Circassians Hope to Use Development Corporation to Expand Ties

Window on Eurasia, by Paul Goble

Baku, April 3 – Three Circassian republics in the North Caucasus – Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, and Adygeia – hope to use a regional development corporation proposed by Russia’s Southern Federal District not only to build physical infrastructure but also to expand social and political ties among themselves. On Monday, the Moscow newspaper Kommersant described the corporate scheme the Russian authorities back and its limited and very specific concrete purposes in a lengthy article entitled “North Caucasus Republics Unite in a Corporation” (www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=873235).

But the next day, a Circassian news portal, in reproducing the story, gave it a very different title -- “KBR, KChR and Adygeia Unite in a Corporation” – one that underscored what the leaders of these three ethnically related republics see as its broader cultural and political meaning (http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2008/04/www.adigam.com/ru/news/0531032008.html).

The idea of creating a Corporation for the Development of the South of Russia was put forward last Friday by Dmitry Pumlyanskiy, an official of the coordinating council of industrialists and entrepreneurs of the Southern Federal District, “Kommersant” reported.

He said that such a new open stock company could initiate “transportation and energy products which would be financed from the investment fund,” would involve six or seven regions of the Southern Federal district, and would focus its attention first on improving highway transportation.

Pumlyanskiy indicated that the original members of this corporation would be the governments of Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Adygeia and Stavropol kray. Except for Stavropol and North Ossetia, of course, all of these republics are populated primarily by Circassians.

And the leaders of these three Circassian republics were especially enthusiastic about this project, the Moscow paper said, clearly viewing it as another means to reestablish the ties Stalin and other Soviet leaders sought to destroy in order to prevent this national group from being able to defend its culture and advance its political aims.

Over the past decade, the leaders of these three republics have already taken many steps in this direction, including organizing the exchange of cultural groups and students and, what is particularly important, having each of their main newspapers issue a special issue about one of the other Circassian republics at least once a month.

With regard to the current project, Adygei Economic Development Minister Aslan Matyzhev was especially enthusiastic. He said his republic simply had to “participate in the corporation. And Kabardino-Balkaria President Arsen Kanokov called the corporation “a completely reasonable” idea that he said he fully supports.

While his republic already works with private investors, Kanokov continued, “if a new structure which really allows for better integration of our projects appears,” then he and his republic “will work with it.” Indeed, the only people who have not signaled that they approve of it are Moscow bureaucrats, some of whom may see its political subtext.

And consequently, it is far from clear whether this corporation will ever be formed or have the impact that these Circassian communities hope for. But even as they wait to see, one of them is working to reach out to the five to seven million Circassians who live in the Turkey, Jordan and other parts of the Middle East.That is Karachay-Cherkessia, whose government this week announced plans to build an international airport to connect the republic with the outside world and allow its citizens to travel without as now having to travel to the airport at Mineral’nye Vody some distance away (http://www.natpress.net/stat.php?id=3329).

• Windows on Eurasia - Circassians Hope to Use Development Corporation to Expand Ties

Abkhazia: Nato Should Consider Membership Carefully

UNPO - Wednesday, 02 April 2008

President Bagapsh urges Nato to consider the affect of any possible accession moves on the Caucasus and to note Abkhazia’s concerns.
Below is a letter issued by the President of the Republic of Abkhazia:

TO: SECRETARY-GENERAL OF NATO, MR. JAAP DE HOOP SCHEFFER

TO: NATO COUNTRIES REPRESENTATIVES

Dear Mr. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer,

The Bucharest Summit, which is going to review the issues of new members’ entry into NATO, may create serious problems in the Caucasus. For the preservation of peace and stability in our region and disperse fear and confrontation, it is necessary, to a greater extent, to consider present realities and opinions of all interested parties.

We are deeply concerned that on a background of political instability and unresolved conflicts, some prospective members of the Organization, in particular Georgia, still consider NATO as force to resolve conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Abkhazia repeatedly has been a victim of aggression by Georgia, which gives us reason to consider Georgia as a potential source of military provocations and illegitimate claims to Abkhazia.

Groundless recognition by the United Nations of the territorial integrity of Georgia within the borders of the former GSSR had indirectly acknowledged numerous violations of Human Rights and policy of discrimination of the Abkhaz people in the time of Stalin’s era. Moreover, the troops of newly adopted to the United Nations Democratic Republic of Georgia, had launched on the 14th of August 1992 a bloody war in Abkhazia, destroying peaceful population and monuments of Abkhaz culture and history. The Georgian-Abkhaz War had inevitably broken off the relations between Abkhazia and Georgia.

