Author: VK
One of the main factors aggravating ethnopolitical conflicts in the North Caucasus is land relations, people say in the last years.
Ahmet Yarlykapov, a senior staff member of the Center for Ethnopolitical Studies of the Institute for Ethnology and Antropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that the ethnic factor has indeed played an important role in land conflict of the North Caucasus. Natives say that their lands were illegally taken away. Elders do not speak for driving out those who were moved in the Soviet times, which means that people still stick to good-neighbor traditions. Elders have claims to those who try move beyond quota, settle at plains violating legal procedures. Inhabitants of plains demand fulfillment of laws and blame illegal settlers for exploiting the unset legal status of lands. There are many attempts to legalize illegal settlements, causing discontent from local natives. They believe that cattle pastures are misused. The conflict escalates. Cattle pastures are often right next to a village which cannot expand any further. Conflicts occur with those living on cattle pastures, turning into an ethnic conflict. Thus, the legal unrest brings ethnic conflicts.
Another problem is ecology. Cattle are using lands all year round. Animals are no longer moved to mountains. As a result, plains are often on the edge of a catastrophe because pastures cannot recover in time. People see what is happening to the territory they live on and start blaming those who live on the lands. It is another cause of conflict. There is a risk of land conflict turning into ethnopolitical ones. There are regular calls for solving the problem by separating Dagestan from plains, forming territorial structures for inhabitants of plains and so on. People see no efforts of the government to resolve the disputes. For example, Dagestan simply shifted the lands to the republican reserve but their status has not been determined yet. The republic's authorities and functionaries are not working on the problem, though it may carry serious political repercussions.
Constantine Kazenin, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of REGNUM, believes that the North Caucasus has four basic problems.
First. Lack of legal market turnover of agricultural lands. This is due to the band on privatization, introduced in all republics of the North Caucasian Federal District, except Karachay-Cherkessia in 2002, when the federal law allowed regions to set their own date for privatization. Repercussions can be seen today, businesscomplications of farm economies, financial losses from expensive land leasing.
Second. Very unclear legal status of lands brings alternate legal systems in land use. For example, two village communities in Dagestan, a mountain community and one living on the plans, ignored all procedures of the republic's legislature, signed a deal with each other at a mosque and regulate all issues of using the lands. There is no ideology, it is just an attempt to find an easier system for land relations. But chaotic appearance of such parallel legal system is a state problem.
Third. Unsettled land problems that occurred from Stalin's deportations and return of inhabitants from deportation. Usually it concerns the Prigorodny District North Ossetia. The land problem there is two-level: the problem of borders and provision of land for Ingush inhabitants. In other words, it is not a purely land problem but is, first of all, a problem of returning forced migrants, which includes a set of humanitarian issues.
Fourth. The ideological nature of land problems by local scientists and public organizations. Adding the ethnic aspect to land disputes is very risky. Sometimes it is caused by minor problems. For example, a republic of the North Caucasus has recently been forming new municipal districts, but at the same time some ended up in different districts. Pastures of about 500 hectares have not been resolved in the last 20 years. The new border simply cut a village from disputed land. The dispute escalated instantly, the land moved not just to a different village, but to a different district. In this case there is a risk of filling this dispute with the ethnic aspect.
