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PLACE AND ROLE OF ISLAM IN REGIONS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, THE CAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
I. DOBAEV. REASONS, FACTORS AND FORMS OF POLITICIZATION AND RADICALIZATION OF ISLAM, FORMATION OF MODERN TERRORISM IN THE WORLD AND IN RUSSIA // The Article was Written by the Author for the Bulletin "Russia and the Moslem World"
Keywords: innovations, modernization, technological renewal, industrial revolution, process of colonization, invasion of the islamic world, anticolonial protest, process of decolonization, military coup, Islamic revolution.
I. Dobaev,
Dr. Sc. (Philosophy), Professor,
Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don
The scientific revolution of the 16th century gave the Europeans a greater control over the environment than anyone before. There have been new discoveries in science, medicine, navigation, agriculture and industry. None of them was decisive, but their cumulative effect was a radical one. By the early 17th century innovations have acquired such a scale, that the progress seemed irreversible: the discovery in one area often led to new developments in the other. The modernization entailed social, intellectual and other changes to the time of completion of the industrial revolution of the 19th century, which occurred as a
result of technological renewal of society. The progressive character of Western society and its industrialized economy meant that it should be expanded continuously. New markets were needed. As soon as the actual Western countries became filled, then they had to be sought in other international regions. As a result, Western countries have started the process of colonization. The islamic world was so great and strategically well located, that it was the first subjected to a universal, systematic colonization of the West - in the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, a substantial part of Africa.
According to Karen Armstrong, the world-famous writer, journalist and expert on world religions, the European invasion of the islamic world was started in Mughal India. British merchants established themselves in Bengal in the second half of the 18th century. Economic plundering of Bengal led to the establishment of British rule through agreements or military conquests across India in the late 18th - early 19th centuries, except for the Indus Valley, which was conquered in the middle of the 19th century. Subsequently, the European powers colonized one Islamic country after another one. France invaded Algeria in 1830, Britain - Aden nine years later. Tunisia was occupied in 1881, Egypt - in 1882, Sudan - in 1889, and Libya and Morocco - in 1912. Sykes - Picot divided the territory of the dying Ottoman Empire between Britain and France in 1916. Britain and France have established protectorates and mandates in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and Transjordan on the end of the war. The Arabs regarded it as arbitrariness, since Europeans first promised independence to the Arab areas of the Ottoman Empire1.
Anti-colonial protest of local people has put on the green color of Islam during this period, the emergence and gradual institutionalization of the modern islamist movement took place. Students islamists have established a non-governmental religious-political organization "Muslim Brotherhood" in Egypt in December 1928, which could be called the first modern
structure of radical islamists. There were foreign branches of Egyptian "Brotherhood" in the 30-40s in the Middle East. These branches have become autonomous organizations without sufficient experience of political activity and trained human resources after the dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and therefore unable to develop a large-scale struggle for the practical realization of their political ideas. But today independent and gain experience organization "Muslim Brothers" exist in many Muslim countries: Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Kuwait, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco, etc. "Brothers" have become the active participants in the political life in a number of muslim countries - Jordan and Sudan, Egypt and Afghanistan, etc. At the same time, an extremist wing has appeared, which is now represented by a variety of groups, unleashed terror against the regimes in Muslim countries2.
The Second World War initiated a process of decolonization throughout the world, including Muslim countries. However, the West has often continued to manage their economies, oil production, or resources such as the Suez Canal, even after some of the Arab East countries became independent.
However, the post-war partition of the world has officially secured the position of the U.S., which made a broad expansion in the Middle East at the expense of its main ally Britain. The main objective for the U.S. were huge oil reserves, especially in the Persian Gulf, an exceptional strategic importance of which has become apparent during the last war and in the postwar years. In this regard, the Americans made efforts to strengthen their influence in the region by supporting the monarchy of the Arabian Peninsula, trying to strengthen their position in Iran and Iraq. In the summer of 1953 the U.S. and British intelligence agencies organized a coup in Iran, which brought to power a pro-American regime of the Shah Pahlavi dynasty and opened access to Iranian oil. Americans have enjoyed a serious influence in Iraq
until the revolution in that country in 1958, which led to anti-American government "Baathist" regime.
