Stalin
regime crimes committed in Ukraine and other territories of former
Soviet Union.”
Interview with Aleksandr Biberaj, PACE VP and Rapporteur
Interviewed by Mykola SIRUK, The Day Weekly Digest in
English #38
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, 2 December 2008
Mr. Aleksander BIBERAJ, PACE Vice President, and Rapporteur on the
issue of the Holodomor crimes condemnation committed by Stalin’s
totalitarian regime in Ukraine and other territories of former USSR,
visited our country for his third time within the framework of his
mission. In this visit the Albanian MP participated in the
International Forum on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the
1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine.
In The Day‘s exclusive interview Mr. Biberaj explained why
he agreed to be a rapporteur on this issue and why to his opinion the
crimes of the Stalin’s totalitarian communist regime, specifically
the Holodomor should be condemned. Mr. Biberaj also explained why
the Albanians want to join NATO and why they consider that Kosovo’s
independence should not in any way used as a precedent for Russia’s
recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
[Aleksander Biberaj] “The Holodomor was a big tragedy for the Ukrainian
people of that time. Millions of people became victims of Stalin
regime. Our mission as politicians is to whiten what happened during
Stalin communist regime in order to prevent those crimes in the future.
Almost three years ago, the Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution
for the condemnation of the communist crimes.
"As a rapporteur I have to prepare a report on the Holodomor
and the Mass Famine in other territories of former Soviet Union, and I
am sure this will be a very good contribution to history. It is easier
for the politicians of former communist countries to understand what
really happened during this regime. The PACE report will be prepared
and adopted within two years starting from June 2008.
Mr. Biberaj, what did you know about the Holodomor before being
appointed a rapporteur on this important issue?
[Aleksander Biberaj] “I had no idea about Holodomor till the collapse
of Soviet Union, because of total isolation of communist countries. The
history schoolbooks gave us no information on that. I firstly learned
about Holodomor only several years ago in the Council of Europe when
the Ukrainian delegation raised this issue.
Since that I became very interested in learning the whole
history of Holodomor, and my request to be a rapporteur on that issue
was approved unanimously by Political Affair Committee of PACE in June
2008. According to the rules of procedures of PACE, I have to represent
the report to Political Affairs Committee within two years and
afterwards it will be submitted for approval by PACE.
"It is planned to have fact finding missions in Russia,
Ukraine and Kazakhstan, and maybe in other former Soviet Union
Republics which suffered from the Mass Famine. The report will be
prepared in two parts. The first one will be dedicated to the
Holodomor, the second one - to the Mass Famine in other former Soviet
Union Republics.
What is your opinion considering the fact that Russia is against
Holodomor recognition, whereas other countries support the Holodomor
recognition, including its recognition as genocide committed to Ukraine
people? How about the opinion this issue does not belong to politics?
[Aleksander Biberaj] “I think it is our obligation as politicians to
open the door to historians which write the history, because the world
history gives us many examples of having closed this door to historians
by Politics. Khrushchev was the first one who spoke up against
Stalinist crimes in 1956. Unfortunately, there was no possibility until
1990 to learn about the Holodomor of 1932-33.
"Now, after 75 years, it is easy for every politician to
understand clearly what happened in that time in order not to have any
doubts about those communist regime crimes. It is for sure that Stalin
regime was a criminal one which caused lots of tragedies not only here
in Ukraine but also in all former Soviet Union Republics. So, it is the
duty of politicians all over the world to condemn the crimes committed
by communist regimes.”
What do you think about Russia’s position, in particular, the
letter of Russian president to the Ukrainian one, in which Dmitri
Medveded speaks about the “so-called Holodomor”?
[Aleksander Biberaj] “Yet I have not read this letter, but I think that
Russian politicians should condemn the crimes of the Stalinist regime
which were committed in Ukraine and other former Soviet Union
Republics”.
Do you expect that Putin and Medvedev as well as the Russian Duma must
openly condemn Stalinist communist regime?
