Karachais Join Balkar Protest In Moscow
October 31, 2009
A group of Balkars launched a series of public pickets in Moscow on
October 26 to protest perceived discrimination at the hands of the
predominantly Kabardian leadership of the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic
(KBR) and the failure of the federal authorities to implement the 1991
law on the rehabilitation of ethnic groups deported by Stalin from the
North Caucasus in 1943-1944.
Some
100 people gathered on four consecutive days (October 26-29) at
different locations in Moscow; the picketers reportedly included some
young Karachais, who were
quoted as saying
they "follow developments in the neighboring KBR with great interest
and will not leave the Balkars to face their problems alone."
The Karachais are the largest ethnic group in Karachayevo-Cherkessia, and are ethnic cousins to the Balkars. Both nations
lobbied unsuccessfully in 1991-1992 for the creation of their "own" republics.
The
prospect, however tenuous, of an alliance between them will inevitably
fuel the suspicion and animosity of the Kabardians and Cherkess. Those
two ethnic groups too are closely related.
Tensions in the KBR
between the Kabardians and the Balkar minority have worsened
considerably over the past few years. In July, the
Balkars convened a rally in Nalchik to protest years of perceived discrimination.
The KBR leadership retaliated by staging a
counter-rally in early August at which participants criticized the Balkars for allegedly seeking to destabilize the political situation.
The
unofficial Council of Elders of the Balkar People (SSBN) sought to
stage a further protest in Nalchik in late August, but was denied
permission to do so.
A separate group of Balkars then decided
to organize a march from Nalchik to Moscow, where they hoped to obtain
an audience with either President Dmitry Medvedev or Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin to discuss their demands. More than 300 people, aged
from 20-84,
signed up for that march. The
marchers initially planned to set out on October 4, but the start was
postponed until October 29 after a member of Medvedev's staff
telephoned the organizers and assured them that the Balkars' grievances
would be resolved by the end of the month.
Academician Mikhail
Zalikhanov, a fellow Balkar and State Duma deputy who incurred the
displeasure of the United Russia party last year for lobbying the
Balkar cause, similarly
requested that the march be postponed. Oyus
Gurtuyev, a leading member of the SSBN which is against the planned
march, was quoted on October 30 by Kavkaz-uzel as saying that a group
of five Balkars, including Zalikhanov, will
meet with presidential administration officials in the Kremlin "in the immediate future."
http://www.rferl.org/content/Karachais_Join_Balkar_Protest_In_Moscow/1865997.html