Religious leaders condemn terrorism in North Caucasus

ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 9, 2004 Thursday

MOSCOW, September 9 — Religious leaders of all the traditional
confessions in Russia condemn terrorism and call for safeguarding
peace in the North Caucasus.

The leaders of the traditional confessions practiced in the North
Caucasus called on the believers to prevent the outbreaks of hostility
and confrontation among the peoples of the South of Russia. This is
said in the joint statement adopted on Thursday after the meeting in
Yessentuki with the Russian president’s envoy in the Southern Federal
District, Vladimir Yakovlev.

“Truly religious people will never take the road of terror; those who
deliberately became terrorists betrayed their faith”, the statement
says. Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, of Islamic
organizations, of the Armenian Apostolic Church and of Buddhists and
Judaists condemned “the horrible crime of the capture and killing of
hostages in Beslan, as well as the terrorist acts staged in Moscow
and on board two passenger planes”.

The religious leaders expressed condolences to the families and
relatives of the victims, Tass reports. The leaders of confessions
made assurances that they will exert every effort to safeguard peace
and security of Russia”.

Liturgies in memory of the killed hostages were conducted in all the
Orthodox churches of the Altai territory, Tass reports. Bishop Maxim
of Barnaul and the Altai said, specifically, that all the statements
by terrorists about their being motivated by religious ideals are not
just lies but also a provocation aimed to split the Russian society
by a bloody feud.