Caucasian Geopolitical Region: the Past, the Present, and the Future (II)
en.fondsk.ruEurasia
27.02.2010
Nikolai DIMLEVICH
International organizations working in Chechnya (the International
Committee of the Red Cross, the Dutch Refugee Council) and the Russian
NGOs (Memorial, Council of NGOs, etc.) are collecting biased
information about `kidnappings and executions without trials’
allegedly perpetrated by the federal forces in the process of the past
armed conflict in the republic. The plan behind the activities is to
prepare the grounds for establishing `an international tribunal for
Chechnya’ akin to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia.
The above groups focus on the disappearance of some 5,000 Chechens
since 1994 but ignore entirely the fact that large numbers of Russians
perished in Chechnya in 1991-1994 when the republic was run by Dzh.
Dudaev and A. Maskhadov. They also disregard the problem of searching
for the hostages still held in Chechnya.
In a disguised form, the populations of North Caucasian republics are
taught to believe that Russia committed `genocide’ against the peoples
of the Caucasus and incorporated the territories of its present-day
republics by force. Accordingly, the message being sent to the
international community is that the peoples of the Caucasus should be
protected from Russia.
Recently there has been a surge of activity of various Adyg
organizations (Adyge-Khasa, the Circassian Congress, the International
Circassian Association?) in the North Caucasus and worldwide. The
radical wings of these groups ` in many cases based outside of Russia
– promote a distorted historical vision and biased assessments of
historical developments, and generally advocate an ideology of
`restoring the historical justice’ for the Adygs. From their
perspective, the unification of Russian and foreign-based Adyg groups
should pursue the following objectives:
– Russia is to be forced to recognize `the genocide of the Circassian
(Adyg) people’ which allegedly took place during the XIX century
Caucasian War;
– Ethnic Adygs who are descendants of emigrants and reside abroad are
to be granted Russian citizenship via a simplified procedure;
– A new subject of the Russian Federation is to be established that
would unite the territories historically inhabited by the Adygs
(Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Karachay-Cherkessia). In the long run
the new entirety is supposed to evolve into an independent country.
Likewise projects are devised and implanted among the Adygs by Adyg
nationalist groups. In April, 2009, the slogan of an independent Adyg
country was endorsed by a conference which convened at the University
of Columbia (US). A number of leaders of the Adyg emigre community
suggest forming an Adyg government in exile that would delegate envoys
to the EU headquarters, Turkey, and the US. US thinktanks such as Rand
Corp. and the Jamestown Foundation are floating on the international
level pseudo-academic studies supporting the genocide concept.
`Academic’ conferences attended by US, Turkish, and European scholars
are organized in the countries where Adyg communities reside to demand
that Russia recognize `the genocide’ and restore `the historical
justice’ by returning territories to the Circassian people and by
allowing an independent Circassian country. The Adyg nationalist
ideology is disseminated among the population of the North Caucasus,
particularly among the young people, via Adyg ethnic organizations
(the Circassian Congress in Adygea and Karachay-Cherkessia; the
Kabardin Congress, The Independent Public Research Center, and the
Public Human Rights Center in Kabardino-Balkaria).
Myths about the history of their peoples are floated by Karachay and
Balkar activists, including those from the academic circles. The
masses are being convinced that the Karachay and Balkar peoples who
are actually of the Turkic origin are Alans and thus are somehow
entitled to the territories formerly owned by the latter, including
the Novo-Arkhyz preserve with its early-Christendom shrines. The
activity strongly contributes to inter-ethnic tensions in
Karachay-Cherkessia.
The teaching of history in educational institutions deserves special
attention in the context. Conditions for the spread of nationalism
among the younger generation were artificially created in the early
1990ies which saw the proliferation across the Caucasus of history
textbooks presenting the past from narrow ethnic perspectives. The
teaching of such `national histories’ predictably bred staunch
nationalism and hostilities between various ethnic groups.
The abundance in mass media of materials espousing religious extremism
and intolerance leads to similar results. Radical Muslim sites in the
Caucasus are growing increasingly assertive, the odious site of the
`united vilayat of Kabarda, Balkaria and Karachay’ being a vivid
example of the trend. They feature deliberately inaccurate
interpretations of recent developments such as the trial of the
terrorists who attacked the police and security stations in Nalchik in
October, 2005.
