Chechens in Jordan back cause but slam militancy

When Anwar Ahmad Yunis went to his parent's homeland, Chechnya, he told his wife and six children he was looking for a better life.

Instead of finding work, the Jordanian-born Yunis joined separatists in the breakaway republic a decade ago and died in battle in 1999, a 39-year-old "holy warrior." "He wanted the Russians out," said his 41-year-old widow, Lina Shams-Eddine, her tears wetting a black veil covering all but her eyes.

Many in Jordan's 15,000-strong Chechen community, its roots in an immigration wave more than a century ago, express support for the cause of rebels in Chechnya. But they aren't devout and don't want to be associated with militancy that has led rebels to turn to terror-style attacks that kill civilians.

The recent seizure by Chechen guerrillas of a school in southern Russia, during which more than 330 hostages were killed, was greeted with shock here. The Chechen diaspora outside of Jordan, including in Turkey, also expressed dismay at the school attack and said it would make their efforts to raise support for the Che-chen cause and promote their culture more difficult.

"The perpetrators of the heinous crime in the school are monsters not human beings. We don't condone these actions at all," said Abdul-Ghafoor Beno, a respected member of Jordan's Chechen community.

Beno's son, Omar, died in a Grozny battle in 2000. The younger Beno went to Chechnya in 1997 to reunite with family and find a job. But he never found work and joined the fighters in 1999.

Abdul-Ghafoor Beno said his son was fighting for independence and had no links with militants. His cousin, Nabeel Beno, said: "The war in Chechnya is for liberating the country and not a religious war as Russia has tried to portray it to influence American thinking after the September 11 terror attacks."

Shams-Eddine, like her husband a Jordanian of Chechen descent, also defends the Chechen cause. "The Russians say the Muslims of Chechnya are 'terrorists', but they're not; They're simple people, as simple as children," she said, speaking in her two-bedroom apartment in Amman beside her two youngest sons, Abdul-Rahman and Islam. "They're fighting for their right, for justice, for their independence."

Chechens emigrated here between 1895-1905, fleeing Russia's southward expansion in the traditionally Muslim Caucasus regions to find a home in what was then part of the Ottoman Empire.

Known for their loyalty to Jordan's ruling Hash-emite dynasty, many Chechens now hold top government posts, including the intelligence department and the Royal Palace.

Chechens also enjoy political rights and command two seats in Jordan's 110-member Parliament. Intermarriage saw Chechens melt into Jordanian society but keep their traditions.