Ilyas Umakhanov "Hajj mission of Russia is one of the best"

Interview by Vladimir Nesterov. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza

The Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council, Senator from Dagestan Ilyas Umakhanov, spoke to Vestnik Kavkaza about parliamentary cooperation with the Syrian Republic, as well as about preparations for Hajj this year.

- Hello, Ilyas Mohammed Salamovich. Recently in the individual republics, the former states of the Soviet Union, not only abroad, we can see a deliberate distortion of facts related to the history of the Great Patriotic War and the history of World War II. It was systematic work of certain non-profit organizations, non-governmental structures, certain Western countries which sponsored history textbooks in order to roughly cover the events, or in a very abridged version. Well, I'm sure that most of this generation during the last 20 years was brought up with a completely different perception of history. I'm sure if Ukraine had asked young people "who won World War II?" they would answer that the Americans did. Is there a similar problem in Russia? Do we need a unified history textbook of Russian history?

- You know, I'll start from another thing. You spoke about distortions, in this case in relation to Ukraine. Certainly, it does not mean that we went to bed last night, and then woke up, and then everything had changed. It was deliberate work, this work is continuing today. Unfortunately, the gap between the generations of historical memory turns the people into the population. This is what we can observe today in Ukraine.

There is no vacuum in the world. And as soon as a vacuum is formed, be sure that a worldview comes and occupies value orientations. It is probably that we as a whole society, Russian society, which is tied to Ukraine by thousands of related threads, historical strands. But at some stage we missed something. But I won’t go into details. I mean what is happening in our society today. It seems to me that we need such a common history textbook. But not for the reason that we have some concerns about the fact that the ideology of fascism can be reborn in a certain region of the Russian Federation, although we do remember that speaking about a vacuum, there were such kinds of manifestations in the 90s. And during that time the legislative branch made more than a hundred legal acts in order to change the laws and toughen them on the one hand, but on the other hand, to prevent these kinds of manifestations.

And I think that first of all it is necessary to watch the ‘‘Immortal Regiment’’. This is a textbook of life, this is a history book, this is a tutorial, which, of course, is in the minds of our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and it will always remain.

This kind of spiritual increase of people must be supported every day, starting from school up to higher education institutions. On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin held a joint meeting of the two councils under the President on Interethnic Relations and the Russian language. And a number of considerations were discussed, not only about history, sometimes even about the Russian language, which should be a secondary theme through the entire system of education. And the same story, because history is roots, spirituality, a moral core around which people can unite.

- Let's talk about other topics. In particular about preparations for Hajj. How is it going? And how many Muslims will be able to visit Saudi Arabia this year? Has the quota changed for the people in Russian Federation?

It's not a completely different topic. This is the same one. This is the theme of spirituality, because sometimes Hajj is perceived as distinctive and specialized tourism. It has nothing in common with tourism. Hajj is one of the pillars of Islam, a sacred duty and a great honor for each muslim. He should perform Hajj at least once in his life. Therefore, Muslims in Russia, the largest Muslim empire, a multinational, multi-religious power, where representatives of different faiths feel very comfortable. So, Muslims have such a reverent attitude towards Hajj. It is important that the country provides all possible assistance to our pilgrims and allows them to feel as comfortable as possible.

I will mention one figure, from 1945 to 1990 in the Soviet Union, I underline, Hajj was performed by only about 900 people. Nearly 20 people a year performed Hajj. Today, we are sending 20,500 people annually. The number began to increase from 1992-1993, when there was the first large part of pilgrims, about 1000-1500 people, and then the number continued increasing.

In last year and the year before, the figure has been a bit lower, that is why the Saudi authorities decided to cut quotas for all states without exception. But mostly for their own citizens, the quota is 20% due to the fact that there is a reconstruction of the main mosque of the Haram and the surrounding infrastructure. I think in a year or two we will be at the level of 16-17 thousand people. Further, I think that the number will increase as the reconstruction is associated with the need to increase the capacity.

Preparations for Hajj are taking place according to the approved plan. We have developed a scheme, according to which we do this. I think that at this stage we have reached very good results, because for the past three years, the Russian Hajj Mission is described by the leadership of Saudi Arabia as one of the best organizations in respect of the quality of service on timeliness, organization, discipline of pilgrims. We virtually have had no incidents in the three years, and, Inshallah, we will avoid them this year.

- Certainly, this year Muslims of Crimea, as in the past year, can take part in the Hajj.

Yes, it's an interesting story, an interesting page, because whenever we have heard accusations that occur on infringement of the Crimean Tatars, and so on and so forth, I bring them a very simple example. Last year 200 people, instead of 70-80, Muslims of Crimea, mainly Crimean Tatars, had an opportunity to visit as members of the Russian Hajj mission. I met with the Mufti, he was very grateful. He said that he had never felt so comfortable for all the history of the pilgrimage. Why not mention the fact that wr managed to involve public structures and sponsors in order to provide a preferential price for members of the Republic of Crimea. Being a part of the Hajj missions, they performed Hajj for the first time. This year we are preparing, citizens are interested in Hajj, and we will try our best to justify their hopes.

- Because of the events in Ukraine, the Syrian events were not covered by mass media in full measure. How these contacts are intense with the Arab Republic in respect of the parliamentary sphere.

-You know, the events in Syria are probably not entirely in the background. Certainly, the bedlam that is taking place in Ukraine quite overshadowed everything that happens to ISIS. And the Western media somehow begin to forget about the Syrian leadership, though the Russian Federation had warned about this, saying that peace and stability in Syria is a guarantee that this ‘‘fire’’ would not spill over to other countries and would not cover vast territories. What we can see today: militants are encouraged against the legitimate leadership of Syria, the legitimate President. Some forces believed they could manage them. The same situation occurred in Afghanistan, now it is repeating itself a second time. Certainly, the situation in Syria is the focus of the Russian leadership, we do not break off our parliamentary contacts, and to do it not only bilaterally, but also use the opportunity of our delegation, and stay within the Inter-Parliamentary Union, in the context of the Asian Parliamentary Conference. Just recently, we were members of a delegation to Morocco headed by Valentina Matvienko. Issues were discussed with the leadership of the country related to the situation in Syria, near the country, as well as the opposition of this terrorist hydra, which can cover and blow up the entire Middle East.

- Ilyas Mohammed Salamovich, we thank you for finding some time to receive us and answer our questions. Thank you so much.