The flight of the Russian population from the republics of the North
Caucasus is among the key reasons behind the surge of separatism in
the regions. It should be realized that by now Chechnya and Ingushetia
have grown practically mono-ethnic. The exodus of the Russian
population is taking place in all of the regions of the North Caucasus
which used to be homes to considerable Russian communities such as the
Kizlyar and Tarum districts in Dagestan, the Mozdok district in North
Ossetia, the Prokhldnensky and Maysky districts in Kabardino-Balkaria,
the Giaga and Maykop districts in Adygea, and the Zelenchuk and Urup
districts in Karachay-Cherkessia. Similar trends are witnessed in the
Kursk, Neftekumsk, and Levokumsk districts of the Stavropol region.
The truth is that several republics of the North Caucasus are already
governed by ethnocratic regimes deliberately assisting the expulsion
of the Russian population. Russians face discrimination in
administrative bodies and when they seek executive positions, while a
system of economic and legal privileges for the `title’ nations is
being openly maintained.
On the whole, the threats to Russia’s security in the sphere of
inter-ethnic relations in the North Caucasus are:
– The persistent inter-ethnic tensions in a number of regions coupled
to widespread national and religious extremism;
– The politization of the ethnicity theme by various international
organizations and the channeling of subversive efforts via NGOs;
– Clan social structures and corruption, which are the problems
interwoven with local inter-ethnic conflicts and territorial disputes;
– The opposition to the common Russian identity mounted by various
ethnic and regional elites;
– The continuing flight of the Russian population from the North Caucasus.
A diverging ensemble of demographic processes is at full swing in
South Russia. On the one hand, the de-Russification of the eastern
part of the North Caucasus which began with the post-Soviet epoch is
entering the terminal phase. On the other hand, the population on the
planes of the Fore-Caucasus is growing ever more ethnically diverse as
the Russian population is being replaced with that arriving from the
mountainous areas of the Caucasus.
Up to 70-90% of the budgets of the republics of the North Caucasus
come from the federal budget. The corruption and the marked lack of
professionalism among the ethnic clans ruling the republics keep the
populations generally discontent with the functioning of state
institutions, and the phenomenon in many cases acquires ethnic
dimensions.
***
The key permanent threat across the North Caucasus at the moment is
posed by terrorism. The objective of the terrorist groups in the North
Caucasus is to establish an Islamic state in the region.
It is necessary to create in the framework of the North Caucasus
federal district truly advanced systems of monitoring and suppression
of terrorism, separatism, and xenophobia. The information fed to the
system should not be limited to statistical data but should
additionally integrate public opinion polls and expert estimates. At
present the decision-making in the sphere of struggle against
terrorism ` on both national and international levels – mainly relies
on the analysis of particular facts, macroeconomic indicators, and
criminal statistics. The circumstance typically ignored in the process
is that terrorism, separatism, and xenophobia should be viewed not
only from the legal but also from the social and psychological
standpoints, and the corresponding phenomena have to be assessed on
the basis of broader behavioral statistics. The monitoring of mass
consciousness and the absorption of expert estimates must be part of
the state’s responsibility, and the results should factor into the
political and legal decision-making aimed at combating terrorism,
separatism, and xenophobia.
It is among the Muslim populations that the activity of the
ideologists of terrorism meets with the most favorable response. The
ideologists cunningly exploit the complexities arising in the course
of the revival of Islam in Russia and other post-Soviet countries and
the shortcomings of the regulation of the activity of religious
bodies. The factors making it easier for the ideologists of terrorism
to attain their goals are:
– The rapid growth of the Muslim populations and the intensification
of migration from the predominantly Muslim post-Soviet republics;
– The increasing popularity of fundamentalist ideas in the North
Caucasus propped up by socioeconomic depression and political
instabilities;
– The deficiency of Russia’s own system of training Muslim clergy and
the lack of Muslim theologians prepared to address populations with
the message of the moderate brands of Islam traditional for the
regions the populations inhabit.
It should also be taken into account that currently up to 95% of
Russia’s Muslim communities are receiving no aid from the centralized
Muslim authorities or the country’s secular institutions and thus have
to seek out funding sources literally wherever they can. Under the
circumstances, even minor infusions from indiscriminately chosen
sponsors can seriously affect the state of people’s minds.
At present a typical priority of extremist religious groups is to
maximize their access to media outlets and to the spheres of public
education and charity. Interestingly, in public opinion polls some 60%
of Orthodox Christian believers and Muslims and up to 30% of Roman
Catholics and protestants expressed opposition to the idea of giving
untraditional religious groups the freedom to preach.
It would make sense to establish a specialized research institution in
2010 and to charge it with the mission of conducting applied studies
of the history and cultures of the peoples of the North Caucasus. The
results of the research could serve the cause of systemic
neutralization of the threats of nationalism, ethnic separatism, and
religious extremism, especially among the younger generation.