Interview by Vestnik Kavkaza
The Sochi Olympics overstepped its "equator". Vestnik Kavkaza launches the project "The Caucasian vector of the Olympic Sochi." The project will include the publicatiotn of a series of interviews with experts and representatives of Diaspora structures. These interviews are supposed to reflect the impact that the Olympics had on the people living in the Caucasus region, as well as the possible social, cultural and poliitical effect of the Olympics.
The first material is devoted to the relevant "Circassian issue", which on the eve of the Olympic Games was the topic of a broad public debate, with the active participation of foreign Circassians. Vestnik Kavkaza interviewed Nikolai Silaev, director of the Noncommercial Partnership "Caucasus cooperation", the author of the analytical report "Ethnicity and Politics in the North Caucasus: Circassian issue".
- Before the Olympics a few Circassian organizations protested gainst holding the Olympics in the territory where the Circassians allegedly were subjected to "genocide" during the Caucasus War. Is this slogan popular in the Circassian community, or is this story artificially fomented in the media?
- It is important to separate the two subjects. The first one concerns the assessment of the Caucasus War in the North-West Caucasus. The second aspect is the attitude towards the Olympics. As for the former, the interpretation of the Caucasus war as genocide of Circassians is common among ethnic Circassians. In the early 1990s, the parliaments of Adygea and Kabardino-Balkaria adopted resolutions declaring the Caucasus war to have been a genocide.Historical representation of the tragedy became part of the ethnic identity of the Circassians. Another thing is that among the Circassian activists there are different points of view on how to deal with these ideas now. Some people believe that they need to be developed and strengthened, trying to seek recognition of the Caucasian War as genocide both in Russia and abroad.Others note that the Circassians do not tend to present themselves as victims, that the promotion of the theme of genocide does not help solve the problems faced by ethnic movement.
The attitude to the Olympics is also part of these disputes. Indeed, some Circassian organizations and ethnic activists - a smaller part of them - have been against the Olympics in Sochi. But among the activists, there are other approaches. For example, to support the Olympics and to ensure that the Circassian component be included in the Olympic cultural program.
Ethnic entrepreneurs are always active in the symbolic sphere, and, of course, they regarded the Olympics as a chance to confirm their version of historical memory.This is, first of all, the memory of the eviction of Circassians from the North-West Caucasus, about the history of their resistance to the Russian Empire. If you allow me to say that, they want to make Sochi Circassian symbolically. This desire faced another symbolic policy - when Sochi appears as a large modern cosmopolitan city in the thriving, prosperous Krasnodar Territory - then this is the story of transformation of malarial swamps in a subtropical resort.As a result, the opening ceremony of the Olympics was about something else, it wasn't devoted to the venue where the Olympics are being held, but to the whole of Russia as the host country.
In my opinion, the supporters of "Circassian genocide" topic underestimate its destructive potential. Let's remember the Istanbul rally against the Olympics. I quote the "Caucasus Knot", maybe they got it wrong. It said: "Those who were able to commit genocide have no right to host the Olympics." In other words - it is not the Russian Empire but today's Russia who is charged with genocide. Yes, Russian Circassian activists do emphasize that we are talking only about the empire, but nobody in the world would be interested in such details. And the eventual picture will shove the collective responsibility on the Russians. One ethnic group as a collective executioner, any other one as a collective victim - such a political interpretation of the past is directly opposed to the ideal of a civic nation and democratic state in Russia.
- What attitude to the Olympics is more common among the Circassians?
- Talking about the recent protests against the Olympics, in Nalchik, on the opening day of the Olympics 30 people came out with the slogan "Sochi is the land of genocide". In Istanbul, a few hundred. In the United States - a few people. In my opinion, it is, especially the Istanbul protest (since there the small number of protesters can't be explained through the pressure of the Russian authorities) shows that the majority of Circassians approve of the Olympics, or are indifferent to them.
The Circassian component is represented in the cultural program of the Olympic Games. In Sochi there is the "House of Adygea", representatives of foreign Circassian diaspora came there.I suspect that they were no less numerous than the protesters in Nalchik. They met with Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Kozak and Krasnodar Territory Governor Alexander Tkachev.And they were important people in the Diaspora. Among them were, for instace, Adviser to the Prime Minister of Jordan, activists and leaders of Circassian charity communities of Syria and Jordan.As far as I know, their assessment of what they saw are very, very positive.And it seems to me that it isn't quite correct for the authors of some publications to try to deny these people's right to represent the Circassian diaspora.Who is the Diaspora then, if not them?
- How did Circassian activists perceive the opening ceremony of the Olympics?
