Wellesley Panel Weighs in on Possible Role of Chechen Background in Boston Marathon Bombing

After the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15, reports indicated the two suspects had ties to . 

Enough people confused Chechnya with the Czech Republic that the Czech embassy recently issued a statement that the two are unrelated and far removed. 

So, to learn more about the country and its history Wellesley College hosted a panel discussion on April 25 about Chechnya, Russia and the bombing. Philip Kohl, Professor of Slavic Studies and Anthropology; Nina Tumarkin, Professor of History; and former Ambassador Thomas Simons all spoke, and Professor of Russian Thomas Hodge moderated.

The panel explored some of the historical, political and religious context of Chechnya, a republic of Russia: 

Ambassador Simons explained that there were two Chechen wars. When the Chechen people attempted to gain independence from the Russia, war erupted in 1991 to keep them within the Federation. The Russians backed down in 1996, and a second war broke out in 1999. 

Last week, as federal investigators released the identities of the two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, we learned that the two bombing suspects had family back in Chechnya. The younger brother, Dzokhar Tsarnaev, became an American citizen last year; older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev apparently had a green card. They both had been living in the U.S. since about 2001.

When speaking to reporters outside of his home, their uncle, Ruslan Tsarni said, "He [Tamerlan] put a shame on our family, he put a shame on the entire Chechen ethnicity."

Imagined Communities, Virtually Radical

The brothers reportedly grew up in the Chechen community in Kyrgyzstan, and spent very little time in Chechnya itself. Prof. Tumarkin said she thought the two may have felt they were part of what Cornell Prof. Benedict Anderson terms an "imagined community."

"A devotion to a homeland they never knew." Tumarkin said, "These young men might have been guided by a loyalty to what Anderson calls an imagined community, that, in a way, never existed."

However, both Tumarkin and Simon believe that the real cause of this may have been their radical form of Islam, which Simon believes Tamerlan Tsarnaev learned largely through the Internet. 

"My own sense is," Simon expained, "what happened in Chechnya won’t explain what happened on Boylston Street; I think they picked radicalism up here."

Simons described a type of "virtual radicalization," in which those who are becoming radical will turn their backs on their families, even walk away from their mosque and spend time with others on the Internet or in groups with similar mindsets. 

Reports indicate that Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his uncle Tsarni may have had a falling out over his religious beliefs. 

One Boston Globe opinion writer called on readers to judge the bombers, and not the Chechen people. Wellesley College's panel seemed to take that same stand, saying as far as they could tell, the connection the brothers had to the Chechen republic was likely not a factor in the bombing on Boylston Street. 

Simons pointed out that America has also seen presidents assassinated, anarchist movements, as well as radicalized immigrants such as Sacco and Vanzetti. Radical movements are not something new to the U.S., he said. Despite these incidents, the country has not provided much room for radicalism to grow to extremes. 

"I think we can field this one too." Simons added. "It gives you perspective on how much to expect. I think we can marginalize it if we can’t eliminate it."

The bombing suspect in custody, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is being tried in Massachusetts Federal Court, and not a military tribunal because he is a naturalized US citizen; it is expected that he will not be tried as an enemy combatant. 

See the Criminal Complaint filed against Tsarnaev.

Chechens in the U.S are Few, but Have Presence in Boston, Needham

In fact, a number of Chechen families live in the United States already. Reports says that there is a fairly limited Chechen community in the U.S. Glen Howard, president of the Jamestown Foundation, says there are about 200 Chechens in the United States, and he believes the largest concentration being here in the Boston area. 

Others say Los Angeles has a larger Chechen community, but still small.

A founder of the Chechnyan Advocacy Network, Almut Rochowanski, says she knows of four families in the Boston area. Voice of America journalist Fatima Tlisova estimates the number at five or six. She did say, however, that those she knew did not particularly care for the Tsarnaevs. 

"They care for themselves mostly, and are isolated from the society, not only from the other Chechens," Tlisova told Buzzfeed.

The Chechens who are in the Boston area may be here largely because of Khassan Baiev. Baiev, a Needham resident, is a surgeon and author of "The Oath: A Surgeon Under Fire" and "Grief of My Heart: Memoirs of a Chechen Surgeon." He is said to split his time between here and Chechnya, concentrating on treating those with facial deformities and amputated limbs. According to Wikipedia, Baiev has been living in Needham since about 2001:

By 2000, Baiev was the single surgeon for nearly 80,000 residents near Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, and at one point during the conflict he performed 67 amputations and eight brain operations in a 48-hour period.^[8] His patients included the rebel leaders Shamil Basayev and Salman Raduyev.^[9] Both sides of the conflict saw Baiev's actions of treating the other side as treason and multiple death threats were made against him.

Consequently, the human rights organization Physicians for Human Rights sponsored Baiev for political asylum in theUnited States during the Second Chechen War and Baiev flew to Washington, DC in April 2000.^[10] After his family joined him in the U.S. ten months later, Baiev and his family have been living in Needham, Massachusetts.^[1] 

He is currently in Chechnya, and was unavailable for comment last week in the Buzzfeed piece, according to a friend of his, Prague-based radio journalist Aslan Doukaev. 

"Almost everyone bears the scars of this conflict," Douakaev told BuzzFeed. "I wouldn't say they stick together, but they don't lose touch with their homeland. It's not an organized diaspora in any way. They don't coordinate their actions or their moves or anything like that."

See the full piece on BuzzFeed.