Meltha Magazine Online

| | | | |

In the past few years the place of Russia in the modern world has constantly been in focus. Is Russia closer to Asia or to Europe? Or does Russia tend to Western or Eastern moral type? There have been attempts to combine in one the Russian Orthodoxy and Islam. This combination is praised as the right national idea, which has a name already, that is Euro-Asia. However in many cases those who advocate this merger, I fact use it demagogically in order to draw Russia in a clash with Europe. Doing this way, they will try to build Islamic wedge into Orthodoxy or to partition Russia into principalities, and the better half' of them will be Islamic. Evgenij Trifinov in “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” as of April8, 1998, surveys this problem. Here below are excerpt from this article.

RUSSIA ALWAYS PART OF EUROPE

By E. Trifonov

The Russian Empire was created and expanded with time as a geopolitical center of Orthodoxy. There never was room for Orthodox Islamic combination. Until 1917 Orthodoxy had been official major religion whereas other religions like. Islam, Judaism and Western Christian confessions were only endured.

Russia always has been Orthodox facing Islam in a tough confrontation through out its historical path.

Sympathy of Soviet rulers was given to Islamic nations. The recent example is the transfer of the Highland Karabakh inhabited by Armenians and Nahichevan where Armenians prevailed to Islamic Azerbaijan.

In the communist struggle for world power Kemal' s Turkey was their only "strategic " ally. One unknown fact, in 1920 to 1925 the government of Mustafa Kemal talked much of "Islamic socialism" although very vaguely. Eventually they even set up a semi-governmental communist party of the "Golden Apple". In 1925 Kemal strengthened his position so much that he had not to make reservations for communist ideas. This way the new republic declared to take on Turkish nationalism.

Virtually in every conflict between Muslims and Christians the communists in Moscow supported Muslims. For instance, Soviet Russia gave them support in the civil war in Lebanon (the Soviet press persistently called maronites "right wing Christian forces" ttying to explain Soviet policies somehow), in the Sudan massacre where Muslim governments have terrorized Christian population for 34 years already as well as in the Armeno-Azerbaijan conflicts. Moscow never stopped its "friendly" Muslim powers (Egypt, Syria, Iraq), which treat all Christians very bad. There were other occasions when communists had close links with. Islamic rebels in India in .1930s, or in Chinese Xintsjan, in Morocco in 1923 to 1926, in the Syrian nationalistic rebellion in 1925-27, in Iraqi national conflicts in 1930, 1936 and 1940, in Palestine in 1926, 1929, 1933, 1936-39. It is noteworthy that Muslim rebels in Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Iraq beat Christians rather than British and French colonizers.

The links between communists and Islamic fundamentalists have a profound background. Apparently there is some deep genetic link, which is hardly understandable to both sides. This link can only be traced in the social psychology and therefore it cannot be explained somehow rationally. Communists and Muslims equally hate European civilization and Christian values. And if they additionally deny spiritual and economic freedom as a natural condition of man as well as freedom of will, human life value and wealth (except some "highly awarded comrades"). They also discount the "golden age", sheer irrational mentality, and xenophobia, and then one will get a suitable ground for any radical groups primarily communists, Islamic fundamentalists and fascists. All these political directions have much in common indeed. In the Second World War there were many powerful pro-fascist organizations in Arab countries. Hitler was an idol for nationalists in Egypt, Syria, Palestine and Iraq. In May 1941 even Iraq declared war to Great Britain and for a short while had a spell with Germany and Italy. In late 1940s pro-fascist groups in Arab countries took aside with Moscow. For example, "Freelancing Army Officers" in Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen joined local Marxist group keeping up Nazism and sympathy for its ideology.

One well-forgotten fact is that Nazis came to settle down in Cairo in great numbers. Some Gestapo and SS officers still live in their very nice homes in the uptown Damask. Walter Lacqueur, a notable expert on Communism, Fascism and Nazism finds a striking similarity of Islamic fundamentalism, which he defines as clerical fascism, with German National Socialism. He pointed, "Islam in terms of ideology is the only force on the political map that expands revolutionary ideas in the world and calls for jihad against its enemies inside and outside the Arab world, and they know no compromise". The Russian publicist Gavriil Andreyev remarks, "Islamic fundamentalism acquires a typical set of fascist ideas, namely priority of mob over personality, mythological ideology, one party system, mob orientation, demagogic propaganda, reactionary modernism, hatred for western democracy, cult of a leader, mass hysteria, etc."

Counter-western ally of Russia and Islamic radicals is a way to restore a totalitarian regime in Russia. Supporters of poor militaristic Russia should understand that Russia would become no leader, nor "one of the equals" among Islamic countries. Standing in its ranks Russia inevitably will be alien to them whatever they talk of linkage of Orthodoxy and Islam. The "allies" just like Nasser, Kasem, Nimeiry, and Barre will solicit Russia for food and weaponry, and also for any sort of assistance including economic, financial and diplomatic support. Besides if they do not get it all free of charge, they might easily take to blackmail or threat.

One hope left is for gradual modernization of Islamic countries where liberal ideas supported with inter-confessional tolerance, societal principles and human rights would prevail.

Turkey normally is a good example of this modernization. The nationalistic government of Turkey embarked on fast westernization in early 1920s. Although Turkey has passed a long way since then, unlike European nations Turks still stick to nationalistic pan-Turkish policy of expansion. Kurds still wage a guerilla war in Eastern Turkey. Over 14 years 2,500 Kurdish and Assyrian villages have been destroyed, and over 2 million people have been deported. Ankara still denies any responsibility for the 1915 Armenian genocide, and moreover it helps Azerbaijan in a war conflict with Armenia and Nagorny Karabakh. Way back in 1918-1925 Turkish secret groups and army units operated in the Northern Caucasus, Iranian Azerbaijan Iraqi Kurdistan and Tajikistan. They never concealed their goal to establish "Great Turkestan".

In 1955 Turkey was accepted to NATO, later it became an associated member of EES. Turkey's acceptance to NATO "coincided" with the Greek pogrom in Istanbul.

It is clear today: Turkey still builds up its role in Western Asia and CIS countries of Islamic orientation, but it has failed to integrate in the European Community any way, by adopting values of civilization typically found in Europe, North America and Russia and also in the whole Christian world. It is noteworthy that rights of native Christian residents in Islamic countries like Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Palestinian autonomy, Indonesia, Lebanon, are constantly violated. In the constitutions of all (Sic!) Islamic countries the head of state should be a Muslim without compromise. Muslim pressure on native residents in every day life is notoriously known.

Russia cannot be with the Islamic world. I am afraid, we would have to face some serious complications with it as we have a long borderline with Muslims. In the Caucasus we already have a conflict, and blood has been shed