[Aleksander Biberaj] “Of course they have to do so. All possibilities
are created after 1990s for Russian politicians to condemn the crimes
committed by the Stalin regime. According to my opinion, it is their
obligation toward people and history.”
Was it easy to get rid of Hoxha’s regime which copied with Stalinist
regime?
[Aleksander Biberaj] “Unfortunately, my country has severely suffered
from the Hoxha`s dictatorship regime, even after Stalin’s death. If we
see the history of Southeastern European countries, we would easily
understand that those regimes softened after Stalin’s death, whereas
communist regime in Albania continued the same as before even Stalin
died. Hoxha’s regime fall in 1990s. The experiencing of Albanian
communist regime helps me a lot of understanding what has really
happened here in Ukraine”.
Can you say that Hoxha’s regime has been condemned in your country and
it is impossible to come back to it?
[Aleksander Biberaj] “The history has proved to us, if we do not
condemn the crimes committed by criminal regimes, it may happen again.
But we have to be very, very careful about such tragedies often
repeated in history. If people allow their leaders to become dictators,
a dictatorship regime may happen”.
Your country received the MAP in 1999 and in April it received an
invitation to join NATO. What has helped your country to reach its
goal?
[Aleksander Biberaj] “Albania was member of Warsaw Treaty until 1968.
In 1991 Albania was the first former communist country applying for
NATO membership, and we hope that next year Albania will become a full
NATO member. Successful reforms are the key issue for NATO membership.
Also the consolidation of rule of law, democracy and respecting of
human rights are very important issues. NATO membership is very
important for every European country, for their peace and security.”
What is the main reason that over 90 percent of Albanians support NATO
membership?
[Aleksander Biberaj] “The historical orientation of Albanian people for
peace, development and integrity is the key reason for that”.
Is your country worried about the guaranties of protection in NATO
regions after the war in South Caucasus? After this war the Baltic
countries asked NATO to show the plans of their defense in case of an
extraordinary situation.
[Aleksander Biberaj] “We feel sure for the security of NATO members. If
Ukraine and Georgia would be accepted as NATO candidates during the
Bucharest summit last April, there wouldn’t be any military conflict in
South Caucasus. Therefore I consider that NATO enlargement is key
security for every NATO candidate for membership”.
European integration is another priority of Albania. Your country has
already signed the EU Agreement on Stabilization and Association. When
will Albania be able to start negotiations for EU membership?
[Aleksander Biberaj] “This agreement was ratified so far by the
European parliaments and 26 EU member states. I hope that next year
Albania will start the negotiations phase with EU. I participated in
many EU meetings and I saw a good will of EU concerning the admission
of the Balkan countries, but the decision depends also on our reforms”.
Which country was as a good example for Albania for the implementation
of constitutional reform?
[Aleksander Biberaj] “We had debates to choose the new constitution
model. There were two options, either having our own model or an
international one. I supported the idea that it was better to have a
combination which considers the specific features of the country. In
recent constitutional changes approved by the parliament, we choose and
combined the Spanish and German models as proper ones for Albania.
"The two major political parties both from the ruling
coalition and opposition agreed about the content of the constitutional
amendments. I hope that the Constitution will be valid for decades in
order not to make often changes of it”.
“The parliament may approve certain amendments to the constitution.
However, the necessity may arise to conduct a referendum concerning
certain questions. But it is understandable the difficulty of putting
certain questions to referendum, because the voters may vote based on
their political preferences. Irish referendum for Lisbon Treaty is a
good example of that failure because the voters did not understand the
technical details”.
[Aleksander Biberaj] Will Albania hold any referendum concerning NATO
membership or it will pass through parliament?
“My country does not need to put this question to referendum, because
our statistics show that more than 90 percent of the population
supports NATO membership. The political parties are also unanimous for
NATO membership.”
[Aleksander Biberaj] Your country is a neighbor of Kosovo, so what is
your attitude to Russia’s usage of Kosovo precedent for annexation of
Georgian regions - Abkhazia and South Ossetia?
