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ROUND TABLE OF ETHNIC DIASPORAS HAILS PUTIN'S ARTICLE ON NATIONALITIES QUESTION
ITAR-TASS
January 26, 2012 Thursday 08:04 PM GMT+4
Russia
Russia should create a special government structure responsible for
the nationalities policy, and diasporas, minorities and migrants
should conduct a dialogue with the authorities through a common
international organization.
This is the gist of what was said at a round-table meeting devoted
to the discussion of crucial aspects of the nationalities policy in
Russia. In the focus of the discussion was Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin's newspaper article Russia: the Nationalities Question.
The round table conference at the Union of Armenians of Russia gathered
representatives from ethnic communities and autonomies in Russia and
specialists in the field of the nationalities relations.
"The participants in the round table by and large approved of the ideas
contained in the article and expressed the readiness to support the
country's leadership in its efforts for strengthening the unity of the
people of Russia, ensuring the conditions for the active involvement
of all nationalities resident in Russia in the social-political life
of the Russian state," says the resolution the round-table meeting
adopted in principle.
The president of the Union of Armenians of Russia, Ara Abramian,
addressed the audience in these words.
"We should take part in forming the nationalities policy and in
forming the mechanisms of that policy."
"Russia is faced with the problem of creating a new type of ethnic
identity, capable of neutralizing the centrifugal trends," said the
chairman of the presidium of the Russian Congress of Caucasus Peoples,
Aslambek Paskachev. In his opinion, "it must be based not on the
national or confessional identity, but on the universal humanitarian
democratic identify."
"In this respect one cannot but agree with Putin's idea Russian
identity must be based on the preservation of the Russian cultural
dominant," Paskachev said. "In Russian education the trend towards
regionalization must be eased. The government body responsible for
the nationalities policy must have a sufficient amount of powers."
The president of the federal ethnic and cultural autonomy of the
Azerbaijanis of Russia AZEROS, Soyun Sadykov, believes that it
is essential to take care of "the mandatory insurance of arriving
migrants, needed for their medical treatment." Also, in his opinion
the migrants who have settled in Russia since the 1990s should be
amnestied and a fundamental law concerning the new arrivals adopted.
On public television, in his opinion, there should exist a program
devoted to the culture, ethics, and customs of the people resident
in Russia.
"It is necessary to create a national non-governmental chamber in
which all of Russia's nationalities would be represented, and also
a special agency under the president to coordinate the nationalities
policy," Sadykov said.
The deputy director of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology
under the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Zorin, believes that
the article established a plan and parameters for a discussion of
nationalities policy issues.
"Russia's people may have different cultural codes, but they have
far more in common," the scholar said.
The vice-president of the Union of Georgians of Russia, Nugzar
Dzhimshileishvili, came out with an idea of a national council that
would incorporate people of authority from various ethnic communities.
The president of the Federation of Migrants of Russia, Madzhumder Amin,
welcomed that proposal.
The head of the youth wing of the Russian Congress of the Caucasus
Peoples, Sultan Togonidze, believes that Russia would benefit a
great deal from having a body similar to the Assembly of the People
of Kazakhstan, of which President Nursultan Nazarbayev is the leader.
"The emphasis in the nationalities policy must be on the cultivation
of civil patriotism, starting from the family and school," insisted
the leader of the all-Russia association Koreans of Russia, Vasily
Tso. "I am a Korean. My citizenship must come first, and my ethnicity,
second," he said.
"It is crucial to put an end to a situation where one ethnic
community has contact with the authorities, and another, does not,"
says Tajik member of the public council at the Federal Migration
Service of Russia, Gavkhar Dzhurayeva, who leads the information
and legal center Migration and Law. She believes that a solution
of that problem might be found through an "inter-ethnic association
incorporating the Russian component at the appropriate level." Such
an association would represent the nationalities problems in the
dialogue with the authorities.
The president of the Union of Armenians of Russia, Ara Abramian, said
that the discussion of Putin's article would be held at round-table
meetings in 83 cities of Russia, with representatives of diasporas
and ethnic autonomies taking part. Their proposals, alongside the
ideas voiced at the just-ended round-table, will be summarized and
handed over to the prime minister.