But the Americans acted inconsiderately and defiantly throughout the Middle East, North Africa, regardless of the traditions and values of the local muslim population. Anti-American sentiment began to grow in the region. In 1978, mass political demonstrations began against the ruling monarchy in Iran, unexpected for many, including the Americans. Its overthrow and the declaration of Iran as an islamic republic in February 1979, its withdrawal from CENTO military pact, the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by young islamic activists -all this has weakened the U.S. position in the region3. The clerical regime came to power in Iran, which was not only created by the government of the islamic model, but also took up the export of ideas and practices of "islamic revolution" beyond his country.
There were religious-political organizations under the influence of "islamic revolution" in Iran, and its subsequent export to other muslim countries, as a result of such a new policy of the Iranian authorities in the Middle East. The most convincing example is the palestinian "Jihad Islami" and the lebanese "Hezbollah". In April 1978 a pro-Soviet regime of Taraki came to power in a military coup in Afghanistan, and in December 1979 the Soviet leadership introduced a "limited military contingent" to the territory of a friendly state, as a result of provocation of Americans intending to solve the "Afghan problem" by military means. It should be stressed that the leaders of the new regime in Kabul, including Amin, repeatedly requested to Moscow. The Soviet military presence (December 27, 1979 - February 15, 1989) had the geopolitical consequences of global importance. It aggravated the civil war in Afghanistan, mobilized the armed opposition to the regime strengthened the radical islamic elements, and provoked, coordination of anti-Soviet activities of a number of countries and international organizations. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other islamic countries, along with the U.S., its Western allies and China took part in these diplomatic,
financial, undercover and military operations and information warfare against the Soviet Union, which led to rapid increase of the role of "the islamic factor" in the regional and global politics, politicization and radicalization. Combat operations, of the Soviet troops in Afghanistan have been presented to the world as "godless communism war against Islam" for the first time after the military operations in Central Asia in 1920-19304.
It should be emphasized that the Islamist groups in Afghanistan, appeared in the youth and student community even during the reign of the last king of Afghanistan, Zahir Shah (1933-1973), developed in the years of the republican leadership of Daud Khan (1973-1978), and played a significant role in the fight against the local "Marxist" regime and the Soviet presence in the country. The most famous and important Afghan factions were "brothers", later transformed into Islamic parties - "Islamic Party of Afghanistan", headed by Mr. Pashtun Hekmatyar and "Jamiat-e Islami" which leader became the Tajik Rabbani. The radical islamic movement was not monolithic in Afghanistan initially, but skimmed along ethnic lines "pashtuns - not pashtuns." Fundamentalist ideology of "pure Islam", which has been brought from the outside into Afghanistan territory during the "jihad" was necessary to overcome this condition.
The Islamic expeditionary corps numbering about 25 thousand people was formed during the Afghan war, which was led by "Bureau Service Mujahideen" ("Khidamat Maktab al-Mujahidin") in Afghanistan. Its first leader was Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian, and after his death - the notorious Osama bin Laden. Afterwards these fighters became known as "arab-afghans". Later, the organization "Al Qaeda" ("Basis") emerged on the basis of the structure of "arab-afghans".
The foreign mojaheds were brought up in the ideology of the spirit, clothed in the form of the concept of "likes and dislikes" ("Al-Valea wa al-bara"), based on ideological constructs developed in the 18th century by M. Ibn Abd al-Wahhab in the Arabian Nejd (Najd - now one of the provinces of the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia)5. The main provisions of this concept were the general muslim concepts - takfir (charge of kufr, i.e. disbelief) and jihad (holy war for the faith), but interpreted in a peculiar way. Not only all non-muslims, but also those muslims "who are subject to incorrect, communicate with them, do not agree with the ideas of the wahhabis, for example, with their interpretation of jihad" are the "enemies of Islam" under the "takfir" in isolation from the muslim orthodoxy6. "Jihad" was interpreted by them in the narrow sense only - as an armed struggle against "enemies of islam"7. The idea of takfir in wahhabit sense was needed to justify the armed struggle of mojaheds against the muslims who defended the regime of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan with weapons in hands.
