Islam In Russia

History and Facts

By Elmira Akhmetova
Freelance Writer
Courtesy Of Islam Online

Early Muslims had built great civilization in Russia before the Tsarist Russian Empire emerged.(Reuters photos)

There are about 20 million indigenous Muslims living in the Russian Federation where the total population is over 140 million (about 15 percent of the total population). Unlike other Muslim minorities in Europe, Russian Muslims are not foreign immigrants. They are native citizens of the country in which they live in.

Muslims are integral part of the Russian community For instance, during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Russian athletes won 23 gold medals, 10 of which were obtained by indigenous Muslim athletes.

The majority of Russian Muslims live in the Volga-Ural region and the Northern Caucasus. Other parts of Russia including megacities, such as Moscow or Saint-Petersburg, also have significant Muslim populations.

The ethnically Muslims are predominant in seven republics of the Russian Federation which are the Republics of Bashkortostan and Tatarstan in the Volga-Urals region, and the Republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia in the Northern Caucasus.

Islam in Russia: Part Two

Read: Flash file of the Soviet Union Muslims

Roots of Islam in Russia

Islam first entered Russia through Dagestan from the mid 7th century it started to spread to the Northern Caucasus. By the year 21 AH (Muslim calendar) (641 CE), the Muslim army under the leadership of ‘Abd Rahman ibn

Islam gradually established itself in the Volga basin through trade and other economic relations with the Muslim world.

Rabiah reached the Southern Caucasus northward after taking control of Persia and Al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The Muslim army achieved victory over the powerful Khazar Kingdom during the Umayyad rule in 119 AH (737 CE).

Subsequently, the Northern Caucasus, which previously was a vassal of the Khazar Kingdom, became a part of the Umayyad Empire. And, Muslims transformed the region into an important administrative centre and introduced Islam to the tribes of the Caucasus.

Islam gradually established itself in the Volga basin through trade and other economic relations with the Muslim world. The Bulgar Kingdom, which existed in the Middle Volga region from the 8th century until its invasion by Mongols in 1236 CE, recognized Islam as an official religion of the state in 922 CE ( 304 AH).

Starting from the central region, Islam spread to north and east parts of Russia, particularly to Siberia.

The second wave of introducing Islam to Russia took place during the period of the Golden Horde (Jusi Ulusi or Altan Ordon ), which was established as a north kingdom of the Mongols in 1242 CE.

In fact, the small numbers of the Mongols who stayed in the area did not have any significant impact on the fabric of the local society. So, culture, language, religion, and social life remained the same.

In the beginning of the 15th century, a number of independent Islamic khanates[1] emerged from the gigantic Golden Horde. These khanates covered almost all of the modern Russian territory, except the region between the cities of Moscow and Kiev where the majority of Russians used to live in a number of principalities.

Until these Islamic Khanates were defeated by the Russian Empire in the 16th century, Islam dominated the most parts of the modern Russia.

Due to the importance of the Volga River for transportation to Tsarist Russian Empire, the Volga-Ural region was the first to fall under the newly-established mighty Russian Empire. On October 15, 1552, after the conquest of Kazan Khanate—which was previously the strongest state in the region—the way for the Russians to occupy the entire Volga region and the Caspian Sea was wide-open.

In 1859, Muslims of Dagestan (Chechnya and Ingushetia were altogether part of Dagestan) also lost their country to Tsarist Russia after 34 years of resistance under Imam Shamil (1797-1871).

Independence: Hope and Reality

In October 1991, Chechnya declared its independence from Russia after Djohar Dudayev (1944-1996) was elected as president.

The disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 inspired hopes of Muslims living under the Russian control[2] for several centuries for self-determination.

Following the declaration of independence of the former Soviet Republics in the Baltic, Central Asia and Caucasus, most autonomous republics adopted Declarations of State Sovereignty that proclaimed their sovereign status.

In October 1991 Chechnya declared its independence from Russia after Djohar Dudayev (1944-1996) was elected by referendum as the president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Russian troops left Chechnya, and for the next three years, the country gained de facto independence[3].

In 1992 the republic of Tatarstan held a referendum on independence from Russia, and 62 percent of those who participated voted in favor of independence.