Vladimir Putin's article Russia: the Nationalities Question was
published in the daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta on January 23.
ITAR-TASS
January 26, 2012 Thursday 08:04 PM GMT+4
Russia
Russia should create a special government structure responsible for
the nationalities policy, and diasporas, minorities and migrants
should conduct a dialogue with the authorities through a common
international organization.
This is the gist of what was said at a round-table meeting devoted
to the discussion of crucial aspects of the nationalities policy in
Russia. In the focus of the discussion was Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin's newspaper article Russia: the Nationalities Question.
The round table conference at the Union of Armenians of Russia gathered
representatives from ethnic communities and autonomies in Russia and
specialists in the field of the nationalities relations.
"The participants in the round table by and large approved of the ideas
contained in the article and expressed the readiness to support the
country's leadership in its efforts for strengthening the unity of the
people of Russia, ensuring the conditions for the active involvement
of all nationalities resident in Russia in the social-political life
of the Russian state," says the resolution the round-table meeting
adopted in principle.
The president of the Union of Armenians of Russia, Ara Abramian,
addressed the audience in these words.
"We should take part in forming the nationalities policy and in
forming the mechanisms of that policy."
"Russia is faced with the problem of creating a new type of ethnic
identity, capable of neutralizing the centrifugal trends," said the
chairman of the presidium of the Russian Congress of Caucasus Peoples,
Aslambek Paskachev. In his opinion, "it must be based not on the
national or confessional identity, but on the universal humanitarian
democratic identify."
"In this respect one cannot but agree with Putin's idea Russian
identity must be based on the preservation of the Russian cultural
dominant," Paskachev said. "In Russian education the trend towards
regionalization must be eased. The government body responsible for
the nationalities policy must have a sufficient amount of powers."
The president of the federal ethnic and cultural autonomy of the
Azerbaijanis of Russia AZEROS, Soyun Sadykov, believes that it
is essential to take care of "the mandatory insurance of arriving
migrants, needed for their medical treatment." Also, in his opinion
the migrants who have settled in Russia since the 1990s should be
amnestied and a fundamental law concerning the new arrivals adopted.
On public television, in his opinion, there should exist a program
devoted to the culture, ethics, and customs of the people resident
in Russia.
"It is necessary to create a national non-governmental chamber in
which all of Russia's nationalities would be represented, and also
a special agency under the president to coordinate the nationalities
policy," Sadykov said.
The deputy director of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology
under the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Zorin, believes that
the article established a plan and parameters for a discussion of
nationalities policy issues.
"Russia's people may have different cultural codes, but they have
far more in common," the scholar said.
The vice-president of the Union of Georgians of Russia, Nugzar
Dzhimshileishvili, came out with an idea of a national council that
would incorporate people of authority from various ethnic communities.
The president of the Federation of Migrants of Russia, Madzhumder Amin,
welcomed that proposal.
The head of the youth wing of the Russian Congress of the Caucasus
Peoples, Sultan Togonidze, believes that Russia would benefit a
great deal from having a body similar to the Assembly of the People
of Kazakhstan, of which President Nursultan Nazarbayev is the leader.
"The emphasis in the nationalities policy must be on the cultivation
of civil patriotism, starting from the family and school," insisted
the leader of the all-Russia association Koreans of Russia, Vasily
Tso. "I am a Korean. My citizenship must come first, and my ethnicity,
second," he said.
"It is crucial to put an end to a situation where one ethnic
community has contact with the authorities, and another, does not,"
says Tajik member of the public council at the Federal Migration
Service of Russia, Gavkhar Dzhurayeva, who leads the information
and legal center Migration and Law. She believes that a solution
of that problem might be found through an "inter-ethnic association
incorporating the Russian component at the appropriate level." Such
an association would represent the nationalities problems in the
dialogue with the authorities.
The president of the Union of Armenians of Russia, Ara Abramian, said
that the discussion of Putin's article would be held at round-table
meetings in 83 cities of Russia, with representatives of diasporas
and ethnic autonomies taking part. Their proposals, alongside the
ideas voiced at the just-ended round-table, will be summarized and
handed over to the prime minister.
Vladimir Putin's article Russia: the Nationalities Question was
published in the daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta on January 23.