CHECHEN
REFUGEES QUESTION
CHECHEN REFUGEES REPORT OF THE CAUCASUS FOUNDATION. OCTOBER 2001
by Fehim Tastekin
HALF
THE NATION BECAME REFUGEES
The continuing war in Chechnya since year 1999, forced the half of
the population of Chechens to shelter in other countries. Life danger
and worsening existence conditions drove the civilian population to
shelter at the neighbouring Ingushetia where they had relatives and
common culture. Others flowed into neighbouring Georgia, Kabardino-Balkaria,
Dagestan, North Ossetia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Turkey.
Possibility of refugee return to Chechnya is completely run out because
of the intentional "Cleansing" operations against the civilian
population. Nearing winter conditions has no effect on refugee decision
to stay at the safe side. Refugees have lost their loved ones and
they are at point with no future. Their houses are destroyed and looted.
Their land is poisoned by chemical bombs. Almost all of them come
to contact with illness somehow.
REFUGEES IN FIGURES
Chechen
refugees as of 5 October 2000 were 502,803. There were 160 thousand
refugees in Ingushetia in October 2000 and they are now 148 thousand
registered refugees in Ingushetia. There are another 50 thousand unregistered
refugees in Ingushetia.
Again as of 5 October 2000, there were 14 thousand refugees in North
Ossetia, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria. There were 7 thousand in Georgia,
10 thousand in Azerbaijan, 10 thousand in Kazakhstan, one thousand
in Ukraine, 3 thousand at Europe and Turkey. Some refugees moved to
other countries and some tried to go back. The present refugee number
in Azerbaijan is about 6 to 8 thousand. Some refugees sheltered to
Muslim countries and to Poland and Czech Republic and other European
countries.
REFUGEES IN
INGUSHETIA
Refugees in camps in Ingushetia have lived two years in hunger and
misery, now it is the third year. Official Ingush figures are 308,912
persons have sheltered Ingushetia since the beginning of the war.
Thousands of more refugees are unregistered because they are boarding
with their relatives or have sheltered with their own possibilities
or had chance of employment. Those registered has the chance to benefit
from international help and support from the Ingush State.
91,181 persons out of the 308,912 refugees between 29 September 1999
to 05 October 2001, have returned back. 68,792 persons are scattered
over the Russian Federation. There are now 148,939 Chechen refugees
in Ingushetia on 05 October 2001. 9,621 persons have returned to Chechnya
and came back to Ingushetia during this period. They are not re-registered
because of their first registration in the 308,912 list. 1,834 persons
sheltered to Ingushetia only in one day on 05 October 2001 and 781
persons moved to Chechnya on the same day. International humanitarian
help organizations in Ingushetia said that the refugee number in Ingushetia
is about 200 thousand since the last two years. Temporary tents were
set up thinking that the war would end within 2-3 months but it is
now over two years that they are in these tents.
Bart and Sputnik camps in Ingushetia are a different world: 25-30
persons shelter in tents of normally holding 10 persons. People die
here from cold and worse conditions at summer time. This is no life
for women, children and elderly. Some refugees have sheltered at animal
barns, storage houses, and factory buildings all unsuitable for human
shelter. They had left their homes two years ago with only portable
valuables and dresses. They now need winter clothes and have no money
to buy it.
Two Months Test
of Death
Emergencies Ministry of Ingushetia said on 25 March 2001 that international
help organizations wouldn't service to the refugee camps. No more
hot meals serviced from that date on and no more bread as of 02 April
2001, because of the Russian blockade of finances to Ingushetia. Electric
and gas are cut off, as of 14 April 2001. New Russian politics of
pressuring refugees back to Chechnya, evolved by Russian blockade
of international help. For full two months, there were no hot meal
service, the refugees are tested with death. Thousands of people demonstrated
against hunger. At the end of May 2001, 400 grams of bread and canned
soup, rice and flour are distributed per person. Ingush Emergencies
Minister V.P.Kuksa asked help organizations to start their services
at the refugee camps.
Danish Refugee Council, The International Committee of The Red Cross,
Islamic Relief tried their best service at the refugee camps. French
Medecins du Monde, The Agency for Rehabilitation and Development,
Islamic Relief and Doctors from The European Union are trying to give
health care. The Salvation Army and Austrian Hilfswerk are at service
for education of children.
