On deportation anniversary, Chechens remind Dagestani authorities about Aukhov District's problem

The participants in the mourning rally in the Novolaksky District of Dagestan talked about the protraction in the restoration of the Aukhov District, activists report. Buvaisar Saitiev, an MP, proposed to arrange a meeting to discuss this issue, but Sergey Melikov, the acting head of Dagestan, has ignored the anniversary of Vainakhs' deportation.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 23, 2020, at least 10,000 people, including residents of Chechnya and Ingushetia, arrived in the Novolaksky District of Dagestan to honour the memory of deportation victims. At the rally, they touched upon the sore subject of the restoration of the Aukhov District, in the territory of which Chechens lived before 1944.

Now, on Tuesday (February 23), over 5000 people, despite the inclement weather, arrived at the monument to the victims of Stalinist repressions – "The Stone of Sorrow", said Soltan Kasimov, an activist.

The restoration problem of the Aukhov District has worried the Akkin natives for many years, said Khanpasha Sultanbiev, a member of Chechens' Public Council. He was born in Kazakhstan, but from his early age he remembered the stories of his grandfather about his native land, where their home was. However, when the family could return to their homeland, all their houses were occupied.

Sergey Melikov, the acting head of Dagestan, has posted congratulations on the Instagram on the Fatherland's Defender Day, but he failed to comment on the anniversary of the Vainakhs' deportation, Umar Tatiev, the author of the Telegram channel "Kavkaz leakbez", has noted.