In February 1989, after withdrawal of the Soviet troops, Afghanistan almost immediately plunged into a bloody struggle between various mojaheds factions for power, to which they came in 1992 as a result of the fall of the pro-Soviet regime of Najibullah. In 1994, numerous students of Pakistani Deobandi madrassas, talibs-militants, came to replace them. In the autumn of 1996, talibs, defeating mojaheds, created a new state - the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, headed by the "Amer al-Momineen" ("Commander of the Faithful" - the title of caliph) Mullah Omar, throwing the country for several centuries ago in its socio-economic and political development. They conquered most of Afghanistan, controlling most of the provinces in whole or in part, and in 2001 their power was extended to 95% of the country already Usama bin Laden and his mojaheds - "Arab-Afghans" settled on the Afghan territory by that time. Analysis of the 1990 events shows, that the governments of countries, from whence "Afghans" were, did everything possible to prevent them from settling homeland. As a result, "Afghans" have begun to return to Pakistan and Afghanistan - in the territory controlled by the movement "Taliban"8. In February 1998, Osama bin Laden brought together a number of extremist Islamist groups around the "Al Qaeda" in Kandahar, creating "World Islamic Front for
the fight against the Jews and Crusaders", became famous as the "World Front for Jihad"9, relying on support of the "Taliban". "World Jihad Front" was not too rigid hierarchical structure of radical Islamists, which included groups on the network principle. Thus, there was a powerful and dangerous wahhabi-Taliban alliance.
Today it is no secret that the Taliban movement was created by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. Americans supported the "Taliban" actively enough at first, but the position of radical Islamists has become increasingly marginal in the international arena. Granting of asylum to Osama bin Laden, who prepared the attacks of September 11, 2001, became the formal reason of the American invasion to Afghanistan. The military operation in Afghanistan Enduring Freedom has been recognized as an unqualified success by the U.S. administration, many Western experts and the media. However, the U.S. military and allied troops are in Afghanistan almost 15 years, and during this period have not been able to solve the "Afghan problem".
The complex process of fragmentation of the terrorist movement has taken place in the region and in the world during this period. A new kind of terrorism is threatening the world, and its driving force is the network structure consisting of fanatics10. Modern terrorist movement can be represented as a combination of a number of clusters of radical Islamists, organized over a network. Each of these clusters is composed of many networked terrorist groups, which are connected by common ideologies and goals. The activities of terrorist groups do not stop, and sometimes even increases in spite of the elimination of Osama bin Laden in May 2011. It is hardly possible to speak seriously about the success in the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking in the country, evaluating the activities of the US and its NATO allies in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from 2001 to the present time. Quite the contrary, the number of terrorist attacks, the number of extremist networks that are capable of creating the terrorist threat has increased over the period of stay of foreign
troops in Afghanistan. Foreign troops that refused to deal with the problem of the cultivation and distribution of opiates, allowed terrorist organizations to have a steady income from the sale of narcotic drugs11. Moreover, at the present time, the Taliban control most of the territory of Afghanistan once again, after the withdrawal of the bulk of the US military and its allies out of the country. The true organizers of the terrorist attacks in Washington and New York in 2001 have not been established yet. It follows that the main purpose of the introduction of troops of the U.S. and its allies in Afghanistan were the geopolitical imperatives and intentions of geopolitical restructuring of the region within the framework of a major geopolitical project "The Greater Middle East", sounded by the Americans. It is not surprising, therefore, that the US military presence in Afghanistan will remain for an indefinite time and after the main withdrawal of the occupying troops, as noted by the representatives of the highest military circles of the U.S.12
The modern Iraq war can be explained by geopolitical reasons. The collapse of the Soviet Union has destroyed a bipolar structure of international relations by giving a free hand to its geopolitical opponents almost everywhere, including muslim countries. Operation "Desert Storm" took place from 17 January to 3 March 1991 in response to the occupation of Kuwait by Iraq, provoked by the Americans and finished off a quick liberation of Kuwait and the actual abolition of the control of Baghdad over Iraqi Kurdistan. The U.S. and UK have launched "Operation Desert Fox" after Baghdad refused to allow UN inspectors into the country in August 1998; and the aim of this operation was to destroy the military facilities in Iraq. Air raids have become regular. However, Washington did not seek to overthrow the regime initially, since only the coming to power of Shiites could be an alternative to the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. The Americans made this decisive step only in March 2003, when the U.S. was able to win the war and to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein in less than a month. However, the Americans
had to solve two major problems at once: to deal with terrorism and to organize the political process within Iraq.
Iraqi insurgents have become serious and experienced opponents during the conflict, and the U.S. troops were not ready for a confrontation with them. Militants terrorists used more and more powerful explosives, designed along the lines of those that have been adopted by "Hezbollah" in south Lebanon, and that led to an increase in human and material losses of the U.S. army. The Americans carried out the rearrangement in order to avoid this trend. They have deduced troops into specially created military bases outside the city suburbs, turned into real fortresses under siege. At the same time, the movements of troops and reducing the number of attacks into settlements have been limited in order to reduce losses among the troops. Pinpoint strikes have been concentrated on the "Sunni triangle" and insurgent zones, mainly along the joint borders with Syria.