Why
Cut the Food?
Ingush President Ruslan Aushev explains that Russian debts were over
450 million rubles and the burden of refugees had started to squeeze
the possibilities of The Ingush Republic. That meant that Russian
finance blockade forced Ingushetia to stop the food service. Electric,
gas and water supply of the Chechen refugee camps are again cut off
as of 17 October 2001 because of non payment of 79,5 million rubbles
debt. Russian Federation is blamed.
Bart
Camp
Bart camp is established in the beginning of the war. Officially 5,042
persons are registered in the camp but there are over 6 thousand refugees
living in this camp. Tents are worn out. There were no hot meals for
three months. Hot meals stopped as of 23 March 2001. Spokesperson
of the refugees, Maryam Dashaeva said on 05 April 2001 that all of
this were perpetrated to force them to return back. Dashaeva said
"that Chechen refugees won't return to Chechnya where the Russian
soldiers and Russian intelligence criminals will kill us, rape us,
loot us. Russian military invasion is nothing but international terrorists
against unarmed civilian population of Chechnya. There is nothing
but death in Chechnya for the returning refugees," said Dashaeva.
Refugee camp by Yanda village at Nazran region had the same fate:
no hot meals as of 21 March and no bread as of 3 April 2001. Malgobek,
Ali-Yurt, Nesterovskay camps had the same fate.
Camp administrator said that as of 03 May 2001, 400 grams of bread
per person are distributed. 2520 breads are daily distributed in this
camp. Flour, oil, sugar, tea, milk powder and canned soup are distributed
since the second half of May 2001. Danish Refugee Council started
to deliver food supply in May 2001. Red Cross started service in July
2001. The Christian Mission of South Ossetia supplied food and dress.
The refugees now get as much help only to keep them alive.
Health Problems: One nurse from Ingush Health Service tries to help
in a small tent. Essential medicine is unavailable. Medecins du Monde
has its own service.
Education Problem: 258 students between first to 8th grade are educated
in tents. Efforts of Ingush Education Ministry are insufficient.
Sputnik Camp
Sputnik camp holds 10 thousand refugees from Sunzhen, Achoi-Martan,
Naur, Shelk and Nadterek settlements of Chechnya. There are about
400 tents. They had no hot meal since March 2001. Russia supplies
bread and some dry food since April. Islamic Relief supplies food
help since May 2001. Red Cross helps organized a bread ration of 800
grams per refugee. The victims are babies and children. About one
thousand children under 6 years of age are without baby food since
a year. Drinking water is transported by tractor-pulled tanks. Showers
are taken in primitive conditions. An old laundry machine tries to
take care the laundry. Refugees most suffer from the power shortage.
Education Problem: 11 tents take care education. 4 tents handle primary,
6 tents handle high school and one tent for sports. UNICEF and Ingush
Education Ministry helps them.
Health Service: Emergencies Ministry has a first aid station. Islamic
Relief has set up a mini-clinic as of February 2001 and a team of
five specialist Doctors serves children and adults. Medecins du Monde
serves in two tents. Sufficient health care and essential medicine
still lacks.
Karabulak Camp: A Dairy Farm
Registered
refugees at Karabulak camp are 3,500 persons as of end-May 2001. This
camp is actually a dairy farm. Refugees are sheltered in farm barns
and in inconvenient places for people. No hot meals at this camp since
01 April 2001. Dry and canned food are distributed by Russia and international
organizations since mid-May 2001. Distributed food quality is low
and most has expired dates. No baby food here since last November.
High Commissioner of Refugees of United Nations promised improvement
at camps, but nothing improved. Gas is supplied since March. Water
is supplied since April. A Red Cross 13 cabin-showers are in service
only mornings. Water tank supplies last by noon each day.
Health
Service: There is no first aid station at this camp. Mobile hospital
of European Union serves on Wednesday and Thursday. Doctors of The
Agency for Rehabilitation and Development visit the camp once a week
but no medicines are given. Emergency cases are forwarded to the nearest
city. Tuberculosis, asthma, diabetes, cancer cases are observed among
the refugees. Unemployment, helplessness, illness and psychological
problems are the regular agenda of the camps.