“I assure you that Kosovo case is a unique one and it can never be used
as a precedent. Kosovo has never been part of Serbia. Unfortunately in
1913 the Big Powers decided to detach Kosova from Albania and grant it
to Serbia. More than ninety percent of Kosovo’s population are
Albanian Kosovars, and Serbia carried out sheer genocide against them.
Many crimes were committed against the Kosovars. As you remember, in
1999 NATO intervened into Kosovo, because the regime of Slobodan
Milosevic was conducting ethnical cleansing there. The intervention
into Kosovo was an international one and was headed by NATO. I would
say that unfortunately Russia is trying to use the Kosovo case as
justification and pretext on South Ossetia and Abkhazia case.
Meanwhile, there is no similarity between Kosovo case and South Ossetia
and Abkhazia case”.
“Even the so-called argument used by Russia concerning Kosovo case
failed after Moscow recognized Ossetia and Abkhazia. If Russians used
the same standards they should have immediately recognized Kosovo’s
independence. I hope that Russia and Serbia sooner or later will
recognize Kosovo, because this is a part of new reality which we have
been observing in Europe since the 1990s. We know that after the
communist regime collapsed, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia collapsed
as well.
"Recalling history, we can see that creation of the USSR and
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia took place with the help of
instruments of dictatorship rather than people’s will. These were
artificial formations which could not last for long. And now we have
many independent states which were part of the Soviet Union. Many
countries emerged within Yugoslavia as well. And Kosovo was the latest
moment of Yugoslavia’s collapse. Therefore this is a new reality in the
Balkans. I hope that the West-Balkan countries, including Kosovo and
Montenegro, will soon join NATO and the EU.”
[Aleksander Biberaj] Won’t Kosovo join Albania?
“Kosovo’s and Albania’s aspirations include only NATO and EU
membership. This is the future for the West-Balkan countries.”
[Aleksander Biberaj] What is your opinion for the relations between our
countries?
“Our countries have good economic relations. Ukraine is one of the
largest exporters of goods to Albania. We also have very good relations
on a political level. I think that relations between our countries are
getting closer”.
2.
TRUTH MUST BE SOUGHT EVERY DAY
Interview with Olha Herasymiuk, Member of PACE
Monitoring Committee
By Alina Popkova, The Day Weekly Digest in English #36, Tue,
18 Nov 2008
Ukraine is having a hard time getting the Holodomor of 1932-33 to be
recognized on the international level. What with the Kremlin’s frenzied
resistance, Ukraine has to struggle even for its right to submit
pertinent resolutions for consideration by international organizations
and look for additional arguments to prove its rightness and explain
its stand, although it is self-evident.
Olha HERASYMIUK, chairperson of the subcommittee for
cooperation with NATO and the WEU Assembly of the Verkhovna Rada’s
Committee on European Integration and a member of PACE’s Monitoring
Committee, believes that Ukraine has just embarked on the road leading
to the international recognition of the Holodomor.
In the following interview with The Day, she tells about how
the issue of the Great Famine is being dealt with by various
international organizations: the UN, PACE, and European Parliament. As
a Ukrainian MP, she offers answers to acute questions relating to
current Ukrainian realities.
GENOCIDE:
A COMPLICATED ISSUE
Ms. Herasymiuk, you recently returned from New York City where you took
part in the 63rd Session of the UN General Assembly. Do you think
Ukraine stands a chance of the UN passing a resolution on the Holodomor
in Ukraine in conjunction with its 75th anniversary?
[Olha Herasymiuk] ”It is still a long way before the United
Nations approves any document recognizing the Holodomor as a crime.
I think the coming anniversary of this tragedy is meant for us,
Ukrainians, for all those who have survived it, and their children
and grandchildren.
"Apparently, this date will be marked also by the countries
that have recognized the Holodomor as an act of genocide and a crime.
As for the UN, we have just embarked on the road, although five years
back we had a UN document relating to this problem.