Then it was in Kazan, the capital city of Tatarstan, the first President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007) made his oft-quoted statement to Russia's different regions: "Take as much sovereignty as you can swallow".

However, in reality, the movement of independence among nations of the Volga region and the Northern Caucasus ended with the First Chechen War (1994-1996) leaving 7,500 Russian military casualties, 4,000 Chechen combatants and no less than 35,000 civilians—a minimum total of 46,500 while others have cited figures within the range of 80,000 to 100,000[4] .

The International Community did not recognize the independence of Tatarstan too. On February 15, 1994, the Treaty On Delimitation of Jurisdictional Subjects and Mutual Delegation of Authority between the State Bodies of the Russian Federation and the State Bodies of the Republic of Tatarstan was signed between the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan.

Leaders of the Tatar freedom movements, such as the party of “Ittifaq”, accused Tatarstan government of putting off the independence of Tatarstan for cheap sale. And, despite strong disagreement of national independence movements, all articles mentioning the sovereignty of Tatarstan were withdrawn from its Constitution.

Consequently, the Constitution itself, which was adopted on November 30, 1992 by the parliament of the republic, was amended 15 times between 1994-2005.

Thus, by legal and military means, Russia succeeded in maintaining its system of federalism that was once prevailed during the Soviet Union's era. Currently, the Russian Federation consists of 83 subjects: 21 republics, 46 oblasts (provinces), 9 krais (territories), 1 autonomous oblast (The Jewish Autonomous Province), 4 autonomous okrugs (district) and 2 federal cities.

The Republics in general represent areas of non-Russian ethnicity. Unlike other subjects, republics are nominally autonomous and each republic has its own constitution, president and parliament. Every republic is meant to be the home to a specific ethnic minority.

Muslim Republics of the Volga-Urals Basin

Modern Tatars are direct descendants of the Volga Bulgars, who admitted Islam as an official religion of their state in 922 CE.

There are two indigenously-Muslim predominant republics exist in the Volga-Ural region, which are Tatarstan and Bashkortostan.

The Republic of Tatarstan is located in the center of the East European Plain, approximately 800 kilometers (497 miles) east of Moscow. It lies between the Volga and Kama Rivers, and extends east to the Ural Mountains. Its capital city is Kazan (Qazan in Tatar).

According to the All-Russia Population Census of 2002, the total population of Tatarstan is about 3,779,000. The ethnic Tatars constitute 52,9 percent of the total population of the republic, while 39,5 percent are ethnic Russians.

The neighboring republic of Bashqortostan (or Bashkortostan) is situated between the Volga River and Ural mountains with its capital city called Ufa. The total population of the republic is about 4,104,000.

According to the 2002 Census, the 'national composition' in Bashkortostan is as follows: Russians 36.32 percent, Bashqorts (Bashkirs) 29.76 percent, Tatars 24.14 percent, Chuvashs 2.86 percent, Maris 2.58 percent, Ukrainians 1.35 percent, Mordovians 0.63 percent, Udmurts 0.55 percent, Belarusians 0.42 percent, Armenians 0.21 percent, Germans 0.20 percent, Uzbeks 0.13 percent, Azeri 0.12 percent, Kazakhs 0.10 percent, Tadjiks 0.07 percent, Jews 0.06 percent ,and various other groups of less than two thousand persons each.

As these demographic figures demonstrate, the majority of the inhabitants of the two republics are Tatars and Bashqorts. The majority of both who are of Turkic origins are ethnically Muslims. Modern Tatars are direct descendants of the Volga Bulgars, who admitted Islam as an official religion of their state in 922 CE.

The Bulgars then brought Islam to the Bashqort tribes, who lived in the region of the Ural Mountains. For instance, the Muslim geographer Yaqut Al-Hamawi wrote that he saw a Bashqort Muslim in Aleppo. This person informed Al-Hamawi that seven Muslims came from the Bulgar Kingdom and spread Islam among the Bashqorts[5] .

Muslim Republics of the Northern Caucasus

There are five predominantly Muslim republics in the region,
which are the Republics of Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Karachay-Cherkessia.

