Andrey Areshev: “The truth must be told about the North Caucasus”

Interview by Daria Melikhova exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

History knows numerous examples of interaction of Russian and Caucasian peoples. This year is the 150th anniversary of the official end of the Caucasian War, which was one of the longest and the most controversial in Russian history.  Andrey Areshev, Editor-in-Chief of the website of the Scientific Society of Caucasiologists, told Vestnik Kavkaza about new trends in studying the Caucasian War.

-   Andrey Grigoryevich, do you think there are any new trends in studying the Caucasian War?

-   The Caucasian War is a rich theme. We see that new books, new studies and articles are being published. The Caucasian War is in the focus of attention of political scientists, journalists, as  well as historians and the professional community, of course. In my opinion, the main problem is the remaining fragmented nature and lack of, say, any common concept or methodological approach to this issue. Even the dates of the war are assessed differently nowadays. Some people say that active provision of security of Russian-Georgian communications started in 1817, while others “shift” the beginning of the war to 1763, which stretches the chronological framework of the Caucasian War. Of course, the influence of Western historiography is still there, and in my opinion, it’s not always positive. The Caucasian War is, first of all, part of Russian history, so it must be studied based on Russian materials.

- Would you say there are many blind spots in the history of the Caucasian War?

- In my opinion, those blind spots are outside the Caucasian War, namely in the period after the conciliation of the North-East Caucasus, and then the North-West Caucasus. The period that is logically related to the Caucasian war is the period from the 1870s to the revolutionary cataclysms in Russia. This period is very interesting in terms of the Northern Caucasus' economic, cultural, political and military integration. It was a very important process, which made the direct descendants of people who had been fighting the Russian army  fight the “white Tsar”, with Russia, as part of the Russian army. They made great progress in their military careers, like Khan Nakhichevanski (see "VK" Faithful Gusein Khan Nakhichevanski) and Hero of the Caucasus Maksud Alikhanov-Avarsky

I could name other representatives of Dagestan and the peoples of the North-West Caucasus who were closely integrated in the Russian military class.

That period was also marked by the economic development of the region, by inclusion into Russian culture, and through it, into European culture. I would say that the date of the end of the Caucasian War should not be studied basing on conflicts, but on the positive examples that took place in the history of interactions between the peoples of Russia and the Caucasus throughout the 19th and 20thcenturies. I believe this would provide a positive attitude and a search for new identity, for all of us understand how essential this is.

- Speaking of the image of the Caucasus on the threshold of the Sochi Olympics, should we expect any positive or negative comments in the media?

- Doubtlessly it will be present in the foreign media, as well as in some Russian media, too. Meanwhile, in my opinion, all this alarmist looking for negative trends in Russian policy in the North Caucasus are ideologically and geopolitically understandable for some media. We understand perfectly well that Russia’s successful domestic or foreign policy will be ignored based on those reasons.

2013 was marked by a reduction of casualties in military conflicts and terrorist acts in the North Caucasus. This means that in terms of terrorism and security, the situation in the North Caucasus is not as deplorable and hopeless as it is often depicted by some shill media. No one denies that there are many problems and no one says they should be hushed up, for they are not.

As for the North Caucasus, the first thing that is needed is to be objective and tell the truth about everything that exists there, no matter if it is good or bad. And that will be the best remedy for the negative campaign that will accompany the Olympics and everything that follows them.