UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE CATHEDRAL MOSQUE

The opening of the Cathedral Mosque in Moscow has undoubtedly become a significant event in the life of Muslims, not only in Russia. At the same time,

it has provided a good reason for extremely in-depth talkss on international topics conducted by Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Turkish and Palestinian leaders, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Mahmoud Abbas, who attended the mosque's opening ceremony.  

The Moscow Cathedral Mosque, which the Turkish president has called a "splendid monument in the very centre of the Russian capital" is the biggest in Europe. To quote Vladimir Putin, "it will be a major spiritual centre, a source of education and disseminating the true values of Islam and will help to unite the efforts of not only Muslims, but of people of other faiths in the name of good, common causes".

In general, the Russian president's speech at the opening ceremony of the Cathedral Mosque abounded in utterances which were extremely topical and significant in the complicated circumstances of the present world order, especially taking into account the shocks being felt across the Islamic world, primarily in the Middle East region. Putin recalled that "Russia has always been a multinational and multi-faith country and draws its strength from the mutual enrichment of cultures, traditions and religions". In this connection, the Russian head of state spoke highly of the enormous service that the Muslim ummah [community] had done for peaceful coexistence among peoples and religions. "Today traditional Islam is an inseparable part of the spiritual life of our country," the Russian Federation president stressed. "Its humane values, like the values of other traditional religions, teach people mercy, justice, and care for those close to them."

The Russian leader particularly stressed the need "for young Muslims to be brought up on traditional Islamic values which would prevent attempts to thrust upon them world outlooks and teachings that are  alien to them, that have nothing in common with genuine Islam". After noting that "rejection and discussion of any manifestations of fundamentalism and radicalism make a weighty contribution to combating nationalism and religious extremism", Putin stated: "The work in this direction is particularly important today when attempts are being made to cynically exploit religious sentiments for politicial purposes." The president directly accused the terrorists of the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) of the latter, who are sowing hatred, killing people and barbarically destroying monuments of world culture, whose ideology is built on lies and a blatant misinterpretation of Islam.

The opening of the Cathedral Mosque in Moscow is undoubtedly a kind of signal from Moscow giving a message to the whole of mankind at a moment when one of the greatest Middle Eastern dramas in world history is unfolding, while Russia itself is making a serious attempt to restore its former influence on the politics of this strategically important region. In this context, Moscow's activation of a Syrian-directed policy should also be perceived as a characteristic striving to render real assistance to official Damascus in the war against the so-called Islamic State which controls areas of Iraq and Syria and is openly boasting of its plans to extend its power to the whole of the Muslim East.

The world community and the countries involved are extremely concerned about the increasingly exacerbating situation in the Holy Land and in what was historically Mesopotamia. Evidence of this is the fact that initially Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Moscow a few days ago, followed by the above-mentioned Mahmoud Abbas and Recep Erdogan a few days afterwards.

To all appearances, Vladimir Putin's initiative on creating a united front to combat IS is being hotly discussed around the world. It cannot be ruled out that the Russian president may even have talks with US President Barack Obama within the framework of the UN General Assembly Session being held in New York. Putin's proposal includes rendering active assistance to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but it is not at all clear whether the latter will still have political prospects since the West already gave him a "black mark" ages ago.

The USA and Europe see in Moscow's attempts to prop up al-Assad primarily a striving to retain the Russian naval facility in the Syrian port of Tartus, which acts as a guarantee of the great northern power's military and political influence in the Southern Mediterranean.

But the foreign forces which are interested in the Syrian president stepping down are not in agreement with the possibility allowed by the Kremlin that he should remain in power. This also applies to Turkey, with which Russia "differs in approaches just as before", the Russian president's press spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted following Erdogan's visit to Moscow. Although both parties, as Peskov stressed, are extremely concerned about the deterioration of the situation in Syria, it is obvious that they have diametrically opposed views regarding the "al-Assad issue".

Turkish President Erdogan, who spoke highly of the wealth of Russian experience in achieving "peaceful coexistence among peoples of different faiths and ethnic backgrounds under a single roof", of the fact that "today we have once again become witness to how Moscow is bringing together diverse peoples, uniting them in their common spiritual values, is creating a single living space and setting a splendid example for the future", did for all that not disguise his opposition to the Kremlin's support for the Syrian regime.

Turkey, in which more than two million Syrians have found refuge (according to official Ankara, the cost of their upkeep has already been 5.5bn dollars) is demanding that a security zone for refugees be set up on the territory of Syria. Moscow does not agree with this idea, seeing in it a danger of the Syrian state

falling apart. Ultimately, the disintegration of Syria is not to the advantage of Turkey which, if this were to happen, may be faced with the probable creation of a single Kurdish autonomy possessing a bigger package of independence than Iraqi Kurdistan.

Properly speaking, after recognising the implementation by Western circles of a "Greater Kurdistan" project, Erdogan is criticising the USA for backing the "Kurdish Democratic Union Party" which is active in Syria and is, according the  

Turkish president, a terrorist organisation on a par with the Kurdistan Workers' Party [PKK] and "Islamic State". In this context, the first initiative proposed by Erdogan during the years of the Syrian conflict needs to be perceived, namely that "the process of a settlement should go ahead without al-Assad, but he could be involved in the transitional period".

The nitty gritty of this proposal has not been widely made public, but the general conclusion drawn from the talks between Putin and Erdogan in Moscow is that Russia and Turkey are in favour of multilateral collaboration in combating terrorism in the Middle East. In particular, the Turkish president noted the need to get cooperation going in this direction between his country, Russia, Iran and the USA. Erdogan especially noted that Turkey and Russia, "as representatives of two extremely ancient European and Asian civilisations" can set an "example of sincere and genuine cooperation and mutual assistance" to the world.

To what extent the example mentioned by Erdogan will help a settlement of the Syrian crisis and achieve a breakthrough in the war with IS will soon become clear. The same can be said of Moscow and Ankara managing to coordinate actions in resolving the mass of other regional problems, in particular the Arme-nian-Azerbaijani conflict, one of the most long-drawn-out conflicts at the crossroads of Europe and Asia.