THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, February 1, 1980 The Soviet Union's Internal Thorn: Close-Knit Moslem Minority By EDWIN EYTAN PARIS (JTA) — East European experts, Krem- linologists and intelligence experts believe that the Soviet Union moved into Afghanistan, provoking a major East-West crisis for strategic reasons, but also because of its own internal Moslem problems. These experts are con- vinced that the Soviet Union's Moslem population is increasingly turbulent in its demands for local au- tonomy and cultural deter- mination. Since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's re- turn to Iran a year ago, mil- lions of Soviet Moslems regularly listen to Radio Teheran and are increas- ingly attracted to his teach- ings. Europe's best known ex- pert on Soviet ethnic prob- lems, Helene Carrerre d'Encausse, is convinced that the Russian empire, outwardly a close-knit state over whiclf Stalin's iron fist hung less than a generation ago, is now bursting at the seams. Dozens of nationalities, mainly Mos- [ Al's Foreign Car Service SPECIALIST VOLKSWAGEN AND PORSCHE CARS CALL . 548-3926 548.4160 541-9704 1018 W. 9 Mile Rd. Alfons G. Rehme N FERND A LE hucti Bet.. l'onehuest 1980 )DANSK/AT, JUST ARRIVED AT SPORTS FAIR TEL-12 MALL Telegraph & 12 Mile Roads SOUTHFIELD, MICH. 352-0520 lems from the Kalmuks to the Kazaks, openly aspire towards a certain form of national independence and resent traditional Russian domination. The most restless ele- ment are the Soviet Union's 50 million Mos- lems. In a generation from now they will number 80 million and, if current demograp)iic trends continue, will be- come the Soviet Union's majority by the middle of the next century. The Asian Moslems who border Iran and Afghanis- tan already openly resent Slavic authority, kneel towards Mecca five times a day, celebrate with un- abated fervor Moslem reli- gious holidays and aspire towards an Islamic cultural and national revival. Soviet official statistics quoted by Prof. Carrere d'Encausse show that they contract no outside mar- riages in spite of intense atheistic state propaganda and even managed to con- vert to Islam the nomadic tribes in the deep south. For the Soviet Union's Moslems, Karl Marx, after 60 years of Communist rule, is still only a minor prophet, somewhere between Buddha and Jesus. The in- tensity of Khomeini'i preachings and the dangers of an Islamic republic in Af- ghanistan were reportedly seen by the Kremlin as a di- rect threat to Soviet state integrity. The Soviet Union was always preoccupied by the relations between the various nationalities. Lenin dealt with it and so did Trotsky but the real expert was Stalin. It was "the little father of the peoples" who gave the Soviet Union its Russian character and it was dur- NACO °Lei. Established 1919 P NORMAN ALLAN en GEMOLOGIST • DIAMONTOLOGIST LAWRENCE M. ALLAN, PRESIDENT 'AV VP , \ 4/ "TIPP" \•/ .11k DIAMONDS - OUR SPECIALTY BEAUTIFUL JEWELRY TO REMEMBER... • ANNIVERSARIES • BIRTHDAYS • SPECIAL OCCASIONS • OR JUST A SPECIAL PERSON... WELL PAY IMMEDIATE CASH FOR YOUR UNWANTED PRECIOUS GEMS AND JEWELRY Hours: Daily til 5:30 Sat. By Appointment 642-5575 30400 TELEGRAPH • BIRMINGHAM LOCATED AT 12 1/2 Mile SUITES 104/134 VISA' Awarded Certificate By GIA in Grading .& Evaluation rem NNW / \1/ •ios \ Vit„, ing his rule that the Rus- sian and in general Slavic domination over the other 51 nationalities be- came absolute. With Khrushchev's rise to power the various nationalities started show- ing their ethnic and reli- gious particularities. Since the early 1970s, this process has been accelerating. This national process is also accompanied by a de- mographic explosion. While in 1959 the Russians repre- sented over 55 percent of the Soviet Union's total popula- tion and the Moslems 12, the Russians now represent less than half of the popula- tion and the Moslems close to 16 percent. The Soviet Union is a country of huge internal migrations. Every year a minimum of 15 million people change their place of residence, sometimes mov- ing over thousands of kilometers. But most of these migrants are the Slays, Russians and Ukrai- nians, who settle in the far off territories, further de- pleting their own republics and drowning in the mass of the native inhabitants. The Slays are the ad- ministrators, the techni- cians, often the higher eche- lon experts in most of the non-Slavic republics. The first secretary of the local Communist party usually is a native but the second sec- retary, the man who holds the reigns of real power, is a Russian or Ukrainian. Within the Moscow Central Committee, 82 percent of the members are Slays and within the Politburo 14 out of 16 are Slays. Within the Secretariat, all 11 mem- bers, from Leonid Brezhnev down, are Slays. Within the army. Slavic and especially Russian domination is complete. Al- though army units are offi- cially integrated and of mixed nationality, the Mos- lems find themselves in such branches as the infan- try, which require less for- mal schooling, and the Rus- sians are in the Air Force. At the end of World War II, this disproportion was even greater. Ninety per- cent of the men serving in artillery units were Slays and 90 percent of the offi- cers were Russians. A re- cent statistic published by the Red Army newspaper, "The