Kumyk activist detained at picket in Makhachkala

Policemen have detained Bektemir Salikhov, a Kumyk activist who announced, at his solo picket in central Makhachkala, an endless hunger strike, demanding a meeting with the head of Dagestan.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in October 2019, Kumyk activists, including Bektemir Salikhov, held a hunger strike, demanding the return of historical lands to residents of the Kumyk villages of Alburikent, Kyakhulai and Tarki, lost during the years of Stalin's deportations.

Today, at 9:00 a.m. Moscow time, Bektemir Salikhov, an Alburikent villager, came out to a solo picket in the central square of Makhachkala, demanding a meeting with the head of Dagestan, Vladimir Vasiliev.

The activist came with three posters: one of them contained a demand to meet with the head of Dagestan, the other – the inscription "Hunger Strike", and the third – the demand "to declare illegal and condemn the acts of forced resettlement in 1944 of residents of the villages of Tarki, Kyakhulai and Alburikent, and grant them the status of deported people."

Mr Salikhov has explained to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that he was declaring an endless hunger strike and would not voluntarily leave the square until the head of the republic came to meet him.

Literally in an hour after the start of his picket, policemen detained the picketer and took him to the Sovietsky regional police station, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 18, 2020 at 10:30 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.