REGIONAL LEADER BLAMES “EXTREMISM” ON EXTERNAL FORCES

Caucasus Times, Prague
24 Mar 06

The leader of the Republic of Adygeya has blamed the worsening
situation in the North Caucasus on “external forces that aim
to disintegrate Russia and take advantage of our hardship”. In a
wide-ranging interview to Caucasus Times, he stressed the importance
of finding a solution to “certain ethnic or religious issues” as a way
of counteracting extremism. The following is an excerpt from report
by The Caucasus Times website on 24 March headlined “Khazret Sovmen:
prosperity of Adygeya is linked to Russia’s prosperity”; Subheadings
have been inserted editorially:

Khazret Medzhidovich Sovmen is the president of the Republic of
Adygeya. Formerly, he headed the largest gold-mining company in Russia,
“Polyus”. He is a doctor of technical sciences.

[Correspondent Aslan Shazo for the Caucasus Times] Khazret
Medzhidovich, what is your assessment of the situation in the republic
as a whole, including the rate of economic growth, interethnic
relations and public attitudes. What would be you recommendation to
your neighbours who at present are facing grave social and economic
problems?

[Sovmen] It is certainly too early for us to speak about prosperity.

No region in Russia enjoys full economic bliss today. What is
true though is that we are enjoying a stable socio-political and
socioeconomic situation. The leading position of the Republic of
Adygeya in the Southern Federal District in terms of the pace of
economic growth is a fact.

We have achieved this by working hard and by providing a comprehensive
support for all sectors of the economy. Particular achievements have
been made in industry. Our enterprises, heavy and light industry
factories, are gradually coming out of a protracted crisis; they have
started producing competitive goods, taking up new markets, including
international markets. The Maykop machine-building factory produces
goods that can compete with the Japanese analogues, and there are
many more such examples.

Agriculture, too, is developing as huge financial injections have
been made into it. The provision of natural gas to the republic has
been going at a high pace too. Our task is to ensure that natural
gas reaches every village of Adygeya in the shortest possible time.

I would not make any recommendations to the neighbours. There is no
one blueprint for tackling socioeconomic problems. Each region has
its peculiarities that should be taken into consideration. I am simply
convinced that if there is a wish positive results can be achieved.

“External” forces at work

[Correspondent] Armed confrontations between law-enforcement bodies
and extremist groups are still frequent in the republics of North
Caucasus. In your opinion, how should such crimes be combated in the
North Caucasus?

[Sovmen] I think the problem should be broken down into two
components. On the one hand, what contributes to the growth of
extremism in the region is unresolved socio-political problems,
spiritual crisis, and the loss of moral values. On the other hand,
the external forces are at work and aim to disintegrate Russia and
take advantage of our hardship. Therefore, methods of combating
extremism should also be broken into two – those that are within the
remit of the regional authorities and those that are dealt with by
the special services.

However, I should point out here that interethnic and interconfessional
discord that feeds extremism does not emerge from nowhere. In most
cases this is a result of our failure to solve certain ethnic or
religious issues. We tend to accumulate problems and sit on them.

In Adygeya, the most favourable conditions have been created for
the self-realization and the preservation of identity, culture,
language and customs of all ethnicities and confessions. The two
main ethnic groups, Russians and Adygs, are living in an environment
of mutual understanding and support. And this is not just our wish,
but a reality in which we live.

In many Adygeyan auls [villages] there are whole generations
of Russians who speak the Adyg language better than the Adygs
themselves; children of the Russians and Adygeyans grow and study
side by side and later on, work alongside each other. High tolerance
is characteristic of both nations. The languages of those communities
that live compactly in Adygeya – Armenian, Tatar, German and Kurdish –
are taught in addition to the Russian language at schools in Adygeya. A
large number of ethnic-based cultural associations are functioning
in Adygeya, and to those listed above, the Jewish and Azerbaijani
communities have joined recently.

It seems that it is the combination of all these factors that provides
peace and stability in our republic. I personally believe in one
sacred notion, the human being. Their ethnic belonging should only
enrich intercultural dialogue and interaction in a civilized society.

Again, like in the economy, there is no one prescription for combating
extremism. No republic of the North Caucasus is the same.

