14:55, 8 March 2014

Today is 70 years after deportation of Balkars

Magomed Dokuchaev and Alim Kulbaev, deported from KBR at the age of 17 at the rally in memory of the 70th anniversary of Balkars' deportation. Nalchik, March 8, 2014. Photo by Luisa Orazaeva for the ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Today, on the 70^th anniversary of Balkars' deportation, people in Kabardino-Balkaria commemorated the victims of political repressions.

The mass deportation of Balkars began on March 8, 1944, when at least 37,713 Balkars were deported in 14 echelons to places of settlement in Central Asia. In 1957, after 13 years of exile, Balkars was allowed to return to their homeland.

According to the International Society "Memorial", during the period from 1937 to 1944, the total number of deported nationals reached 2.5 million, including about 800,000 residents of Northern and Southern Caucasus, namely 101,000 Kalmyks, 70,000 Karachays, 485,000 Chechens and Ingushes, 37,000 Balkar and 100,000 Meskhetian Turks and other Caucasian nationals.