Earlier this week it became known that one of the leading Bashkir public figures, Ruslan Gabbasov, had sought political asylum in Lithuania. This happened a few days after his participation in the Free Russia Forum, which took place in Vilnius on December 2-3. But let’s start at the beginning.
In Russia, Gabbasov was the leader of the recognized extremist movement «Bashkort». We have written several times about the repression of this movement. Gabbasov himself claims that he faces imminent arrest in his homeland, which is highly likely given the previous convictions and imprisonment of other Bashkir activists such as Ayrat Dilmukhametov and Ramil Saitov, and the recent arrest of the coordinator of Navalny’s Ufa headquarters, Liliya Chanyshova, who has been advocating on their behalf.
We previously wrote about the Free Russia Forum in 2018, when one of the leaders of the Bashkir national movement, Ayrat Dilmukhametov, who previously led the «Nation of Islam» movement with Geydar Dzhemal, contacted the organizers. Three years have passed, and Dilmukhametov has been sentenced to 9 years in prison, partly for his involvement in the movement. However, the organizers of the Free Russia Forum responded to his call and organized a separate section dedicated to the issues of national republics and movements. As it later became known, representatives of many nations, including Muslims, were invited to this section, but they decided not to take such risks. Gabbasov, however, came and decided not to return to present-day Russia, but to seek political asylum in order to continue his public activities from Lithuania.
This raises a number of interesting questions. First, how right is it for influential public figures from Muslim nations (and not only them) who have devoted their lives to fighting for their rights and interests to leave their homeland? We believe that if the choice is between being arrested for continuing their activities or renouncing their beliefs in favor of serving tyrants, then this is the right choice. The majority of people sympathetic to Gabbasov’s activities share the same perspective. What is the point of spending many years in prison, humiliating oneself, and depriving oneself of the opportunity to help others, when today, through the Internet, one can express one’s ideas from a free country?
The second question that many will surely ask is: why did a Turk and a Muslim (the «Bashkort» movement was closely connected with the Tatars of Bashkortostan) choose Lithuania for emigration instead of a Muslim country? Unfortunately, Gabbasov himself has already answered this naive question. He revealed that he first emigrated to Turkey, but left the country for fear of extradition to Russia or deportation at the request of the Russian authorities, as advised by knowledgeable people. As for the Arab countries, there is no need to mention them, because if in Turkey one is at least given such a choice, in the Arab countries one is usually extradited immediately upon any request. Thus, for a political emigrant, the countries that are not afraid to spoil relations with the Kremlin remain, and Lithuania is one of them. It should be noted, however, that in order to emigrate to such countries, one must engage in activities that are in line with European ideas of legal politics, rather than being associated with activities that are frowned upon by the West as threatening.
In any case, political emigration continues to be populated by active representatives of Russia’s Muslim peoples. It seems that they are beginning to gain a platform both on foreign platforms, squeezed out of the Russian opposition (those who are not yet squeezed out are already imprisoned), and in the international media. And it is not only the Bashkirs or Tatars, but also representatives of the Caucasian nations. However, with the exception of the Chechens, there is no mention of the attempts of these people to unite and organize themselves.
Hopefully, this situation will begin to change, and at least in countries that are not afraid of the Kremlin, centers of political emigration of Russian Muslims and Muslim nations will emerge, where they can vocally address the issues they are already afraid to speak about in Russia.
(Photo: Ruslan Gabbasov speaking at the Free Russia Forum dedicated to the problems of the republics)