Differing from the Muslim republics of the Volga region, the proportion of ethnic Russians in Northern Caucasus is quite low. During the Second World War, the Soviet Union deported many people of Northern Caucasus under the pretext of allegedly helping the German army during its invasion of the Soviet Union[6].

Muslim Chechens, Ingushes, Balkars and Karachays were deported from their native lands in 1944 to steppes of Kazakhstan.

Although the majority of the entire Muslim inhabitants of the regions of Chechens, Ingushes, Balkars and Karachays were deported from their native lands in 1944 to steppes of Kazakhstan, the social and demographic pattern of the region did not undergo major changes.

Currently, the Muslim population constitutes the overwhelming majority in Chechnya, Dagestan, and Ingushetia.

According to the 2002 Census, the population of the Republic of Chechnya is approximately 1.1 million.

Chechens are 1,031,647 million making up 93.5 percent of the republic's population. Other groups include Russians (only 40,645, or 3.7 percent), Kumyks (8,883, or 0.8 percent, also Muslims), Ingush (2,914 or 0.3 percent) and other smaller groups, each accounts for less than 0.5 percent of the total population.

The neighboring republic of Ingushetia is the home of the indigenous Ingush/Vainakh tribes. The people of Vainakh are a group of people of the Northern Caucasus including modern Chechens' and Ingushes' ancestries speaking Nakh language. Ingushetia is Russia’s smallest federal subject with the population of 467,000.

According to the 2002 Russian Census, ethnic Ingushes make up 77.3 percent of the republic's population. Other groups include Chechens (20.4 percent), and Russians (1.2 percent).

The largest republic of Russia in Northern Caucasus in terms of area and population is Dagestan. Its total population is 2,577,000. Dagestan includes a large variety of ethnic groups as there are tens indigenous Muslim ethnicities.

According to the 2002 Census, Northeast Caucasians including Avars, Dargins and Lezgins make up almost 75 percent of Dagestan's population. Turkic peoples such as Kumyks, Nogais and Azeris make up 20 percent whereas Russians are only 5 Percent. Each other ethnic groups account for less than 0.5 percent of the total population. With such ethnic diversity, 90.4 percent of the population are Muslims.

The republic of Kabardino-Balkaria has a population of about 901,000. It consists of two ethnic territories: one predominantly of Kabardin (speakers of a North-West Caucasian language, the most of which are Sunni Muslims) and the other predominantly Balkars (speakers of a Turkic language, the most of which are also Sunni Muslims).

According to the 2002 Census, Kabardins make up 55.3 percent of the republic's population, followed by Russians (25.1 percent), and Balkars (11.6 Percent).

Other groups include Ossetians (9,845, or 1.1percent), Turks (8,770, or 1.0 percent), Ukrainians (7,592, or 0.8 percent), Armenians (5,342, or 0.6 percent), Koreans (4,722, or 0.5 percent), Chechens (4,241, or 0.5 percent), and a other smaller groups, each accounts for less than 0.5 percent of the total population.

The neighboring republic of Karachay-Cherkessia’s total population is about 439,000. It consists of two ethnic Muslim nations of Karachay and Cherkes. According to the 2002 Census, Karachays make up 38.5 percent of the republic's population, followed by Russians (33.6 percent) and Cherkes (11.3 Percent).

Other groups include Abazins (7.4 percent), Nogais (3.4 percent), Ossetians (3,333, or 0.8 percent), Ukrainians (3,331, or 0.8 percent), Armenians (3,197, or 0.7 percent), Tatars (2,021, or 0.5 percent).

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Elmira Akhmetova, is a freelance writer who covers current events and general interest topics, including the situation of Muslims in the former Soviet Union.

[1]Khanate is a Turkic originated word referring to a political sovereign entity ruled by a sovereign political or military leader called Khan.

[2]Muslim population in Caucasus part of Russia, like Chechnya, considered- and still consider the Russian presence as occupation and colonization of their native lands.

[3]Look at Tony Wood's article titled "The Case for Chechnya" in New Left Review journal.

[4]Look at Tony Wood's article titled "The Case for Chechnya" in New Left Review journal

[5]Marjani, Shihabetdin. Mustafad al'-akhbar fi Ahwali Qazan wa Bulgar. Kazan: Tatarstan Publishing House, 1989. pp 134.

