Paul Goble
Staunton, October 17 – Russian census workers in many cases are refusing to record as “Siberians” those who declare that as their identity, even though “Siberian” is listed as one of the possible identities in the official protocols and even though Rosstat head Aleksandr Surinov had promised there would be no problems in that regard.
But now, only three days into the 2010 census, violations of the rights of residents of Siberia to make that declaration have been so frequent and their complaints so vocal that Surinov has been forced to promise that he will look into the matter and ensure that the identities people declare are properly recorded.
Unfortunately, many of those affected are unlikely to be convinced that either he or anyone else in the Russian Federation statistical administration is really interested in ensuring accuracy on this point and thus are certain to believe that the census results Moscow will publish will be unreliable, especially regarding national identities.
During the first two days of the census operation, Globalsib.com reported yesterday, dozens of residents of the Russian Federation east of the Urals reported that census takers were violating the law and filling in blanks without asking or ignoring the declarations of citizens, particularly on questions of nationality (globalsib.com/8552/).
One Irkutsk resident said in his blog that when he called himself a Siberian, “the census taker responded that ‘there is no such nationality’ and wrote down Russian. I forced her to write ‘Siberian,’” he continued, but she changed it so that the individual involved became “a Russian Siberian” and will undoubtedly be counted as an ethnic Russian
Dmitry Osipov, a Novosibirsk resident, reported something similar. In his case, the census taker did not even ask his nationality but simply wrote down “Russian.” “I forced him to correct that,” but he tried to answer that “there is no such nationality, but without fanaticism and with a smile.”
Residents in Bratsk, Tomsk, Omsk, Kemerovo and other Siberian cities reported similar situations. All of them were forced to include “Russian” in their declaration of nationality, although one Tomsk blogger said that while he “of course is a Russian,” he wanted to call himself a Siberian, not a “Russian” Siberian. If blocked, he said, he would be “a Martian.”
This pattern has been so widespread, Globalsib.com continued, that it suggests census officials had told their workers how to act. One census taker admitted as much. He told a resident of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka that his bosses had told him that anyone who is a Russian citizen is thus a Russian by nationality.
Mikhail Maglov, an Omsk blogger who has been involved in the campaign to promote Siberian identity, assembled these and other cases and sent an email to Rosstat head Surinov demanding that he take action so that the census results with regard to national identity would be accurate (globalsib.com/8555/).
In his message, Maglov suggested that failure to allow people to declare their nationality represented a form of ethnic discrimination and thus could be punished under the terms of Article 136 of the criminal code by massive fines and imprisonment of up to two years, something the blogger suggested Rosstat should keep in mind.
According to Globalsib.ru, Surinov responded immediately, thanked him “for the signal” and “promised that ‘we will get to the bottom of all cases.’” The Rosstat head asked that those who felt their declarations were not being handled correctly should turn directly to him and he and his staff would take action.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Window on Eurasia: Georgia’s Visa Free Program for North Caucasians Winning Some Hearts and Minds
Paul Goble
Staunton, October 17 – Despite Moscow’s anger and criticism in Georgia itself, many people in Russia’s North Caucasus republics are delighted with Tbilisi’s decision to allow them visa-free travel to Georgia, although some say this opportunity should be open to all Russian citizens and others worry Moscow may block them from taking advantage of this opportunity.
The Kavkaz-uzel.ru news agency, one of the most objective journalist operations in the North Caucasus, interviewed people in Chechnya (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/175633/) and in Adygeya (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/175609/) on their reactions to the Georgian visa free program for North Caucasians.
While the news agency makes no claim that the people it interviewed are representative of the population as a whole – many spoke only on condition of anonymity, and Kavkaz-uzel.ru journalists did not have access to all groups – the comments that the agency provides suggest that the visa-free program is winning “the hearts and minds” of the North Caucasians.
(For a detailed discussion of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili’s plans in this regard, see Tbilisi historian and journalist Georgy Zedgenidze’s article “Georgia is Conducting a Struggle for the Minds and Hearts of Russian Mountaineers,” which is available in Russian at slon.ru/blogs/gzegenidze/post/479724/.)
Residents of Chechnya, Kavkaz-uzel.ru reports, “note that the elimination of Georgian of the visa regime for residents of the North Caucasus republics eliminates many problems arising in the cross of the border with this country” but add that they are fearful that “the Russian powers that be will tighten the rules for their own citizens of crossing state borders.”
“I cannot understand why the powers that be of Russia have reacted so negatively to this decision of Georgia. I would think that any government ought to express approval to the fact that its citizens do not have to experience additional problems in travelling to neighboring countries.” But Moscow instead chose to make “loud propaganda” against it.
