01.09.2009
Medvedev Reaches Out to Islam
Medvedev Wants True Values Of Islam Explained In Media, Internet
SOCHI, August 29 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev believes that far more active work must be conducted in the mass media and in the world web to explain the true, genuine values of Islam to promote religious education and to create a counterbalance to extremist information products. In his statement at a meeting in support of the religious Muslim organizations of the North Caucasus, the Russian head of state said that such work in the mass media and in the internet was a very complex and delicate matter, but at the same time a vital need. "So far it looks rather weak, if one compares the influence on people's minds of the extremist sites and of normal sites that explain the nature of Islam and its dogmas that there exist in our country. Regrettably, the score will not be to the advantage of the sites that have been created here, including those at the universities concerned," the president said. "This work must be stepped up. We shall never persuade anyone to stop using the Internet. Also we are aware that we shall fail to block this sort of extremist sites. There will emerge mirror sites and from there we shall have the same flow of absolutely extremist information and calls," Medvedev said. "I do enter the Internet myself from time to time to see what they write there. The stuff is hair-raising. It has nothing to do with Islam or with any ideology at all," Medvedev said. "I do hope that we shall be able to continue this work with the Islamic clergy in coordination with the presidential staff." President Medvedev Urges Special Youth Program For N Caucasus SOCHI, August 29 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev believes the North Caucasus needs a special comprehensive program that would prevent youth from going astray. "Regrettably, militant groups are still successful in luring young people into the web of their criminal activity, this is a hard fact," Medvedev said on Friday at a conference devoted to ways of supporting Muslim organizations in the North Caucasus. "To my mind it would be appropriate for us to devise a comprehensive program for youth in the North Caucasus," he said. "Such a program would incorporate educational, enlightenment, morality and ethnic components, as well as measures to create jobs and arrange for normal, up-to-day and decent pastime." "This matches well the decisions we made lately in favor of complementing the school curriculum with the basics of religious culture," Medvedev said. The spiritual and moral development of youth is a major concern of the federal authorities. "The Muslim clergy does share this concern," he said. "In line with the existing legislation the state in every possible way supports religious Muslim organizations and Muslim educational establishments," the president said. A week ago a new Islamic University opened in the Chechen Republic - a third in the Caucasus." "North Caucasus is a part of Russia that is absolutely unique from the standpoint of its cultural and ethnic diversity," Medvedev said. "It is a home for 157 ethnic groups of the 182 that there exist in Russia - according to the population census of 2002. The share of those who identify themselves as Muslims is more than two-thirds." Naturally, said the president, the role of the muftis' councils in influencing the state of the public mind in the region is great. Medvedev thanked the leaders of the republics and clergy for their efforts to maintain inter-confessional peace and accord and their readiness to resist extremism, xenophobia and social injustice. "I am perfectly aware that you have to work for this goal in adverse conditions, and sometimes to put your life at risk," he said. The Islamic community of the North Caucasus has developed very fast over the recent years. Ever more mosques are built and educational and cultural centers are opened. A hundred new mosques are built in the region every year and over 15,000 Muslims make annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
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