As for the change of the political system in Iraq, the regions were reorganized (the north - Kurdish, in the south and southeast - the Shiites) after the collapse of the authoritarian regime of Saddam Hussein, received some autonomy due to the interference of the U.S. and its allies. The U.S. counted on their support, and hopes were justified, as a whole. After the elections in January 2005, which resulted in a majority in the National Assembly went to Shiites and Kurds, the referendum held on 15 October 2005, approved a new constitution, proclaimed Iraq a decentralized federal government, the province of which received considerable autonomy, as opposed to a weakened center. A state based on ethnic and religious contradictions, can not be strong, and may even collapse in the future. The Americans consider the vector of development of the situation in Iraq as a positive and withdrew its troops from the country, although the US military presence is still preserved there. Despite this, the terrorist groups in Iraq continue to operate, taking all the new life of its citizens, and there is no end in sight. At the same time, foreign mojaheds who fought in Iraq, began to gather in new "hot spots", which
appeared in the region in connection with the reformatory itching of the American establishment, aimed at reformatting the "Greater Middle East" by inspiration of "color revolutions" there.
The dramatic events that began with mass protests in Tunis in December 2010 and called "Arab Spring", have been made possible due to the accumulation of a critical mass of internal conflict-factors in many countries of North Africa and the Middle East, first of all13. In our opinion, the "Arab Spring" is a chain of "color revolutions" - pro-Western, and more often - pro-U.S. coups-inspired into one country or another, using the tools of network wars, into the interests of the West (the U.S.). An external actor is an important subject of "color coups" relying on Western and pro-Western non-governmental organizations established in a given country. The external "actor" have an impact on the transformation and organized a wide public and diplomatic support to the putschists in all known "color revolutions" even as an observer. He participated directly or indirectly in neutralizing the authorities (forcing to give up active resistance), and in stimulating and organizing opposition activities14. The spectrum of its activities is quite wide: from conducting information wars - through the use of economic incentives and sanctions - up to direct participation in hostilities. All these elements of "network war" were used in the course of restructuring of the Arab East by the West.
The growing influence of political Islam has been a feature of social and political processes in the Middle East and North Africa since the 1970s. Now the Islamists proved to be the most organized force, which apply for the definition of the future of the region15. Severe deformation of regional political process has emerged as a result of the elimination of the secular regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, a Palestinian Islamist quasi-state under Hamas authority in the Gaza Strip, the increased popularity of the Shiite "Hezbollah" in Lebanon, the elimination of secular regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya during the "Arab Spring" and a serious weakening of the positions of Bashar Assad in Syria. The
situation is aggravated by the presence of long-standing problems, including: conflicts between Palestine and Israel, North and South Sudan, Kurdish separatism, the tension in Afghanistan (which has steadily intensified after the withdrawal of the bulk of the U.S. troops), instability in Pakistan, etc.
It should be recognized that the processes, caused by the Arab Spring, are in constant dynamics. There is destruction of the old power structures and powerful extension to the forefront of political Islam in our time16.
The islamist party "Nahda" ("Revival") won the most seats (90 of 217) as a result of free parliamentary elections in Tunis (the first after the overthrow of Ben Ali), held on 23 October 2011. Recently Salafists (Islamic fundamentalists), claim to political leadership, requiring the construction of an Islamic state and the introduction of Shariah law, and strengthen their influence in the country. Islamization causes a rift in Tunisian society, part of which is dissatisfied with the Islamization of social and political life and the rejection of the planned results of the secularist reforms carried out under previous regimes.
In Egypt, "Muslim Brotherhood" has become the most organized and influential political force after the collapse of the regime of President Hosni Mubarak, positioning themselves as moderate Islamists, their political program proclaims the general democratic goals. In November 2011 "Freedom and Justice Party", i.e. the political wing of the "Muslim Brotherhood", received the largest number of seats (42%) in the parliamentary elections, and the second place was taken by the party of "An-Nur", representing the Salafi movement (later Parliament was dissolved on the initiative of the military and the decision of the Constitutional Court of Egypt). Mohammed Mursi, one of the leaders of the "Muslim Brotherhood", the chairman of "Freedom and Justice Party" won the presidential election in 2012. M. Mursi actually took over the functions of both the executive and legislative powers until the election of a new parliament. Egypt did not become an Islamist state only because of the strong
position of the Egyptian military. Now the movement of "Brothers" is banned, and M. Mursi is under arrest and investigation.