[6]Actually, Stalin followed forceful deportation policy in order to break up the socio-political harmony of predominantly Muslim regions of Northern Caucasus so as to make them easier to control. The charge that the population of Northern Caucasus helped the Nazis was refuted by many contemporary historians.

Russian Muslims Between Oil and Federalism

Although Russian authorities carried out massacres against Muslims in Chechnya, some Russian Muslims prefer not to secede, (Reuters photo) Muslim republics in Northern Caucasus are rich in oil, natural gas, coal, gold, and many other mineral resources. According to Ariel Cohen, a research fellow at the Washington-based Russian and Eurasian Studies at the Heritage Foundation, the huge oil reserves are estimated to be over 25 billion barrels under the Caspian Sea. He estimated that oil reserves in the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are similar to those in Kuwait and larger than those in Alaska's Northern Slope and the North Sea combined. Islam in Russia Part one Natural resource abundance, however, could not result in economic prosperity among Caucasian Muslim republics because of many reasons. Oil's Bloody Politics Russia's control of Chechnya enables Moscow to control the flow of natural resources, mainly oil and gas. For instance, the tiny republic of Ingushetia is rich in marble, timber, dolomite, plaster, limestone, gravel, granite, clay, thermal medical water, rare metals, mineral water, oil (over 60 billion tons), and natural gas reserves. Yet, Ingushetia remains one of Russia's poorest and most restive regions. In 2003, Ingushetia's percapita income was 463 Euro/ $ 678 dollars per year, and this figure remains the same every year, with the average monthly income stopped at $60 starting from 2006. As Russia’s daily online Kommersant reported that the difference between the maximum (in Moscow) and minimum (in Ingushetia) average percapita incomes in the first half of 2007 was 9.8 times. And, according to Rosstat, the state statistics service, incomes in Russia's richest areas are nearly 10 times higher than in the poorest ones. Many experts agreed that the Caspian Sea's oilfields and the strategic significance of oil pipelines passing through Caucasus were major incentives for Moscow to use force in Chechnya during the two Chechen Wars of 1994-1996 and 1999-2000. Read More: Muslims of Former Soviet Union. In 1995, Time magazine's former Russia correspondent Andrew Meier wrote of many issues baffling Western observers about Russia's intervention in Chechnya. He contended that the question of the timing of the invasion has gone unanswered while the reason was simply oil. Chechnya, as many correspondents have noted, has considerable oil reserves that Moscow clearly covets. Yet, oil production in Chechnya has been dropping drastically by some 71 percent since 1991. Much more significant is the fact that Russia's control of Chechnya enables Moscow to control the flow of natural resources, mainly oil and gas, running from former Soviet Union republics in Central Asia. The small mountainous region of the Northern Caucasus sits astride a critical pipeline that links the oil-rich republics of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan — both are bordering the landlocked Caspian Sea — to the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea. (Andrew Meier, What does Russia see in Chechnya? Oil) The ongoing military conflict in the neighboring Chechnya has occasionally spilled over into other republics of the Northern Caucasus. "Although there has been a decrease in the number of disappearances in Chechnya, serious violations continue with impunity, and in recent years the violations have spread to other parts of the Northern Caucasus," said Nicola Duckworth, the director of Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asia Program. (Human Rights Watch, Council of Europe Failing in Russia). Muslim Republics Between Federalism and Unitarianism Yet, usually the candidates of federal republic’s presidents are nominated by the president of the Russian Federation. The system of federalism in Russia was inherited from the Soviet Union's political structure, and it was first formally instituted by the federal constitution of Russia in 1918. Despite its professed commitment to "socialist federalism", the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a unitary state, and policies of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic (RSFSR) [1] had to conform to those determined by the USSR. After the dissolution of the USSR, the federal constitution was amended to eliminate the term "autonomous" from the title of the former republics of the RSFSR which was replaced by "Russian Federation." So, all the territories, regions, and federal cities were recognized as members of the Russian Federation. Russian federal subjects are tied with the Russia's federal government by the uniform Federal Treaty — the agreement on the delineation of jurisdiction and the