The Lithuanian Parliamentary Group for Relations with the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and the International Group of Parliamentarians on Chechnya organized an international round table in Vilnius, Lithuania on February 22.

The event was held at the European Information Center in Vilnius. Parliamentarians and political leaders from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine, as well as representatives of public organizations in Lithuania, participated in round table discussions. Chechen historian Said Khassan Abumuslimov and Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Baltic Countries Representative Aminat Saieva were among the participants. During the event, the 1944 deportation as well as the current situation in Chechnya was discussed.

Here is the press statement about the event:

INTERNATIONAL ROUND TABLE

Spread of History of and Information about Chechnya in Europe and in Chechnya

Vilnius, 22 February 2013

Statement

Spread of reliable information as a basis for human self-expression and freedom

On the eve of the anniversary of the massive deportation and acts of genocide against the Chechen nation inflicted on 23 February 1944, the Seijmas (Parliament) Group for Inter-Parliamentary Relations with the Chechen Republic of Itchkeria and the International Group of Parliamentarians on the Problem of Chechnya, with the participation of Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Ukrainian and Chechen parliamentarians and politicians, discussed and shared opinions on the situation in Chechnya and on development trends from the point of view of human rights and the rights of a nation. Favouring a peaceful and legitimate solution of the problems of Chechnya, we have observed a number of tendencies threatening the survival of the identity of the Chechen nation.

General situation: There are no legal, equal, reliable and just relations between the current administration, Russian military units and society in Chechnya. The legal system defends only the interest of the incumbent government, human rights are not ensured, and the situation in this respect is completely unacceptable.

The young Chechens are currently not being recruited to the army of the Russian Federation because they are deemed unreliable to be entrusted with an arm in their hands. This shows the evident negative attitude of the Chechen nation towards the Russian government which is confirmed by Russia’s behaviour unpractised before. The Suvorov Military School has been functioning in Chechnya for the last two years. The School currently has 150 cadets and functions as a laboratory for testing the potential reliability of Chechens and their loyalty to Russia.

The Chechen language: Despite of the Chechen Language Day established by the Government, both the Chechen and the Russian languages are taught at schools by mechanic, common and parallel memorising from a single newly edited text book. This is unacceptable from a pedagogical point of view because cognitive thinking is done through the categories of the native language. Thus exposing pupils to the Russian language since the first grade is too early because it will upset the cognition process which prioritises the Chechen language for the shaping of the content and form of thinking.

History of Chechnya: Falsification of history is a proof of the political attitude considering Chechnya to have been and continuing to be part of Russia. Little reference is made to the first President of Chechnya, Dzhokhar Dudaev, and the period when he was in power is absolutely ignored. Though all of this can be argued, no one can deny the facts of the history of Chechnya: the Declaration of the 25 November 1990 of the All-National Congress of the Chechen People on Founding the Chechen Republic of Nokhchi-Cho, the subsequent historical legal actions for sovereign rights and two destructive wars waged by Russia.

Russian strategy by 2025: On 6 September 2010, the Russian Government adopted the Strategy for Socio-Economic Development of the North Caucasus Federal District until 2025 which:

• considers Russian citizens a key factor in an ethno-political situation;

• identifies the return and arrival of the Russian citizens as a strategic task;

• provides that the migration of labour from the North Caucasus must account for 30,000-40,000 people a year;

• provides for preferences to Russian citizens in education and employment in public authorities;

• provides for comprehensive support of Russian citizens in the allotment of flats and ensuring employment;

• insists on strengthening of no other than “the common Russian civil identity”;

• proposes supporting the present youth subculture, i.e. cultural degradation.

It is hard to believe that the Chechen people would not understand these goals threatening their viability and survival of their identity and thus would not publicly announce them.

Getting full information: Both in Chechnya and abroad, Chechen intellectuals, as well as Chechen emigrants, have an opportunity to present generalised and unbiased information about the existing threatening situation and define the possible tendencies. It is crucial in all cases to resort to legal arguments, including those of international organisations and individual countries, fundamental human rights and examples from the nation’s heroic history. The latter is particularly crucial. They say that once the memory of the nation’s heroes is destroyed or sinks into oblivion, the nation ceases to exist. It would be meaningful to publish a White Paper on the Chechen history, which would set out to describe the road which the Chechen nation walked and the nation’s aims since the very first days of its retraced existence until the present, as a basis for preserving the memory of them and presenting it to the world.

Being in confrontation between good and evil, preaching truth and wisdom the clergy in Europe would always be in the forefront of the search for the rights and freedoms of nations. We have information that some of the Chechen clergy having the role and behaviour of collaborationists, rejecting principles of human values, that is the denomination of evil, do not show moral resistance to injustice and arbitrariness.

The participants of the Round Table state that the discussion on the problems of Chechnya is also an analysis of problems of their own countries, a test of human values and commitment to invite everyone to act in solidarity and make the world a better place by common efforts. By all means of mass media, the Chechen diaspora, having intellectual capacities in the European countries, should present information about their history and their present to the people of their homeland recalling and highlighting the Chechen world outlook – ‘Nokhchalla’. World begins from words of truth.

Rytas Kupčinskas, Chairman of the Round Table
Algirdas Endriukaitis, General Secretary of International Group of Parliamentarians on the Problem of Chechnya