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195 
 
At last, internal, national and personal quarrels made the Confederation a 
more complex body. Due to different policy preferences of the Confederation’s 
members, the purpose of the Confederation’s existence was never clarified 
properly. This alone was the most critical handicap for its future.
495
 While the 
Chechens were in pursuit of total independence, all the other peoples, especially the 
Abkhaz were in favour of a kind of autonomy within the Russian Federation. 
Moreover, mutual territorial claims of the member peoples of the Confederation 
against each other and neighbouring peoples were clear. 
 
The leaders of the movement were well aware of all these troubles and of 
the possible reactions of the existing power centres in the region, from regional 
governments to Moscow. As Gennadi Alamiya, one of the deputy-Presidents of the 
CMPC, put it, the objective of collecting different nationalities under the umbrella 
of unified single state was so far from the realty. Instead, the Confederation aimed 
at the establishment of a loose body of democratic organisations, taking the 
example of the European Union, to consolidate economic, political social and 
cultural solidarity among the peoples of the Caucasus.
496
 Shanibov also perceived 
the establishment of the Confederation as the initial phase of the realization of a 
powerful North Caucasian State.
497
 He tried to assure possible opponents by saying 
                                                 
495
 Cem Oğuz, June-August 1999. “The Unity of the North Caucasian People: The case of the 
Confederation of the Peoples of the Caucasus,” Perceptions, (Ankara), IV(2): 128. 
496
 “Kafkasya Halkları Konfederasyonu. Hedef Avrupa Modeli Birlik,” July 1992. Kafkasya 
Gerçeği, (Samsun), 9: 11-2. 
497
 “Kafkasya Dağlı Halkları Konfederasyonu Başkanı Şanibe Açıkladı:…” January 1992. Kafkasya 
Gerçeği, (Samsun), 7: 4. 

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196 
 
that “…the parliament was not an alternative to existing governments, …its 
mission was rather to solve regional conflicts by peaceful means.”
498
 
 
5- Activities of the Confederation: 
With the establishment of the Confederation, the new executive bodies, in 
contrast to the Assembly, started to function regularly. The Confederation’s 
Parliament and the Presidential Council met almost every month in one of the cities 
of the member peoples. And, in those meetings, these bodies discussed the 
developments and disputes affecting the region directly or indirectly. 
 
During the first period, the most critical point was the new Russian 
Federation Treaty and draft constitution. Following the formation of the CIS, in 
order to prevent the disintegration of the Russian Federation, as was the case in the 
Soviet Union, the authorities in Moscow prepared a Federation Treaty in which a 
comprehensive reform of the Russian Federation’s administrative structure was 
taken into account.
499
 This Treaty was intended to be the fundamental document 
delimiting powers between the federal government and the constituent parts. Its 
finalisation was the main issue on the agenda of the leaders of the Russian 
Federation. 
 
                                                 
498
 RFE/RL Research Report, Vol.1, January 1992. 5(31): 69. 
499
 With that Treaty Moscow was intent to sign three documents with 89 subjects of the Russian 
Federation in 1992. The 89 subjects of the Russian Federation consisted of 21 republics, 1 
autonomous oblast, 10 okrugs, 6 krais, 49 oblasts and 2 cities with special status, Moscow and St. 
Petersburg. 

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197 
 
The CMPC strongly opposed this treaty from the beginning because of its 
‘undemocratic character’. And, in compliance with the decision taken during the 3
rd
 
Congress, the Confederation protested to the Yeltsin administration for proposing 
and supporting this kind of an undemocratic Treaty to the peoples of the 
Federation. Thus the dispute between Moscow and the Confederation was already 
fuelled in the beginning of 1992. 
The Confederation put the issue on its agenda at the 5
th
 session of the 
Parliament and Presidential Council in Grozny on 27 February 1992. According to 
the Confederation, although most clauses in the draft constitution tabled at the last 
Congress of the Peoples’ Deputies meet contemporary needs, the section on the 
structure of the state of the future Russian Federation was absolutely unacceptable. 
Its denial of the right to self-determination and demolition of the principle of 
national states, meant it would be a political disaster and would result in the revival 
of the Russian Empire, a return to the pre-Soviet period. Since it was undemocratic 
and placed the peoples of the North Caucasus in a dependent and unequal position 
with regard to Russia, the acting administrative bodies of the North Caucasus could 
only reject it.
500
 
The Confederation, as a best solution, requested a moratorium for the 
ending of disputes and clashes between the peoples of the North Caucasus. The 
leaders believed that this was the only way to establish a comprehensive and 
unified state of the peoples of the North Caucasus, without Russian intervention.
501
 
Yusup Soslambekov pointed out that if the current draft Russian constitution were 
                                                 
500
 “Caucasus Parliament threaten military intervention in Abkhazia,” SWB SU/1319, B/5-6, 3 
March 1992. 

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