Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of July 1-7

One year after the flood in the Krymsk District, Krasnodar Territory; pre-election resignation of the head of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov; united opposition of Azerbaijan nominates its presidential candidate, – look these and other events in the Caucasus in the review of the week of July 1-70, 2013, prepared by the "Caucasian Knot".

Krasnodar Territory: Krymsk commemorates victims of last year's flood

July 7 was one year after the flood in the Krasnodar Territory, which claimed 153 human lives in the Krymsk District; about 29,000 people completely lost their property. On July 6, Krymsk held a number of mourning events.

The official part began at 6:00 p.m. in the square in front of the children's hospital in the city centre, where a monument to the victims of the flood, the "Wailing Wall" was opened. The square housed a crowd of about 2000, who laid flowers and wreaths to the monument and lit candles. At 11:00 p.m. in Adagumskaya Street, where the volunteers' headquarters was located in the first days after the tragedy, another civil action was organized by the regional branch of the "Yabloko" Party and public activists. It was attended by some 50 local residents who lit candles and held a minute of silence. Around 11:30 p.m. Moscow time, another civil action that brought together more than 200 people began on the bridge at the entrance to Krymsk. People were holding lit candles, which were then dropped on the water. The civil actions were not sanctioned by local authorities.

A year after the flood, the affected residents of Krymsk claim that they have not received compensations for their damaged and destroyed houses. About 200 people still have not received the due money, which was admitted by the head of the Krymsk District.

Ingushetia: Evkurov resigned and appointed acting head of the republic

On July 4, the head of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov asked the Russian president to dismiss him before term. Vladimir Putin accepted his resignation and appointed Evkurov to go on as the acting head of Ingushetia till the election appointed for September 8. Evkurov himself said that he would take part in the race; and based on the earlier held primaries, he topped the list of the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party of three candidates that the party will recommend to the post of the head of Ingushetia. Let us note here that on May 8 the People's Assembly of Ingushetia refused from the direct election in favour of the parliamentary one. Now, under the new electoral law, the Russian president will select three candidates out of the lists submitted by regional branches of the parliamentary parties. The winner will be defined in the course of parliamentary vote.

Azerbaijan: united opposition nominates its presidential candidate

On July 2, the oppositional National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) put forward its candidate for the presidency at the election scheduled for October 16 – the Chairman of the Council, the famous screenwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov. Prior to making a decision to nominate him as a presidential candidate, the NCDF adopted a memorandum under which the unified candidate from the NCDF had agreed that his term of office would be restricted by 2 years of the transition period, after which he would hold a new presidential election, without putting forward his candidacy. One day before that, it was announced that the public movement "Azerbaijan-2013" had nominated Arastun Orudjlu, its leader and the head of the research centre "East-West", as a presidential candidate.

Earlier, the incumbent president Ilham Aliev was unanimously nominated by the ruling party "Eni Azerbaijan" as its presidential candidate. The list of potential candidates also includes Ilgar Mamedov, the leader of the civil movement "Republican Alternative" (ReAl), who was arrested on February 4 on charges of organizing riots in the city of Ismailly, as well as Isa Gambar, the leader of the "Musavat" Party.

Georgia defines date for presidential election

On July 1, Manana Mandjgaladze, the press speaker of the president, stated that the election of the president would be held on October 27. However, on the same day this information was refuted by Andro Barnov, the head of the presidential administration, who said that the election would be held on October 31. On July 2, the President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili was addressed by 12 non-governmental organizations with a request to change the date of the presidential election and appoint it on a day-off; and on July 3 in the evening, after consultations with NGO activists, the date of the vote was again appointed for October 27.

Doku Umarov calls armed underground to disrupt the Olympic Games in Sochi

Last week it became known that the leader of North-Caucasian militants Doku Umarov stated the need to disrupt the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi and cancelled the moratorium on committing terror acts in Russia, which he announced on February 2, 2012, when, in his opinion, actions of civil protest began in Russia.

After Umarov's threats, the National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) of the Russian Federation stated that special services are constantly taking measures to ensure security, especially at preparation of large-scale sporting events. The statement of Umarov, the leader of "Imarat Kavkaz", was also commented on by Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, who noted that Umarov is not able to interfere with mass events. However, a number of experts polled by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent believe that now in Russia there is no guarantee that Doku Umarov would not implement his threats, and that the statement of the leader of "Imarat Kavkaz" will entail a still more "tightening of nuts" by power agents in Northern Caucasus.