Information on the situation and treatment of Tatars, and on the state protection for them [RUS25826.E]

In a telephone interview on 19 December 1996, the president of the Panorama Analytical Centre in Moscow, a nongovernmental organization that conducts research on and provides analyses of the sociological and the political situation in the Russian Federation, provided the following information. The Tatars, who are Moslems, have a considerable minority presence in Moscow, and there are numerous Tatar cultural and political organizations active there. The difficulties that the Tatars in Moscow encounter are considerably less than those faced by the minorities from Central Asia and the Caucasus who are ill-treated and poorly protected by the police. The president could not provide information on the situation of Tatars outside of Moscow.

For information on the concerns of Moslem activists in Russia, including information on the treatment of Moslems by the police, please consult the last paragraph of the first column and the first two paragraphs of the second column of page 35 of the attachment. For additional information on Moslems in Russia, please consult the fourth to last paragraph of page 1005 of Country Reports 1995, which is available at Regional Documentation Centres. For additional information on the situation of the Tatars, please consult the other attachment.

Additional information on the above-mentioned topics could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Reference


Panorama Analytical Centre, Moscow. 19 December 1996. Telephone interview with president.

Attachments


School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 19 December 1996. Facsimile sent to the DIRB by the director of the Central Asia Research Forum.

Transition: Events and Issues in the Former Soviet Union and East-Central and Southeastern Europe [Prague]. 29 December 1995. Vol. 1, No. 24. Dawn Jamison Nowacki. "Little Danger of Islamic Fundamentalism in the Volga-Urals," pp. 33-36.

Additional Sources Consulted


Amnesty International Report. Yearly.

CSCE Digest [Washington]. Monthly.

DIRB country file on Russia.

DIRB databases.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports.

Human Rights Watch World Report. Yearly.

Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs [Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England]. Bi-annually.

Minority Rights Group International Report [London]. Irregular publication.

News from Helsinki Watch [New York]. Monthly.

Transition [Prague]. Monthly.

Uncaptive Minds [New York]. Quarterly.

On-line search of media sources.

10 oral sources consulted did not provide information on the requested topics.

Unsuccessful attempts to contact other oral sources.