“It turns out,” he continued, “that the leadership of Georgia is so bad that it decided to easy the life of part of the citizens of Russia living in the North Caucasus. Apparently, the Kremlin isn’t pleased that now residents of our region will not travel to Moscow for visas” from which officials there can make money.
Another Chechen, Ramzan M., said he welcomed the change because his wife has relatives in the Pankisi Gorge and now it will be much easier to visit them. “Of course,” he continued, “we can only greet this decision of the Georgian authorities. They think in the first instance about the interests of simple citizens and not about politics or something else.”
Abubakar, a resident of Grozny, added that he had been in Georgia during Soviet times and retains many friends there. “More than once they have invited me to come for a visit,” but getting a visa which required a trip to Moscow prevented him from doing so. “I hope that now I will be able to visit my friends,” who have already telephoned to ask him to come.
But he said that he is concerned that the Russian authorities, because of their anger at Georgia, will “toughen the rules” for border crossing into Georgia in order to prevent more people from visiting that country. Russian citizens have had to pay bribes to border guards in the past, “now [this requirement] may become still worse.”
Kavkaz-uzel.ru journalists also spoke with residents of the Republic of Adygeya. Most of those with whom they spoke said that “the opening of visa free entrance into Georgia was an incomplete step,” one that should be extended to all citizens of the Russian Federation rather than to only one part.
Timur Khuranov, a resident of Adygeysk, said that he had long wanted to visit Georgia but had been put off by the requirement that he travel to Moscow to get a visa. Now, he had he was “happy that the opportunity to realize his longtime dream had appeared.” Now all he has to do, he said, is “sit in his car and drive.”
Valentina Filatova, a Maikop resident, said that “of course, the removal of excessive limits for entrance into Georgia only brings our countries closer together and makes their residents closer to one another” – especially for those like herself who have “distant relatives” there and now have “a real chance” to visit them.
But others with whom Kavkaz-uzel.ru journalists spoke were more skeptical. “If we can travel to Georgia,” Aydamir Tleuzh, a resident of the Takhtamukaysk district of Adygeya, asked, “then why can’t the residents of Krasnodar who live only 10 kilometers from our village?”
And Alina Kononenko, a resident of Adygeya’s Krasnogvardeysk district, agreed. “I am sure,” she said, “that equal opportunities must be created for everyone. I have acquaintances who have close relatives in Georgia and who live in Kazan. How are things supposed to work for them? Are they worse than we?”
Consequently, Kononenko said, she had to conclude that “this step of the Georgian leadership is an instrument with which [Tbilisi] can ‘split’ Russians into various parts,” an outcome that she implied was totally unacceptable for her and should be for everyone in the region as well.
Staunton, October 17 – Despite Moscow’s anger and criticism in Georgia itself, many people in Russia’s North Caucasus republics are delighted with Tbilisi’s decision to allow them visa-free travel to Georgia, although some say this opportunity should be open to all Russian citizens and others worry Moscow may block them from taking advantage of this opportunity.
The Kavkaz-uzel.ru news agency, one of the most objective journalist operations in the North Caucasus, interviewed people in Chechnya (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/175633/) and in Adygeya (www.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/175609/) on their reactions to the Georgian visa free program for North Caucasians.
While the news agency makes no claim that the people it interviewed are representative of the population as a whole – many spoke only on condition of anonymity, and Kavkaz-uzel.ru journalists did not have access to all groups – the comments that the agency provides suggest that the visa-free program is winning “the hearts and minds” of the North Caucasians.
(For a detailed discussion of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili’s plans in this regard, see Tbilisi historian and journalist Georgy Zedgenidze’s article “Georgia is Conducting a Struggle for the Minds and Hearts of Russian Mountaineers,” which is available in Russian at slon.ru/blogs/gzegenidze/post/479724/.)
Residents of Chechnya, Kavkaz-uzel.ru reports, “note that the elimination of Georgian of the visa regime for residents of the North Caucasus republics eliminates many problems arising in the cross of the border with this country” but add that they are fearful that “the Russian powers that be will tighten the rules for their own citizens of crossing state borders.”
“I cannot understand why the powers that be of Russia have reacted so negatively to this decision of Georgia. I would think that any government ought to express approval to the fact that its citizens do not have to experience additional problems in travelling to neighboring countries.” But Moscow instead chose to make “loud propaganda” against it.
“It turns out,” he continued, “that the leadership of Georgia is so bad that it decided to easy the life of part of the citizens of Russia living in the North Caucasus. Apparently, the Kremlin isn’t pleased that now residents of our region will not travel to Moscow for visas” from which officials there can make money.
