetia]] remains a part of [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], [[South Ossetia]] remains a part of [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic|Georgian SSR]].
* 20 September 1990 – South Ossetia declares independence. The republic remained unrecognized, yet it detached itself from Georgia ''de facto''. In the last years of the [[Soviet Union]], [[ethnic]] tensions between Ossetians and [[Georgian people|Georgians]] in Georgia's former [[Autonomous Oblast]] of South Ossetia (abolished in 1990) and between Ossetians and the [[Ingush people|Ingush]] in North Ossetia evolved into violent clashes that left several hundred dead and wounded and created a large tide of refugees on both sides.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Refugees |first=United Nations High Commissioner for |title= World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples – South Ossetia (unrecognized state) |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/4954ce12c.html |access-date=16 March 2022 |website=Refworld |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Ghebali | title = Helsinki | year = 2003 | volume = 4 | url = http://www.gcsp.ch/e/publications/Issues_Institutions/Int_Organisations/Academic_Articles/Ghebali-Helsinki-3-04.pdf | place = [[Switzerland|CH]] }}. {{dead link|date=October 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Avrasya | title = Ehatipoglu | year = 2005 | url = http://www.obiv.org.tr/2005/avrasya/ehatipoglu.pdf | place = [[Turkey|TR]] | publisher = Obiv | access-date = 5 December 2008 | archive-date = 26 September 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220926005213/http://www.obiv.org.tr/2005/avrasya/ehatipoglu.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref>

Although a Russian-mediated and [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]]-monitored [[ceasefire]] was implemented in South Ossetia in 1992, the [[Georgian-Ossetian conflict]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Souleimanov |first=Emil |title=Understanding ethnopolitical conflict : Karabakh, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia wars reconsidered |date=2013 |isbn=978-1137280237 |location=Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire |oclc=855585455}}</ref> still remains unresolved even though a recent peace plan proposed by the government of Georgia promised the South Ossetians larger [[autonomy]] and pledged expanded international involvement in the political settlement of the conflict. Meanwhile, the South Ossetian [[secessionist]] authorities demand independence or unification with North Ossetia, which itself is located in [[Russia]], while the international community instead recognizes it and [[Abkhazia]] as a part of Georgia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Human Rights Watch |title=Up in flames : humanitarian law violations and civilian victims in the conflict over South Ossetia |date=2009 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |others=Jane Buchanan |isbn=978-1564324276 |location=New York|oclc=309296228}}</ref>

On Sunday 12 November 2006, South Ossetians (mostly ethnic [[Ossetians]]) went to the polls to vote in a [[2006 South Ossetian independence referendum|referendum regarding the region's independence from Georgia]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Results Due In South Ossetian Referendum |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1072666.html |access-date=16 March 2022 |newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |date=2 February 2012 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=12 November 2006 |title=Ossetia votes on independence |work=[[Al Jazeera English]] |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2006/11/12/ossetia-votes-on-independence}}</ref> The result was a "yes" to independence, with a turnout above 95% from those among the territory's 70,000 people who were eligible to vote at that time.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-caucasus/south_ossetia_4100.jsp |title=South Ossetia: Russian, Georgian... independent? |access-date=10 August 2008|publisher=OpenDemocracy}}</ref> There was also a vote in favor of a new term for [[Eduard Kokoity]], who was the ''de facto'' state's president at the time.

There have been proposals from South Ossetia for [[Proposed Russian annexation of South Ossetia|joining the Russian Federation]] and uniting with North Ossetia.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://eurasianet.org/south-ossetia-says-it-will-seek-to-join-russia|title=South Ossetia says it will seek to join Russia|first=Joshu|last=Kucera|publisher=[[Eurasianet]]|date=31 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2022/03/31/916143-prisoedinenii-osetii-rossii|title=Вопрос о присоединении Южной Осетии к России будет решаться после выборов в республике|first=Ekaterina|last=Grobman|newspaper=[[Vedomosti]]|date=31 March 2022|language=ru}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[History of North Ossetia–Alania]]
* [[Alania]]
* [[Vladimir Gagloyev]]
* [[Jászság]]
* [[Alexander Kubalov]]
* [[Samachablo]]
* [[Circassia]]
* [[Iazyges]]
* [[Adygea]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ossetia}}
{{wikivoyage}}
{{wikiquote}}
* {{Citation | title = Ossetian Dance | publisher = Rustavi Dance Company | year = 2008 | format = YouTube | url = https://www.youtube.com/v/wfp5tYp5caI}} (6 min 19 sec).
* {{Citation | title = Ossetian Dance | year = 2008 | format = YouTube | url = https://www.youtube.com/v/97-VruWVUO8}} (6 min 50 sec).
* {{Citation | title = Ossetian Folk Dance | year = 2007 | format = YouTube | url = https://www.youtube.com/v/v6okuggq6yg}} (3 min).
* {{Citation | title = Osetiya | language = ru | trans-title = Ossetia | url = http://skforussia.ru/osetiya.php | publisher = SKFO Russia | access-date = 17 January 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110709214856/http://skforussia.ru/osetiya.php | archive-date = 9 July 2011 | url-status = dead }}. Ossetian Republic News Portal.

{{South Ossetia topics}}
{{Irredentism}}

[[Category:Ossetia| ]]
[[Category:Geography of the Caucasus]]
[[Category:Geography of Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Geography of Russia]]
[[Category:Historical regions]]