Monitoring of the Condition of Ethnic Minorities in the Krasnodar Territory. Autumn 2003/Winter 2003-04

Kurds

If we take the figures on the ethnic structure of the population of the Krasnodar territory given by the territorial committee for state statistics as of January 1, 2002 (Mass Media and Interethnic Relations in the Krasnodar Territory. Edited by V. Artiukhina and Ya. Lobastova - Krasnodar, 2003. - P. 42), we will be surprised to see that Kurds, like, however, Meskhetian Turks, Khemshilis, Koreans and Assyrians, are not mentioned in the list at all. In spite of that, Kurd leaders estimate about seventeen thousand live in the Adygei Republic and Krasnodar territory. This figure includes both Muslim Kurds and Yazidis. The Yazidis (their self-name is Yezdi) make a special ethnic and denominational community. They speak the Kurmanji dialect which is also used by a substantial party of the Muslim Kurds. The similarity of their cultures, as well as a common language, has allowed a number of researchers to consider the Yazidis a sub-ethnic division of Kurds. However, the Yazidis most often consider themselves an entirely independent ethnicity.

There are two registered Kurdish public organizations in the territory: the Society of Kurdish Culture in Memory of Ahmed Khani and the Media ethnic and cultural autonomy [so named after Media, an ancient Middle East kingdom - trans.]. Organizationally, these two make a part of the Ethnic Cultures Center based in Krasnodar. The best-known organization is presently the Media ethnic and cultural autonomy that has existed since 1998 as a territorial organization pursuing the goal of protecting the interests of both the Muslim Kurds and the Yazidis. It has affiliates in the districts of Krymsk, Goriachii Kliuch and Kalininskaia; in Anapa, Sochi, Apsheronsk and Korenovsk. There was an affiliate in Adygeia until recently, but connection to it has been lost presently. The problem of communication between different Kurdish communities is urgent even within the Krasnodar territory, though. This is first of all linked with limited funding sources: the territory is large, the roads are long, and the fare is high.

Local Kurdish press is not published in the Krasnodar territory, but nationwide Kurdish newspapers and magazines are distributed among community members. There are no Kurdish schools in the territory, either.

As a certain problem, the people surveyed note difficulties connected with the impossibility to perform traditional rites and other cultural practices in full. For the most part, however, satisfactory ways to solve these difficulties can be found. Thus, the Krasnodar territory Yazidis had to bury their dead in Apsheronsk until recently, while it takes about three hours to get there from Krasnodar. This need existed because complete observation of funeral rites was possible only there. After a series of addresses from the territorial Kurdish Media ethnic and cultural autonomy, four years ago the Krasnodar administration provided the Yazidis with a plot of land at the city cemetery sized ten thousand square meters. However, the administration did not give permission to build a religious structure that would serve as a place for prayers at the cemetery. The decision was motivated by possible discontent on the part of the Cossacks.

Unfortunately, discrimination in the Krasnodar territory is most often aimed against Kurds. It is very difficult to obtain a certificate of birth for a child or a passport, even for those children who are born in the territory, according to the people surveyed. Hence, there are difficulties with getting a job, entering vocational schools or higher education institution and moving inside and outside the territory. No such problems usually arise with school certificates. There are a series of cases when young men without Russian citizenship were called up but were not granted citizenship even when their service in the Russian Armed Forces was over.

Like many Khemshilis, those Kurds whose surnames end in "-ogly" try to remove it, currently. This is because representatives of the executive clearly associate persons with such surnames with Turks, which implies quite a few negative consequences. By the way, Meskhetians themselves have no surnames with this ending.

No attacks on Kurds on the part of Cossacks have been registered over the past year, although such cases were quite frequent previously.

A relatively big number of Kurds live in Plantirovskaia, Korenovsk district, making about one hundred and sixty families. Most of them came from Armenia in 1988 because of the grave economic situation in the republic. That time, they had no troubles with registration in the Krasnodar territory, according to the people surveyed. The arrivals were registered practically at once. Difficulties with registration in residence started to arise in 1992. As a result, the situation is that most Kurds from Armenia have registration, while re-settlers from Middle Asia have troubles with obtaining it. At the same time, as one of the people surveyed said, "A Kurd is a Kurd as to their legal status, no difference is made between them; they all are persecuted, both from Transcaucasia and Middle Asia. No one bothers who is from where."

