24 February 2020, 11:30
After years of ban, Kadyrov legalizes mourning rally on February 23 in Chechnya
Still, today, 76 years later, on February 23, the deportation memory remains the unconditional priority for Chechens, analysts believe. The Chechen authorities' long-term attempts to substitute the date of grief have failed, Ruslan Kutaev, the head of the "Assembly of Caucasian Nations", has stated.
This year, Chechnya has not announced any large-scale events dedicated to the anniversary of the Vainakhs' deportation, but the residents of the republic haven't ignored this date.
The tragic date of deportation of Chechens and Ingushes should have the official status of a mourning day in Chechnya, Oyub Titiev, a rights defender, is sure.
The capital, Grozny, has hosted a rally in memory of repression victims, in which Ramzan Kadyrov took part, the "Chechnya Today" News Agency has reported.
The operation, during which almost 500,000 Chechens and Ingushes were evicted from the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to Kazakhstan and Central Asia, was conducted from February 23 to March 9, 1944.
In Soviet times, February 23 was associated with the Soviet Army Day, however, Chechnya remembered the tragedy that had occurred on that day, Lydia Kurbanova, a sociologist, has noted.
The day of mourning and grief, transferred to May 10, was actually replaced by mourning for the ex-president of the republic, Akhmat Kadyrov, who was buried on that day in 2004.
The official mourning date was shifted closer to the death date of Akhmad Kadyrov due to administrative resources, but "it is impossible to erase the tragic date in the memory of hundreds of thousands of people," Ms Kurbanova has stated.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 23, 2020 at 11:55 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Rustam Djalilov Source: CK correspondent
