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| Old lady on the left is the said Pawlak's mother |
Scandal accompanying Mr. Zakayev’s visit to Poland makes me wonder if there’s still some common sense left in the heads of certain Polish politicians. I’m hardly interested in the destiny of central character in this play. And I’m also unwilling to dispute the decision of the Warsaw’s District Court. Especially if the European right directs every state of the United Europe to recognize the refugee status, given by one of them. Not being an expert in the field of European legislation, I cannot argue with the Polish court on the matter of Zakayev’s case. This issue, however, caused certain questions that I’d like my readers to get acquainted with.
The first question is: “Who is Akhmed Zakayev”?
Polish printed media along with Polish politicians from various parties dub this man a chief of Chechen government in exile. With a deep regret I have to inform the Polish public opinion that there’s no such thing as the Chechen government in exile at all. In 2001 Zakayev was appointed to be a special representative of Aslan Maskhadov — former President of revolted Chechnya who died on the 27th of January, 2002. Therefore, he may really be a refugee. But having Prime Minister’s status? Surely, not. Zakayev is certainly not a “martyr of democracy” as well — like my dear Kurt Vonnegut once used to call him in his “Cat’s Cradle”. Having commanded the Mujahidin detachment during the Chechen war he inevitably stained his hands with blood of both Russian soldiers and those civilians, whom he called the national traitors.
The second question is: “Why Zakayev had come to Poland at all?”
It seems that Zakayev got tired from his quiet life in the problem-free England — which cannot be called a cheap country to live in, by the way. It is yet unknown how he makes his living, but it looks likes virtuous Boris Berezovsky doesn’t pay him for doing nothing. So there was a need to make some move in order to remind everyone of his existence and to prove that he can work off the money invested into him. Zakayev’s arrival to Poland was exactly the kind of such move — making some PR scores. He played his part brilliantly as long as he appeared at the newspaper frontlines not only in Poland but in Russia as well. Thus, he reminded everyone of himself, of Chechnya and of Russian problems in the Ciscaucasia. Everything went off quite well — Zakayev deserved the applause. I’d like to mention that he is a professional actor and in 1981-1990 he used to work at the drama theatre in Chechen capital. Therefore, Russian school of acting, known all around the world as Stanislavsky’s school, is still the good one.
The third question is: “Why would Poles need this pain in the ass — the one that is hardly to improve their relationship with Russia”?
My knowledge of the Polish history is thorough enough to understand the kind of emotional response born in the Polish hearts by the phrases “immigration government” or “government in exile”. But I treat the very fact of comparing Akhmed Zakayev to Władysław Sikorski as a blasphemy. Polish general was fighting against fascism for the independence of his Motherland, while Chechen actor is a separatist who rebelled against mother country for the separation of autonomous region with a population of 1.200.000 people that has never been a sovereign state and never been recognized by a single country. I wonder, how would the Polish government reacted had the leader of Basque separatists — wanted by the Interpol — suddenly come to Warsaw? The most upsetting was the Prime Minister Tusk’ comment who told Gazeta Wyborcza: “Russians cannot expect decision, which would be suitable to them”. I understand that acting Deputy Prime Minister of Poland is Mr. Pawlak but his mother seemingly doesn’t work for the government. Let me remind you that it was this nice lady — character of the Polish comedy “Sami swoi” of the same name — who told her son: “Let the judges judge, but justice itself should be on our side”, putting the hand grenade in his pocket while he was going to the court. Why such serious and reasonable politician — without doubt, Donald Tusk is definitely one of that kind — passes his sentence in this dubious case, rather than waiting for the court to decide? Gazeta Wyborcza journalists Renata Grochal and Wacław Radziwinowicz — whom I respect very much — have named the article dedicated to Zakayev’s detention “Greek tragedy featuring Chechen” I don’t know where the tragedy in this case is, but anyway, thanks for inspiriting the idea of this text’s title.
