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Armistice in
Chechnya - Immediately!
We - Nadezhda Banchik, a Jew emigrant from the former USSR (Ukraine),
and Raissa Talkhanova, a Chechen, who became an immigrant because of
the massacre in her native country, - we appeal to our fellow countrymen,
the former and the present, - still living in the motherland and scattered
around the globe: by common efforts we will try to stop the conveyor
of this endless and senseless mutual extermination in Chechnya!
None of the sides can win a victory in this war.
This war has accumulated so much violence, war crimes, unimaginable
cruelty and sadism, lie and provocation, that at the given stage it
is more and more necessary to break this closed circle.
The war leaves only two possible ways out to the Chechen people: a hopeless,
deadly resistance to "death squadrons" acting under the cover of Russian
force structures beyond all legal and human laws, - or a slow death
in the totally isolated "ghetto," starvation, privations, total injustice
and endless humiliations. The war turns all surviving Chechens, even
those who used to be loyal, into Russia's eternal enemies.
The war claims the lives of Russian men daily, hourly, every minute,
it corrupts the Russian army, demoralizes the whole generation of Russians.
The war radicalizes the Chechen resistance: violence echoes with response
violence; driven by hopeless desperation some Chechens commit suicide
attacks thereby killing Russian civilians. The Russian "hawks of the
war" get use of it, they try to shade the true reasons for such acts
by demagogic statements about "the threat of international terrorism"
and "justifying" new and new spirals of violence in Chechnya.
The war impedes the development of the Russian economy, contributes
to the widening gap between a handful of super nouveaux riches who made
their bloody business on this war and the majority of the population
of Russia which hardly survives on the edge between poverty and destitution.
The war crushes the great traditions established and developed by the
best representatives of the Russian intelligentsia, brilliant writers,
figures of art, public and political figures of the democratic and humane
trend - all those we, brought up on the Russian culture, are rightfully
proud of.
The war turns Chechnya into "a free criminal zone," different criminal
elements, including from the Russian organized crime, use it. This zone
causes metastasis all around Russia, feeding the crime, "justifying"
antidemocratic measures, spreading xenophobia, fear, hatred and desperation
in the society - the moods on which fascist regimes appear.
In a word, the Chechen war unleashed by criminal elements under the
cover of the irresponsible leadership of Russia, on the mistakes and
shortcomings of the Chechen leadership headed by Aslan Maskhadov has
pushed the Russian society to committing genocide - the crime for which
our children, grandchildren and their descendants will inevitable pay.
The war has already engulfed the neighboring regions, first of all Ingushetia,
threatening to inflame the whole Caucasus!
Unfortunately, the war is encouraged by the international situation.
The confusion which set in in the democratic world after 9/11 prevented
European and American leaders from taking effective international measures
to stop the massacre in Chechnya and to protect the fragile elements
of the Russian democracy cultivated during Gorbachev's "perestroika"
and slightly developed during the epoch of Yeltsin. Now Russia is consistently
getting rid of mass media honestly reporting the unpleasant truth; democratic
politicians are being eliminated, including by open and secret killings.
The war pushed Russia towards establishing a repressive regime, more
and more resembling the Stalin regime. Objective circumstances, and
first of all, the war against the Chechen people, will drive to further
development, even if Russia's leaders, having realized into what abyss
they are throwing down the country, try to stop it.
WE SUGGEST:
1. Urging the two warring sides in Chechnya to immediately declare an
armistice, having stopped cleaning up operations, armed clashed and
special operations from the one side, and partisan raids from the other
side.
2. Renouncing the terrorism charges against the legitimate President
of Chechnya Aslan Maskhadov for the lack of evidence under the presumption
of innocence provided by Russian and international laws. To allow the
Chechen president, democratically elected by the Chechen people and
recognized in 1997 by the entire world, including by Russia, at least,
to take part in the negotiation process.
3. Forming "a round table" from representatives of the warring sides
of Russia and Chechnya as well as independent Russian and Chechen politicians
taking efficient precedents as the basis: "the round table" in Poland
in 1989 between the political forces (it ensured the "velvet revolution"
in Poland); Loiya-Djigra in Afghanistan under the auspices of the American
forces, or at least the fragile armistice in Nagorny Karabagh under
the auspices of the international peacekeeping forces (OSCE), where
the cease-fire "froze" the conflict putting off its settlement, but
stopped the mutual extermination of Armenians and Azerbaijanis. The
latest example - the meeting of the president of Ukraine and Poland
in Volyn and a mutual agreement to put an end to the Ukrainian-Polish
resistance which lasted for seven centuries!
4. Puting off the agenda all plans for a political settlement and court
prosecution - because the moment is critical, it is necessary to stop
the endless conveyor of mutual violence without preliminary conditions.
An alternative to these urgent measures - is an inevitable catastrophe
for Russia with far-reaching consequences and the genocide of the Chechen
people.
We urge all those who share our position to sign our appeal.
Nadezhda Banchik
San Jose, CA 95117, USA
Raissa Talkhanova
Washington DC, USA
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