From: MSN Nicknamepsychoteddybear24 (Original Message) Sent: 9/21/2006 9:24 AM
CIRCASSIAN OUTRAGE AT ANNIVERSARY PLANS
Officials in Adygeia accused of cashing in on a fraudulent version of history.
By Oleg Tsvetkov in Maikop
An official initiative to celebrate the 450th anniversary of Adygeia’s
“unification” with Russia has angered Adygs, also known as Circassians, who
accuse the Russian federal and local authorities of distorting history for
political gain.
Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a decree on September 8 naming 2007 as a
year of festivities in Adygeia to mark the North Caucasian republic “voluntarily
joining of the Russian state”. Similar events are also planned in
Kabardino-Balkaria, where the majority Kabardinians are also part of the wider
Circassian ethnic group.
The events will commemorate the sending of a Kabardinian prince as an envoy to
Moscow in 1557, which resulted in a military alliance being agreed with Tsar
Ivan the Terrible.
The initiative came from the local government in Adygeia, supported by the
republic’s parliament.
“We are very serious about the planned festivities,” said Yuri Udychak, chairman
of the local parliamentary committee dealing with interethnic relations. “As a
result of joining Russia, we Adygs came into close contact with the culture of
the great Russian people and became able to develop our own culture.”
“There are two universities and other educational institutions in Adygeia
nowadays,” said Udychak. “The fact the Adygs speak Russian so well proves that
we are very close to the Russian people. Asked whether Adygeia had actually
joined Russian “voluntarily”, Udychak replied, “No one forced anyone. Why revise
history?”
However, many Circassian politicians and activists are outraged, saying the
commemoration is a “falsification of history” which overlooks the decades-long
resistance by Circassians to incorporation into the Russian empire in the 19th
history.
Zaur Dzeukozhev, deputy chairman of the Circassian Congress, told IWPR, “Adygea
was colonised by the Russian Empire in the course of an almost century-long
bloody Russian-Caucasian war. All honest historians acknowledge this, and we
want the Russian authorities to tell the truth.”
Murat Berzegov, chairman of the Congress, said, “It’s wrong to celebrate an
event that never happened historically. Had we joined Russia voluntarily, the
Russian-Caucasian war of the 19th century would not have been a popular
liberation war but an insurrection by the people against their own tsar…. This
is how a single date – a holiday which should not be celebrated – can change the
history of a people, converting them from heroes and champions of liberty into
bandits.”
Another Circassian nationalist organisation, Adyge Khase, appears to be divided
on the planned festivities.
“[Moscow] just wants to tick a box to say that they’ve carried out work to
improve interethnic relations, and local officials just want to make some
money,” said Aly Tliap, head of Adyge Khase in the town of Adygeisk.
Amin Zekhov, another of the leaders of Adyge Khase, said that Circassians had
indeed served the Russian state in the past and had been outstanding military
commanders.
“However, the truth should also be spoken about the Russian-Caucasian war,
during which Adygeia was turned into a colony. How can we talk about voluntarily
accession after so much blood was spilt?” he asked.
Despite these reservations, Adyge Khase is officially supporting the idea of
next year’s celebrations, on the grounds that Circassians and Russians had
friendly relations long before the Caucasian war.
Dzeukozhev believes the group’s official support for the plans is financially
motivated. He said Adyge Khase representatives admitted in private that the
celebrations were historically inaccurate, but wanted to earn money from them.
“Members of Adyge Khase are ‘great writers’ and ‘great composers,’ who want to
earn some money,” he said. “They don’t want to spoil their relations with the
republic’s bureaucrats.”
The end of the Caucasian war in the 1860s resulted in the expulsion of tens of
thousands of Circassians from the Russian empire to the Middle East and Turkey.
As a result, there are now far more Circassians outside the North Caucasus than
in it. Those in the region are mainly divided between three small autonomous
republics, Adygeia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachai-Cherkessia.
Rushdi Tuguz, a Syrian-born Circassian who has recently moved to the North
Caucasus, remarked that if Adygeia’s integration into Russia had been voluntary,
his ancestors would not have fled to the Middle East in the 19th century. “If
you add sweet water to bitter water, it won’t be good water,” said Tuguz.
In Adygeia, Russians form the majority while the ethnic Adygei account for only
around 25 per cent of the population. However, the Adygei form the bulk of the
republic’s political elite, a state of affairs that is a constant cause of
discontent among local organisations of ethnic Russians. However, as far as the
celebrations are concerned, the latter are also critical.
“National elites have betrayed the history of their people,” said Vladimir
Karatayev, one of the leaders of the Slavs’ Union of Adygeia, a Russian
associations that is often at loggerheads with Circassian groups.
Others in Maikop see the presidential decree as a public relations exercise by
Moscow to make up for the dearth of serious policies on ethnic minority issues
in Russia’s North Caucasus.
They also say that the festivities are designed to smooth over a quarrel between
Moscow and the local elite.
Khazret Sovmen, president of Adygeia, and Dmitry Kozak, Russian presidential
envoy in the Southern Federal Circuit, were engaged in a public row earlier this
year. Sovmen threatened to resign over reports that Kozak was backing a plan to
abolish Adygeia’s autonomous status and incorporate it into Krasnodar region.
(See “Adygeia’s President Confronts Kremlin”, CRS 335, April 13, 2006)
President Putin refused to accept Sovmen’s resignation, but relations between
Maikop and Moscow were seriously strained.
Meanwhile, opposition deputies in parliament are planning a no-confidence vote
against Sovmen, and the republican prime minister, Yevgeny Kovalyov, was
dismissed on September 13.
Sovmen’s term in office expires in January 2007 and his successor will be
appointed rather than elected. Kozak will propose candidates for the post for
approval by the Russian president. One way to get on the list might be to
support the anniversary idea.
Oleg Tsvetkov in an independent political analyst in Maikop, Adygeia.
