Researchers reveal various attitudes towards ethnic differences in Northern Caucasus

The ethnic self-determination of natives of Northern Caucasus is being formed not only under the influence of the religious factor, but it is also a subject to constant changes. This conclusion was made by the authors of the research project "Ethnicity and Politics in Northern Caucasus". According to the researchers, the position of the authorities with regard to the ethnic issues plays an important role in maintaining clear national differences in the region.

Today, the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (known as MGIMO) is hosting the final conference of the project. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Nikolai Silaev, Project Manager and Senior Researcher from the Centre for Caucasus and Regional Security.

According to Nikolai Silaev, Russian citizens still retain the cautious attitude to the ethnic diversity in the country.

The project covered all the regions of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD), as well as Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The project was aimed at an attempt to understand the role of the factor of ethnicity in the contemporary political process in Northern Caucasus. This was reported by Sergey Shtyrkov, Professor of the European University in Saint Petersburg.

According to Nikolai Silaev, one of the results of the project was the determination of the various factors influencing the formation of ethnicity.

In his turn, Sergey Shtyrkov has stated the researchers have also found out that religiosity and ethnicity in Northern Caucasus are not always interrelated.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.