Rustam Tapayev: “Myths of the past follow Moscow Chechens”

Interview by Daria Melekhova. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

The Chechen Youth Union of Moscow unites students, post-graduate students, and applicants and helps them in employment and adaptation. The chairman of the Union Rustam Tapayev told Vestnik Kavkaza that his employees helped young Chechens to realize themselves in the big city and didn’t break the law.

-          There are many stereotypes on Chechen youth in Russia. What is true or false?

-          There is a myth that young Chechen people come to big cities and do nothing there, don’t study or work; that Chechens are like bounty hunters – they search for money and adventures. It’s not my first year of working on this theme, and I can say this is not true. Almost 90% of young people who come to big cities today work, study, or do both. Of course, there are some young people who really do nothing, and all problems come from them. We deal with them, try to motivate them, make them study and work. But the myth from the post follows us. The majority of our work is being done to eliminate the negative image.

-          What exactly does your union do?

-          I believe there are many guys, girls who are studying, achieve successes in science and carrier, but they are invisible. Only bad examples are in view. We try to show positive things. We hold contests, presentations, cover our events through the mass media, present guys who achieve successes. There are a lot of them today; and our main goal is to show that there are such guys and girls.

-          What do you think about the situation in Pugachevo?

-          Being experienced in social work, I can say there are many similar situations. I learn about some incidents every second day. It is always a surprise that a certain situation is exaggerated by the public. First of all, it is a huge tragedy for the family of the deceased guy. I express condolences to his family once again. But I see no ethnic grounds in the story at all. It was a common fight which took place near a night club where both young men probably drank. Only people who try to stir up the mass media and cause inter-ethnic hatred in society can consider the situation through an ethnic perspective. They try to cause tension, while we should be together. It is a common grief – a man died. We should express condolences and try to prevent such situations in the future.

-          You organization was established to prevent such situations, wasn’t it?

-          The union was founded not due to a good life, but because negative situations with participation of Chechen young people happened regularly. The leadership of the republic realized that an organization which would unite our youth was necessary, and that the organization would “punish” those who behave dishonestly and praise those who study well and act well. Then, we gathered young people in Moscow, talked and understood that it was acute; and so 2.5 years ago the organization was founded.

We cooperate closely with the authorities of the Chechen Republic, with the envoy’s office, with our prominent businessmen, and art activists who live in Moscow. We receive great support from our fellow countrymen and women in Moscow.

-          Are there such organizations in other cities of Russia?

-          We began to work in Moscow as the most populated region, the most difficult region where a lot of our young people live. But in a year we saw that there was a need in other regions. They have a desire and initiative. So, we began to open our offices in other cities – Tomsk, Voronezh, Stavropol Territory, and so on. Our union is becoming well-known in other regions, and we can see initiative in young people from the regions; so we will continue our development.

-          How many Chechen young people live in Moscow, according to your information? What do they do?

-          There is no exact data, but we have information that today about 2000 young men and girls live in Moscow. Mainly, they are students and young people who graduated from universities and have been employed. More than 90% are students. The main activity of our union is consolidation of the youth. We try to gather them, motivate them to further development, show them new horizons and goals. We also help them to get employed. We help the most talented and hard-working young people to find a good job and build a career. I am sure that a young man who has a job and sees prospects in the future will never behave negatively in society. He has something to lose.

Working with students means gathering those who have just entered Moscow universities, when they have just come from the republic, and we explain to them that they are now studying in Moscow, in a big city. Some of them think that in a big city you can do something bad and nobody will learn about it. We always gather freshers and explain that they are studying and despite the fact Moscow is a big city, we will know about their bad and good deeds. We involve all students from the first to the fifth year in sporting, cultural, and intellectual events.

-          Who stays in Moscow and who returns to the republic?

-          There is a lack of specialists in the republic; and beneficial conditions are established for those who have graduated from Moscow universities and return home. They are provided with jobs, apartments, good salaries; so the majority of our young people return to the republic.

-          Do you cooperate with diasporas in Moscow?

-          All social ethnic organizations cooperate closely; and the Chechen Youth Union is one of the newest unions and social organizations which exist in the field. There are many interesting organizations with positive experience which we try to consider. I mean the Russian Congress of the Caucasus Peoples, the Elbrusoid Fund. These are social organizations with great and interesting experience, we try to use it. I hope we do well.

-          What are your plans?

-          We begin hard work in September. An academic year begins with meetings with freshers. Every year we get new activists. I would like to invite all interested people to our events, who want to see how we work. It is easy to find us on the Internet. We are open to everybody and always welcome cooperation and communication.