Sports / Feature and Column

Old Believers sect fears for homes

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-07-13 18:50

NOVOIMERETINSKAYA BUKHTA, Russia, July 13 - The Russian city of Sochi can
relish its victory in the race to host the 2014 Winter Olympics but some
local residents fear for their homes ahead of large-scale construction
work.

Ivan Tereutov's ancestors spent a century wandering in exile in Turkey
before they returned to their native Russia and settled in
Novoimeretinskaya Bukhta, a quiet corner in a large valley on the Black
Sea coast near Sochi.

Now, though, the Olympic Park -- comprising the Olympic Village, media
centres, hotels and many competition venues -- will be built on their
doorstep. It is unclear how many people, if any, will have to move. But
local residents believe their way of life will change dramatically.

Standing in his neighbour's garden among rows of carefully tended
vegetables, Tereutov shakes his grey beard, which tumbles down his chest.
"Our forefathers are buried here," he said. "No one is going to leave."

Tereutov and his neighbours are "Old Believers" -- religious purists
expelled from the Orthodox church 300 years ago because they rejected
church innovations like baptising believers by sprinkling water instead
of immersing them completely.

Marked out by their beards and strict religious rites, they were
persecuted at home for their beliefs. Many fled abroad, an exodus that
created communities of Old Believers in Latin America and the United
States that still exist today.

In a gesture of reconciliation Tsar Nicholas II invited Tereutov's
ancestors back home in 1911 and gave them the plots of land they have
been farming ever since.

OLYMPIC THREAT

At the beginning of this year, local residents heard some of their houses
would have to be demolished to free up space for the Olympic buildings.
When the International Olympic Committee came to Sochi, they staged a
public protest against these plans.

Andrei Braginsky from the bidding committee defended the proposals at the
time, saying those affected would be paid at market prices for their land.

But prominent local campaigner Andrei Korutun says the compensation is
many times less than the market price, which will will only rise as the
Olympics loom.

Local people say the regional governor has since publicly assured them no
homes would be knocked down, but uncertainty persists.

"These are just promises. When I personally met the regional governor and
the Sochi mayor, they promised this but said they could give no
guarantees," Korutun said.

"We are for the Olympics but we are against resettlement," said Andrei
Petrov in the shade of a sprawling grapevine by his house, where he was
born in 1948 and lives with his family.

"We would be sorry to leave here and be put up in 'book-stands'," he said
in a dismissive reference to cramped apartment blocks. "We are used to
living on land all our lives."

1 2 

Top Sports News 

� FIA summon McLaren in Ferrari 'spy' probe

� Hushovd sprints to Tour de France 4th stage victory

� Lucas not play Summber League for Rockets

� Beckham comes to America

� Liu Xiang wins 110 hurdles at Athletissima

Today's Top News 

� Unit by unit,energy use improving

� No yielding on arable land: Minister

� Gov't increases funds for flood relief

� Iraq war report implies longer US surge

� House OKs plan to withdraw US troops

Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours

Learn Chinese, Chinese Mandarin, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, Beijing 2008 Olympics, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing, Travel to Tibet