Education
Problems: School at this camp is supported by Ingush Education Ministry
but essentials like books, notebooks, pencils and teachers all unavailable.
There are 358 children of primary school age at this camp.
Alina Camp
More than half of the tents are new at this camp. But there are still
some refugees trying to survive at inconvenient places of farms where
the winter colds can take lives. Gas supply is scarce but frequently
cut and heat is insufficient over the real cold. Two families lives
in 5 square meters and 10 persons under one roof. Women are in miserable
condition and can't feed their babies. Human rights organizations
keep asking for milk and baby food since a year and a half. The most
needy are the invalids.
Aki-Yurt Camp
This camp is far away from the observer commissions and journalists
visits and is the most poor one. Tents are old and crowded with 3
families in one tent. Food quality is worse.
Bela Camp
Bela camp is established by the United Nations Refugees High Commission
at Sunjensky region. There are 60 tents holding 1.200 refugees from
the rail cars at Karabulak.
HUNGER STRIKES
Other camps in Ingushetia experiences all the same privations. Refugees
believe that their salvation depends on the end war. They carried
protest demonstrations during the months in Spring and Summer this
year. About 2,000 refugees staged anti-war demonstrations at Sleptsovsk
on 14 June 2001 and asked an end to the war in Chechnya. Hunger strikes
started in refugee tents on 15 July 2001: they demanded an end to
the war and to start peace talks with their President, The President
of The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Aslan Maskhadov. 41 refugees
between ages 12 to 67 signed a letter dated 27 June 2001 and declared
their hunger strike as a last resort and demanded an immediate end
to the war in Chechnya and talks to be held between Russian President
Vladimir Putin and President of Chechnya, Aslan Maskhadov.
Chechen refugee hunger strike gains momentum: Chechen refugees demanded
an immediate end of the war in Chechnya. Chechens warned Russian President
Vladimir Putin that they are ready to die "We would prefer to
die of hunger rather than be killed by Russian troops," the hunger
strikers and their supporters said in a message to Putin signed by
232 Chechens at Sleptsovsk, in Ingushetia close to the Chechen border.
The message called for "an immediate halt to the war" and
negotiations between Moscow and Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov.
In their message, the hunger strikers stressed that their act was
one of "desperation" that ran counter to their religious
beliefs.
"For two years now the blood of innocent people has been flowing
in Chechnya. Our people have been drawn into a cruel war," they
said, warning that "the arbitrariness and violence will provoke
even greater violence. There can be "no military settlement"
in Chechnya, they continued. "For the sake of saving the lives
of hundreds of thousands of Russians and Chechens, take a courageous
step and stop the war," they urged the Russian President.
TUBERCULOSIS
PLAGUE
15 January 2001: Lord Judd and Rudolf Bindig led the PACE delegation
to the Znamenskoye refugee camp at north of Chechnya. Zora Tatayeva
informed the visiting delegation that 40 % of the refugees are ill
and most of them tuberculosis. No winter wear disabled the children
to have education. More than half of the 6,000 refugees in Azerbaijan
were wounded in war in Chechnya. 6,000 refugees had medical help at
Castle Hospital in Nazran Ingushetia. There are about 7 thousand Chechen
refugees at Pankisi gorge in Georgia. Over 3 thousand wounded are
treated in Georgian hospitals in the first year of the war. About
1,000 are treated in Astrakhan for tuberculosis. Other tuberculosis
case is treated at Karachai-Cherkessia and at Bakalsky Rostov. Russian
Health Ministry data declared that 80 % of the population of Chechnya
needs immediate medical care.
CHECHEN REFUGEES
IN TURKEY
Chechen refugees in Istanbul are housed in three different camps named
Fenerbahce, Umraniye and Beykoz and totally they are 450 persons.
A total of 785 Chechen refugees live in Istanbul as of October 2001.
They are 184 in Fenerbahce, 152 in Umraniye, 114 in Beykoz camps.
There are also rent and charity houses in Istanbul holding 335 refugees.
160 of them are children and 168 are women. These are the known figures
and there are others boarding with their relatives at outside of Istanbul
and their number is unknown.
