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English Language Page A new information and analysis daily emerged on the Russian Internet in August 2001, devoted completely to the complex and conflicting region such as the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia. Every day, the Internet-based media outlet Caucasian Knot ( http://kavkaz.memo.ru) posts topical coverage of events in nineteen Caucasus areas and features twenty-five key topics (first of all, human rights, civil society development, interethnic relations, conflicts and military actions; but also economy and finance, science and education, nature and ecology, culture and arts, and so on), and special filings on twenty subjects. Every day, materials are translated into English. The media outlet established by the Memorial society was conceived as a media floor for civil initiatives and Caucasian NGOs, which often have no other opportunity to tell about their operation because of censorship by the federal or local government and other objective reasons. Unlike the usual media, Caucasian Knot regularly posts news summaries, press releases, open letters and addresses of various NGOs and public coalitions. These files, as well as a constantly updated database of Caucasian NGOs posted on the web, together with detailed files on their operation help people and public structures concerned, such as researchers and journalists, international human rights organizations and foundations, establish useful relations and contacts in the Caucasus, and eventually step up public work in this region. Caucasian Knot’s key operation target is to provide Russian and foreign readers with reliable, unbiased and most diverse real-time coverage of events and processes in the Caucasus. It is no secret the minds of a significant part of the society are dominated by a stereotypical perception of the Caucasus as a region where military actions, political and ethnic conflicts are unceasing; where gangsters and various forms of criminal businesses (primarily abductions and trade in hostages) thrive; and where human relations are based on early medieval forms of traditional law. Russian media impose an idea of the Caucasus on the public consciousness as a bridgehead of “international terrorism” and a center of interethnic and religious enmity and aggression. The Internet-based media outlet Caucasian Knot (http://kavkaz.memo.ru) in its daily coverage tries to destroy one-sided, tendentious, or sometimes overtly false schemes and attitudes with respect to the Caucasus which the current authorities thrust on the Russian and global community. Tens of thousands of articles and files narrate about the high peace-making and human rights activities of public organizations in the Caucasus, and establishment of interethnic and cultural relations between various republics and states in this region. Complex, contradictory processes of rearrangement of public and political relations often lead to greater secrecy and authoritarianism of governments in the North Caucasus; on the contrary, the South Caucasus is developing trends of government’s accountability to the public, freedom of speech, and observation of human rights. All this shows that life and civil activity are in full swing in the Caucasus, in spite of multiple ethnopolitical problems and lengthy military actions. Destroying malevolent myths about the Caucasus; providing a wide range of different, often diametrically opposite opinions of events there; and informing the Russian and global public about increasingly large-scale violations of human rights, the situation in armed conflict areas, ethnic or political discrimination, and the problem of refugees — these are the key principles of work for Caucasian Knot that comprises three aspects at once: a news agency, an Internet-based journal, and a resource for support of regional NGOs. Daily news featuring 70 to 100 files from resident correspondents, local NGOs, and Russian nationwide and regional news agencies are linked to files from the reference and encyclopedic sections of the resource. They feature basic information about the policies, economies, history, cultures, and religions of the peoples inhabiting the Caucasus; a constantly updated database of NGOs and media operating in this region; and serious analysis, reports by Russian and international human rights organizations, author’s files and interviews, fundamental research, and extensive coverage of legislation in the North Caucasus territories and republics and the Transcaucasia states. Aside from providing information, as part of Memo.Ru news agency (set up by the Memorial society) Caucasian Knot holds competitions to support NGO projects, including in South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Nagorny Karabakh, and works on programs for development of the region’s analytical potential and probation of young professionals. More than thirty projects are currently being carried out in twelve regions in association with Caucasian Knot. Dynamic information activities and a clear human rights attitude of Caucasian Knot's work became the reason for a web attack by unknown plotters which resulted in a complete destruction of the database on February 19, 2003. By that time it featured more than 26,000 files covering developments in the Caucasus from various positions, and the amount of information was doubled by January 2004. From the beginning of its work Caucasian Knot pays special attention to developments in areas of military conflicts or armed confrontation, such as Chechnya, the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict area, North and South Ossetia, and Nagorny Karabakh. Every day, it posts multiple news items about the situation in those areas, analysis, interviews, and reports by Russian and international NGOs. News from Chechnya is no doubt the most important and urgent for the Russian audience. In Chechnya, Caucasian Knot’s officers have been and are permanently focusing on: the situation with human rights and civil liberties against the background of incessant military action in the republic; the political and humanitarian situation; problems of refugees and internally displaced persons; elections to local and federal government institutions. Several filings have been established for Chechnya — War in Chechnya, Refugees from Chechnya, Chechen Warlords, Referendum in Chechnya, Presidential Elections in Chechnya — that incorporate news, articles from local, central, and foreign media, serious research, reports, statements, and other files on the situation in the republic. One of the key subjects invariably emerging in the official media’s reports on developments in Chechnya is that of terrorism — as both the reality directly connected with military action between Russian troops and Chechen separatist units and the ideological scarecrow actively used by government to step up chauvinistic, militarist moods in Russia. Also, Russian officials like to calm Western human rights advocates by hiding facts of large-scale violations of human rights behind “combating international terrorism” in Chechnya. Caucasian Knot traces and publishes all news about terrorism-related activities of both warring parties in Chechnya and violations of the fundamental human rights such as the right to life, freedom, and inviolability, grouping such materials in the filings Terror and Actions of Power Authorities. In 2003, like in the preceding period, Caucasian Knot ( http://kavkaz.memo.ru) operated actively to highlight election campaigns, election process-related circumstances, and the post-election situation in various Caucasus regions — Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Chechnya, Georgia. Considering specifics of the political situation in Chechnya, continuing military conflicts between Russian troops and supporters of Chechnya's independence, and, related to that, rude violations of human rights and humanitarian law, Caucasian Knot chiefly focused on the presidential campaign in Chechnya. The media outlet posted its correspondents’ reports and interviews with all candidates for the presidency and the chairman of the Election Commission, Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov, as well as numerous news items about the election campaign process and the situation in the republic on the eve of the election. The Personalia section featured the biographies of the candidates and some well-known supporters of Chechnya's independence; Analytics provided reports by Russian and international human rights organizations that registered violence in respect of Chechen civilians, unceasing even on the eve of the election, and abuse of power on the part of government in refugee camps in Ingushetia, as well as reviews of Chechen and Russian media and articles by well-known human rights advocates. As part of the campaign for highlighting the preparation for and the process of the presidential election in Chechnya, Caucasian Knot in association with the Moscow Helsinki Group shaped Presidential Elections in Chechnya Human Rights Monitoring Bulletin. Active information policy is also constantly implemented in respect of election campaigns in other regions; Caucasian Knot makes public developments related to conflicts and repressions against the opposition which followed Ilham Aliev’s election as president of Azerbaijan and the government crisis caused by violations in the parliamentary elections in Georgia which led to Eduard Shevardnadze’s resignation and the “Velvet Revolution.” Caucasian Knot’s News features latest urgent reports from NGOs and human rights organizations, local and international news agencies; the reference and analysis sections feature articles and reports evaluating the current situation and forecasting further developments. The Internet-based media outlet Caucasian Knot is in constant search of partners, conscious that efforts of human rights organizations are becoming less and less effective on the complex situation in the Caucasus. Feedback is welcome: ku@memo.ru. Back |
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