- Until the last moment there was the intrigue about whether the Circassian component would be presented in the opening ceremony. It was presented, but inside the theme of Russian ethnic diversity - remember, at the beginning of the ceremony on the stage were representatives of the peoples of Russia in national costumes? I think because the opening ceremony was not about Sochi as the venue for the Olympics, and not about the Caucasus, where Sochi belongs geographically. It was about Russia as a whole. As Russia sees itself and how it wants to be seen by others. It was a very bright, open image, it was full of deep sense. Maybe for some part of the Circassian community no special mention of the Circassian past of Sochi was offensive.But I would like to ask: don't we risk losing the whole, seeking to promote the "components"? Is the whole valuable for all of us? Do we want to have it? Or do we prefer to see Russia as some kind of mechanical and random collection of ethnic communities, and we don't want Tolstoy or Rodchenko?
The episode with the Argonauts in the clip in the show opening called criticism since it refers to the past of Sochi, but ignores the Circassian history of these places. And it's not the first time the Argonauts appear in the context of the Sochi Olympics. First, Putin spoke of them in Guatemala, at the presentation of Russia's bid in 2007. Then there was the episode with the ancient Greek amphorae, which he took from the bottom of the Black Sea. Circassian activists'reaction to this has always been very painful. In my opinion, the repetition of this story, which is controversial from a historical perspective (there is a dominating version that the Argonauts landed at the mouth of the Rioni, in modern Georgia), doesn't show the perseverance of the Olympic Games organizers in the misleading, nor their desire to hurt Circassian historical consciousness. The only thing it demonstrates is a certain concept of symbolic politics. Namely, the desire to emphasize the connection of Russia with the European antique heritage. They want to emphasize the European essence of Russia. The style of this statement is playful and postmodern, but it's content is exactly about that.
- How influential are Circassian ethnic organizations such as the International Circassian Association? If there is a political debate inside the Circassian movement, is it possible to expect that new leaders will appear?
- Here it is essential to mention one thing. It was not my idea and my observation, this observation and thought belong to Oleg Mikhailovich Tsvetkov, he lives and works in Maikop in the Southern Scientific Center of Russian Academy of Sciences. It would be wrong to think that the agenda of the activists is shared by the majority of ethnic Circassians. First and foremost, they are concerned about the same things as most Russian citizens: work, family, education for children, health. Yes, the majority of ethnic Circassians shares exactly the history concept promoted by Circassian activists. For the majority of Circassians, their ethnicity is important - for a reason no Kabardin wedding is complete without the Circassian flag with three arrows and twelve stars on a green background. But there will be no ethnic mobilization under political slogans. Notable were the results of the campaign announced by the International Circassian organization during the last census in 2010. When all Circassians of the RF - Kabardians, Adygeans, Shapsugs - were called to record their ethnicity as "Circassian" to show that it is a single people with a common destiny. Census data allow to estimate indirectly how many people responded to this campaign - by comparing the number of Circassians in Kabardino-Balkaria and Adygea. In Kabardino-Balkaria, between the two censuses, the number of people who recorded themselves as Circassians, grew from 725 people to 2465 people, that is, about a thousand people more. In Adygea - from 642 to 2651 people person, so two thousand more. Hence, the campaign had a result because it is difficult to imagine such a natural increase in eight years. But this result was limited, because these numbers are small compared with the total array of the Kabardian (almost 500 thousand people.) And Adyghe (more than 100 thousand people) population.
The Circassian ethnic movement has passed several stages of organization. Many new organizations created in the middle of the last decade, when there was a noisy debate about the accession of Adygea to the Krasnodar Territory, when the prospect of the Sochi Olympics first appeared. Many of them claimed to universal status - "Circassian congress", "Worldwide Circassian Brotherhood." But all these attempts to oust the International Circassian Association and regional Adyghe Khasa failed.As a result, the main institutiona\s of the movement remained the organizations established at the turn of 1980-1990s. They are the ones who keep in touch with regional and federal authorities, with universities, with the Circassian diaspora. Within the movement they have an opposition that regularly declares that the "old" organizations depend on the authorities. But we must admit that the movement as a whole depends on the state - its main political and other resources are provided by the regional administrations of KBR and Adygea, as well as by the state universities. So this argument isn't convincing enough.
- What is the role of federal agencies that are incharge of implementing national policies, in conjunction with the Circassian organizations?
- We have no Federal Ministry for ethnic policy, thank God. The corresponding department of the Ministry of regional development, as far as I see, is not actively engaged in this issue.But as for the efforts of the MFA and Rossotrudnichestvo, as well as Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, they were very noticeable and, in my opinion, very efficient.They constantly kept in touch with the Circassian diaspora. Russian embassies in the host countries of the Diaspora, especially in Jordan, Rossotrudnichestvo has been organizing conferences, meetings, language classes and other cultural projects.And they worked together with the administrations of the Russian regions inhabited by Circassians. As for recent results - Kabardino-Balkaria State University received over a hundred ethnic Circassian students from Syria. Talks about the fact that Russia is losing its credibility among the Circassian Diaspora are based either on incorrect assumptions or the ignorance of the facts. The facts suggest otherwise.Another thing is that behind this process there were many Circassian activists, who may have hoped that the authorities would rely on them in this aspect. But the authorities have preferred other channels, and it must have disappointed many of them.
