Interview by Editor-in-Chief of Vestnik Kavkaza, Maria Sidelnikova, Grozny-Moscow
The Caucasus Peacekeeping Forum Interregional Association of Public Unities has been operating in Chechnya for years. Its goals hardly differ from those of other similar organizations, it wants to achieve peace and consent in the Caucasus, form a tolerant mentality, strengthen interethnic and interreligious peace. Timur Gaurgayev, the chairman of the board of the Forum, has described the unique Caucasus Peacekeeping Forum in an interview with Editor-in-Chief of Vestnik Kavkaza Maria Sidelnikova.
- Timur, you are realizing projects of cultural developments of Caucasus peoples as part of pan-Russian and world culture, fostering the revival of the historical traditions of good-neighbourliness between Caucasus peoples, developing dialogue between the cultures of the peoples of the Caucasus and all Russia. What makes you different from all other organizations working in these sectors?
- A group of like-minded people united by our organization was formed in 2009. Certain work was done to assist in the resolution of problematic issues of representatives of Chechen diasporas, especially of Kist Chechens living on the territory of Georgia. The problems started arising after the events of 2008, when combat was taking place on the territory of South Ossetia. Diplomatic relations between Georgia and the Russian Federation broke off after that. Representatives of the Kist diaspora started experiencing problems with crossing the state border, their presence on the territory of the Chechen republic, the problem was especially acute for citizens of Georgia.
In 2010, while solving the problems practically, a group of like-minded people decided to officially register our organization. We decided to call ourselves the Caucasus Peacekeeping Forum, stipulating that we will also engage in a peacekeeping mission on all post-conflict territories of the Caucasus Region. We have been functioning as a legal body since March 2010. Since 2013 we have opened our offices on the territories of the Republic of Dagestan, the Republic of Ingushetia and Stavropol Territory, we gained interregional status.
- As I understand, the biggest achievements of your organization are work with Kist Chechens. Give me more details about the work.
- Since 2009, before the official registration, we put efforts into helping Kist Chechens. They were hostages in the political situation formed in Georgia, for example, in terms of free movement. They had problems with receiving visas and so on. We made several visits to the territory of the Pankisi Gorge, tried to make contacts with public organizations and influential representatives of the Georgian public. We found most understanding from elders of the Pankisi Gorge. We took part in various international conferences and seminars, including some organized by non-governmental organizations of Georgia, and voiced our need for development of cultural, humanitarian, scientific, other contacts with the community.
In principle, we found positive responses, but sadly, we have not practically progressed with representatives of Georgian non-governmental organizations in solving the problems, other than by making declarations. We raised the issue of cultural representation of the Chechen Republic on the territory of Georgia many times, taking into account the fact that a large Chechen diaspora was living in the Pankisi Gorge. We proposed opening either a cultural center of the Chechen Republic, or an office of our organization or any other form of representation in Georgia. But, unfortunately, due to certain political relations, due to the breaking off of diplomatic relations, our efforts did not produce the result we had expected.
But we will continue working in this direction. The process has not stopped. We are in constant contact with the healthy part of our Kist Chechen diaspora. We hope that the issues would be solved more productively, more qualitatively, and we have big hopes revolving around the fact that healthy political forces that changed our rhetoric in relations with Russia have come to power on the territory of Georgia. We will hope that it will have a positive impact on our organization.
- How interested is Grozny in contacts with Chechens living on the territory of Grozny?
- The authorities of the republic do show serious interest in all representatives of Chechen communities. Unsurprisingly, many migrants have returned to the homeland and become active participants in the political life of our republic in the last 14 years. They are represented in public organizations, ministries, agencies, the Muslim Administration. It is a concrete, practical result.
- What is the opinion of the Georgian authorities about your work? Is there any response?
- I do not know about the ratings of our work from the Georgian authorities, because our contacts have been made at the level of non-governmental organizations and in the form of public diplomacy.
Unfortunately, for certain reasons I have not left Georgian territory for a long time, but I expect that my contacts would be resumed and continued. At the same time, I do not think that we need to limit ourselves to the diaspora on the territory of Georgia, because there are very many Chechen communities, they are in countries of Europe, a very big Chechen diaspora can be found in Turkey. We have recently received guests from Turkey, they were representatives of our people, but they knew the Chechen language very poorly.
- Your organization is non-governmental too. Does someone support you?
- We have formed the closest contacts with the regional public organization Optimum and its chairman Ruslan Akhmayev. We have mostly been in tandem with the organization. Optimum is also a co-founder of our association.
And Ruslan Akhmayev, I consider him an active public figure, was of great help in resolving the most complicated tasks. He is a very principled man who does not spare time or efforts to resolve the problems of the diaspora. He works a lot, which includes development of contacts with the Republic of Dagestan, resolutions of problematic issues of Akkin Chechens.
- How many Chechens live on the territory of Georgia?
- According to our data, about 15,000 people, including refugees from the CR, live on the territory of Georgia at the moment. The number of Chechens was initially many times greater. The majority either returned to the CR or went to other countries through Georgia.
- Why is working with the people living there so important?
- My ancestors are natives of the Pankisi Gorge. I could not remain indifferent to the faith of Kist Chechens, because they were people close to me.
- And what projects do you plan?
- We have very many fresh ideas. We want to realize a set of projects aimed at rapprochement of Chechen communities and their historical homeland. We plan to gain support from representatives of the business community, so that they would provide us with material assistance. Negotiations on the issue have been ongoing. We are also working in close contact with authoritative representatives of different Chechen communities and diasporas abroad, with which we have planned meetings to reach maximum communication with the historical homeland.
We want to meet with representatives of different Chechen communities abroad and try to organize such meetings on the territory of the Chechen Republic, to reach maximum communication of Chechen communities and Chechen diasporas with their historical homeland.
