Balkar elders to discuss the problem of inter-village territories with NCFD leadership

Representatives of the Balkar elders, who held their hunger strike in Moscow, will be able to take part, in early 2011, in a public forum and discuss issues of inter-village territories with the Russian President's Plenipotentiary in the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) and President of Kabardino-Balkaria.

As reported by the press service of the Public Chamber, the main Balkars' demand is to return the lands, "originally owned by the Balkar people." According to Muradin Rakhaev, head of the initiative group of protesting Balkars, "no compromise has been found yet on these issues."

Besides, Mr Rakhaev has complained of ethnically-motivated discrimination of Balkars at the state level in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR). In his conversation with the members of the Public Chamber he complained that the major posts in the KBR are occupied by Kabardians.

The Russian Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin, who was present at the meeting, advised the elders to try again to find some compromise and offered them to take part in the public forum planned in 2011 in Pyatigorsk.

The elders agreed to this proposal.

Khasan Mamaev, one of the participants the meeting, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent: "The conversation was informative. Our interlocutors were interested to know about the human rights situation in Kabardino-Balkaria. We explained that there are gross violations in this sphere."

"We left in the Public Chamber the ruling of the Constitutional Court on restoration of the status of villages Khasanya and Belaya Rechka as independent municipal formations. It doesn't touch the interests of Kabardians; however, the leadership of the KBR still wouldn't do it. We also explained that the inter-village territories should be given into use to villagers. Now, inter-village territories are at command of republic's authorities," he explained.

Mr Mamaev said that Mr Lukin asked them whether they were going to seek political asylum abroad, but the participants of the meeting told him that this was the extreme measure; and they would try to solve all their problems in Russia. According to the participants of the meeting, the members of the Public Chamber supported them.