Therefore, the main problem mentioned by the people surveyed is that many have no registration in residence. Cases are frequent when the husband is registered, while his wife is not registered to him or vice versa. Even Russian citizenship and registration in the neighboring regions such as Kalmykia, the Rostov region and Stavropol territory do not always imply that there will be no difficulties with registration in residence in the Krasnodar territory. Thus, the sister of one of the people surveyed wanted to move to him with her husband and children who were registered in Kalmykia. In spite that the living area even exceeded the required standards and all papers were in order, officials continued to refuse to allow the resettlement. They explained it with having no jurisdiction over this matter and said the applicants had to apply to superior, territorial agencies. What is the need for local government then if they have no jurisdiction?

There is an entire generation of young people already who have no papers at all. They were still under age to obtain Soviet passports, and Russian passports are not given to them. Register offices refuse to register marriages without papers, so sheikhs begin to fulfill that function. Children in such families have troubles obtaining certificates of birth, and if they do, they are recorded with their mothers' surnames. That is, an entire segment of people is being created who have no papers at all and are therefore disqualified from society and destined to solve all problems only inside their own small group.

The attitude to Kurds has grown better under the current government in the Korenovsk district, in the opinion of the people surveyed. Statements by local Cossacks continue to have anti-Kurdish attitudes, though. The accusations are typical, like with regard to Meskhetian Turks: criminality, drug addiction, rapes. Community members applied to the Korenovsk prosecutor's office in 1997 with a written inquiry about the number of crimes committed by Kurds. There was a written reply that indicated that the prosecutor's office had not registered a single case of criminal offence committed by Kurds and that there were only administrative offences. Another, quite frequent, accusation is that Kurds do not want to serve in the army. However, only four of the thirty-two Kurds of military age in Plantirovskaia have registration in residence. The rest are simply deprived of the opportunity to have any relations with the Russian Defense Ministry at all.

Shapsugs

The past six months have seen plenty of both socio-political and mass culture events.

A meeting of the international roundtable titled "Conflicts in the North Caucasus and Ways to Resolve Them" occurred in Lazarevskoe, Sochi, on September 19. Lazarevskoe itself became the finishing point of the action. Rostov-on-Don had hosted the discussion on September 17 and Goriachii Kliuch on September 18. Organized by the North Caucasus Academy of Civil Service and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (Germany), the forum gathered more than one hundred researchers from various Russian regions developing problems of conflict science. Majid Chachukh, chairman of the public parliament of the Black Sea Shapsug Adyghs, delivered a speech about the "problem of preserving the unique environment of the Black Sea area which, above all, has from of old been the habitat of the native minority ethnicity of the region" and about the need to create actual mechanisms for the implementation of the rights of the Shapsugs [formerly an Adygh tribe, Shapsugs make a part of the Adyghs presently - trans.] at regional and municipal levels.

On September 29 and 30, the official delegation of the Adyge Khase of the Black Sea Shapsugs took part in a workshop and meeting of chairs of the representative government agencies (legislatures) of Russian regions in Dagomys, Krasnodar territory. The event was devoted to the problem of legislative support for the implementation of government ethnic policy. A roundtable on the following subject was held as part of the workshop: "Problems of the implementation of legislation in the area of interethnic relations in the Russian Federation." Members of the Shapsug delegation raised the issue of implementing federal legislation on aboriginal minority ethnicities at regional and local levels, which is urgent to them.

The delegation of the Adyge Khase of the Black Sea Shapsugs took part on October 3 in the celebration in Maikop, Adygei Republic, of the twelfth anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Adygeia.