Interview by Editor-in-Chief of Vestnik Kavkaza, Maria Sidelnikova, Grozny-MoscowThe Caucasus Peacekeeping Forum Interregional Association of Public Unities has been operating in Chechnya for years. Its goals hardly differ from those of other similar organizations, it wants to achieve peace and consent in the Caucasus, form a tolerant mentality, strengthen interethnic and interreligious peace. Timur Gaurgayev, the chairman of the board of the Forum, has described the unique Caucasus Peacekeeping Forum in an interview with Editor-in-Chief of Vestnik Kavkaza Maria Sidelnikova.- Timur, you are realizing projects of cultural developments of Caucasus peoples as part of pan-Russian and world culture, fostering the revival of the historical traditions of good-neighbourliness between Caucasus peoples, developing dialogue between the cultures of the peoples of the Caucasus and all Russia. What makes you different from all other organizations working in these sectors?- A group of like-minded people united by our organization was formed in 2009. Certain work was done to assist in the resolution of problematic issues of representatives of Chechen diasporas, especially of Kist Chechens living on the territory of Georgia. The problems started arising after the events of 2008, when combat was taking place on the territory of South Ossetia. Diplomatic relations between Georgia and the Russian Federation broke off after that. Representatives of the Kist diaspora started experiencing problems with crossing the state border, their presence on the territory of the Chechen republic, the problem was especially acute for citizens of Georgia.In 2010, while solving the problems practically, a group of like-minded people decided to officially register our organization. We decided to call ourselves the Caucasus Peacekeeping Forum, stipulating that we will also engage in a peacekeeping mission on all post-conflict territories of the Caucasus Region. We have been functioning as a legal body since March 2010. Since 2013 we have opened our offices on the territories of the Republic of Dagestan, the Republic of Ingushetia and Stavropol Territory, we gained interregional status.- As I understand, the biggest achievements of your organization are work with Kist Chechens. Give me more details about the work.- Since 2009, before the official registration, we put efforts into helping Kist Chechens. They were hostages in the political situation formed in Georgia, for example, in terms of free movement. They had problems with receiving visas and so on. We made several visits to the territory of the Pankisi Gorge, tried to make contacts with public organizations and influential representatives of the Georgian public. We found most understanding from elders of the Pankisi Gorge. We took part in various international conferences and seminars, including some organized by non-governmental organizations of Georgia, and voiced our need for development of cultural, humanitarian, scientific, other contacts with the community.In principle, we found positive responses, but sadly, we have not practically progressed with representatives of Georgian non-governmental organizations in solving the problems, other than by making declarations. We raised the issue of cultural representation of the Chechen Republic on the territory of Georgia many times, taking into account the fact that a large Chechen diaspora was living in the Pankisi Gorge. We proposed opening either a cultural center of the Chechen Republic, or an office of our organization or any other form of representation in Georgia. But, unfortunately, due to certain political relations, due to the breaking off of diplomatic relations, our efforts did not produce the result we had expected.But we will continue working in this direction. The process has not stopped. We are in constant contact with the healthy part of our Kist Chechen diaspora. We hope that the issues would be solved more productively, more qualitatively, and we have big hopes revolving around the fact that healthy political forces that changed our rhetoric in relations with Russia have come to power on the territory of Georgia. We will hope that it will have a positive impact on our organization.- How interested is Grozny in contacts with Chechens living on the territory of Grozny?- The authorities of the republic do show serious interest in all representatives of Chechen communities. Unsurprisingly, many migrants have returned to the homeland and become active participants in the political life of our republic in the last 14 years. They are represented in public organizations, ministries, agencies, the Muslim Administration. It is a concrete, practical result.- What is the opinion of the Georgian authorities about your work? Is there any response?- I do not know about the ratings of our work from the Georgian authorities, because our contacts have been made at the level of non-governmental organizations and in the form of public diplomacy.Unfortunately, for certain reasons I have not left Georgian territory for a long time, but I expect that my contacts would be resumed and continued. At the same time, I do not think that we need to limit ourselves to the diaspora on the territory of Georgia, because there are very many Chechen communities, they are in countries of Europe, a very big Chechen diaspora can be found in Turkey. We have recently received guests from Turkey, they were representatives of our people, but they knew the Chechen language very poorly.- Your organization is non-governmental too. Does someone support you?- We have formed the closest contacts with the regional public organization Optimum and its chairman Ruslan Akhmayev. We have mostly been in tandem with the organization. Optimum is also a co-founder of our association.And Ruslan Akhmayev, I consider him an active public figure, was of great help in resolving the most complicated tasks. He is a very principled man who does not spare time or efforts to resolve the problems of the diaspora. He works a lot, which includes development of contacts with the Republic of Dagestan, resolutions of problematic issues of Akkin Chechens.- How many Chechens live on the territory of Georgia?- According to our data, about 15,000 people, including refugees from the CR, live on the territory of Georgia at the moment. The number of Chechens was initially many times greater. The majority either returned to the CR or went to other countries through Georgia.- Why is working with the people living there so important?- My ancestors are natives of the Pankisi Gorge. I could not remain indifferent to the faith of Kist Chechens, because they were people close to me.- And what projects do you plan?- We have very many fresh ideas. We want to realize a set of projects aimed at rapprochement of Chechen communities and their historical homeland. We plan to gain support from representatives of the business community, so that they would provide us with material assistance. Negotiations on the issue have been ongoing. We are also working in close contact with authoritative representatives of different Chechen communities and diasporas abroad, with which we have planned meetings to reach maximum communication with the historical homeland.We want to meet with representatives of different Chechen communities abroad and try to organize such meetings on the territory of the Chechen Republic, to reach maximum communication of Chechen communities and Chechen diasporas with their historical homel
