An expert on Islam, parliament deputies and representatives of groups representing Tatars in Crimea are calling statements by parliament Deputy Leonid Grach untrue and dangerous.
An expert on Islam , parliament deputies and representatives of groups representing Tatars in Crimea are calling statements by parliament Deputy Leonid Granch untrue and dangerous ,and warn that Granch`s inflammatory comments could lead to serious problems for the autonomous republic.
Grach, a Communist and former speaker of the Crimean Parliament, maintains that Chechen troops are hiding in Crimea under Tatar protection, and that Tatar organizations are linked to al-Qaeda.
Grach has asked Ukrainian Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Pyskun and the state security service, or SBU, to investigate ar-Raed, an association that has been registered since 1997. Grach said the group has links to al-Qaeda, the Islamic terrorist organization. Grach has also claimed that dozens of Chechen fighters are using the peninsula to recover from Chechnya’s war with Russia.
Grach told Russia’s Izvestia newspaper that during the summer more than 40 Chechen “instructors” camped out on Ai-Petri, Crimea’s highest peak and a popular tourist spot. He said more were training near the dacha once occupied by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.
Grach said the Chechens used Crimea as an “advance post” and had purchased property there. The soldiers spend their time there in tranquility, healing bullet wounds obtained in battle with Russian troops, Grach maintained.
“For [the Chechens], this is not the Pankisi Gorge,” said Grach. “It is nice and quiet here.”
Grach also alleged that “wahabist” ideology had entered Crimea through ar-Raed, a loose umbrella group of 11 Tatar organizations with about 250 members. Grach said that he has heard “jihad,” or holy war, being preached. He did not specify against whom the holy war was to be waged or who he heard advocating it.
Wahabism is a fundamentalist sect of Islam that preaches political upheaval as a means of achieving a theocratic state.
Grach said that Chechens were able to enter Ukraine “quite freely,” through both official and unofficial channels. To blend in with their “sympathetic Tatar hosts,” he said, they needed only to shave their beards, since most “Crimean Tatars don’t wear beards,” he said.
Alexander Bogomolov, a director at the Association of Middle Eastern Studies, a Kyiv think-tank, called Grach’s allegations wrong and potentially dangerous.
Bogomolov said that his group just completed a fact-finding mission in Crimea for an upcoming book on Islam in Ukraine. He said that the Tatars have almost unanimously rejected extremism.
Josef Stalin expelled the Tatars from their homes in Crimea to Uzbekistan and other Central Asian republics in the 1940s.
“There is no direct or indirect link with any extremist groups, including al-Qaeda,” said Bogomolov. “There are no grounds at all for these allegations.”
Ar-Raed president Farouk Ashur echoed Bogomolov’s statements. He sent a statement to the SBU on Oct. 17 to deny Grach’s “gross allegations.” He speculated that Grach was fabricating the claims to further his own political goals.
“Since [Oct. 17], we’ve received calls of support from the public, experts and some parliament deputies,” said Ashur. He added that the organization is mulling the possibility of filing a slander action against Grach.
Bogomolov said he would like to see proof of Grach’s allegations, which he called “xenophobic,” and similar to other comments Grach has made to bolster his support with some Crimean voters.
“Who did he hear it from?” Bogomolov asked. “Whenever [Grach] says something, there are many eager to hear it. But there are not many ways to refute it. What are [Tatars] supposed to do? Go on every hill and behind every bush with tape recorders to prove that [calls for jihad] never happened?”
Parliament Deputy Refat Chubarov, an ethnic Tatar and former Soviet dissident, dismissed Grach’s claims as inflammatory.
“Crimea is home to many different ethnic groups,” said Chubarov, who is part of the Our Ukraine bloc. “But do Chechen warriors reside there? The SBU has looked into these claims before, and there’s been no evidence of that.”
Chubarov added that allegations of ties between ar-Raed and al-Qaeda are “nonsense” and insulting. He said that ar-Raed took care to commemorate the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States this past year, and that the group was saddened by the communist deputy’s allegations.
On the allegations that Chechens spend their summers in Crimea, Bogomolov said that in all his visits there, he has yet to see one.
“I’ve been to the mosques, I’ve been in the community centers and I’ve been in peoples’ homes. I know what Chechens look like and I know what they sound like, in both the Chechen language and when they speak Russian. I have not seen a single one in all my time [in Crimea],” he said. “Bearded or otherwise.”
Bogomolov said that Grach is capitalizing on a lack of understanding between Russians and Tatars, exploiting distrust between the two groups to support his reelection bid.
Bogomolov said that Islamic preachers from abroad occasionally visit the peninsula.
“Preachers from across the Islamic spectrum from all parts of the Middle East have been to Crimea,” Bogomolov said. “They come and go all the time. In Crimea, few have left an imprint.”
