Moscow Must Convert Muslims to Orthodoxy if ‘Russian World’ is to Prosper, Commentator Says

Paul Goble

 

            Staunton, January 9 – If Moscow is going to ensure the construction of a “Russian world,” a pro-Russian ethnic Kazakh commentator says, it will have to rely on more than ethnic Russians and must promote the conversion of at least a third of Muslims on territories it controls to Orthodox Christianity. 

 

            On the IARex.ru portal, Yermek Taychibekov says that “whether we like it or not, Russia will be restored and expanded. Crimea is only the beginning of this process.”  And that means Vladimir Putin and his government must think not just about taking control of territory but about integrating the population into a Russian world (iarex.ru/articles/51378.html).

 

            Up to now, he continues, Putin has been trying as much as he can “to restrain the imperial attitudes of the Russian people and is attempting to limit and channel the eagerness for the reunification of territories” lost with the end of the USSR. But “sooner or later, the question will arise how to control and administer these borderlands.”

 

            The reality is, Taychibekov says, that “quantitatively and proportionally there are not enough ethnically Russian people” to achieve that. As a result, he says, the Kremlin must face up to the fact that it will have to include others within its idea of a Russian world if it is to ensure the stability and growth of the latter.

 

            Knowing the Russian language won’t by itself prevent Central Asians or Caucasians from being “convinced Russophobes or opponents of Russian foreign and domestic policy,” he says. And even Slavs or “ethnic Russians” are not necessarily going to be “loyal” to Russia. Instead, they too may be “fundamental Russophobes.”

 

            But there is one way, Taychibekov suggests, for Moscow to build a Russian world in which all the population will be loyal. That is suggested by the case of the Gagauz minority in Moldova.  “The Gagauz are de facto ethnic Turks.” Their land is not adjacent to the Russian Federation. “but they are Orthodox Christians.”

 

            Because of their faith, the Gagauz were never interested in being part of Ottoman Turkey but instead “in their overwhelming majority” have been “for Russia and for the Russian people. And they constantly speak out in favor of reunification” with Russia.

 

            Religious faith is “a powerful instrument of motivation and influence on an individual,” he continues. Today, some of the Muslim Crimean Tatars are against the annexation of their homeland by Russia. But if they convert to Orthodox Christianity, they will “love” Russia and be loyal to it.

 

            If Moscow is able to promote the Christianization of Muslim peoples, Taychibekov says, then “the national minorities and aliens will themselves restrain the members of their fellow tribes from a revolt against the imperial policy of the Kremlin.”

 

            “It isn’t necessary to make them all Christians, but a third would be optimal.” Moreover, he continues, “the process itself must be peaceful and voluntary.” And he expresses the hope that “in the future 30 percent of the Tatars, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmens, Daghestanis, Chechens, Azerbaijanis, and Ingush will reject Islam and accept Orthodoxy.”

 

            There are at least three things that have to be said about Taychibekov’s proposal. First, it is simply the idea of one individual commentator, albeit one who works for a portal that is closely linked to Russian nationalist elements in the Russian government. Consequently, it is far from certain that Putin or any other Russian leader would adopt this strategy.

 

            But second, Taychibekov’s article highlights something many prefer to overlook. Not only is the Russian Federation becoming less ethnically Russian as a result of demographic processes within its borders, but it will become even less so if it annexes other countries. Consequently, the Kremlin does have to be thinking about what would be the basis of unity and loyalty if ethnicity and language are not enough.

 

            And third, his ideas are certain to provoke a negative reaction among both Russians and non-Russians. On the one hand, many Russians already fear that Putin’s “Russian world” is simply an updated version of the Soviet people and thus is an identity that provides little protection for their own ethnic sensibilities but rather drowns them in a larger pool.

 

            And on the other, non-Russians and especially Muslims both within the current borders of the Russian Federation and beyond will see this call for conversion to Russian Orthodoxy as a grave threat to their national futures, one that recalls the most intense assimilationist goals of Imperial Russia with its Ilminsky system.

 

            Given that, few in Moscow are likely to accept what Taychibekov is proposing lest they provoke a reaction among Russians or non-Russians, but an increasing number in the Russian capital are clearly increasingly aware of the dilemma they face and that his argument throws into heightened relief.