In 2011, protest demonstrations of Libya against the 42-year reign of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi escalated into an armed rebellion, inspired from abroad and actively supported by the naval blockade and air strikes of NATO. Then, Special units of NATO and some Arab countries took part in the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime. A considerable number of mercenaries from Arab countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as muslims in Europe have been in the ranks of the Libyan "rebels". In July 2012, parliamentary elections were held in Libya, and won "Union of national forces" headed by Mahmoud Jibril, and the second place was taken by the Islamists from the "Party of Justice and Construction" - the local movement of "Muslim Brotherhood". Many of the "rebels" profess radical Islamism, and they feel comfortable enough in Libya now. At the same time, the new regime is not able to control the situation in the country completely, because the real power belongs to the leaders of clans and tribal formations and armed groups. Thus, the overthrow of the regime of Gaddafi has turned into the disintegration of Libya, strengthening radical Islam and its spread to neighboring regions, on Mali in particular. Clan groupings of the Tuaregs have created an independent Islamic state, where sharia predominated, in part of the country. This formation was supported by radical Islamist groups, including "Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb" (AQIM), acting in Algeria17. The civil conflict has been lasted in Syria since March 2011, where armed groups opposed to the Assad regime. Many of them are mercenaries from the Arab-Muslim countries and the Muslim diaspora in Europe, including the militants of "Al-Qaeda". The Persian Gulf monarchies, Turkey and the leading NATO countries are actively assisting in their training, financing and arming. There is a center for the training of Syrian militants in Turkey, where the Turkish officers are engaged in military training. Gunmen financed by
Qatar and Saudi Arabia. CIA officers are involved in the distribution of weapons18. The well-known terrorist group, which controls part of the territory of Iraq and Syria, under the name of "Islamic State" (ISIS) is one of 19 such structures.
ISIS was created in 2006 during the occupation of Iraq, by the troops, of the U.S. and its allies. This Sunni Islamist group was called "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (LIH) at the time, and aimed to struggle against occupying forces (the Levant is a Latin translation of the Arabic place name al-Sham, indicating modern Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and part of Jordan) . Some formations ISIS has entered the Syrian territory and joined the armed Syrian opposition against the government army. The militants of ISIS captured part of the remote province of Raqqa, where announced the introduction of Sharia. The NATO Member Countries, and the Persian Gulf monarchies supported activities of ISIS, as well as other opposition forces.
In August 2014 the militants ISIS (using the discontent of the Sunni tribes in the north of Iraq, with predominance of Shiites in the country's leadership) intervened in the conflict between the Sunni community and the government of Nouri al-Maliki, and undertook a successful attack into Iraq, capturing a number of cities, including Mosul. ISIS started to practice repression and terror against ethnic and religious minorities (the Kurds, Shiite Muslims, Yazidis, Christians) in the occupied areas. ISIS militants tried to extend their offensive in Lebanon, Jordan threatened. After some time, this terrorist group declared "Islamic State" (ISIS) in the occupied territories of Iraq and Syria, and the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was announced the head20.
The ISIS militants launched an offensive in the region of Iraqi Kurdistan oil fields, but were stopped by Kurdish armed groups "Peshmerga". Leading NATO countries led by the U.S. expressed their support for the Kurds in their confrontation with ISIS and began to supply military equipment to Iraqi Kurdistan, which has received broad autonomy after the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime, and de facto (but not de jure) is an
independent public education. Currently, the U.S., EU and Israel have actually pushed the Kurds to independence, planning to transform a future sovereign Kurdish state in the influential proWestern force in the region. The military and political support of the West is also caused by the fact that representations of many Western companies are located in the city of Arbil, capital of Kurdistan.
As a result, Washington and London have declared the beginning of the bombing of the territories controlled by ISIS, as well as the creation of a coalition of 40 states to combat this grouping (initiators excluded Iran and Syria's participation in the coalition). At the same time the US bombard positions of ISIS not only in Iraq, but Syria, without informing the public authorities of these countries. Thus, all the actions of the U.S. confirm the immutability of the goals of American policy in the region: the overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria, bringing the forces, hostile to Tehran and Damascus, to power in Iraq, the maximum weakening of Iran and the Shiite movement of "Hezbollah" in Lebanon, and the movement of "jihad" to the Russian borders in the future. Washington hoped that the Ukrainian crisis of 2013 would divert forces of Moscow and limit its ability to maintain friendly governments in the Middle East.
