Experts associate refusal to hold Circassians' Remembrance Day with ignoring the consequences of Caucasian War

The organizers of the Moscow action in memory of the Circassians-victims of the Caucasian War have twice received refusals to sanction the action on May 21. Experts believe that these officials' actions are associated with another attempt to silence the consequences of the Caucasian War.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the mourning events dedicated to the Remembrance Day of the victims of the Caucasian War (Circassians' Remembrance Day) are held annually on May 21 in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, as well as in other regions. Last year, the organizers of the action in Moscow managed to coordinate the action.

According to Beslan Teuvazhev, an activist of the Circassian community in Moscow and the organizer of the Circassians' Remembrance Day in the Russian capital, the action had been scheduled for May 21 in the Hyde Park in Sokolniki. The organizer Sana Kharkovskaya has added that the action on May 22 was also rejected.

According to Teuvazhev, last year's action in Moscow brought together 400 people.

The Circassians' Remembrance Day has been marked for 27 years, said Valery Khatazhukov, the head of the Kabardino-Balkarian Public Human Rights Centre. According to his story, since the establishment of the memory day, "there are attempts to stop the official marking of this day."

Mukhamed Cherkesov, the Chairman of the Public Movement "Adyge Khase-Circassian Parliament to Protect Rights and Interests of the Circassian Nation" of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR), believes that the denial of the action is associated with an attempt to forget about the consequences of the Caucasian War.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.