On November 21st in Makhachkala an authorized demonstration against kidnapping, corruption and outrages committed by officers of the law-enforcement agencies took place. The demonstration was organized by relatives of kidnapped people and non-governmental organizations. Demonstrators, several thousands of people, demanded that the special services observe laws and information transparency. On November 25th one more demonstration was organized by Akhlu-Sunna, A Just Union, and “Dagestan is a territory of peace and agreement”. People were invited to participate through social networks. According to the resolution of the demonstration, a civil war is taking place in the republic. Guilty for it partially lies with the security agencies, which illegal methods in their work. According to various data, 2,500-5,000 people participated in the event.
Commenting on the events, Suleiman Uladiev, co-chair of the' public organization 'Dagestan - zone of peace and sable development, stated that the situation in Dagestan is even more complicated than it is in other regions of the NCFD. In the past 20 days 3 demonstrations were held there, one of which protested corrupt practices. Some 500 people took part in this demonstration. This demonstration was organized by a salafit public organization. The salafit organizations warned that the next demonstration might gather 50,000. “The civil dialogue held 2 months ago was an initiative coming from the grass roots. For the first time in Dagestani history salafit activists sat down to talks with muftis from official Muslim Governance Counci, public and government representatives. Everyone there understood that the destructive tendencies should be stopped, no one made reproaches against one another but worked together to achieve a common goal,” Uladiev said, complaining that this positive process was not supported and developed.
According to Uladiyev, if the government doesn't take any efficient measures now the events might turn really bad. He also noted that over the past 2 years of our peacemaking efforts only Mr Shevchenko from the Public Chamber and Mr Przhdomsky from the National Counter-terrorism Committee supported peacemaking efforts in the Caucasus.
Maxim Shevchenko himself says that the North Caucasus is still a scene for a prolonged conflict that some call a 'civil war' and some - 'extremist breakouts'. “No matter the name, people still kill each other there, and calls for violence and revenge are still being made,” Shevchenko emphasized. A lot of people in the North Caucasus still bear the burden of inherent vendettas - this heritage is extremely hard to overcome and we can't close our eyes to it and pretend it's alright. Both opposition and government supporters are being killed. “In these circumstances the role of peacemaking efforts increases dramatically - whether they are undertaken by civic or religious authorities, state or public organizations. This mission is extremely laborious and difficult. Unfortunately, in the region of the North Caucasus, private initiatives prevail in this sphere,” Shevchenko thinks. Of course, without restoring justice, without finding and burying the dead, without finding and punishing the killers in the court of law reconciliation, stopping vendettas is almost impossible. And this is the way not only the Caucasus works, it is the same for all regions of Russia. The Chechen republic suffered the most in the 90s. Some say that these tragic events claimed the lives of thousands of people, Chechen and Russian.
And now there's a tendency to accuse the Chechen police department - some call it "Chechen agencies", even though they are as much Russian as any other police departments of the country - that they want to execute revenge over police officers from other regions who took part in the Chechen campaign. “There are no reprisals, there is an urgent need to restore justice on the whole territory of the Russian Federation, no matter the ethnicity or confession of the culprits. By adding an ethnic factor to this process we destroy the unity of our country. Maybe we should create a special office for that under the Parliament of the President's Administration. We need to reconcile not only people from some of the Caucasus regions, we need reconciliation at the federal level,” Schevchenko said.
However, for the majority of residents of the Caucasus the question of separation from Russia is not relevant. Khadzimurat Gatsalov, mufti of the North Ossetian Republic, thinks that the federal authorities can use it only in extreme circumstances, but if it uses it on a regular basis it ceases to be a civic instrument, it is a repressive machine. “For years now we've observed tension in the Caucasus increasing, despite all efforts - it means that the means of conflict settlement are faulty and that those who implement them are incompetent,” the mufti underlined.
Gatsalov doesn’t like reports by law-enforcement agencies on killing some 'terrorist group leaders' in the Caucasus: “Where are all these groups, if so many of their 'leaders' are already killed? And why do they have to kill them? Why can't they arrest them, implement other preventative measures?” The security services should protect peace, not engage in shootouts on our towns' streets, Gatsalov says. “Of course, it's easier to kill an extremist - no one wants them around. But the current situation makes me wonder - It seems that they actually don't want Islam to be around... I would very much appreciate it if this system changed its attitude towards its own citizens,” he thinks.
No one knows the situation in the republic better than imams, they know all the members of their congregations in person. “North Ossetia has never had any inter-ethnic or inter-confessional conflicts. But now these problems are being imposed on us. And this false concept is still being forced on public opinion,” Gatsalov complains.
As for Russia’s search for a “national idea,” Gatsalov thinks we don't need to invent anything: observance of human rights is the best national idea possible.