However, the units of the Military Space Forces of Russia have been deployed in Syria in September 2015, which did not allow the West (led by the U.S.) to implement its geopolitical and geostrategic goals in the region. The Assad regime has been persevered, moreover, has made impressive progress. However, this circumstance has forced geopolitical opponents, of Russia to intensify its efforts in the region, which delays the resolution of conflict. Russian-Turkish relations have been sharply deteriorated.
Thus, the "revolutionary" events in the Middle East and North Africa have dramatically increased the degree of Islamic factor", changing the geopolitical configuration in the region. The overthrow of the secular regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, as a result of "Arab revolutions" (supported from the outside), the
tragic events in Syria and in other regions of the "Islamic world" opened the way to power not only the moderate Islamists like Tunisia "Al-Nahda" and the Egyptian "Muslim Brotherhood", but also their more radical followers, ranging from the Egyptian "Al-Nour" and up to the various groups "Al-Qaeda" and of ISIS. The liberalization of social and political life and the weakening of the secular institutions of power have allowed the radical fundamentalists to declare themselves as a political force claiming to power. No wonder the current leader of "Al Qaeda" Ayman al-Zawahiri, calls on all Arab and Islamic countries, especially Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, to follow the example of Tunisia and Egypt. He advises not to stop, and seek not only the change of government, but also the establishment of Sharia orders21.
As for Russia, the first territories inhabited by Muslims were joined in the 16th century - Kazan (1552) Astrakhan (1556) and Siberian (1589) khanates - the pieces of the Golden Horde once mighty. One of the main Islamic centers - Caucasus (North Caucasus and Transcaucasia) - became part of the Russian Empire rather late - in 20-80 years of the 19th century, and Central Asia was joined to Russia in the last third of the 19th century.
Joining the Caucasus to Russia was dictated by religious and moral considerations (the salvation of the Christian peoples of the Caucasus from destruction), and military-strategic situation of the Caucasus as a barrier to the expansion of the UK and its tool - Turkey, as well as a bridgehead for Russia to complete its natural geopolitical development as a European, as well as a world power (Constantinople, the Bosporus and the Dardanelles). The economic aspect has not played any significant role for Russia in the development of events in the Caucasus in the 18th - I half of the 19th century, although it was taken into account in the perspective by the Russian power sub-elites22.
The Russian-Turkish wars of the second half of the 18th century led not only to accession of the Crimea to Russia, but also for the transition of the Caucasus and Northern Black Sea in Russia's sphere of influence. Subsequently, two Russian-
Persian (1804-1813), Russian-Turkish (1806-1812) and the Patriotic War determined the actual status of a superpower at the time for the Russian Empire. The Bucharest (1812), The Gulistan (1813), the Turkmanchay (1828) and Andrianopolsky (1829) peace treaties consolidated transition of the Caucasus under Russian jurisdiction in international legal terms.
The violent reaction of the UK for joining the Caucasus had pushed Russia to force the establishment of control over the region and the introduction of the military and the civil administration of the empire. This was one of the causes of the Caucasian war (1817-1864) where Russia had to fight not only with the Imamat of Shamil and the Adygs of the Northwest Caucasus, but also the intervention of the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, Poland, Hungary and other European revolutionaries and adventurers23.
The Caucasian war proceeded fiercely in the eastern part of the North Caucasus region, where it was carried out under the slogan of gazavat (gazavat is a combat jihad). Of course, the role of Islam was dramatically enhanced in the political life of the North Caucasian highlanders in that period, and there was a strong movement in the North-East Caucasus, which became known as the "Caucasian Muridism", and reached its peak under Imam Shamil. During the Caucasian war Shamil created even a theocratic state - Imamate on the part of the territory of modern Dagestan and Chechnya, which ceased to exist simultaneously with the capture of Imam Shamil in 1859.
However, it should be noted that certain fixed forms of ethno-religious extremism and terrorism, even before and after the completion of the Caucasian War in the North Caucasus: raiding system; kidnappings for ransom or sale; armed separatism and calls for jihad (after completion of the Caucasian War); political banditry (1920-1930-s); ethnic collaboration, creation and participation of mountain troops on the side of Nazi Germany24.
