Experts are still commenting on the second election article by the candidate for the presidency of Russia Vladimir Putin, headlined “Russia: the nationality issue.” Yesterday the head of the Duma committee on nationalities’ issues, Gadjimet Safaraliyev, expressed his point of view on interethnic relations.
One of the important aspects touched on in Putin’s article concerns internal migration. We have internal migration, but its level isn’t very high – no higher than in other countries. Some media structures exaggerate this level, and it seems that most migrants are from the North Caucasus. This is connected with the unemployment problem. However, it is important to remember about internal migration and mobility of the population. These notions are connected with each other. If there is no internal migration, it will weaken the economy. In Soviet times – construction of Baikal-Amur Railway and Norilsk Nikel – everything was organized as a call. Specialists of various nationalities gathered, and concentrations of highly-skilled populations took place in certain directions, thus, economic problems were settled.
Vladimir Vladimirovich is right to say that in the regions, where there is outflow, the economy should be developed. A person wouldn’t move anywhere if he has favorable conditions at home. At the same time, it is important to use the potential of the heavily populated North Caucasus in the solution of such economic problems as construction of major facilities and new land development.
Internal migration is connected with internal tourism. By developing internal tourism we enable people to learn the culture and customs of regions where they have never been. We know Turkey, the Middle East and Europe well, but we know Far East, Siberia and some regions of the European part of Russia very poorly. We involved the Association of Tourist Operators of Russia, Russian State University for Tourism and Service and some other organizations in a round table discussion, which enabled us to define ways of solving two problems: development of tourism and improvement of inter-ethnic understanding.
As the Caucasus region is mentioned in many plans of the Ministry of Regional Development, our committee agreed to hold a joint session in Makhachkala in June with the Public Assembly of Dagestan. This session will be devoted to inter-ethnic and inter-cultural communication, prevention of terrorism and extremism. On the one hand Dagestan has an acute problem of security, but Dagestan and other republics of the North Caucasus have a lot of positive experiences in the sphere of long peaceful living of many peoples.
There is an idea of developing a law which would control the ethnic policy of the state. Many targets have been defined in Putin’s article, and they form a clear system, which could be corrected and become the basis for a law on ethnic policy.
Commenting on the behavior of migrants from the North Caucasus, Safaraliyev said that either fools or provocateurs dance the lezghinka on Manezhnaya Square: “Nobody dances the lezghinka in the streets in the Caucasus, except for on demonstrations or celebrating. The same thing concerns sheep slaughtering. There is a law, which forbids doing it anywhere except special places. Laws should be obeyed, offenders should be punished. At the same time, Russian songs are sometimes sung in Makhachkala, and it is alright. The point is human relations. Each ethnic group has its own traditions, which should be respected if you are a guest.”
