06/08/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 6 August, Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis (former Labour MP, UK) made the following statement “Both Georgia and Russia are member states of the Council of Europe, and they are marking the first anniversary of their conflict with rhetoric and tension. This is how the shooting started a year ago. At a time when the wounds of the past have not even started to heal, they should both remember the lost lives and destruction caused by the war, and they should both realise that any renewed hostilities will inevitably bring new deaths and more devastation. While some Georgian and Russian politicians still shout at each other and argue about who started it, the rest of us should remember both the dead and the living. When I refer to the living, I mean the thousands of people who were forced from their homes and have still not been allowed to return. The fact that thousands more have not yet returned after being displaced in previous wars in the Caucasus and elsewhere does not excuse the international failure to turn the right of return to a reality for these new victims”. (O.J./transl.rt)