Activation of "Islamic factor" took place on the eve and as a result of revolutions of 1917 (February and October) and the
ensuing civil war. Proponents of sharia intensified at that time in the North Caucasus, whose leaders have advocated the creation of an Islamic state on the type of the Imamate of Shamil. Sheikh N. Gotsinsky and Sheikh Uzun Haji were especially active in the issue of implementation of the idea of the Imamate. As a result, in August 1917, Sheikh N. Gotsinsky was elected to Imam of Dagestan and Chechnya in the second congress of the mountain peoples and began to establish a religious monarchy in Chechnya and Dagestan in alliance with Sheikh Uzun-Haji. In the autumn of 1919, Sheikh proclaimed Chechnya and the north-western part of Dagestan as "North Caucasian Emirate." However, this project was not viable and collapsed soon as Soviet power was established in the North Caucasus.
Events had evolved dramatically in the course of the civil war in Central Asia. The Soviet power was established there after the revolutionary events of 1917, and the counter-revolutionary separatist actions of the local muslim nobles, tried to create "Kokand autonomy" in the Ferghana Valley, was put down in January 1918. However, this movement could not be completely localized, and as a result the Bolsheviks were soon faced with the broad movement of the rebels - Basmachis, the ideological basis of which were pan-Islamism and Pan-Turkism (Kazakhs, Kyrgyzes, Uzbeks and Turkmens - Turkic peoples; the Tajiks - Iranian branch of the Indo-Europeans, and all of them are Muslim, mostly Sunni)25.
In 1919-1920 the resistance movement spread to virtually the whole of Central Asia, arousing religious fanaticism and acting under the slogan of "the holy war against the infidels." Leaders of armed groups were aimed at the separation of Turkestan from Soviet Russia and the restoration of the medieval feudal system here. The main forces of basmachis were defeated by the Red Army in the early 1920s, but the bandits and their Western backers managed to get away from the final defeat. In 1924-1925 they were reorganized, with the active assistance of the United Kingdom, received the central management under the leadership of the British secret service agent, Uzbek, Ibrahim Bey,
a nuker of the former Emir of Bukhara. He was supported, trained, supplied weapons, ammunition and equipment by a number of foreign intelligence services, especially the UK. The basmachis went into Afghanistan after losses in the fighting with the Red Army, where kindred ethnic groups - the Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmens lived (and live now). The Iranian territory was used to a much lesser extent in the same order. They restored power there, replenished their squads with men and weapons, obtained comprehensive assistance, primarily from the British. Consequently, the Soviet government took tough political pressure on Afghanistan in the second half of 1920 and the Afghan emir Amanullah Khan sharply limited assistance for the bandits, forcing some of them to leave the country. It happened a rebellion supported by the British in late 1928 in Afghanistan, and the power in the country was invaded by Bacha-i Saqao, an ethnic Tajik, an adventurer, with whom "the best spy of all time," a colonel of the British Intelligence, Lawrence of Arabia, worked personally. In this regard, the Red Army troops crossed the Afghan border twice (in April 1929 and in June 1930), destroying the basmachi units and their support infrastructure throughout the north of Afghanistan. Bacha-i Saqao was overthrown and killed. King Nadir Shah, who came to power, disarmed a part of the basmaches units, after a hard Soviet ultimatum, and the cavalry of the Turkmen nomads (who were well paid by the Afghan government26, with the Soviet money apparently), caused a surprise attack on bases of irreconcilable Ibrahim - bek in the spring 1931. The mood of the Central Asian population had changed by this time; its representatives began to engage actively in the volunteer corps to combat the robber bands and bandits were perceived in the public consciousness not as "basmachis" (robbers) already but as "dushmanies" (enemies) and "shaytans" (demons). Only then the basmachi movement began to fade. However, their individual attacks were recorded up until 19391940. The last basmachi groups disappeared after signing an agreement on cease-subversion from Iran and Afghanistan
between the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom in 194227, that underlines once again the geopolitical conditionality of the basmachi movement on the territory of Soviet Central Asia.
"Islamic factor" was used extensively in various separatist projects aimed at Russia split, its dismemberment, weakening, the deprivation of its ability to influence the global processes in the period between the First and Second World Wars as well as during the last world war. There have always been external sponsors of separatism in the geopolitical space of the Russian state, the forces that raised the flag of separatism in difficult times for our country - the Civil and then the Great Patriotic War. A significant role was played by a certain part of the post-revolutionary emigration from the USSR, including muslim, which was used in some European and Asian countries28. Another surge of separatism under the banner of Islam was fixed after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The separatist-oriented elites, headed by a former Soviet general Dzhokhar Dudayev, which came to power in Chechnya, headed for the power output from Russia and the formation of their own independent state. The internationalization of the radical Salafi movement in the region was triggered by the events in Chechnya in 1994-1996 under the slogan of "restoring constitutional order". This period was marked by the massive participation of militants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey and other Muslim countries on the side of separatists in military actions in Chechnya.