It should be noted that the issue of anniversaries is highly urgent to the Shapsugs who interpret them by far not unambiguously, which results in numerous discussions. They criticize the practice of conducting festivities in connection with anniversaries of community areas situated on the native territory of the Shapsug Adyghs when the moment of establishment or, more precisely, institution by Russian government in the course of the Caucasian war is taken as the starting point. This approach ignores the existence of those settlements before that territory was annexed by the Russian Empire. The Shapsugs believe it a manifestation of colonialism when they are denied their own history and the development of the area is solely linked with the arrival of Russian administration here. The point of view is often expressed that it would be more correct presently to speak simply about celebrating the day of some or other city or town without tying it to any particular date in the past.

The opening on October 24 of the official Shapsug website, Shapsugia, at www.shapsug.ru can be viewed as one of the remarkable events in 2003. The website was set up and is run by the public parliament of the Black Sea Shapsug Adyghs and the editorial staff of Shapsugia newspaper. It provides extensive information about the activities of the Khase, the most interesting events in the Shapsug area and the official position of the public parliament on urgent problems, including the situation connected with the putting up of a monument to Admiral Lazarev. Shapsugia newspaper stories can be found here, too, as well as information about the key activities of the International Circassian Association and the documents its bodies adopt. This is a major achievement, because all the above-mentioned information was previously accessible only to residents of the Lazarevskoe and Tuapse districts, Krasnodar territory. The media environment has expanded to the maximum degree presently: Shapsugia newspaper, a regular television feature of the same name, a radio feature, Voice of the Shapsugs, and, finally, the website.

As initiated by the Adyge Khase of the Black Sea Shapsug Adyghs, a series of concerts of popular Adygh performers from the Kabardino-Balkar Republic and Adygeia were organized for residents of the Tuapse and Lazarevskoe districts in October and November.

A second Shapsug aul [village - trans.], Malyi Kichmai in the Lazarevskoe district, was gasified on November 4 with active participation of the Khase of the Shapsugs. Fifty families were provided with gas. However, the problem of infrastructure on the whole remains especially urgent to communities along the Black Sea coast.

An expanded meeting of the Khase occurred in Shkhafit, Lazarevskoe district, on November 29. More than ninety delegates took part in discussing problems about which representatives of the minority ethnicity are seriously worried. As before, the situation with the monument to Admiral Lazarev is the most burning issue for the Shapsugs. The meeting made a decision to set up an official delegation of the Shapsugs to meet with the leaders of the Lazarevskoe district, the city of Sochi and the Krasnodar territory at which they plan to discuss this and a number of other issues. The territorial Charter does not to date mention the fact that the Black Sea Shapsugs live in the Krasnodar territory, although they were included in the Single register of aboriginal minority peoples of Russia three years ago. This hampers the implementation of federal legislation for the protection of the rights of aboriginal minority peoples at regional and municipal levels.

A regular meeting of an inter-district section of teachers of Adygh occurred at secondary school N75 in Lazarevskoe on December 11. Aside from considering some professional matters, they once again analyzed the situation that was taking shape in schools in the area of teaching Adygh. Education officials are not too interested in teaching the native language. The amount of time allocated to teach the language is extremely small. Unfortunately, this problem does not only go for teaching Adygh, but also for the languages of other ethnic groups living in the territory.

One must ascertain that the Adyge Khase of the Black Sea Shapsug Adyghs is actually the only organization that handles issues of cultural and socio-economic problems of the Shapsug Adyghs. As its chairman, Majid Chachukh, righteously observed, "The Adyge Khase is presently a solid structure respected in the society and legitimately representing the aboriginal minority ethnic community of the Black Sea Shapsugs; it remains a public organization which is based entirely on the voluntary and public initiative and work of citizens." It can hardly be expected, however, that one, even very active organization can alone solve all problems which the Shapsugs are facing currently.

Khemshilis

On January 7, 2004, a group of fifteen to twenty Khemshilis and twenty to twenty-five Meskhetian Turks applied to the passport office in Kubanskaia, Apsheronsk district, to extend their temporary registration that expired on January 1, 2004. The people at the passport office said they had not received any instructions as to their registration and directed the applicants to the passport and visa service department at the Main Department of Internal Affairs of the Krasnodar territory. There, they were suggested writing an application and waiting for the answer. That is, it turns out the decision on registration of Khemshilis and Meskhetian Turks is made by territorial agencies and not individually, but with regard to a whole group, which may be called obvious discrimination against representatives of those groups. At the same time, people are subject to constant fines and exactions for the absence of registration which they are denied without good reason.

