Memorial: Statement on the Meskhetian Turks in Krasnodar

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Subject: Memorial: Statement on the Meskhetian Turks in Krasnodar

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Memorial: Statement on the Meskhetian Turks in Krasnodar


9 April 2002

STOP ETHNIC CLEANSING!

Statement of the Human Rights Centre MEMORIAL concerning persecutions
of the Meskhetian Turks and other ethnic minorities in the Krasnodar
region of the Russian Federation

The Human Rights Centre MEMORIAL expresses deep indignation and
concern with the campaign of persecutions launched by the authorities
of Krasnodar region against the Meskhetian Turks and other ethnic
minorities and with the preparations to their deportation.

In the winter of 2001/2002, the authorities in the Krasnodar region
employed hunger as the main tool of squeezing the Turks out of the
region. The district authorities have actually impose ban for the
Turks on leasing land from local collective farms or private persons
and all the leases with the Turks were cancelled for the season of
2002. Employment as well as trade at local bazaars are also prohibited
for the Meskhetians. The Turks are penalised for 'illegal' occupation
of plot of land and houses which were purchased 12-13 years ago. The
local courts arrest property of the families which cannot pay those
administrative fines. The Turks have been actually denied access to
justice; the judges refuse to put Meskhetian lawsuits on trial under
various arbitrary pretexts. The Meskhetians are subjected to massive
passport checks, harassment and violent actions of the police and
paramilitary units of the 'Cossacks'; they are fined for absence of
registration which they were denied.

The regional Legislative Assembly has adopted the new Decree 'On the
Additional Measures to Decrease Tensions in Inter-ethnic Relations in
the Areas of Compact Settlement of Meskhetian Turks Temporarily
Residing on the Territory of Krasnodar Region' # 1363 of 20 February
which confirmed a special status of the Turks as such. Another Decree
'On the Measures to Strengthen State Control over Migration and on
Administrative Eviction of the Persons Illegally Staying on the
Territory of the Krasnodar Region' #  1381-� of 27 March 2002 �
envisages deportation of the people without local residence
registration. Recently, there have been attempts to evict several
families of the Meskhetian Turks, Armenians and Kurds. Actually,
persecutions of ethnic minorities are rapidly evolving into ethnic
cleansing.

On 18 March, the Krasnodar governor Alexander Tkachev addressing the
meeting of regional and municipal officials promised to create
'unbearable conditions' for 'illegal migrants' and to start their
organised expulsion. Alexander Tkachev also said that the position and
plans of the regional administration was completely supported by the
Russian President. The federal authorities have not reacted anyhow to
this statement as well as to the unlawful actions of the Krasnodar
government. Moreover, the meeting of the Russian President with the
governor of the Krasnodar region in Sochi on 5 April did not display
any disagreement between them. Therefore, the Russian federal
government assumes responsibility for the ongoing in the Krasnodar
region.

We demand from the federal authorities that they employ all available
means to stop the escalating ethnic cleansing in the Krasnodar region
and to institute criminal proceedings against the people responsible
for it. We demand redress of the violated rights for the Meskhetian
Turks as well as for the other citizens of the former USSR who live in
Russia from before the Soviet Union's dissolution. We insist on their
registration by place of actual residence, acknowledgement of their
Russian citizenship and elimination of discrimination against them. We
call on everybody, especially Russian law-enforcement agencies,
mass-media, public associations and political organisations, to
condemn the persecutions of Meskhetian Turks and other ethnic
minorities in the Krasnodar region and to demand from the Russian
authorities criminal proceedings against the perpetrators and redress
violated rights of the Meskhetians and other ethnic minorities.


The Human Rights Centre MEMORIAL,
12 Maly Karetny per., Moscow 103051
RUSSIA
tel. +7 095 200 65 06,
fax +7 095 209 57 79,
e-mail <[email protected]>,
website: www.memo.ru

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