In addition to Armenian, Circassian, Chechen, and Ossetian minorities, Syria is also home to an estimated 7,000-9,000 people whose ancestors settled there after leaving Daghestan following the Caucasus wars of the mid-19th century. Members of that Daghestani community, most of whom live in Homs or the village of Derfoul, have sought for the past two years to avoid taking sides in the ongoing fighting between opposition forces and government troops loyal to President Bashar Assad. But since government forces bombarded Derfoul in a bid to destroy a nearby military base seized by the opposition, some 200 Syrian Daghestanis have
drafted an appeal to the Russian authorities for help in leaving Syria, acquiring the recognized status of refugees, and settling in Daghestan.
The independent Russian-language weekly "Chernovik" convened ...