They all have different characteristic features. But the route that
is taken by radicals in all places leads nowhere. The Caucasus needs
a durable peace. The authorities should create conditions for the
protection of the rights of peoples and at the same time efficiently
stop extremism which never takes notice of such rights itself.

Anti-corruption drive

[Correspondent] Moscow believes that one of the main problems in the
region is corruption. Is that correct and if so, what do you think
is the main problem in the North Caucasus?

[Sovmen] The main problem facing our region, as well as the
country as a whole, is indeed corruption and since I took office as
president of the Republic of Adygeya I have been an outspoken critic
of it. The laws are good and their implementation will ensure an
efficient socioeconomic development and a stable public and political
situation. However, corruption undermines the legal norms. The grave
situation in this sphere is caused by the fact that the law-enforcement
bodies themselves are corrupt. I fully support the president of the
Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, who has been making all possible
efforts to combat this vice, uprooting “werewolves in ranks” from
the law-enforcement system. Until the law takes full effect, the
development of our country will be much slower than it would have
been should there be solely objective factors.

Future plans

[Correspondent] Are you planning to stand for another term as head
of the Republic of Adygeya?

[Sovmen] Time will show; there is no need to put the cart before
the horse. My approach now is to continue working for the good of
the people, and not to spare no effort and energy. There are many
projects, many ideas that we plan to bring to life. So my thoughts
are occupied with current tasks and concerns.

No to merger

[Correspondent] What is your stand with regard to the idea of the
consolidation of regions?

[Sovmen] As regards the North Caucasus, I strongly believe that under
no circumstances should the border between the constituent parts of
the [Russian] Federation in this region be delineated, and ethnic
based state entities be cancelled as has been suggested by those
who do not comprehend the gravity of the issue with regards to our
republic in particular.

The status of a republic is a form of autonomy and a state guarantee,
a system of protection and promotion of the language, culture,
traditions, state symbols, and other components that enable any ethnos
to remain an ethnos.

I think nobody needs to be persuaded that the cancellation of the
Adygeyan autonomy will lead to no good. We must now resolve a whole
set of problems, establish a stable peace in the region, balance
the interests of national and religious groups, improve the level of
socieeconomic development, to be short, resolve all the dire problems.

Speaker of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Sergey
Mironov has expressed himself best of all on this topic, saying ”
Don’t trouble troubles, until troubles trouble you”.

Quite recently, on 28 February, a high-profile delegation from the
Krasnodar Region headed by the governor, Alexander Nikolayevich
Tkachev, paid a visit. He and I stated our readiness for the social,
economic and cultural cooperation between the republic and the region,
against the background of maintaining the status of each subject of
the federation.

There are many economic projects the implementation of which will
bring benefits both to us and the region. There are things that
need to be standardized – the legislation needs to be harmonized,
and artificial barriers to integration need to be removed. Much can
and should be done jointly in terms of the development of tourist
infrastructure and resort management, also transport infrastructure,
especially in order to provide the direct and shortest link of Adygeya
with the Black Sea coast of the Krasnodar region.

In order to tackle these tasks a working group has been set up for
the development and implementation of joint projects. Our common
goal is to make Kuban and Adygeya strongholds of peace, stability
and prosperity in the north of Russia.

[Passage omitted: initiates a republican competition for the production
of textbooks on Adige Khabze code which teaches tolerance and calls
for stepped up awareness work among children ]

Vision of Russian future

[Correspondent] What is your vision of the future of Russia and that
of small nations, such as the Adygeyans, within it?

[Passage omitted; history of Adygeyans, Adyg and cossack festivals
are centrally funded]

My vision of the future of Russia is such – a powerful and prosperous
state within which, as Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
put it, every nation, including small nations feels as if it is in
a well-protected and comfortable place such as fortress.

I would also like to add that despite the fact that after the war in
the Caucasus, a smaller segment of the Adygeyan nation has stayed in
the historical homeland, it is this segment that is best preserved
and it is this segment to which the hopes of the nation’s revival
are pinned on. No alien land, no foreign state can replace the
homeland and create conditions for building a dignified future for
national minorities. We observe this in examples of millions of our
compatriots who live abroad and who get assimilated at a high pace,
losing their language and identity.

I am fully confident that the revival and prosperity of the Adygeyan
nation is directly linked to the prosperity of Russia. There are many
more tasks on their way to the end, but all of these are achievable.

What is needed is simply to work rather than complain about
difficulties.