MINELRES: Caucasus Reporting Service No. 219: Kabardino-Balkaria: Languages Threatened

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Institute for War & Peace Reporting <info@iwpr.net>


WELCOME TO IWPR'S CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 219, February 20,
2004.

CAUCASUS NEWS UPDATE FEBRUARY 20

ABKHAZIA: ARDZINBA UNDER PRESSURE The opposition in Abkhazia is
broadening its campaign against the republic's leader. By Inal Khashig
in Sukhum

KABARDINO-BALKARIA: LANGUAGES THREATENED The end of television
broadcasts in the Kabardinian and Balkar languages has sparked a debate
over the future of the Russian autonomous republic. By Valery
Khatazhukov in Nalchik

MONASTERY MEETING MAY LEAD TO TURKISH THAW Armenian and Turkish
specialists are stepping up their collaboration, despite scepticism on
both sides. By Tigran Avetisian in Yerevan

AZERI VETERANS RECALL MILITARY FIASCO The most terrible episode of the
Nagorny Karabakh war recalled, 10 years on. By Idrak Abbasov and Jasur
Mamedov in Baku

CHECHNYA: REWRITING HISTORY Sixty years on, there will be little public
commemoration of the Stalinist deportations of the Chechen people. By
Timur Aliev in Grozny 

****************** VISIT IWPR ON-LINE: www.iwpr.net ***************

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

KABARDINO-BALKARIA: LANGUAGES THREATENED

The end of television broadcasts in the Kabardinian and Balkar languages
has sparked a debate over the future of the Russian autonomous republic.

By Valery Khatazhukov in Nalchik

A front-page newspaper article in a government newspaper has stoked up a
row in Kabardino-Balkaria about the cancellation of virtually all
television broadcasts in the two native languages of the Russian
autonomous republic.

The article "She has become a stepmother" by the veteran television
journalist Mukhab Bzhenikov was published in Adygskoe Slovo on February
14. The "stepmother" in question is the Russian television channel
VGRTK, which the reporter accused of mistreating its "daughter",
Kabardino-Balkaria's local television company, by pulling the
broadcasts. 

Bzhenikov also confronted the local authorities by calling on them to
break their silence on the issue. He told IWPR that it was time for the
republic to have an independent channel that protected the national
culture.

The row dates to January 1 this year, when the republican television
channel ceased all programmes in the Kabardin and Balkar languages on
economics, culture, language, history, and literature, as well as
concerts and theatre performances. All that remains is a 20-minute
broadcast per week for both languages.

The unexpected decision has sparked anger and heated debate, with
letters to the newspapers and calls by intellectuals to have the
programmes restored.

"It feels like someone has died in the family," said Taujan Kardanova, a
70-year-old pensioner in Nalchik.

"It's horrible to think that I will never see plays featuring my
favourite actor Ali Tukhujev or the sad songs of the legendary folk
singer Zaramuk Kardangushev again. The Soviet Union gave us television,
radio and newspapers in our native language. We must bring them back."

According to the 2002 census, 950,000 people live in Kabardino-Balkaria
of whom 500,000 are Kabardinian and 120,000 are Balkars. The majority
speak Russian as well as their mother tongue, but usage of the two
indigenous languages is also high.

Zaur Mambetov, who heads the nationalities department of the republic's
culture ministry, criticised the suspension of native-language
broadcasting as a violation of the constitutional right of citizens to
develop their national culture and receive information in their mother
tongue, and claimed the move violated international conventions.

The leaders of the local nationalist movements, Khase for the
Kabardinians and Tere for the Balkars - both of which have been banned
by the authorities and operate mostly underground - have also denounced
the move as part of a systematic campaign to suppress national cultures.


"This is a clear and well-planned process," claimed Ibrahim Yaganov,
deputy head of the Khase movement. "First they banned the national
movements, then removed the 'ethnicity' box from our passports, closed
the majority of classes taught in the native language, removed all
traces of sovereignty from the constitution of Kabardino-Balkaria, and
now they are stopping broadcasts in the native languages. Next we can
expect them to abolish the autonomous republics altogether."

Rita Tsitsova, a history teacher from Nartkaly, said, "To reverse the
situation, our ethnic statehood - if it does exist - must prove its
capability to survive. In other words, we must find the money to restore
Kabardinian and Balkar broadcasting immediately. 