It is almost 15 years since Abkhazia id developing its own democratic political system, market economy, legislation, independent courts, civil society and human rights, in accordance with the international standards. Our National interests and external political priorities do significantly differ from those of Georgia.

Today’s Abkhazia is a state with sustainable development indicators. Abkhazia is able to incur obligations and play a full connecting role in the Caucasus. Considering the abovementioned, we appeal to You to take all possible measures to prevent reiteration of the mistakes of the past. While taking a decision on the Georgia’s membership in NATO, please consider valid opinion of Abkhazia.

Respectfully Yours,

PRESIDENT S. BAGAPSH

April 1, 2008
Sukhum

Note:
To access the letter in PDF format (33kb), please click here.

• UNPO - Abkhazia: Nato Should Consider Membership Carefully

Joint Open Letter to the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Europarådet skjuter upp MR-rapportering från Norra Kaukasien

March 28, 2008

Joint Open Letter to the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

The undersigned organizations are deeply dismayed that the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe postponed its decision on the renewed request of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights to be seized to report on “Legal remedies for human rights violations in the North Caucasus”.

We are very concerned that by failing again to take up the opportunity to immediately resume separate monitoring and public reporting on the human rights situation in the North Caucasus, the Bureau of the Assembly has shown a lack of commitment to addressing the ongoing human rights abuses and the impunity for the grave human rights abuses which have taken place in the region.

While in January 2006, the Assembly’s resolution and recommendation indicated that the very serious human rights situation required attention, instead, it appears that the approach of the Bureau of the Assembly since June 2006 has been to scale down the scrutiny afforded to the region.

We consider that this approach is inconsistent with the very findings of the Assembly that the situation in the region was one of the most serious in Europe and demanded the attention of the bodies of the Council of Europe, whose core task is the protection of human rights.

Since the Assembly last reported on the region in January 2006, serious human rights violations have continued, chiefly in the context of counterterrorism operations. People have been subjected to enforced disappearance, torture and arbitrary detention, including in secret detention facilities. Unlawful killings have also continued. Armed groups also continued to target civilians and carry out abductions.

Individuals in the region who seek to promote respect for human rights and those who dare to speak out to expose human rights abuses continue to face harassment and intimidation. The most glaring example was the abduction on the night of 23 to 24 November 2007 of Oleg Orlov, head of the Russian NGO Human Rights Centre Memorial, and three journalists from the Russian TV station REN TV, Artem Vysotskii, Karen Sakhinov and Stanislav Goriachikh. Oleg Orlov and his REN TV colleagues were in Nazran to cover a demonstration against human rights violations by law enforcement agencies that was due to take place in Nazran the following day.

Armed masked men in camouflage seized the four men, beat and threatened to kill them, then abandoned them two hours later. The Russian news agency Interfax quoted sources within the police stating that the abduction had been carried out by “the military”. Criminal investigations into the incident have been opened under several different articles of the Russian Criminal Code but not under provisions criminalizing “abduction” (Article 126) or “threat to kill or cause serious damage to health” (Article 119).

Moreover, the few positive developments in bringing people to justice for the grave human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law regrettably remain exceptions to the impunity enjoyed by the vast majority of those responsible. In particular, prosecutions have not yet been brought against those suspected of responsibility for the human rights violations which have been examined in cases ruled upon by the European Court of Human Rights concerning the conflict in the North Caucasus.

We call on the Bureau of the Assembly to ensure without further delay, the resumption of the Assembly’s dedicated monitoring and public reporting on the human rights situation in the North Caucasus.

Amnesty International (AI), London
Chechen Committee for National Salvation, Nazran
Civic Assistance Committee, Moscow
“Demos” Center, Moscow
European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC), London
Human Rights Center “Memorial”, Moscow, Nazran and Grozny
Human Rights Watch (HRW), New York
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Paris
Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Oslo
Russian Chechen Friendship Society, Helsinki
Russian Justice Initiative, Utrecht
Society for Threatened Peoples, Bern
Swedish Helsinki Committee, Stockholm

• NEWSDESK - Joint Open Letter to the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
• PDF-document

RUSSIA AND THE CIRCASSIANS: An Internal Problem or an International Matter?

CONFERENCE

RUSSIA AND THE CIRCASSIANS: An Internal Problem or an International Matter?