Another Chechen, Ramzan M., said he welcomed the change because his wife has relatives in the Pankisi Gorge and now it will be much easier to visit them. “Of course,” he continued, “we can only greet this decision of the Georgian authorities. They think in the first instance about the interests of simple citizens and not about politics or something else.”
Abubakar, a resident of Grozny, added that he had been in Georgia during Soviet times and retains many friends there. “More than once they have invited me to come for a visit,” but getting a visa which required a trip to Moscow prevented him from doing so. “I hope that now I will be able to visit my friends,” who have already telephoned to ask him to come.
But he said that he is concerned that the Russian authorities, because of their anger at Georgia, will “toughen the rules” for border crossing into Georgia in order to prevent more people from visiting that country. Russian citizens have had to pay bribes to border guards in the past, “now [this requirement] may become still worse.”
Kavkaz-uzel.ru journalists also spoke with residents of the Republic of Adygeya. Most of those with whom they spoke said that “the opening of visa free entrance into Georgia was an incomplete step,” one that should be extended to all citizens of the Russian Federation rather than to only one part.
Timur Khuranov, a resident of Adygeysk, said that he had long wanted to visit Georgia but had been put off by the requirement that he travel to Moscow to get a visa. Now, he had he was “happy that the opportunity to realize his longtime dream had appeared.” Now all he has to do, he said, is “sit in his car and drive.”
Valentina Filatova, a Maikop resident, said that “of course, the removal of excessive limits for entrance into Georgia only brings our countries closer together and makes their residents closer to one another” – especially for those like herself who have “distant relatives” there and now have “a real chance” to visit them.
But others with whom Kavkaz-uzel.ru journalists spoke were more skeptical. “If we can travel to Georgia,” Aydamir Tleuzh, a resident of the Takhtamukaysk district of Adygeya, asked, “then why can’t the residents of Krasnodar who live only 10 kilometers from our village?”
And Alina Kononenko, a resident of Adygeya’s Krasnogvardeysk district, agreed. “I am sure,” she said, “that equal opportunities must be created for everyone. I have acquaintances who have close relatives in Georgia and who live in Kazan. How are things supposed to work for them? Are they worse than we?”
Consequently, Kononenko said, she had to conclude that “this step of the Georgian leadership is an instrument with which [Tbilisi] can ‘split’ Russians into various parts,” an outcome that she implied was totally unacceptable for her and should be for everyone in the region as well.
Window on Eurasia: Russian Olympic Committee Makes a Concession to the Circassians
Paul Goble
Staunton, October 17 – The Russian Olympic Committee supports the inclusion of Circassian themes in the cultural programs at the Sochi Olympics in 2014, a concession to those Circassians who felt Moscow had been planning to ignore them and a transparent effort by Russian officials to derail the efforts of other Circassians who hope to block the Sochi games.
Many Circassians, both the 600,000 in the Russian Federation and the five million living abroad, have been outraged by Moscow’s plans to stage an Olympic games on the site of where their ancestors in 1864 were expelled from the North Caucasus, an action that led to the deaths of several hundred thousand Circassians and that many feel was an act of genocide.
Ever since the International Olympic Committee awarded Moscow the right to hold the Olympics in Sochi, Circassians have been working against that idea, with some demanding that the games be moved from the site of a genocide or cancelled altogether and others insisting only that Moscow acknowledge in some public way the Circassian tragedy.
In March 2010, the State Council of the Adygey Republic adopted an appeal to the Russian Olympic Committee and the president of the Sochi 2014 committee expressing concern about “the possible ignoring in the information and cultural program of the Olympiad of the history and culture of the Circassian people” (www.regnum.ru/news/1336449.html).
The appeal noted that organizers of the Olympics in Sidney in 2000, in Salt Lake City in 2002 and in Vancouver in 2010 had gone out of their way not only to include references to the role of indigenous peoples in the area where the games took place but also to involve representatives of those indigenous populations in Olympic ceremonials.
Yesterday, the press service of the State Council of the Adygey Republic announced that it had received word from the Russian Olympic Committee saying that the ROC “supports the initiative of reflecting the cultural and historical heritage of the Circassians in the context of supporting the cultural program of the XXII Winter Games and the XI Para-Olympiad.”
Moreover, the press service reported, the ROC has sent a telegram to the speaker of the Adygey Parliament “expressing confidence that the leadership of the organizing committee of Sochi 2014 will devote the necessary attention to this subject.” And the press service quoted from a letter to the republic signed by Dmitry Chernyshenko, the president of that committee.