"This republic was established to conserve and enrich the culture and
traditions of Kabardinians and Balkars, to look out for their
interests."

Kabardino-Balkarian television has been part of the Russian National
Television & Radio Company, VGRTK, for several years. While this boosted
the broadcasting facilities and equipment of the local channel, it also
deprived it of editorial independence.

VGRTK spokesperson Anastasia Kasyianikova told IWPR, "The main reason
why the broadcasting schedule has been changed is that the local
channel's rating has dropped as a result of too much local programming. 

"As for the upcoming presidential elections [on March 14], I can say we
did intend to clear broadcasting space somewhat for campaign
programming, but this was not our main motive. To assume that
native-language broadcasting will resume after the elections is
groundless conjecture."

Speaking at a presidential council meeting Ruslan Zhanimov, head of the
channel, confirmed that the company had no plans to restore
native-language broadcasting after the Russian presidential elections.

Television employees, who are on the verge of losing their jobs, were
reluctant to discuss the crisis. But one republican government official,
who asked not be named, told IWPR, "The reason why broadcasting was
slashed is purely financial. 

"VGRTK had warned Kabardino-Balkar televison three years ago that its
programming was going to be cut unless the local channel found some way
to pay for itself by securing local government support or,
alternatively, starting its own independent channel. 

"But local television officials have done nothing to deal with the
problem. In neighbouring North Ossetia, where they also knew this was
coming, they shifted to another channel keeping all their local
programming intact. The entire budget of our television was 22 million
roubles (around 700,000 US dollars) in 2003, and is nine million roubles
less this year. If that's needed to bring back local programming, our
government should be able to provide it."

Another government-supported television channel, NOTR, which covers
elections and other official events but broadcasts only in Russian,
receives five to six million roubles from the local budget. 

For many intellectuals, the survival of the national culture is at
stake. Local writer and ethnic researcher Zaur Naloyev told IWPR,
"Kabardinian and Balkar are our republic's national languages only
formally.

"There is only one native-language theatre, one newspaper, one literary
journal, and a few TV and radio shows. Now that TV broadcasting has
stopped in Kabardinian and Balkar, our languages have been deprived of
their most popular outlet. 

"The authorities are highly unlikely to try and solve this problem, as
there are no organised groups in society who can pressure the government
to take action."

Valery Khatazhukov is managing director of the Kabardino-Balkar Human
Rights Advocacy Centre in Nalchik

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

****************** VISIT IWPR ON-LINE: www.iwpr.net ****************

IWPR's Caucasus Reporting Service provides the international community
with a unique insiders' perspective on events in the North and South
Caucasus. Using our network of local journalists, the service publishes
news and analysis from across the region every week.

The service forms part of IWPR's Caucasus Project, which supports local
media development while encouraging better local and international
understanding of the region.

IWPR's Caucasus Reporting Service is supported by the Danish government,
the British government and the European Union. The service is currently
available online in English and in Russian. 

To subscribe visit: http://www.iwpr.net/sub_form.html

For further details on this project and other information services and
media programmes, visit IWPR's website: www.iwpr.net

Editor-in-Chief: Anthony Borden; Managing Editor: Yigal Chazan; Project
Coordinator and Editor: Tom de Waal; Senior Editor: John MacLeod;
Editor: Alison Freebairn; Regional Coordinator: Margarita Akhvlediani in
Tbilisi; Editor/Trainer: Sebastian Smith; Associate Editors: Shahin
Rzayev in Baku, Karen Topchyan in Yerevan and Valery Dzutsev in
Vladikavkaz. To comment on this service, send letter to the editor at
tom@iwpr.net or letters@iwpr.net

The Institute for War & Peace Reporting is a London-based independent
non-profit organisation supporting regional media and democratic change.

Lancaster House, 33 Islington High Street, London N1 9LH, United
Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0)20 7713 7130, Fax: +44 (0)20 7713 7140. E-mail:
info@iwpr.net

The opinions expressed in IWPR's Caucasus Reporting Service are those of
the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the publication or
of IWPR.

ISSN: 1477-7959 Copyright (c) 2004 The Institute for War & Peace
Reporting 

CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE No. 219