Participants in the rally "Derbent is Russia's southern outpost!" in Moscow demand to cancel renaming Sovietskaya Street

On June 29 in Moscow, about 300 participants of the rally "Derbent is Russia's southern outpost!" passed a resolution demanding from the administration of the city of Derbent to cancel the decision of the assembly of deputies of the city to rename Sovietskaya Street into Geidar Aliev Street.

The protesters emphasized that the street renaming in Derbent took place along with neglecting the interests of Dagestani people in Azerbaijan. According to their version, Azerbaijan lacks state-funded newspapers and TV Channels in the Lezgin language; no teachers of this language are trained.

As stated by Enver Kisriev, the head of the Caucasian Sector of the Centre for Civilization Studies of the RussianAcademy of Sciences, officials are taking hasty decisions that affect local residents. According to his story, "the decision about the border was made in secret, without consulting district heads of Southern Dagestan."

The resolution adopted at the rally says that the political power of the Republic of Azerbaijan at an official level does not hide its claims for Southern Dagestan.

The participants of the rally agreed to hold a nationwide rally of Lezgin nations in the second half of September 2013 inSouthern Dagestan. The exact date and place of the rally will be defined later and announced in mass media, Ruslan Kurbanov, Vice-President of the FLNCA (Federal Lezgin National-Cultural Autonomy) told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.