One of the oldest settlements of Daghestan, which age the historians estimate at thousand years, is the village of Tarki. It is located on Mount Tarki-Tau, from where one can see almost all of Makhachkala. Before the foundation of Makhachkala there was a different panorama. Through this pass between the mountain and the sea went caravans of merchants and nomadic hordes. In ancient times Tarki was one of the centers of Caucasian Albania, the Khazar Kaganate, and in the Middle Ages - the capital of a kingdom, ruled by the dynasty of Tarki Shamkhals. 
It must be said that the settlement is located in the most cozy and safe place of the mountain. On a rocky slope the nature as if specially cut a niche for ancient settlers. It is impossible to get to the village from the rear - sheer cliffs. Now these rocks protect the ancient settlement from local severe winds. 
At the heart of the ancient part of the village is situated a house of one of the old-timers of Tarki Kumyks - chairman of the Council of Elders of Kumyk people Magomed Zalibekov. His house, built by his noble forefather in a traditional Kumyk style can be called a museum. The facade of a two storey house survived in its original form since the XVIII century. To the courtyard leads an arch, covered with logs and cane blackened because of time. Then - a large round courtyard. Above the courtyard and houses - terraces with fruit trees. 
Magomed Zalibekov raised eight children, has thirteen grandchildren. Recently he has celebrated the 75th anniversary. Despite the advanced age, he continues to serve a public mission - in 1992 he was elected chairman of the Council of Elders of Kumyk people and chairman of the organizing committee of the movement «Tenglik». 
The Council of Elders cooperates with the republican and municipal authorities. For funds gained through donations, it supports the poor, orphans. It renders assistance with education to the clergy, purchases construction materials to repair the mosque and care of a cemetery. Recently, the Council has allocated funds for the repair of the mosque in the village of Tarki. 
- In the villages of Tarki, Kyakhulay and Alburkent most acute is the problem of shortage of land, - says Magomed Zalibekov. - There is not a single plot of land in the disposal of these three villages. People have to hold rallies instead of working. 
Magomed Zalibekov has only pleasant memories of once traditional for the Tarki people horticulture, viticulture and wine making. Young people know about it only from the stories of elders. This problem the Council of Elders has been addressing for decades. Young families have no land to build houses. Many survive through going to labor exchange. Unemployment increases the number of drug addicts. 
Now in three locations of Tarki Kumyks (Tarki, Kyakhulay, Alburkent) caught in Makhachkala city limits live about 40 thousand people. Together with local authorities the Council is engaged in protecting the slopes of Mount Tarki-Tau from the capture and illegal construction, felling of trees, development of illegal quarrying, strives for giving the mountain a status of reserve. 
In Soviet times the state deprived the Tarki Kumyks of land. Now the Council of Elders seeks to restore historical justice. 
On April 12, 1944 was decided to forcedly resettle the inhabitants of these villages (more than 7 thousand persons) in former residence of the Chechens repressed in 1944. The land of these villages (8166 hectares) was distributed between the City Council of Makhachkala and kolkhozes of Akushinsky, Laksky and Gunibsky districts. By resolution of the City Council of Makhachkala all real property (houses, several buildings of mosques, power plant, bathhouse, school, premises of day nursery, kolkhoz stables, greenhouses, field mills, wine cellar with structures, mills, garage, warehouses, offices of the kolkhoz) has been transferred to various organizations. 
The resolution of the Congress of Kumyk people says that as a result of deportation had been destroyed three strong prosperous collective farms with significant incomes. When rehabilitated Chechens-Aukhs began to return from Central Asia to their villages, the residents of Tarki, Kyakhulay and Alburkent returned their former property, and also left the property and facilities, built by them after the relocation. After returning to their own villages, the displaced people found their homes destroyed or occupied by inhabitants of other villages and cities. And most importantly - they lost the land. 
Until now, this blatant arbitrariness has not received an official political and legal assessment; the population has been compensated neither moral nor material damage. Moreover, the current authorities continue to ignore the legitimate demands of the population. The leadership of the republic, despite the tense inter-ethnic relations, decided to relocate 9.453 people from the Novolaksky district on the land northward of Makhachkala (Karaman-Tebe), of which the Tarki Jamaat was deprived in 1944 by regulatory acts of the governing body of DASSR. 
And nobody hurry to solve the problems of villages of Tarki, Kyakhulay and Alburkent. There are no clubs in the villages. Kyakhulay has neither school, nor administrative buildings, nor health centers, nor shops. Bus service with the villages has long been discontinued. In our days are becoming more aggressive the attempts of near-to-power groupings under various pretexts to «privatize» the land of Amirkhan-Ghent (Kyakhulay) and the rest of the slope of Mount Tarki-Tau. 
The resolution of the Congress also states that the inhabitants of three villages without outside help, including from law enforcement officials are trying to put the barrier in the way of those who seek to conquer the indigenous territory of Kumyks on the slope of Mount Tarki-Tau. Residents of these villages are confident that in defending their legitimate interests, they can always find support from the Kumyk people.