powers between federal bodies and the central government in Moscow. Principally, as many experts observed, the Russian constitution envisages the equal rights for all subjects; federal republics enjoy different status which allows them to adopt domestic constitutions, to establish state languages, to elect presidents, and to form constitutional courts. Different status presupposes asymmetrical federalism in the sense that not all of the constituent units are equal in economical, geographical, and social spheres (Salikov, The Russian Federal System: Sub-National and Local Levels). Although its constitution was compelled to be amended 15 times, the republic of Tatarstan enjoys the most rights among other republics. Tatarstan's constitution of 2000 defines the republic's status without contradicting the constitution of the Russian Federation: The republic of Tatarstan is a democratic constitutional state associated with the Russian Federation by the constitution of the Russian Federation, the constitution of the republic of Tatarstan, and the treaty between the Russian Federation and the republic of Tatarstan on delimitation of jurisdictional subjects and mutual delegation of powers between the state bodies of the Russian Federation and the state bodies of the republic of Tatarstan. In fact, the sovereignty of Tatarstan shall be its inalienable qualitative status. The constitution of neighboring Bashqortostan was adopted on Dec. 24, 1993. Article 1 of the constitution stipulates that Bashkortostan is a sovereign state within Russia; it has all the state power beyond the limits of authority of the Russian Federation. The republic of Bashqortostan resolves all the issues of its administrative-territorial structure on its own. The list of significant Bashkortostan's districts, towns, and municipalities as well as the order of establishing, amending, and changing borders of municipalities and their names are stipulated by the republic of Bashkortostan's law of administrative-territorial structure. The head of the government and the highest executive post in the Muslim Republics is the president. Yet, usually the candidates of federal republic’s presidents are nominated by the president of the Russian Federation. The Kremlin’s direct involvement in nominating presidents of Russia's republics without paying attention to the will of local communities produces new conflicts and preserves the status quo, rather than changing the system itself for the benefit of the people. For instance, in Ingushetia when former Ingushetia's president and Putin-critic Ruslan Aushev resigned from his post, former KGB and FSB [2] (Federal Security Service) member Murat Zyazikov took over the presidency with clear support from then Russia's president Vladimir Putin in a Kremlin-manipulated 2002 election. In the eyes of the people of Ingushetia, President Zyazikov did not come into office through a democratic process, and therefore lacks local legitimacy. Tensions between Ingush people and the government led to numerous recent protests and increasingly severe acts of violence in the republic. Gennady Skorin of Prague Watchdog confirmed that in recent years the situation in Ingushetia has begun to change rapidly. Abductions and law enforcement operations have turned the small republic into a place where no one could feel safe. The Russian authorities’ claims that they hunted for extremists sounded like an open lie, because it is well-known that in most cases the people who suffer during the so-called "mop-ups" (zachistki) are innocent. (Skorin, Ingushetia as the last line of defence in Russia's Caucasus War). "Some 200 kidnappings and over 500 murders are too many for a republic with an entire population of only about 300, 000," Skorin comments. Marat S. Salikov, the dean of the Institute of Justice of the Urals Law Academy in Yekaterinburg, Russia, concludes that the central government’s attempts to subjugate federal states could lead not just to centralized federalism, but to de-federalization, like unitarianism. (Salikov, The Russian Federal System: Sub-National and Local Levels). Future of Muslim Republics in Russia With intellectuals' joint efforts, the Russian Ummah can reach notable progress in influencing the foreign and domestic politics of Moscow. The atmosphere of liberty which prevailed in 1990s in Muslim-populated areas of Russia has now abated. Today, streets of even small towns of Bashqortostan and its supreme council, which enthusiastically adopted the declaration of the sovereignty of the Bashkir Soviet Republic on Oct.11,1990, are decorated with plentiful banners sympathetically demonstrating their dependence on Russia. In 2007, the government celebrated 450 years of the "willful joining" of the Bashqort tribes to the Russian Empire. The opposition, which believes in the independence of Bashqortostan from Russian supremacy, does not have many chances to be heard by internal or international communities. For instance, right after the Russian aggression against