Conflict around New Year holidays in Dagestan must be solved through dialogue, said debaters on the "Caucasian Knot"

Disputes around the New Year holidays and their attributes present in street of Dagestani cities remain hot; and to reach a compromise, the state and the Muslim community should abandon the practice of imposing their unambiguous positions on this issue and resolve the conflict through a public debate. This was stated by the participants of the online discussion on the "Caucasian Knot".

For more than ten years, in Dagestan, New Year trees installed in city streets are guarded by police posts, due to threats of terror acts, said the journalist Milrad Fatullaev. He recalled that at night on December 31, 2010, two explosive devices were found under the main New Year tree in the city of Derbent.

Along with the May 9 (Victory Day), the New Year is a common holiday for the majority of country residents; and it can be perceived by the state as something that connects Dagestan with the rest of Russia, said Varvara Pakhomenko, a consultant of the International Crisis Group (ICG). She also notes a sharp increase in the number of opponents of New Year celebrations.

To have the conflict around the New Year celebration peacefully resolved, efforts should be applied both by the state and by opponents of the celebration, said Sergey Markedonov, a political scientist and an expert of the Russian Council on Foreign Affairs.

According to the debaters, following the Constitution of Russia, as a secular state, and the observance of the law, will allow all the stakeholders to observe their interests.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.