Fenerbahce Camp
108 women and 79 children tries to survive at Fenerbahce camp, which
used to be a rest camp of Turkish State Railways. There is no power
and gas at this camp. Water is supplied for one hour per day. There
are no beds, they manage it on flat wood alone. There is no kitchen
and shower.
Umraniye Camp
This is actually no camp but some rooms and a kitchen under a mosque.
2-3 families share one room. 73 children and 83 women boards here,
all overcrowded.
Beykoz Camp
The camp is alone a building of three stories. 114 persons shelter
here: 49 of them are children and 45 are women. Dampness of the building
is a health hazard for refugees. There is power, water and central
heating. The problem is the fuel supply for the central heating.
Food and health expenses of all of these camps are covered by benevolent
persons. The rent houses are a current problem. The crisis in economy
of Turkey is a negative factor and has doubled the problems of refugees
in Turkey. Refugees survived with the charities until now but regular
food and health care service continues to be a problem. Chechens are
not official refugees but stay in Turkey with permission. Their entry
to Turkey is difficult and that bars the flow of refugees. Many Chechens
are barred from entry to Turkey at the airports.
CONCENTRATION CAMPS
Concentration camps are one of the components of the Russian system.
Russia calls them "filtration points," the terminology used
by Russian leaders is more circumspect: "The final solution of
the Chechen issue: the destruction of Chechen statehood and genocide
of the Chechen People. Russian sadist-officers are not hiding the
fact that they want to strengthen the position of the President Vladimir
Putin by humiliating Chechens by classified methods of tortures applied
on Chechens in filtration camps. Putin executioners have tested many
tortures on Chechen hostages and prisoners of war. In order to imagine
the scale of Russian brutality in Chechnya in a comprehensive and
systematic way, one should understand that this is not a result of
the actions of some uncontrolled groups, but is a state model, which
is being managed, supervised and encouraged by the supreme authorities
in Russia. The purpose is obvious - the destruction of Chechen statehood
and genocide of the Chechen People.
The network of concentration camps to repress the Chechens was established
on Chechen territory, as well as in some regions of Russia, in conditions
of total lawlessness. Besides, special departments for Chechens have
been established in the Russian prisons to which illegally arrested
Chechen residents are taken. Thus, even in Russian prisons, where
the law is never respected, special attention in the form of torture
and arbitrary punishment was meted out to Chechens. "Private"
mini-concentration camps exist on the territory of the Chechen Republic
of Ichkeria in every military unit of the Interior Ministry, the Federal
Security Service, the Defense Ministry and the Main Reconnaissance
Department (subordinate to the Defense Ministry). People are being
tortured, sold and killed here. Depending on which Russian gang carried
out a "clearance operation", hostages are taken to a "private"
mini-camp supervised by various punishment groups, which the Russians
call a "military unit". If relatives do not pay a ransom
to liberate a hostage within 3-4 days, then the latter, who is tortured
and beaten from the moment of capture, could die or completely disappear.
If he remains alive, then he is taken to Khan-Kala as a "militant".
There, fixed conditions and the proper technical equipment for torture
are available.
Obviously, a prisoner stands a far greater chance of completely disappearing
here, and surprised villagers "learn" from Russian media
outlets that their neighbor or a relative, who has never even held
an assault rifle in his hands, is an "authoritative field commander".
If a prisoner fails to turn into a "famous field commander"
and again remains alive, then he is taken to Chernokozovo. But what
happens here? Through staff mediators in Chernokozovo, Putin's punishers
again offer relatives the chance to ransom prisoners. (Passage omitted:
criticism of international community for negligence)
International observers and journalists can not enter these places.
Thousands of innocent people are milled there.
Conclusion
As war drags on in Chechnya, refugee problems increase by fold. And
what is even worse, the help and the interest of the charities diminish.
11 September and Afghanistan refugees seems to have effected the interest
on Chechen refugees. The main interest of the Chechen refugees is
to see the end of the war and to reach peace. Chechens suffer but
sharing it, is vested on humanity.
CHECHEN
REFUGEE QUESTION
CHECHEN REFUGEE REPORT OF THE CAUCASUS FOUNDATION OCTOBER 2001
by Fehim Tastekin
fehimtastekin@kafkas.org.tr
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