The "wrong surnames" problem that the governor of the territory announced as far back as in 2002 continues to be urgent to Khemshilis even now, most of them having surnames ending in "-ogly." Those who often run up against representatives of law enforcement agencies, especially drivers, constantly note this. It goes far enough for traffic police officers to stop paying attention to any documents, having read the surname. One of the people surveyed was told directly: "Well, ogly, don't drive without fifty rubles on you." When registration formalities are under way, they also pay attention to this. An internal affairs official told an interviewee whose surname is Karach-ogly with regard to registration: "If you were Karachaenko, you would have no problem."

Local Cossacks distinguish between Khemshilis and Meskhetian Turks clearly, though, according to representatives of the Armenian community in Apsheronsk.

Many speak about xenophobic manifestations at school in Yerik, Apsheronsk district. Those who have such an opportunity, take their children to school in Apsheronsk.

The news about the opening of an International Organization for Migration (IOM) program that provides for the US to admit the Meskhetian Turks from the Krasnodar territory as refugees caused some enlivenment among Khemshilis. In spite that the program was originally developed for the Meskhetian Turks who came to the Krasnodar territory from Uzbekistan, it is quite likely to apply to Khemshilis, too, who are subject to the same discrimination in the territory as the Meskhetians and who were deported from Georgia in 1944 in the same way, to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, if not to Uzbekistan. At any rate, in early February IOM representatives came to Kubanskaia, Apsheronsk district, to meet Turks, Khemshilis and Kurds. After the meeting, the IOM representatives promised to consider the issue of admitting those having come from Kyrgyzstan, too.

Armenians

Apsheronsk. Those Armenians who have lived here for a long time have troubles with authorities much more rarely than those who came here after 1988, according to the people surveyed in the area. Four years ago, in 1999 and 2000, the council of the Armenian community and the Cossack krug [assembly - trans.] raised the issue of combined patrol at discos on a voluntary basis. Before the khachkar [an Armenian monument in the form of a vertical stone slab with carving - trans.] emerged in 1998, Armenians laid flowers onto a monument in the town park and conducted mournful meetings on the genocide day. However, local Cossacks constantly try to set the local Armenian population against Meskhetian Turks. Most local, Apsheronsk-based newspapers generally treat the ethnicity problem neutrally, obstructing racist texts. However, xenophobic articles turn up in Apsheronskii Rabochii newspaper. By the way, this is the newspaper which the territorial department of the Russian Ministry of Press regarded when in January 2004 it addressed Mr. Ulianov, the territorial prosecutor, with a letter in which it demanded that he should conduct an examination of its articles, according to members of the Glasnost Defense Foundation mission in Krasnodar and Novorossiysk. The prosecutor ordered a linguistic examination at the Kuban State University and the experts determined that the facts published in the article could not be considered inciting interethnic hatred or insulting the dignity of representatives of some or other ethnicities. The Ministry of Press was suggested acting with regard to the newspaper on its own.

Armenians do not run up against discrimination at educational establishments, according to community representatives, while the case with Meskhetian Turks is the opposite.

Anti-Armenian utterances are often written on fences. An anti-Armenian leaflet was stuck in January at a bus stop in Apsheronsk.

Krasnodar. People at the Krasnodar Mashtots Society of Armenian Culture and Mercy note they daily receive a lot of phone calls with requests of help in solving various problems. Most of them concern obtaining registration in the place of residence or stay. Cases are many when the husband has registration, while the wife cannot obtain one. Many police officers make use of this situation to meet the target number of statements of administrative offenses drawn and to take bribes.

The Mashtots Society has been unable to resolve such a problem in respect of a family in Korenovsk for ten years already. All the family members are Russian citizens with permanent registration in residence save for the aged mother. Meanwhile, the police constantly come to check their passports rather than register her.

Some people have to leave Russia to get back again and receive a new migration card at the border.

