MINELRES: RFE/RL Russian Political Weekly Vol. 2, No. 19: excerpts

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RFE/RL Russian Political Weekly
Vol. 2, No. 19, 10 June 2002

A Weekly Review of News and Analysis of Russian Domestic Politics

RUSSIAN ISLAMIC LEADER ASKS PUTIN TO CLEANSE COUNTRY OF WAHHABISM... 
Speaking at a roundtable in Moscow on the theme of "Islam Against
Terrorism" on 29 May, the Ufa-based chairman of Russia's Central
Muslim Religious Board, Talgat Tadzhuddin, and about 20 other Islamic
leaders from a number of regions across Russia adopted an appeal to
President Vladimir Putin asking him to step up the struggle against
international terrorism, RFE/RL's Russian Service reported. According
to RFE/RL's Moscow bureau, Tadzhuddin said that supporters of
Wahhabism - which he called "pseudo-Islamic provocateurs" - "represent
a threat to any type of government," since they do not recognize any
other response but violence toward nonbelievers. According to
Interfax, Tadzhuddin implied that it was Wahhabites who helped finance
the terrorist attack on the Daghestan city of Kaspiisk on 9 May that
left 43 dead. JAC

...AS POSSIBILITY RAISED THAT 'WAHHABISM' CAN BE CHARGE USED TO SMEAR
POLITICAL ENEMIES. 
In an interview the previous day with "Gazeta," Tadzhuddin claimed
that Wahhabism is "being spread in an almost open manner in
Tatarstan." For example, according to Tadzhuddin, the Bolgar mosque in
Kazan was stormed in October 2001 by dozens of extremists shouting
"Allah akbar." According to RFE/RL's Kazan bureau, one of Tadzhuddin's
close supporters, Ferit Salman, the former head of the Bolgar mosque,
was removed from his position by Tatarstan's Muslim Religious Board in
2000 for opposing the board and urging it to submit to Tadzhuddin's
centrally based Muslim board. In interviews with the Russian press,
Salman has accused the Tatarstan board of having ties with foreign,
extremist Muslim organizations. JAC

POLLS LOOK AT INTERTWINING OF ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS IDENTITIES. 
A recent poll conducted by a local university among ethnic Tatars and
Russians living in St. Petersburg found that a larger proportion of
the Tatar respondents than Russian believe that religion is an
integral part of their identity, RFE/RL's Kazan bureau reported on 24
May, citing "Vostochyi ekspress" weekly from 17 May. The poll found
that 32.2 percent of the Tatar respondents believe that being Tatar
means being Muslim, while among the Russian respondents, only 10.9
percent believe that being Russian means being Orthodox Christian. The
poll also found that national traditions are important for 51.7
percent of the Tatars and only 20.6 percent of Russians. On the same
day, the bureau also reported that the majority of Muslims attending
Friday prayers at the Muslim Cultural Center in the city of Kurgan are
ethnic Russians. Adam Abdullah, editor of the local "Musulmane
zauralya" told the website islam.ru that there is not a single mosque
in Kurgan, so prayers are held at the center, the bureau reported. JAC

...............

KRASNODAR

PRESSURE ON IMMIGRANTS IN KUBAN LINKED WITH PENDING SALE OF
AGRICULTURAL LAND... 
Law enforcement officials in Krasnodar Krai conducted special
operations in the krai's Anapskii Raion last week as the result of
which some 38 Meskhetian Turks were detained and deprived of their
passports, RFE/RL's Moscow bureau reported on 27 May. Sarvar Tidorov,
head of the Meskhetian Turk community in the krai said that the
Meskhetians were harvesting a field at the time and were told by
police to leave the region. According to the bureau, several analysts
believe that it is not accidental that the punitive measures taken
against the Meskhetians have coincided with the State Duma's
consideration of legislation that would regulate the buying and
selling of agricultural land (see "RFE/RL Russian Political Weekly,"
22 May 2002). They believe that the Meskhetians would be a serious
obstacle to a quick seizure of agricultural lands, since the
Meskhetian community survives mainly through agricultural work. JAC

...AS THREAT TO KRAI ARMENIANS SEEMINGLY AVERTED...
Addressing a session of the Armenian Academy of Sciences in Yerevan on
26 May, Ara Abrahamian, the wealthy businessman who heads the Union of
Armenians of Russia, said he reached an agreement with the
administration of Russia's Krasnodar Krai, which earlier this year
launched a drive to expel illegal immigrants, including many
Armenians, from the region, Noyan Tapan reported (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 3 April and 17 May 2002). Under that agreement, Abrahamian
will sponsor a 10-year program of investment in the krai, while krai
Governor Sergei Tkachev will allow Krasnodar's Armenian population to
remain there. Abrahamian told the same 26 May meeting that his
organization plans to invest $1 million in restoring the area of
northern Armenia still suffering from the aftermath of the 1988
earthquake, $500,000 in Nagorno-Karabakh, and a further $100,000 to
strengthen the Karabakh armed forces, Noyan Tapan reported. LF

...AS GOVERNOR BACKS AWAY FROM RESETTLEMENT PLANS. 
At a press conference in Moscow on 19 May, Tkachev denied that he
supports plans publicly revealed earlier by his deputy governor,
Leonid Baklitskii, to "reemigrate" Armenians back to Armenia. JAC

COSSACKS DECLARE INTENT TO OPPOSE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW MOSQUES. 
Atamans of Cossack troops in the Don region decided on 28 May to
resist the construction of more mosques in southern Russia, RFE/RL's
Rostov-na-Donu correspondent reported on 29 May. Deputy Ataman
Vladimir Voronin compared the situation to events in Kosova,
suggesting that the construction of mosques would be used to justify
the seizure of land. Dzafar Bekmaev, head of the spiritual directorate
for Muslims in Rostov Oblast, said that the Cossacks' declaration
violates Russian law. "What would happen if the Muslims in neighboring
regions, Daghestan and Kabardino-Balkaria, rise up and start to demand
a ban on Russian Orthodox churches?" he asked. According to Bekmaev,
there is only one mosque in Rostov Oblast, a one-story building that
can barely accommodate the more than 200 people of 20 different
nationalities who attend each week. JAC

...............

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Copyright (c) 2002. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.

The "RFE/RL Russian Political Weekly" is prepared by Julie A. Corwin
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