April, 8 2008

Harvard University, The Carr Center For Human Rights Policy

IN COOPERATION WITH

The Circassian Cultural Institute

Davis Center - For Russian and Eurasian Studies

The Jamestown Foundation

• Conference Agenda
  

Abkhazia is Abkhazia

After independence declaration of Kosovo, Abkhazia is more on the agenda of the World than ever. At a conference in London 1993, Mr.Stanislav Lakoba’s speech that’s related with this current issue can be good answer to the arguments upon it . Even it’s so actual paper that set lights to the core of the matter in order to be understood clearly.

ABKHAZIA IS ABKHAZIA by Stanislav Lakoba

Minister of Security in Abkhazia, former speaker of Abkhazian Parliament

A Report At A London Conference On North Caucasus and Abkhazia 23th April, 1993

Central Asian Survey, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 97–105, 1995

Related Issues

• Abkhazia's Liberation and International Law, By E. K. Adzhindzhal, Sukhum, 2007
• Abkhazia: Parliament Calls For Recognition By UN - MFA Abkhazia, March 7, 2008
• Some Thoughts on 'Abkhazia is not Kosovo' by David L. Phillips (Transitions Online, 7 Feb 2008) by George Hewitt - Circassian World

Human rights activist: Abkhazia's and South Ossetia's sovereignty more legitimate than Kosovo's

Regnum, March 25, 2008

Read it in Russian

“Presuming that Kosovo will incite separatist moods in other peoples, including the Abkhazian ans South Ossetian ones, is wrong. In fact, Abkhazia, for instance, has always had more grounds and more arguments for self-determination. And the recent statement of the State Duma deputies who have supported the striving of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transdnestr to independence is very timely,” head of Kabardino-Balkarian Human Rights Center Valery Khatazhukov.

”The statement is, of course, of more a rhetoric character than many hoped it would be. Many hoped that it would contain more clear recommendations for the executive power. But anyhow, this is a positive moment that gives us an opportunity to work with the situation at the federal level,” Mr Khatazhukov observed.

Abkhazia had once joined the USSR as an independent republic. Later, Joseph Stalin annexed it to Georgia. Today, when the USSR is extinct, Abkhazia has no formal grounds to the return of this status. However, for the last 15 years, Abkhazia has proved that she has all the normally-functioning organizations of an independent state, Mr Khatazhukov has reminded.

“Some see contradictions between international principles of self-determination and preservation of territorial integrity of states. As a matter of fact, there are no contradictions. The principle of self-determination is consistently recognized in the provisions of international organizations, first of all, in the UN bylaws. It is even possible to say that it prevails. Territorial integrity of Georgia can only be violated if Abkhazia or South Ossetia joined Russia, i. e., were annexed,” Mr Khatazhukov argues.

According to the human rights activist, argument that the Abkhazian and South Ossetian precedents could lead to the disintegration of the Russian Federation is also ungrounded. “Separatist moods can be provoked by the federal authority itself, if it pursues incompetent national policies inside the Russian state.”

“This could be the result of integration of territorial units, which questions the possibility of preservation of cultural values, of cultural identification of various peoples populating Russia, including the peoples of the Northern Caucasus.”

“Besides, facts of xenophobia have become more frequent, which are not terminated by the government. Most eminent are the anti-Caucasian pronouncements of Zhirinovsky who suggests that the problems of the North Caucasus be solved by deportation of peoples residing in the region to outside the Caucasian Mountains. And Zhirinovsky is a head of a parliamentary party,” Khatazhukov noted.

“Besides, separatism may be incited by thwarting national development programs, including a number of hours for the study of indigenous people's languages,” the rights activist argues. “If in early 1990s, up to 70% of schools performed instruction in the primary school in the Kabardian and Balkarian Languages, now the percentage is becoming lower,” Khatazhukov stressed.

• Human rights activist: Abkhazia's and South Ossetia's sovereignty more legitimate than Kosovo's - Russian News - REGNUM
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Abkhazia, the country that doesn't exist, prepares to follow Kosovo's example

By Shaun Walkerin, Sukhum, Abkhazia, March 21, 2008 - The Independent

Underneath the red, white and green Abkhazian flag, border guards check documents on the bridge over the river Psou, just outside the Russian city of Sochi.

"Welcome to Abkhazia," says a hirsute official, wearing military fatigues and smoking a slimline cigarette. "Enjoy your stay in our country."

Abkhazia has a president, a flag, a national anthem and even a visa system for foreign visitors but the country doesn't appear on any maps. Officially, this small piece of sub-tropical Black Sea coastline with a population today of about 170,000, is a province of Georgia.

