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© Fòrum Barcelona 2004 / Agustí Argelich
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12 / 09 / 2004
Mikhail Gorbachov: ‘There must also be negotiation with the terrorists’
The former president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, met this morning with a group of international journalists to discuss current world political issues at the Universal Forum of Cultures. The current president of the Green Cross Foundation is in Barcelona to attend the inaugural ceremony of World Urban Forum (from 13 to 17 September), which is being held at the Forum Barcelona 2004 Site.
On the conflict in Chechenia, Gorbachov pronounced he was in favor of the political route. "The negotiations are decisive in Chechenia. I am totally in favor of negotiation. But in some situations we must face terrorist attacks and must face emergency situations. In no way do I refute negotiation, but of course when they are also attacking you you must respond. And it is necessary to negotiate even with the terrorists, I would say. And the problem of Chechenia will only be solved by negotiating, negotiating with all involved."
In the judgment of Gorbachev, the Russian government is acting in an appropriate manner in this conflict. "I can say that at this moment Putin is following the will of the majority of the Russian people in the sense of not negotiating right now with these leaders, but it is necessary to consider two principles. Chechenia will continue being part of Russia but at the same time it must have a very specialized statute of autonomy, given the history of Chechenia. And we must reach a political solution." For the former president of the USSR the objective of the terrorists is not the independence of Chechenia but to establish an Islamic state in the Caucasus. "If we allowed an Islamic state to be set up we would cause a situation that would be very difficult for anyone to resolve. In fact, Russia is protecting to the world from this threat."
Mikhail Gorbachev then carefully handled the difficult matter of who might compare the defense of the Russian government using pre-emptive strikes against terrorism in any part of the world with the theories of the American Administration on this issue. "Some days ago Putin also made a declaration with Chancellor Schröder of Germany to make a united effort in the fight against terrorism. And in the declaration, signed by Putin, it said that the fight against the terrorism must be carried out, but always within the United Nations framework, within the international framework, and without violating human rights in any way. And these are their latest declarations on the matter. So I do not believe that the preventive war against terrorism advocated by the USA is in any way what president Putin is declaring now. I believe that the Americans in fact should avoid this type of preventive war, because the USA must be very careful of the actions they take and in no case should they act outside the United Nations Security Council framework, especially when those actions are carried out outside their own national territory."
Still commenting on Russian politics, Gorbachev took the opportunity to give advice to the Putin government. "Now I see that there is strong support for President Putin but I must remind him that this support is something that Gorbachev also had but which can later disappear as a result of political errors and the deterioration of the situation. It is important that Putin continue to demonstrate that he is working for the population, for the people, for the majority of the people. If he is able to demonstrate this, nothing will undermine his popular support. Also Putin commits errors but he is committed to working for social justice and I believe that this is very important. Poverty in Russia continues to exist and I hope that Putin can handle this issue with better results."
Moving on to other issues, the Russian political leader criticized Israeli policies and the American intervention in the Middle East conflict, from which in his opinion, "we must all learn very important lessons". In his view, "in the first place the way terrorism has become the focus of punitive operations, such as Mr Sharon is undertaking, results in an even greater tragedy. Even those who support Sharon in the USA are telling him to stop these types of actions and policies. On this issue, the fact they promised that when Saddam Hussein of Iraq was overthrown the situation in the Middle East would improve has been a serious misjudgment. I believe that the war against Iraq was a great error, a very serious error that in fact has led to the destruction of the credibility of the USA, and even of the United Nations and democracy. Because many people have demonstrated all over the world against this war in an absolutely democratic way and nobody has taken notice of them."
Finally, Gorbachev used the case of the war of Iraq to defend taking the route of negotiation and not military action in international conflicts. "I repeat once again that the risk of military defeat was minimum for the USA because 50% of the world’s military power is in their hands. It is no surprise that they want to go to war because they know they are going to win. Do they think that a nation with its own history, a history very much older than that of the USA, with a culture, a religion, an identity, a pride, a dignity, is not going to defend itself? That nation will never agree to accept occupation. And of course it will organize a resistance. That is what it is happening. The problems are never going to be resolved by force. Although dialogue and negotiations are difficult, we must negotiate."
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