Public representatives of Kabardino-Balkaria claim violation of the rights of Balkars

A roundtable discussion "Situation in North Caucasus and the Condition of Balkars" was held at the Independent press-centre in Moscow today from 12 noon to 14. 00. The discussion was attended by Rasul Dzhappuev, chair of the State Council of Balkaria, representative of Balkars in the Federative Council of National Minorities in Europe and founder of the newspaper "Balkaria"; Lev Ponomaryov, executive director of the movement "For Human Rights"; Ruslan Boziev, deputy director of the Institute of Innovation Activity in Education; Ismail Boziev, deputy of the local self-government body in the village of Khasaniya which now is part of Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria; Alim Khubolov, expert of the movement "For Human Rights"; Ali Abdulayev, director general of "А Аliko" Ltd, and Anna Politkovskaya, columnist of the "Novaya Gazeta" newspaper. The roundtable was timed to Balkar People Renascence Day which is marked on March 28.

The main topics discussed during the roundtable were the laws adopted last year by the Parliament of Kabardino-Balkaria (KBR): "On Territorial Administrative Structure of the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic" and "On the Status and Boundaries of Municipal Units in KBR." In accordance with the laws, the municipal units of Balkaria are stripped off a considerable part of their territory, as tourist, recreation, cultivated and pasture lands are to be transferred to the republic's and federal authorities. Additionally, in accordance with the laws, several villages neighbouring Nalchik, the KBR capital, are merged with the city and their village self-government bodies have been liquidated. A considerable part of the Balkar population is dissatisfied with the reform, and their viewpoint was presented by the participants in the Moscow meeting.

In the opinion of public activists of Balkaria and members of the movement "For Human Rights," the above laws of the republic run counter to the Federal Law "On General Principles of Organizing Local Self-Government in RF," the RF law "On Rehabilitation of Repressed Peoples" and other legislation on the rehabilitation of the Balkar people deported in 1944 by Stalin's regime.

The roundtable participants spoke about other cases of oppression of Balkars and citizens of other nationalities in Kabardino-Balkaria, they stated that a corrupt police regime had been created in the republic.

"The republic's problems are neglected, the federal authorities do not solve them. We have been dealing with these problems since 1997 when they tried to bring Rasul Dzhappuev to criminal responsibility for creating the State Council of Balkaria, he was accused of an intention to destroy Russia although the intention was, at best, to change the administrative boundaries inside the federation. We managed to protect him from the judicial arbitrariness at the time. But they keep trying to persecute him, they do not give him time to relax. Now, we have a new problem of inter-village territories (between villages).

In the villages which are mainly located in the Trans-Elbrus region where residents are virtually 100% Balkars the local self-government bodies are not allowed to manage lands. Moreover, the local legislation transfers them to the republic's and federal authorities, which grossly violates the Russian law on local self-government which runs that inter-village territories may only be created if the average population density is lower than the average density in Russia.

In Kabardino-Balkaria, the population density is higher than the country's average. People are dissatisfied, they hold mass actions of protest. In this connection, the situation in Kabardino-Balkaria is tense and at any moment may grow, and actually grows, into an armed confrontation as in the case of Nalchik, although Balkars hardly took part in it. All the same, taken together, it must be regarded as an explosive situation," stated Lev Ponomaryov, leader of the movement "For Human Rights".

"The problem of Balkars is not just a problem of a small nation, it is a problem of relations between the power and an individual, the power and a small nation which has no representative agency of its own, has no opportunity to express its opinion," said Ruslan Boziev, deputy director of the Institute of Innovation Activity in Education.

Rasul Dzhappuev, chair of the State Council of Balkaria, said that this public organization had been prohibited three day earlier by the KBR Supreme Court. Although, as the public activist stated in an answer to the question of the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, the organization had not been officially registered. He also related that a law suit on the inconsistency of the laws of Kabardino-Balkaria "On Territorial Administrative Structure of the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic" and "On the Status and Boundaries of Municipal Units in KBR" had been filed in the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reported earlier that, in conformance with the laws passed early last year by the Parliament of Kabardino-Balkaria "On Territorial Administrative Structure of the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic" and "On the Status and Boundaries of Municipal Units in KBR", the village of Khasaniya and settlements Belaya Rechka, Khenzhe and Adiyukh were merged with Nalchik. However, the residents of the village of Khasaniya with Balkar population disagreed with the decision and initiated several referendums in which the residents voted on the question "Do you agree that the constitutional right of Khasaniya residents to enjoy self-government should be implemented through the functioning of the municipal body – the village of Khasaniya?." On October 9, 2005, 52 percent of the village residents took part in the referendum, 99. 4 percent voted for independence, however, the KBR authorities never recognized the referendum results.