But since a vicious war in the early 1990s, it has been functioning as an independent state and, in the aftermath of Kosovo's independence, the Abkhazians hope their statehood will be recognised by the international community.

Shortly after Kosovo declared independence, the Abkhazian parliament, located in a seafront building in the capital, Sukhum, issued a call for international recognition.

"After the recognition of Kosovo by many Western states, the geopolitical situation has significantly changed," read the parliament's statement. "Any legal decision has a universal character... All people have the same rights to freedom and independence."

On the seafront promenade, in the shadow of war-damaged buildings, old men while away the days drinking Turkish-style coffee and playing chess and backgammon. "Why is Kosovo any better than Abkhazia?" asked one. "It's exactly the same situation. We're a small country trying to stand on our own two feet."

The local papers are awash with Kosovo headlines and accusations that the West is engaging in "double standards" by recognising Kosovo but not Abkhazia. Western countries have said that Kosovo is a unique case, voicing support for Georgia's "territorial integrity", and a resolution to the Abkhazian conflict that does not alter Georgia's official boundaries.

Abkhazia's main hope for recognition is Russia. Vladimir Putin has hinted on several occasions that if the West recognised Kosovo, Russia may recognise Abkhazia and three other "breakaway states" on former Soviet soil.

Russian support has been a lifeline for Abkhazia for many years, a fact that has irked Georgia and been a key factor in the poor relations between Moscow and Tbilisi. At the Psou border crossing, Abkhazian women wheel in trolleys of goods from Russia. to sell in Abkhazia. Almost everything on sale in the republic comes from Russia, save a few bootleg goods from Turkey. Russian peacekeepers are stationed in Abkhazia, the rouble is used, and Moscow has issued Russian passports to Abkhazians who want them. In the past two years, Russian tourists have flocked back to the hotels along Abkhazia's palm-fringed beaches.

Immediately after the Kosovo declaration of independence, Russia went one step further and lifted economic sanctions on Abkhazia. In reality, Moscow has long turned a blind eye to cross-border trade with Abkhazia but the full legalisation of trade will make things easier for the Abkhazians.

"I'm planning to build a hotel, and before it would've taken six months to bring the cement across the border in small loads," says Otar Kakalia, a local businessman. "Now, I'll be able to do it in a single day."

In Sukhum, the hope is now for Russia to go one step further and formally recognise Abkhaz independence. The Russian parliament will vote today on a resolution calling for Russia to recognise Abkhazia if Georgia joins Nato.

"There are different opinions within the establishment," said Sergei Markedonov, a Moscow-based political analyst. "Some want to recognise Abkhazia and others want to keep helping the Abkhaz but stop short of official recognition."

Stanislav Lakoba, a local historian and chairman of the de facto government's Security Council, said: "Russia is behaving like a football team that keeps passing the ball around the penalty area but each time it looks like a certain goal, they make another pass. We have every right to be independent and they should stop being scared of the West and go ahead."

Georgia's President, Mikheil Saakashvili , has long stated that one of the main aims of his presidency is to bring Georgia's two breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia back under Tbilisi's control and allow the thousands of ethnic Georgians who fled their homes in Abkhazia to return.

The Abkhazians fear Mr Saakashvili will attempt a military solution to the conflict, which analysts say would be the only realistic way to return Georgian control. With American backing, the Georgians have pumped vast funds into modernising their army over recent years, and in Sukhum, Abkhaz officials claim to have information that Georgia is planning an offensive.

"The Georgians have long wanted a military solution, but they are scared of Russia getting involved, and also of the US," says Mr Markedonov. "The Saakashvili government is set on Nato membership and integration with the West and if they start a military conflict they can say goodbye to that."

A plan for Georgia's accession to Nato is on the table for the summit in Bucharest next month, and George Bush promised after meeting Mr Saakashvili this week that he would support the Georgian bid. Russia has strongly opposed Georgian membership of the alliance, and could recognise Abkhazia and South Ossetia in retaliation.

In School Number 2 at Gagra, young Abkhazians are in no doubt about where their future lies.
"My father died in the war so that I could grow up in a free country," said 15-year-old Sabina Tsushba.

"We're an independent country because we've made it that way ourselves," said another 15-year-old pupil. "It doesn't really matter whether the rest of the world takes notice of us or not."

• Abkhazia, the country that doesn't exist, prepares to follow Kosovo's example
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• A Way to Let Abkhazia Live A Normal Life - The Moscow Times
• Some Thoughts on 'Abkhazia is not Kosovo' by David L. Phillips (Transitions Online, 7 Feb 2008) by George Hewitt - Circassian World