Crimean Tatar leader supports Chechens

KYIV - Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Cemiloglu has condoned the hostage-taking by Chechens in Dagestan, saying Russia is guilty of terrorism, Reuters reported on January 12.

"We consider the actions of our Chechen brothers not banditism, but an appropriate reaction to Russia's terrorism... They aim only to conduct negotiations and remove Russian troops from the territory of Chechnya," the leader of Ukraine's 250,000 Crimean Tatars said in the Crimean capital of Symferopil on January 11.

Chechens, like Crimean Tatars, are Muslims. Both peoples were deported to the Central Asian republics from their homelands in 1944 by Stalin, who accused them of collaborating with the Nazis.

"The responsibility for what is happening today in Dagestan lies totally with Russia," he said.

On January 9, Chechen gunmen attacked airports in the neighboring republic of Dagestan and seized thousands of hostages in a hospital in the town of Kizlyar. They released most of their hostages and were January 10 when Russian troops stopped them.

The 200 Chechen rebel fighters holed up in the village of Pervomayskoye, also in Dagestan, taking over 100 hostages. On January 17, after two days of a ferocious ground assault by thousands of Russian troops, the tiny village near the border of Chechnya was leveled by Russian Grad missiles and heavy mortar. The number of casualties could not be confirmed.

Mr. Cemiloglu has accused Moscow of inciting conflict among ethnic groups in the north Caucasus, which is predominantly Muslim. Chechnya declared its independence in 1991, which Moscow has not recognized.

According to the Crimean Tatar leader, his movement advocates non-violent means of protest to press for social and political rights. The Crimean Tatars were permitted to return to the Black Sea peninsula in 1989 by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Many are unemployed and have no housing. The movement maintains good relations with the government in Kyiv, although on occasion protests have resulted in violence.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 21, 1996, No. 3, Vol. LXIV

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