South Tyrol and South Ossetia: commonality – 2

By Oleg Kusov

A bit of modern history. South Tyrol was passed from Austria to Italy after the First World War. The German-speaking population of the region became an ethnic minority. The alliance of Hitler and Mussolini destroyed all their chances of rejoining Austria’s Tyrol. After the Second World War Vienna continued accusing Rome of oppressing the Tyroleans. Back in summer 1945 Tyroleans tried to organize armed resistance to Italian troops and even made a pact with the remaining Austrian troops in Innsbruck. In summer 1946 Tyroleans organized mass sabotage. Inter-ethnic conflicts turned violent. In the 50s there was a number of bombings in the region and in the 1960s terrorism became a fact of everyday life there. Fortunately, the attackers targeted industrial objects and didn’t pose killing people as their goal. The Italian authorities accused Austria of helping the South Tyroleans. Vienna didn’t bother denying it and that, according to the historians, almost led to war between the two states.

Relative tranquility was reached in 1969, when Rome and Vienna agreed on the broad autonomous rights of the South Tyrol. The province became quite independent, it is headed by a president – a Tyrolean, he has two deputies – one of Italian and the other of Tyrolean origin. The parliament uses two languages – German and Italian, and all bureaucrats have to pass tests in both languages before taking any post. The province even has two names – German ‘South Tyrol’ and Italian ‘Bolzano’.

However, the main aspect of Tyrolean independence is the economic one. 85% of the taxes remain in the province’s budget. The main source of income here is tourism (some 5 million people come to South Tyrol each year), as well as the hydro-power plants that provide electricity for Northern-Eastern Italy. The province has the lowest level of unemployment in the whole country – only 2%, and the highest quality of life. The Tyrolean president has a higher salary than the US president, his deputies also have extremely high incomes, but that doesn’t irritate the residents of South Tyrol.

Such conditions are quite unfavorable for the existence of separatist ideas, but they still linger. A few years ago the heads of 130 towns of the province signed an appeal to the Austrian government asking it to include South Tyrol into its territories. However, Vienna remains silent, and no one wishes to resort to terrorism this time.

Caucasian politicians and experts are very interested in learning from the Tyrolean experience of inter-ethnic conflict settlement. Some say that this experience could help restore relations between the South Ossetian people and Georgians. Giya Nodiya, the head of the Caucasian Peace, Democracy and Development Institute, said that Tskhinvali officials also exhibited interest towards South Tyrol. “This is a perfect analogy. And South Ossetian representatives see it too. The Germanic self-identity of the Tyroleans isn’t put at risk, even though their region officially belongs to Italy. But the best time for such a compromise in our case passed in the late 90s. And now Tskhinvali doesn’t want to consider any options that involve South Ossetia being a part of Georgia.”

David Losaberidze, the European Council expert for local governments also pointed out the similarities between South Ossetia and South Tyrol, but stressed the differences as well. “Tyrol’s problem wasn’t a geopolitically important one. In the Caucasus, on the other hand, the peoples and the governments are hostage to global politics. And, unlike the South Tyrol settlement, in the case of Georgia and the breakaway republics only one side is ready to compromise, that is Tbilisi, as it feels it is losing.”

Nodiya also pointed out that Austria and Russia – the patrons of the breakaway regions – have quite different positions on the international stage. ‘Austria couldn’t pose any conditions after the defeat in WWII and didn’t aspire to be a great power. On the contrary, it tried to demonstrate its peaceful intentions by all means possible”.

It is clear that one can’t draw direct analogies between South Tyrol and the Georgian breakaway republics. According to Losaberidze, it would be impossible to resolve the Caucasian problem without risking the status of the breakaway republics, but Georgia is not a federative state. So the problem would be hard to resolve even if Russia stopped interfering and if both sides had the will to resolve it. “If Georgia wants to resolve all its separatist problems and tensions it should seriously think about increasing the level of the regions' self-government,” the expert said.

To be continued