In Chechnya, campaign to change place names affects village founded by Kunta-Khadji Kishiev

On January 3, the authorities of Chechnya reported that on the Memorial Day of preacher Kunta-Khadji Kishiev, the village he founded got back its historical name of Khazhi-Evla.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that starting from 2009, Chechnya marks the Memorial Day of preacher Kunta-Khadji Kishiev on January 3. On this day, residents of the republic perform religious ceremonies and a pilgrimage to the grave of the Kunta-Khadji Kishiev's mother in the village of Ertan. Among the followers of the Kunta-Khadji Kishiev wird (religious community), there are Ramzan Kadyrov and most of the officials and religious figures of Chechnya.

On January 3, on the Kunta-Khadji Kishiev's Memorial Day, the Vedeno District hosted a solemn ceremony to rename the village of Pervomayskoye into Khazhi-Evla.

After the end of the solemn ceremony, its participants went to the territory of the shrine of Kheda, the mother of Kunta-Khadji, for a collective lunch namaz (prayer) and participation in a religious ceremony dedicated to the Memorial Day of Kunta-Khadji Kishiev, the news agency "Chechnya Segodnya" reported.

On January 3, the press service for the Chechen parliament reported that the historical name was returned to the village of Khazhi-Evla (Khyazhi-Evla), which was founded in the middle of the 19th century by Kunta-Khadji Kishiev. "In 1944, after the deportation of the Chechen people by the Stalinist regime, the village was renamed as Pervomayskoye. In 2009, the leader of the Chechen Republic put forward an initiative to return the historical name to the village," reads a message posted on the website of the Chechen parliament.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 4, 2021 at 02:49 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.