"Today the new Russia is going all out to frustrate our
efforts along these lines. This takes the form of brazen and open
blackmailing regarding various countries. Five years ago, Russia signed
a document that includes the word ‘Holodomor’ and recognizes the fact
that it was a crime perpetrated by the Stalinist regime. This is no
surprise, considering Russia’s vision of its current foreign political
course, as recently voiced by President Dmitri Medvedev.
"He declared that the Kremlin will not remain indifferent to
what is happening in the so-called outskirts of Russia, which include,
above all, Ukraine — of course, the way the Kremlin sees it.
”In addition to these circumstances, we are witnessing how Stalin is
being restored as a historical figure and a person who programmed quite
specific imperial view of Russia’s role in the world. Therefore, I must
say that the path to the recognition of the Holodomor will not be easy.
"I would advise everyone to be aware that this road is a
long one indeed. The Jews upheld their resolution on the Holocaust in
the UN for 62 years, so I hope you understand what I’m talking about.
”As for the current situation, I believe this issue will be raised
during the 63rd UN General Assembly session.
”I would also like to point out that the more intrigue is generated
around this issue (and given such harsh measures into which Russia
translates this intrigue), the more interested the world is in what we
are defending. You won’t find one delegate in the UN audience, even
from the remotest country, who doesn’t know about the Holodomor or who
does not believe that [Russia’s] blackmailing regarding the Ukrainian
issue is redundant.
”I realized this when I was in New York as a member of the CE
delegation. Even in the present conditions of financial crisis,
terrorism, and reshaping of the map of the world, this all-European
body believes that what we need now is an even closer cooperation with
the UN, especially in the domain of human rights. We were there to
discuss this need. We held numerous meetings with people who were in
charge of various areas of UN activities.
”Apparently one of the most interesting meetings was with the UN
official in charge of genocide and mass violence and destruction. We
discussed the sensitive issue of genocide, its definition and
boundaries, and what a post-genocidal country should do along this
line. We found the following answer: no one should be stopped on this
road by what is usually the simplest counterargument, which is a
request to present documentary evidence. There is hardly any evidence
of this kind left in these cases because such heinous crimes are
committed in a different way, leaving no evidence for the future trial.
”The UN official said that Ukraine was doing the right thing by
defending this issue because the goal that we set before us is what
matters in the first place. In this debate the main thing is to know
what kind of goal we have set. If it is to prevent this evil from
happening ever again, then we must struggle on, come what may. Here the
important thing is presenting our case to the international community
as frequently and loudly as possible, making the issue clear and
explaining it. This is the only way to guarantee that this crime will
never be perpetrated again.
”This debate may have been more on the philosophic side, but delegates
of various countries were genuinely interested. In particular, there
was the Polish representative, who had not previously supported our
stance on the Holodomor (while Poland is generally friendly to us in
this issue).
"He said that Poland had appealed to Russia demanding that
it acknowledge the mass massacre of the Poles at Katyn as a crime of
the Stalinist regime. Russia had flatly refused to do so. This is
another proof of the Kremlin’s serious determination to ‘take case of
its outskirts.’
”The Holodomor is not merely a historical issue. Its recognition is
fundamental because this is what we may face if we lose our state and
independence and stop resisting the bear that is stretching its paws
over all the lands which it calls its empire’s provinces. There is
nothing anti-Russian in these statements of mine; it’s just that the
threat to a number of countries is too serious.”
Not so long ago the European Parliament supported Ukraine by
recognizing the Holodomor of 1932-33. Will this decision have an impact
on the UN resolution in regard to this problem?
[Olha Herasymiuk] ”The European Parliament’s support is extremely
important, and yes, it will have its impact, but there has to be many
such resolutions; we have to struggle on a daily basis to have them
passed, and not just in conjunction of the 75th anniversary, so we can
cross it off the list.
