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Radio Marsho, Pubications and Media Department, SNA CHECHENPRESS, December, 13th 2008.
Radio Marcho’s comments provided by the Chairman of the ChRI Government Akhmed Zakaev during his European trip are brought to you courtesy of GIA Chechenpress.
«Marsho»: Rights, not just individual rights, but rights of whole nations, irrespective of their size, should be protected in accordance with the UN declared principles. In real life, however, things are not as simple as they appear in declarations. If the Kosovars, the Abkhaz and the Ossetians can set up their own independent states why aren’t we talking about the Chechens who have fought for centuries for their independence? This question was put back on the agenda by the summer hostilities in Georgia. This is the topic of the European trip which the Head of the ChRI Government Akhmed Zakaev is making at the moment. He talks about his work and his recent plans in an interview to Radio Marsho in Norway.
Akhmed Zakaev: Yesterday I visited Brussels, where I had a meeting with Euro MPs who are planning a conference entitled ‘Chechnya in the context of the Russian- Georgian conflict’. The conference will address the following question: if the Abkhaz and the South Ossetian nations have a right to establish their own independent states why shouldn’t the Chechens have the same right? This question is going to be considered from the point of view of the norms of international law and Russian legislation and given a legal and political evaluation. After Brussels I was invited to Oslo to attend the official Nobel Prize awards ceremony for the author of the Kosovo conflict resolution plan, Marti Akhtisaari. The principles underlying the plan formed the foundation for the international community’s recognition of Kosovo ŕs an independent state. I arrived in Oslo last night to represent our country at this event. I have had meetings in the Norwegian Parliament as well as meetings with a number of journalists.
I must note that they are well informed about the situation in Chechnya down here, and there has been an increased debate on the processes taking place back home in Chechnya, on the history of our confrontation, the onset of war, its root causes. The process of discussing the events in Abkhazia, Kosovo, the North Caucasus, South Ossetia shows that the issue of Chechnya has not been pushed down the agenda because the problem remains, there has been no resolution of the conflict and it awaits its solution. There is a search for a peaceful, rather than a military, path to solving this conflict, and achieving this goal is the purpose of the discussions we are involved in and the rest of our political activities. Since the beginning of our movement for independence in 1990 the so called principle of territorial integrity has dominated international relations. If we can observe a move away from it today and if this principle is left to apply to Chechnya alone it ceases to be a principle of international law. If we are dealing with international law proper, it cannot be applied selectively.
Today we are saying that if this principle of territorial integrity has been invented solely in order to prevent a creation of the Chechen state, against the background of all conflicts in the world, then it should be stated loud and clear. If, on the other hand, this principle applies to all, then let us give a proper evaluation of the events based on this approach and look for a way to find a political settlement to the Chechen conflict.
Our understanding of the situation is as follows. What is happening today is a continuation of the war between the Chechen people and the Russian empire. This confrontation started some time ago, not today or not even yesterday, it has been going on for many centuries. Even Putin once publicly admitted that it was a history old problem. It is indeed a history old problem, and it is the duty of politicians today to find a solution to this problem. Depending on the degree of their own common sense and their understanding this problem could either remain unresolved bringing suffering to our people or it could be ended once a real evaluation has been given and a way found to finally settle the conflict.
It is not a problem about individuals, it is not about myself or anyone else. It is a history old confrontation between two nations and the time has come today to resolve it.
We are ready to put every effort to this cause and we are working to resolve this issue as hard as we can. There is another conference taking place in Poland today, our colleagues are participating in it and insh’Allah we should be able to join them later today or tomorrow once our work here is finished.
These are the activities we are pursuing today.
Radio Marsho (audio recording)
(translated from Chechen)
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