Georgia, Tatar's independence partyIttifaq released an appeal to the international community, indicating why the oil-rich republic of Tatarstan must pursue independence from the Russian Federation. The authors of the appeal state: The republic of Tatarstan must be independent from Russia. […] Russia has been denying us the right [of] self-determination for centuries, [and] we have to seek help from the international community. Please protect us from the Russian aggression, help us to [gain independence, and to build] a democratic society. Oil-rich Tatarstan does not want to empower Russia any more. Recognize the independence of the republic of Tatarstan. The hard-working, trustworthy Tatar people — having old history, robust economy, well-developed oil resources, and rich agriculture — are ready to contribute to the development of the world civilization together with other nations. Unfortunately, the appeal, which was circulated by email, attracted little attention from the media either in Russia or the West. However, today, many Russian Muslim experts completely oppose the idea of the independence of Muslim republics from the Russian Federation, supposing it to be unfeasible due to territorial and demographic considerations. For instance, as Damir Khairetdinov pointed out, only one-fourth of Tatar population is living inside the republic of Tatarstan while the rest are living in other parts of the Russian Federation. In the case of Tatarstan separating from Russia, it may result in massive persecution of Tatars in Russia. These Tatars are descendants of the Kasimian, Siberian, Astrakhan and Noghay Khanates, and completely unrelated to the republic of Tatarstan. Damir Khairetdinov believes that the secession of Tatarstan and Bashqortostan from the Russian Federation would be a colossal smack to the Russian Ummah which nobody will care about due to its small quantity and dispersal of its population. Therefore, only with Tatarstan and Bashqortostan being part of the Russian Federation, the strengthening of the Russian Muslim Ummah is possible. With intellectuals' joint efforts, the Russian Ummah can reach notable progress in influencing the foreign and domestic politics of Moscow. This is already happening: nobody could even imagine that Russia, which is mainly a Christian state, would want to become a member of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), and want to utilize the Muslim factor in its foreign politics. In this regard, the roles of Chechnya and Tatarstan, as well as of Muslim communities outside these republics — namely the Muslim community of Moscow — are the most notable. Director of Nizhny Novgorod Islamic Institute of "Medina" Damir Mukhetdinov is also positive about the future of Muslims in Russia. In his live dialogue on IslamOnline.net, Mukhetdinov pointed out that, according to the recent sociological researches, by 2020, Muslims may compose the half of Russia's population, which may be possible due to extensive labor migration from Central Asia to Russia. In addition, Muslim Republics in the Northern Caucasus, especially Chechnya, have the youngest populations in the generally aging Russian Federation; in the early 1990s, it was among the few regions experiencing natural population growth. In the first half of 2007, the birth rate in Chechnya was 26.4, while in Russia it was 11.28 per 1,000 individual. During an iftar at the central Moscow mosque in Ramadan 2008, Grant Mufti of the European part of the Russian Federation Ravil Gainetdinov stressed on long-lasting tradition of dialogue between Muslims and other confessions of Russia. He declared: "Russia is our shared home, and we, Muslims of Russia, are obliged to protect and enlarge spiritual wealth left by our forefathers." [1] Today's Russian Federation. [2] KGB is former USSR's and former Russian Federation's intelligence agency while FSB is Russia's Federal Security Service. Sources: Cohen, Ariel. The New "Great Game": Oil Politics in the Caucasus and Central Asia,http://www.heritage.org/Research/RussiaandEurasia/BG1065.cfm Human Rights Watch. Council of Europe Failing in Russia.http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/acb93ad76de9628c932576501538c803.htm Incomes Nearly 10x Higher in Richest Areas than Poorest http://www.kommersant.com/p-11336/r_500/demographics_standard_of_living/%20 Marjani, Shihabetdin. Mustafad al'-akhbar fi Ahwali Qazan wa Bulgar. Kazan: Tatarstan Publishing House, 1989. Meier, Andrew. What does Russia see in Chechnya? Oilhttp://amina.com/article/chechenrus_confl.html Salikov, Marat. The Russian Federal System: Sub-National and Local Levels.http://camlaw.rutgers.edu/statecon/subpapers/salikov.pdf Retrieved September 20, 2008. Skorin, G. Ingushetia as the last line of defence in Russia's Caucasus War. http://www.watchdog.cz/?show=000000-000004-000002-000048&lang=1

Elmira Akhmetova, is a freelance writer who covers current events and general interest topics, including the situation of Muslims in the former Soviet Union.