"I think we’ll have to persist in this direction for more
than a year-the way your newspaper has been doing it: not for the sake
of awards or laudatory entries in the service record, but valiantly,
never swerving from the road and involving in this complicated task
people who regard it as a cause to be defended, rather than a temporary
project.
”This is how this was done back in 1993 by the late Lidia Kovalenko and
Volodymyr Maniak. They collected piles of letters containing accounts
of the Holodomor by its victims and published a memorial volume which
you can’t buy anywhere now, just as you can’t find any of those
letters.
”The point in question is not the date but the fact, the principle, and
the phenomenon. It is very important not to bury this ussue under the
layer of red-letter day events. Views expressed by the OSCE and UNESCO
still carry a lot of weight.”
We know that the Albanian envoy, Aleksander Biberaj, will prepare a
report for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
on the Famine of 1932-33 in Ukraine and elsewhere in the [former]
Soviet Union. Can you please tell us about the progress of this report
and its special features?
[Olha Herasymiuk] ”The procedure for writing reports is not widely
known, so let me explain. The thing is that it takes years to prepare
each such report. At the current stage, Aleksander Biberaj has been
approved and the first discussions have taken place during the autumnal
session. His position is to study the Holodomor as a special page in
the history of the Stalinist regime. He is investigating the issue and
has already visited Ukraine and attended a scholarly conference here,
where he gained a lot of [pertinent] knowledge.
”I met with him during the UN session in New York and we continued our
discussion. I might as well point out that he has no doubts that the
Holodmor was an act of genocide. He plans to attend our forum on
November 22. By the way, among our guests will be the chairman of
PACE’s Political Committee, who is the author of the report on the
condemnation of totalitarian crimes — one of the best-known reports in
the PACE.
"This report was successfully presented in 2006. However,
the Holodomor issue was left out, blocked by Russia, and Ukraine was
not mentioned. These two European representatives will attend our forum
to voice their support and continue investigating this issue.
”There are procedures according to which Biberaj will come to Ukraine
again to explore the areas where the crimes [pertaining to the
Holodomor] were committed, study archival documents, and talk to
scholars. He also intends to visit Russia, including the Kuban and
Kazakhstan. He is taking a keen interest in this problem because of the
truths that have been revealed to him, while many Europeans remain
unaware of them.
"He says he will work hard to deliver his report at the
earliest possible date; he isn’t going to spend many years writing it.
Meanwhile, the Russians are delaying contact with Biberaj and have
developed a strategy of playing for time. So this project will take a
while.”
THE
CRIMEA: JOKES ASIDE
Ms. Herasymiuk, this August you forwarded a parliamentarian message to
the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), requesting that they monitor the
situation with the unlawful issuance of Russian passports to Ukrainian
citizens, specifically in the Crimea. Are there any results? Has the
SBU been able to ascertain anything? Was this problem placed on the
PACE agenda?
[Olha Herasymiuk] ”The SBU replied that they are also concerned with
this issue. It is being investigated by competent authorities. They
also promised that I will be informed about the findings on a priority
basis, period. However, this issue remains in the limelight. We
discussed it at the PACE session with colleagues from the Baltic
countries, Georgia, Moldova, and other countries that are also
disturbed by this phenomenon. We spoke about the necessity of a
resolution on the matter.
”Many members of the Council of Europe tell us that Ukraine may be next
after Georgia. Even if we are silent on the subject, it is brought up
by others to keep us on our toes. After all, [President] Medvedev
recently stated that he demands a prolongation of his presidency and is
launching a new program to resettle ‘fellow countrymen.’ This program
is being very actively implemented in Kaliningrad. He wants to deploy
missiles there, too. These signs tell us that Russia is paying little
attention to weak warnings. We all must be constantly prepared to
defend ourselves.”
[Olha Herasymiuk] Do you think the South Ossetia scenario could be
played out in the Crimea?
”There is no joking about the situation. We are monitoring the
Kremlin’s policy. It’s just that we have to constantly work on it,
rather than react to a possible sudden explosion, for we may simply be
too late to respond to it. Implementing Ukrainian [national] policy in
the Crimea is not easy, yet we are doing just that.
