Public Chamber adopts recommendations on solving problems of divided nations

Problems of the residents of Magaramkent and Akhtyn Districts of Dagestan, who live in the villages of Khrakh-Uba and Uryan-Uba, located on the territory of Azerbaijan, have been in the focus of hearings of the Working Group of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation on the development of social dialogue and civil society institutions.

Summarizing the results of the public hearings "Divided nations: legal status and trans-border cooperation" held on June 2, the Working Group of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation made a decision to apply to the Russian State Duma with a recommendation to support the resolution of the People's Assembly of Dagestan on the adoption of the Federal special programme of resettlement of the Russian villages Khrakh-Uba and Uryan-Uba residents from the territory of Azerbaijan.

Enver Kisriev, the head of the Caucasus section of the Centre for Civilization and Regional Researches of the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), named the agreement on the state border delimitation signed between Azerbaijan and Russia, in the result of which two villages with Russian citizens remained in the territory of Azerbaijan, a failure of the Russian diplomats.

Problems of Lezgins of Southern Dagestan and Northern Azerbaijan, who live on both sides of the state border, include assimilation, suppression of economic growth, migration encouraging, creation of administrative barriers in obtaining higher education and social advancement. Arif Kerimov, the President of the Federal Lezgin ethno-cultural autonomy, emphasized these problems in his report.

Zamir Shukhov, the Deputy Chairman of the Public Movement "Khase" of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), believes that the main problem of the Circassians in Russia and of the foreign Circassian Diaspora is the difficulties in obtaining the status of "compatriots", in repatriation to their historical homeland. Shukhov stressed that the Circassian Diasporas in the Middle East countries could become a major geopolitical resource for Russia. Taking into account the wave of the Arabian revolutions, Shukhov offered to evacuate the Circassians from the unstable countries (Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Egypt).

In the result of the hearings the Working Group of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation made recommendations to the state authorities at federal, regional and republican levels to solve the problems of divided nations of Russia and improve the level and effectiveness of trans-border cooperation between state authorities of Russia and adjacent regions.