BBC Worldwide
Eminent Europeans address pro-Chechnya meetings in Berlin
Source: Chechenpress website, in Russian 12 Nov 05

A Chechen rebel website has reported meetings held in Berlin on thesituation in Chechnya which were attended by leading Europeanpoliticians and writers. It quotes the French philosopher AndreGlucksmann describing the Russian army in Chechnya as a terroristorganization and its policy in the country as "programmed genocide".He urged all democratic forces to rise up against this "carnage",the report says. The following is the text of Saykhan Umarov'sreport by Chechenpress news agency website on 12 Novemberheadlined "Andre Glucksmann: 'I compare this with the Thirty Years'War'". Subheadings have been inserted editorially:

Meetings on Chechnya in Berlin

A major event entitled "Chechnya - a bleeding wound on the body ofEurope", organized by the Germany-Caucasus Society and the BerlinEvangelical Academy, has been held in the French Cathedral inBerlin. The [rebel-backed] Chechen government minister and renownedpoet Apti Bisultanov told the crowded hall about the tragicsituation in Chechnya. Rupert Neudeck (the creator of the well-knownCap Anamur organization), the eminent writer Hans-Christoph Buch andEckhard Maass, Chairman of the Germany-Caucasus Society and honoraryconsul of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria [CRI] in Germany all madespeeches, telling of their pain and anger over the genocideunleashed by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's regime in Chechnya.

A meeting was later held in the office of the Germany-CaucasusSociety between Chechen politicians and the acclaimed Frenchphilosopher and writer Andre Glucksmann, well known for his sharpcriticism of the Kremlin regime for its genocide in Chechnya.Present at the meeting were the Chechen politicians Bisultanov, therenowned historian and former deputy president of the CRI and nowCRI representative in Germany, Said-Khasan Abumuslimov, and R.Dudushev, chairman of the society of inmates of Russianconcentration camps, Vakha Banzhayev, and others. Maass and Buchalso took part in the meeting with Glucksmann.

French philosopher on Russian "terror" in Chechnya

At the meeting Andre Glucksmann said, among other things: "Theproblem is that if there is a predetermined seizure of hostages,torture and murder of the civilian population, carried out by thearmy, this army is a terrorist organization. Such are the day-to-dayactivities of the Russian army in Chechnya and this is a well-knownfact. The essence of their activities does not change because thesecriminals are wearing military niform. They are deliberatelycarrying out terror, using weapons against women, children orunarmed adults. They are terrorists, and their official statuscannot be changed. They may perpetrate acts of terrorism in the nameof nationalism, patriotism, racism or on orders of their government,but, I repeat, this changes nothing. The armed violence againstunarmed people, which is being committed by the Russian army inChechnya, comes under the true definition of terrorism, which mustbe endorsed by all democrats. In other words, all democraticallyminded people must confirm that the Russian army in Chechnya is aterrorist army."

To this Apti Bisultanov added that from the beginning [former rebel-backed Chechen] President [Aslan] Maskhadov, and now President[Abdul-Khalim] Sadulayev have declared an armed struggle of theChechen Resistance against the Russian occupation forces as an anti-terrorist struggle and as an armed rebuff to the gangs of murderersand butchers who invaded the territory of the Chechen state.

Glucksmann went on to say: "The situation in Chechnya is not justtragic, it is horrifying! I went to Chechnya illegally in 2000 and Iknow what I am talking about. Now, the Kremlin, having declaredthe "Chechenization" of the conflict, is trying to disappear intothe shadows, passing the main brutal work on to the cut-throats andbandits in [Kremlin-backed Chechen President] Kadyrov junior'scircle. Protected by the force of Russian troops they take children,women, the young and the elderly hostage on a mass scale andbrutally torture them. Their methods are so ghastly that even manyRussian officials are afraid of their allies and try to distancethemselves from them. The situation in Chechnya is close to thetotal annihilation of the population. I can compare this with theThirty Years' War that cost the lives of seven Germans out of ten. Iclaim that what is happening in Chechnya is not spontaneous but aKremlin programmed genocide. And it is quite monstrous that theleaders of Europe, of which Chechnya is a part, not only fail toprotest at this demonstrative destruction of a whole people, buteven support the bloody Tsar Putin. We cannot reconcile with this,we must protest and urge all the democratic forces of Europe and thecivilized world to rise up against this carnage, because Chechnyatoday is the acid test for our humanistic ideals and the basicvalues on which European civilization was built and has developed."

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