"Recently, criminal proceedings were initiated against
Communists who seized the studio of the State Television and Radio
Company. The Crimea will soon host a local drama production dedicated
to the Holodomor with the support of the Symferopil branch of Our
Ukraine. The Crimea is part of Ukraine. Our people live there.”
CONTINUING
IN THE SET DIRECTION
Ukraine obviously cannot count on being granted the
Membership Action Plan in December. Who do you think is to blame for
this situation?
[Olha Herasymiuk] ”The situation in country is least conducive to
state-building, for the time being anyway. There are probably objective
reasons for this. The politicians and individuals that have to remain
in politics should be those who address the issues of the state, rather
than do what they are doing now. There we need to have new statesmen
and people who have already brought great, real benefits to this
country and whose accomplishments are still being used.
”I think that we are in a very complicated situation now, in particular
because the rest of the world no longer admires some of our
politicians. Previously, after Yulia Tymoshenko delivered her speech in
Brussels, Javier Solana would quote her. This euphoria is no longer
there. The world is disturbed but what is happening between the
branches of power in Ukraine. It certainly does not reject Ukraine. On
the contrary, Ukraine is now in the limelight with the European and
international communities. They are willing to help Ukraine on this
road.
”I see nothing fatal about what is happening on our road to progress.
The world wants to have Ukraine with its tremendous intellectual
potential, traditions, history, and capacities. I think that we should
continue on our course toward Euro-Atlantic integration. We shouldn’t
let any failures depress us. This is a special course that has to be
mapped out by experts, not amateurs.
”Our society must also share the responsibility for the invidividuals
it elects to be its leaders. We must advance individuals who will
eventually go down in history as those who have helped this country’s
progress, rather than comic or scandalous characters, as is,
regrettably, the case today.”
NEVER
GIVE UP STRUGGLE!
Why do you think our politicians cannot
join efforts and come to an agreement even now, in the conditions of
the world financial crisis?
[Olha Herasymiuk] ”Such is the level of their professionalism: frankly,
it is not very high. I also believe that this situation will continue
until the election campaign separates the chaff from the grain so good
bread can be baked. This society must duly assess its politicians, and
it’s not worth relying on the images generated by Internet mass media
and political shows. Our media are shaping the wrong kind of
politicians. As a rule, on our television screens we see those who tend
to wrangle in a loud way. This forms a certain [public] attitude to
[our] politics, so our society must learn to respond to this kind of
offer and this kind of television.”
Aren’t you tired of politics? For example, Sviatoslav Vakarchuk
couldn’t stand it any longer and called it quits.
[Olha Herasymiuk] ”What Vakarchuk did is not an example for me. He must
have had no goal, considering that he took up politics and got tired of
it so quickly even though he promised he would not give up without a
fight, as he sang in his song. You can get tired doing something
tiresome and burdensome only if you don’t understand why you are doing
it.
”Indeed, building an independent state is a hard task, like a
stonemason’s work. It can never be easy, much less so in our situation.
Ukraine is the goal of my life. I have made a conscious choice, so I
don’t accept the notion of fatigue in this sense. Nor should our
society get tired or disillusioned — mind you, our society has changed.
The Maidan demonstrated that we are different from what we
were before and that we have willpower. It would be a crime against
Ukraine to say, ‘Well, we have failed so let’s go back.’ I can predict
that there will be more snap elections and more fiascos, but this is
our road. It cannot be any different.”
AND
KAZAKHS TO ASK WHY THEIR GOVERNMENTS DON'T
Window on Eurasia: By
Paul Goble, Vienna, Friday, November 28, 2008
Vienna,
November 28 – Kyiv's efforts to call attention to Stalin's terror
famine on the 75th anniversary of that tragedy
and especially its moves to gain international recognition of it as a
genocide against the Ukrainian people has generated much criticism by
Russian officials from President Dmitry Medvedev on down as well as
from numerous Moscow commentators.
