Circassian Activists Denounce KBR Efforts to Block Commemoration of 1864 Deportation and Note Support for Marking that Anniversary Growing

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 24 – A group of leading Circassian activists have denounced the efforts of the Kabardino-Balkaria government to block commemoration of the anniversary of the May 1864 deportation as anti-constitutional and point out that support for marking that date is growing not only among Circassians but among other North Caucasian peoples as well.

            In an open letter to Kazbek Kokov, head of the KBR, they point out that efforts to intimidate the Circassians won’t work by detaining some of those involved in these commemorations won’t work as these demonstrations reflect the values of the entire nation (zapravakbr.ru/index.php/30-uncategorised/1976-pora-organam-vlasti-osoznat-chto-osnovnoj-initsiator-i-dvizhushchaya-sila-traurnogo-shestviya-21-maya-eto-narod-kotoryj-vyrazhaet-svojo-zhelanie-sokhranit-istoricheskuyu-pamyat-i-ne-dopustit-ejo-zabveniya).

            There may have been some justification in limiting demonstrations during the covid pandemic, but there is no reason to continue doing do and invoking some spurious threat of terrorist actions supposedly connected with the war in Ukraine, the authors continue. What is going on now is simply open repression of the Circassian people.

            Commemorations of the anniversaries of the May 1864 expulsions are “an inalienable part of the cultural identity and traditions of the peoples living on the territory of the country;” and such commemorations have always taken place “without incidents which testifies to the effectiveness of the work of law enforcement organs,” the letter specifies.

            And the letter concludes that “despite all these limiting efforts and administrative obstacles, the number of participants of memorial marches is increasing with each passing year, including representatives of neighboring peoples – the Dagestanis, Osetians and Ingush, clear evidence of the consolidating potential of such memorials.”

            In short, the authors of the letter suggest, the authorities in trying to suppress such memorials are not only violating the Russian constitution and suppressing the Circassians but also attracting more people to the side of the chief victims of the 1864 events and deepening the divide between the Russian-backed authorities and the other peoples of the region.