Chernyshenko was quoted as saying that “in the framework of the Cultural Olympiad … a special place will be occupied by the Caucasus Games, a festival of national forms of sport and popular creativity, the goal of which is the strengthening of the inter-cultural and inter-ethnic ties among representatives of the regions of Russia and the states of the Black Sea region.”
Unlike the organizers of the games in Australia, the United States, and Canada, the ROC has not up to now shown much willingness to involve the indigenous population in any way or acknowledge its presence, a sharp contrast to the case of Vancouver where organizers included references to the indigenous peoples in the symbols of the games themselves.
This latest action by the ROC suggests that Moscow is increasingly concerned about the ongoing Circassian campaign against Sochi, especially because that effort is gaining support not only among Circassian communities in Turkey, Jordan, Europe and the United States but also because it is attracting the attention of European politicians and environmental activists.
And Moscow may hope that this concession to the Circassians, one that Russian officials undoubtedly view as a major one, will cause some Circassians and their allies to reconsider their opposition to the Sochi Games, an event that Vladimir Putin has indicated is something he wants to be remembered for.
It is likely that some Circassians will indeed decide to back away from the efforts of others to block the games, but it is also likely that others will conclude that if Moscow is prepared to make this concession on the basis of what they have done so far, the Russian powers that be might make even more if the Circassians push even harder in the coming months.
Staunton, October 17 – The Russian Olympic Committee supports the inclusion of Circassian themes in the cultural programs at the Sochi Olympics in 2014, a concession to those Circassians who felt Moscow had been planning to ignore them and a transparent effort by Russian officials to derail the efforts of other Circassians who hope to block the Sochi games.
Many Circassians, both the 600,000 in the Russian Federation and the five million living abroad, have been outraged by Moscow’s plans to stage an Olympic games on the site of where their ancestors in 1864 were expelled from the North Caucasus, an action that led to the deaths of several hundred thousand Circassians and that many feel was an act of genocide.
Ever since the International Olympic Committee awarded Moscow the right to hold the Olympics in Sochi, Circassians have been working against that idea, with some demanding that the games be moved from the site of a genocide or cancelled altogether and others insisting only that Moscow acknowledge in some public way the Circassian tragedy.
In March 2010, the State Council of the Adygey Republic adopted an appeal to the Russian Olympic Committee and the president of the Sochi 2014 committee expressing concern about “the possible ignoring in the information and cultural program of the Olympiad of the history and culture of the Circassian people” (www.regnum.ru/news/1336449.html).
The appeal noted that organizers of the Olympics in Sidney in 2000, in Salt Lake City in 2002 and in Vancouver in 2010 had gone out of their way not only to include references to the role of indigenous peoples in the area where the games took place but also to involve representatives of those indigenous populations in Olympic ceremonials.
Yesterday, the press service of the State Council of the Adygey Republic announced that it had received word from the Russian Olympic Committee saying that the ROC “supports the initiative of reflecting the cultural and historical heritage of the Circassians in the context of supporting the cultural program of the XXII Winter Games and the XI Para-Olympiad.”
Moreover, the press service reported, the ROC has sent a telegram to the speaker of the Adygey Parliament “expressing confidence that the leadership of the organizing committee of Sochi 2014 will devote the necessary attention to this subject.” And the press service quoted from a letter to the republic signed by Dmitry Chernyshenko, the president of that committee.
Chernyshenko was quoted as saying that “in the framework of the Cultural Olympiad … a special place will be occupied by the Caucasus Games, a festival of national forms of sport and popular creativity, the goal of which is the strengthening of the inter-cultural and inter-ethnic ties among representatives of the regions of Russia and the states of the Black Sea region.”
Unlike the organizers of the games in Australia, the United States, and Canada, the ROC has not up to now shown much willingness to involve the indigenous population in any way or acknowledge its presence, a sharp contrast to the case of Vancouver where organizers included references to the indigenous peoples in the symbols of the games themselves.
This latest action by the ROC suggests that Moscow is increasingly concerned about the ongoing Circassian campaign against Sochi, especially because that effort is gaining support not only among Circassian communities in Turkey, Jordan, Europe and the United States but also because it is attracting the attention of European politicians and environmental activists.
And Moscow may hope that this concession to the Circassians, one that Russian officials undoubtedly view as a major one, will cause some Circassians and their allies to reconsider their opposition to the Sochi Games, an event that Vladimir Putin has indicated is something he wants to be remembered for.
It is likely that some Circassians will indeed decide to back away from the efforts of others to block the games, but it is also likely that others will conclude that if Moscow is prepared to make this concession on the basis of what they have done so far, the Russian powers that be might make even more if the Circassians push even harder in the coming months.
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