The Chechen Republic in 1996-1999 has become a testing ground of terrorism and extremism, shelter murderers, traders of "human beings", drugs and weapons, hid behind the religion of Islam. This circumstance determined the invasion of bands of local and foreign terrorists in August 1999 into the territory of the Republic of Dagestan. In autumn 1999 "Campaign against terrorism" in Chechnya was started, that passed through a number of important evolutionary stages: from the front of battles -assault on Grozny was the apogee, and up to resolving the conflict by forces of the Chechens themselves. That led to positive
results and the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya was officially completed in April 2009.
Meanwhile, in spite of real progress in the reconstruction of Chechnya, the situation appears to be far from the ideal one29. "Resistance" was transformed in part into "guerilla warfare" and partly into mobile and loosely connected network of terrorist groups based on an ideological doctrine of radical Islam as a result of the defeat of the separatists in Chechnya, the spread of the Salafi movement in the other republics of the North Caucasus30. This process intensified in 2007 when, Doku Umarov, has launched a new network geopolitical project "Caucasus Emirate"31, which is degraded after neutralization of Umarov in late 2013, and most of the gangs of radical Islamists pledging allegiance to "Islamic state".
Thus, there was a steady process of politicization and radicalization of Islam and Islamic groups in the Russian post-Soviet period, under strong external influence. This process is exacerbated by the weakness and fragmentation of the traditional and the official Russian Islam, the implementation of the separatist projects in some regions of the country. At the same time stable radical Salafi groups have emerged and matured, that passed institutionalization, in some North Caucasus republics, under the influence of radical Islamic doctrine and military operations in the North Caucasus. Subsequently, there was a process of "spreading jihad" almost across the North Caucasus and preconditions have been formed to create the radical Salafi groups in the Volga region, the Urals and in Western Siberia, as well as their appearance in the "muslim enclaves" in Russian cities over the last decade. The return of the Crimea in the "home port" in 2014 was accompanied by the activation of "Crimean Tatar factor", which is inspired by geopolitical opponents of Russia - Turkey and the West. This requires an adequate assessment of the current situation and taking effective measures to block the destructive activities of radical nationalist and Islamist groups in the Russian Crimea.
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2016.09.003
immigration in the final stages of the civil war in Afghanistan (1930-1931).] [Electronic resource]. - URL: http://new.hist.asu.ru/biblio/V3/226-235.pdf
28. See: A.I. Zevelev and others. .Damie V. Basmachtskoe dvizhenie. [V. Dame. Basmach Movement.] [Electronic resource]. - URL: http://www. krugosvet.ru/ articles/120/1012074/1012074a1.htm
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30. Dobaev I.P., Dobaev A.I., Nemchina V.I. Geopolitika I terrorizm epohi postmoderna. [I.P. Dobaev, A.I.Dobaev, V.I. Nemchina. Geopolitics and terrorism in the postmodern era.] / Ed. Dobaeva I.P. - Rostov na Donu, 2015. - P. 313-337.
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32. Anisimova N.A., Dobaev I.P . Setevye struktury terrorizma yf Sevevrnom Kavkaze [N.A. Anisimova, I. P. Dobaev. Networking Terrorists in the North Caucasus] / Ed. Dobaev I.P. - Rostov na Donu, 2016.
2016.09.003. R. STARCHENKO. THE STATE NATIONAL POLICY: CRIMEAN TATAR ASPECT // "Vestnik Rossiyskoy Natsii", Moscow, 2016, number 1, P. 159-171.
Keywords: the Russian national policy, the Crimea multinational region, ethno-political situation, the Crimean Tatars, the status of the Crimean Tatar language, places of compact residence, social security.
R. Starchenko,
Ph.D. (Hist.), Acting Deputy Director of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology named after N.N. Miklouho-Maclay, RAS
The author highlights the main vectors of the Russian national policy in the Crimea towards the Crimean Tatar people. The national policy in Russia is regulated by a set of laws, but the ethno-political situation in the Crimea required operational decisions at the time that went beyond the existing legal framework of the Russian Federation in 2014.