Red Star," reveals that even for junior officers 82.5 percent come from workers families and only 17.5 per- cent from farming villages. Most Slays are employed in industry; practically all Moslems in agriculture. As far as senior officers are concerned, Western in- telligence sources find that 91 percent of generals pro- moted between 1940 and 1976 are of Slavic origin with 60 percent Russian, 20 percent Ukrainian, four percent Byelorussian, two percent Poles and five per- cent of unknown origin. This anti-Moslem dis- crimination was accom- panied by a national and religious renaissance. In the Karakalpak Republic (part of Uzbekistan) close to 80 percent of the in- habitants officially de- clared themselves prac- ticing Moslems — this in spite of the dangers inherent in such a dec- laration. Over 25 percent of the population said they were "fervent" Moslems and even in the northern Caucasus, close to Moscow and central influences, only 20 percent of the Moslem school chil- dren said in school tests that they were atheists. While the Soviet Moslems are divided, as elsewhere, between Sunnites and Shiites, they invariably de- fine themselves as "plain Moslems" and explain that for them their religion is "belonging to the Umma, the Islamic community." The Moslems follow their religious precepts and when they cannot, due to govern- ment imposed restrictions, they try to find another solution. Thus the Soviet authorities have forbidden the killing of animals for the "feast- of the sacrifice." The Moslem Religious Council issued a "fetwa" (edict) saying that the sac- rifice can be replaced by a financial contribution equal to the value of the animal which would have been kil- led. In this way, the Soviet laws are respected. But not only do the faithful continue their ancestral practices but their com- munal organizations and funds grow ever more prosperous. Another "fetwa" replaced the feast of Mavlud, celeb- rating the birth of the Pro- phet, which is normally ac- companied by a gathering in the mosque, with private celebrations. Thus, accord- ing to Soviet observers quoted by Carrere d'En- causse, for every mosque celebration more than 90 private ceremonies are held in homes, out of the authorities' sight. Even the pilgrimage to Mecca, which the Soviet government forbids, has been replaced with pilgrim- ages to local sites within the Soviet Union. Practically all Moslems undergo religious weddings and the number of mixed marriages is practically nil. When such a rare marriage does occur, it usually in- volves a Moslem and a non-Moslem woman. The children are invariably raised in their father's reli- gion O Soviet legislation for- bids the marraige of minor girls or paying a price for the bride. In spite of these laws, the traditional practices con- tinue unabated. In 1965, the Central Committee of the Uzbek Communist Party even laid down a ruling for what it consid- ered the "normal" price: 500 Rubles, 200 kilog- rams of flour, 80 kilog- rams of rice, two sheep and nine suits, or a total of 2000-3000 Rubles for a good looking and healthy wife. Another instance of tradi- tional practices occurred in 1972 when one of Tash- kent's main Communist leaders died. The Moscow Central Committee sent an official •representative who organized a state funeral in the city's cemetery — a non-religious institution in which all deserving Com- munists are buried. The family, including his Com- munist Party member sons, adamantly refused and opted for a religious burial in the Moslem cemetery. When a foreign journalist on a visit to Uzbek asked last year on the eve of "Revolution Day" what is the Soviet Union's most im- portant holiday, he was in- variably told: the end of the Ramadan. While• practically all nationalities have accepted the Cyrillic alphabet, in Daghestan the local central committee officially asked for the adoption of the Arabic alphabet, explaining in its request "that it is the Latin of the East." Moslem vitality, religious and cultural, is not only more intense than in the rest of the Soviet Union but seems to be growing stronger every year. U.S., Israel Sign Health Accord WASHINGTON (jta) — The United States and Is- rael signed a health cooperative agreement this week that incorporates servic4s in seven areas, in- cluding research and direct assistance. The ceremony was con- ducted in the conference room of Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Patricia Harris. She signed for the United States and Health Minister Eliezer Shostak signed for Israel. HEW officials said that while the two countries had been cooperating in various fields of health for many years, this will be their first formal agreement. The areas of mutual interest incorporated in the agreement include planning health and services; manpower health economics and financing; health infor- mation; public health re- lated to the environment; biomedical research; and research in the evolution of health services. In the United States pro- gramming for this agree- ment, officials said, each field will have an American specialist working with the Israelis. The cooperative ef- fort will begin immediately after the signing of the agreement. Exchanges of specialists and seminars in both coun- tries will be conducted to explore services and re- search to be undertaken.