But one
of the most intriguing consequences of the Ukrainian discussion of the
famine has so far passed largely unremarked: What Kyiv has been doing
has prompted some in both the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan, whose
peoples suffered greatly from the same Kremlin-organized famine, to ask
why Moscow and Astana have not paid equal attention to this tragedy.
And that
in turn has prompted some in the Russian Federation at least to suggest
that the Russian government set aside a special day of memory of the
victims of the mass hunger of the 1930s, proposals that in the current
environment may spark more discussions among the Russian people about
what Stalin did to them.
In an
essay posted online this week, Moscow political analyst Andrey Okara
says that he is both uncomfortable and ashamed that the memory of the
millions of Russians who died in the 1933 famine in the RSFSR is not
officially marked in the Russian Federation at the present time (www.apn.ru/opinions/article21058.htm).
In the
late 1980s and early 1990s, he points out, Russians paid homage to the
memory of those repressed by Stalin between 1934 and 1937, but "the
victims of 1932-33 did not have such "advocates" even though the number
who died in the famine, which most investigators say, was the product
of Stalin's policies, was far larger.
The
reaction of Russian officials to Ukrainian efforts to remember that
tragedy, Okara continues, has been extremely unfortunate: Moscow's
approach has infuriated many pro-Russian Ukrainians, been ineffective,
and "not always moral because when one is speaking about millions" of
deaths, political calculations are inappropriate.
And their
fear that Kyiv will demand compensation from Moscow if anyone talks
about the victims is misplaced. On
the one hand, Ukraine is just as much a legal successor of the USSR as
Russia is, and on the other, the organizers of the famine were "not
Russia and the Russian people but the Stalinist political machine.
Such
absurdities are listened to, Okara says, only because "now it is
considered that Stalin was an effective manager."
And if one considers
only the number of his victims 75 years ago in the famine that hit much
of the Soviet peasantry, he was quite clearly "a super-effective" if
not an especially admirable one.
Meanwhile,
in Kazakhstan, Serik Maleyev, an Almaty commentator, pointedly asks
"why the Kazakhs are silent" on the issue of the famine. After all, he says, from
three to 4.5 million Kazakhs lost their lives as a result of Moscow's
policies between 1918 and 1932 and another million fled the republic (www.liter.kz/site.php?lan=russian&id=150&pub=12560).
The
answer he provides to his own question does little credit to the moral
sense of the Kazakhstan leadership.
According to Maleyev, Kazakh officials are not talking
about this tragedy because they see themselves being drawn into a
political struggle on the side of Moscow which denies the famine was a
genocide or of Kyiv which insists that it was.
In fact, on issues of this kind, he
just like his Russian counterpart argues that political calculations
have no place. And
he insists that the voice of the Kazakhs Ought to be heard and heard
loudly as this debate goes forward if for no other reason than the
memory of those who died in Kazakhstan.
Some in Russia at least are beginning
to speak out. At a
meeting in Moscow earlier this month clearly assembled to denounce
Ukrainian efforts to define the famine as a genocide against
Ukrainians, speaker after speaker insisted that Russians had suffered
as much or more than the latter.
And one of them, Duma deputy and
political commentator Sergey Markov proposed organizing an annual day
of memory of the victims of the terror famine.
That idea has found support in the Russian Orthodox
Church, which among other things, is extremely concerned about the
consequences for itself of the stand-off between Moscow and Kyiv on
this issue.
Father Georgy Ryabykh, the secretary
for church ties to society in the Moscow Patriarchate's powerful
External Relations Department, has come out in support of declaring a
national day of mourning every November 22 in order to recall the
victims of the famine of the early 1930s
(www.rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=179900).
"The
establishment of such a memorial day," he says, is a time for
remembering "our compatriots who loved to work, loved their Fatherland,
and were true to their faith." In taking this step, he continues, there
is no need for repentance or self-laceration. "We need only remember
the dead and honor their memory."
