Cherkessk hosts rally on anniversary of revival of Karachay people

The capital of Karachay-Cherkessia hosted a rally-concert dedicated to the 58th anniversary of the return of the Karachay people from exile.

Today, Karachay-Cherkessia celebrates the Revival Day of Karachay People. According to the international organization "Memorial", in 1943-1944, about 70,000 people were deported from Karachay-Cherkessia. In early May 1957, the mass return of Karachay people began.

According to Viktor Borodkin, the Cossack Ataman of the Batalpashinsky Department of the Kuban Cossack Army, on May 3, 1957, 58 years ago, "the Urakovskaya station welcomed the first echelon with Karachay people, who returned from places of the 14-year-old deportation to barren regions of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, the deportation, unprecedented in its cruelty."

Viktor Borodkin has added that "despite the terrible crime committed against the Karachay people, the people kept up their courage and survived."

According to Valery Kazakov, the Chairman of the national-cultural autonomy of Nogai people "Nogai El", the date of May 3 is a great holiday not only for the Karachay nation, but also for all the nations of the region.

At the beginning of the rally, Ismail Khadji-Berdiev, the Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR), has committed a dua ceremony to pay tribute to the innocent victims, who died during the deportation.

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