At the same time, there have been a series of cases already when overtly immoral methods are used for obtaining money. For example, X. was registered with the expiry date on January 19, 2004. He made an inquiry at the passport and visa service how he could extend his registration when it expired. They told him all his papers were in order and took his passport to go through the routine formalities. When X. came for his papers, he got the answer: "You are subject to deportation."

Another serious problem is that police officers ignore the requirements of the law that regulate registration time. There are cases when people who had just arrived in Krasnodar were detained right at the airport or railway station, although the law gives three days to do registration paperwork. A person who was taken to the police station practically from his train applied to the society in late December 2003. He was kept at the station for thirty-six hours and then they let him go to find money to pay a 500-ruble fine. One of the society people came to the police station with him where they announced they were going to deport that man. The detainee was delivered to court. One judge refused to hear the case because the three-day period required to do registration paperwork had not expired yet. The police officers then went to another judge who agreed with their arguments. She made a decision on fining the detainee to the amount of 500 rubles threatening deportation if he refused. The detainee took the ticket for paying the fine, but he did not pay it. He took the bus to Armavir but was again detained in Ust-Labinsk while the passengers' ID cards were checked.

Literally in a couple of days after the described incident, another, similar one occurred. A person who had just come to the city took the taxi and went to a friend of his. When he got out of the car, the taxi driver drove away with all his possessions. The victim stopped a patrol car and explained that he had been robbed indicating the type and color of the vehicle. However, the police officers took him to the police station where they began to demand that he should pay a fine of 500 rubles. He applied for help to Mashtots. Mr. Oganesian, head of administrative affairs of the society, called the police station where he was told the passport had been transferred to the passport and visa service. They said at the passport and visa service that they understood that the police officers had acted unlawfully, but remarked that they could give the document back only if: 1) the police officers took their statement back; 2) there was an order from their superiors; 3) the victim wrote an application to the prosecutor's office. So they had to call the international relations office at the Main Department of Internal Affairs of the Krasnodar territory from where they called the passport and visa service chief. The passport was given back with an explanation that that was a mistake. The basic criterion for detention is the appearance, as the people surveyed observe.

The same happened to two residents of Ukraine in May 2003: they had hardly got off the train when they were detained.

Relations with government are rather good currently, as leaders of Armenian organizations in Krasnodar note, but when it comes to the issue of registration in the place of residence or stay, all understanding on the part of government agencies vanishes at once.

Regular ID checks occur in all marketplaces involving district units of the passport and visa service and police, according to interviewees. People usually either pay off on the spot when they are detained or they pay officers at the marketplace police station for protection.

On the night of March 2, 2004, vandals again outraged Armenian graves at the Slavianskoe cemetery in Krasnodar. Valerii Baskakov, chief cemetery engineer, said eleven headstones were destroyed and desecrated; nine of them were Armenian, one Adygh, and another one remained unidentified. No one witnessed the incident, according to the engineer. The original version of law enforcement agencies was that two people had committed the act of vandalism, the tracks of their boots found at the scene of the incident. As soon as in several days, however, the Krasnodar police found the vandals who had broken the Armenian graves at the city cemetery, Regnum news agencies said. Eight adolescents from Krasnodar turned out to be the vandals. Two of them were vocational school students, while the rest were schoolchildren. The oldest of the detainees is sixteen, and the youngest is not yet thirteen. They all were allowed to go after they had given a written undertaking not to leave the city, because their age prevents them from going on trial. They pled guilty at interrogations and said they had been drunk on the night of the pogrom. Legal proceedings were instituted on the fact under Article 213 "Hooliganism" of the Russian Crime Code. Law enforcement agencies will put the juvenile delinquents on the books, and their parents will have to restore the destroyed monuments and pay the damage to the injured party families.

A similar case occurred at the same cemetery on the night of April 17, 2002, when over thirty Armenian graves were destroyed. Eleven skinheads were charged with the pogrom. They all were given suspended sentences.

A case of pogrom at the cemetery in Korenovsk on June 13, 2003, when six Armenian graves were destroyed has been shevled, practically. Law enforcement agencies did not see motives of ethnic intolerance in that.

March-April 2004