Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-04-10-Speech-3-011"
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"en.20020410.1.3-011"2
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"Mr President, during the debate on Palestine yesterday, there were many who brought up the subject of Chechnya, and there are also an incredible number of parallels between the situations in the two areas. Like Palestine, Chechnya is a country occupied by a strong and sizeable superior force. As in Palestine, people in Chechnya see their ordinary, fundamental rights being violated and, in the case of Chechnya, we also see a country completely reduced to ruins and in which 20% of the population has been killed. It is quite clear that both Israel and Russia are exploiting a situation in which the United States has declared war on terrorism and, under cover of this, are waging a war against a whole people; a war, moreover, that resembles ethnic cleansing. I think we should remember that there was no terrorism in Chechnya when, in 1991, the country made use of the law of 16 December 1966 – which said that countries within the Federation too were entitled to independence – to acquire independence from Russia. At that time there was no terrorism but, from 1994, Russia has done everything it can to prevent such independence. It is another example of the way in which the oppression of a people and the desperation felt by a population can lead people to do things they would never otherwise have done. Terrorism does not come about of itself. Terrorists do not fall from the sky. Certain population groups obviously do not have special genes which make them behave differently to the rest of us. It is of course the conditions people live under that make them behave as they do. It is important that we take a decision to invite Mr Maskhadov and Mr Putin to Strasbourg in September. In that way, we can bring about a debate, obtain a report and make an impression on both parties. I think we must demand open access for the humanitarian organisations and news media so that the information war is not a factor operating to the Chechens’ disadvantage. In the end, it is also necessary, however, for people who have been subject to atrocities to be given a clear sense that those who violate human rights will in the last analysis be punished. Unless they have that sense, I do not believe we shall get very far either with the fight for democracy and human rights or with the fight against terrorism. Basically, we must demand that the Russian occupation of Chechnya cease – preferably now."@en1
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