4. TATAR
NATIONALISTS ASK UN TO CONDEMN 1921 FAMINE AS GENOCIDE
Window on Eurasia:
by Paul Goble, Vienna, Thursday, November 6, 2008
VIENNA
- Tatar nationalists have appealed to the United Nations to
recognize the 1921-22 famine in the Middle Volga as a genocide
organized by Bolshevik Russia to destroy the Tatar nation and its elite
and reduce Tatarstan's opportunities to develop its own national life
and pursue its independence.
Rafiz Kashapov, who
heads the All-Russian Tatar Social Center (VTSTs) in Naberezhny Chelny
and has long been pursued by Russian officials for his activities, says
what Moscow did to the Tatars helped Moscow prepare "the terror famine"
against the Ukainians (mariuver.wordpress.com/2008/11/05/golod-genocid/#more-2932).
The efforts of
Kashapov and his colleagues to prove their case regarding the famine in
the early 1920 are unlikely to be successful. There
is simply too much evidence that the famine at that time was the result
of disorganization and bad weather than official action (On this, see www.irex.ru/publications/polemika/6/sanukov-rus.htm).
But his and their
statements in this regard are nonetheless important both as an effort
to expand Tatar ties with Ukrainians and with the active Ukrainian
diaspora and as a means of attracting attention to the increasingly
tight Russian control of the media in Tatarstan.
Three days ago,
Kashapov gave his first interview to a Ukrainian outlet, pointing out
that he had given numerous interviews to American, Japanese, Turkish
and European journalists but that now Ukrainian media were ever more
important for the Tatars (www.rupor.info/fokus/2008/11/03/nezavisimost-tatarstana-umiraet-v-sizo/).
According
to the VTOTs activists, there are only two remaining news outlets
providing "objective information" about the national aspirations of the
Tatars and the Tatar movement: the Tatar service of Radio Liberty and
the newspaper "Zvezda Povol'szhya."
All
"other outlets of the mass media," he said, "are under the tight
control of the FSB." And because of that and because of the increasing
persecution of Tatars and Tatar nationalist activists like himself,
Kashapov said, even VTOTs is significantly less active than it was a
decade ago.
Moscow,
he continued, has prohibited the opening of a Tatar national
university, it has prevented the Tatars from shifting their language to
a Latin-based
script, and it has closed numerous Tatar schools, newspapers, radio
stations and journals, actions that have struck at the heart of the
nation.
And
because of that, even the VTOTs organization has become less active and
effective, Kashapov said. There are
138 sections of the organization on paper, but "in fact, one can count
on one's fingers the number that are genuinely active compared to the
situation in the 1990s, "the result of the work of [Moscow's]
repressive regime."
But
recently there have been some encouraging signs of a rebirth of Tatar
nationalism, Kashapov indicated, and one of the ways to help that
process along is for the Tatars to link up with other nations, like the
Ukrainians, who have also been victims in the past of Moscow's imperial
and genocidal policies.
Thus,
although the Tatar appeal to the United Nations is not going to succeed
in the narrow juridical sense, it has the potential to create Moscow's
worst nightmare – the linking up of various non-Russian groups who have
often focused only on their own problems rather on their common
victimhood.
And if
the Ukrainians respond to Kashapov's efforts, then there is a
possibility that the synergy between the two nations and the two
national movements will be far more influential on the future course of
events than any declaration however worded by the United Nations or
other international body.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr.
E. Morgan Williams, Director
Government Affairs, Washington Office
SigmaBleyzer Private Equity Investment Group
President/CEO, U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC)
Founder/Trustee,
"Holodomor: Through The Eyes of Ukrainian Artists"
Publisher & Editor, Action Ukraine Report (AUR)
1701 K Street, NW, Suite 903, Washington, D.C. 20006
Telephone: 202 437 4707; Fax: 202 223 1224
[email protected];
[email protected]
www.sigmableyzer.com;
www.usubc.org