Paul
Goble
Staunton, February 18 – In an odd
twist to reports that Sverdlovsk officials may build what some are calling “ghettos
for gastarbeiters,” Tajik workers in Perm Kray are seeking official permission to
build their own ethnically pure neighborhoods or even entire towns there, an
effort that at least one Russian contractor is supporting.
But both local activists and the
region’s mufti have denounced this idea, arguing that it will both attractive
negative comment from other parts of the Russian Federation, none of which have
allowed such things, or – and this might entail even worse consequences – lead other
ethnic communities there to demand the same thing for themselves.
The local news outlet, 59.ru, reported last
week that representatives of the Tajik diaspora reportedly have called for the
construction of an ethnically pure district either in Perm or in the Saostrovka
region adjoining the kray capital, but journalists quickly discovered that the
story is more complicated and more explosive than that (59.ru/text/news/621622.html).
The
Tajik gastarbeiters, the news outlet said, want to build “a real ‘Tajik’
quarter where there will be several residences whose apartments would be sold
exclusively to Tajiks,” thus allowing them to form their own ethnic
neighborhood, according to Dzhonibek
Dzhonov, the director of the EuroPlus Company which specializes in services for
Muslim immigrant workers.
His firm has
already selected land for the construction of “a new quarter for the Tajik diaspora”
in the village of Kultayevo. Roman
Yushkov, a local activist, told the news service that several locations were
now being considered which would become the “concentrated” ethnic
neighborhoods.
Dzhonov said that the SIM company
had already agreed to build this ethnic housing, but an official of that firm
said this was not the case. He said “we have never been involved in doing
anything like that, and we will not be involved” in such things in the future.
Given the controversy, Dzhonov
initially said he had nothing to do with it, “but after several hours of
conversation with correspondents of 59.ru, he finally admitted that it was his
idea.” After that, he began to provide details. “It is possible,” Yushkov
noted, that Dzhonov doesn’t understand “just how scandalous” this idea is.
But it is also possible, he
acknowledged that “the Tajiks are afraid that if this idea is subject to coverage
in the media, the authorities will prevent them from realizing their plans,” he
continued.
In fact, 59.ru said, “the idea of
building ‘a little Tajikistan’ in Perm is hardly new.” Five years ago, the Tajiks tried to get
approval for it but failed, although the authorities did suggest that the
gastarbeiters could move into one or another of the Russian villages that have
recently been abandoned, something the Central Asians refused to do.
And Yushkov added another reason why
the Tajik gastarbeiters may face an uphill fight: Many are concerned that “the
representatives of the Tajik diaspora intend to put down roots in Perm,”
something that would mean that they would never
be likely to leave and that their numbers there would only increase.
But the sharpest criticism of this proposal
came from the local mufti, Mukhammedgali-khazrat Khuzin, who said he was
completely against the idea (59.ru/text/newsline/621953.html; spread across the RUnet by islamio.ru/news/society/tadzhikskie_seleniya_rossii_ne_trebuyutsya/).
“We know quite
well what such a place of ethnic settlement would become. China Towns, Harlem,
and the Cairo cemetery where several million people live, a place where there
is a way in but no way out.” Residents of such places are subject to
mistreatment and “remain in that status for years. In Russia, a multi-national
country, such reservations are absolutely unacceptable,” the mufti said.
According to Khuzin, “if the Tajiks
build their national settlement, then other diasporas will say: ‘Give us the
Industrial District of Perm to the Uzbeks and the Lenin District to the Uzbeks.” Russia needs “another way out [of its
problems with immigration], but not by the path of creating [such]
reservations.”
“If we accept labor migrants, they must
not be put in the status of slaves or live in basements or railcards where
dozens of people are forced to somehow maintain themselves.” That will only
lead to social explosions. What Russia
needs, he suggested, are special centers like the ones in Latvia to screen and
train immigrant workers
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