More than 400 people sign appeal to help Syrian Circassians return to Russia

405 people have signed an appeal to the Russian President and the Chief of the Federal Migration Service (FMS) with a request to open the border for Circassian refugees from Syria and help them return to their historic homeland. The collection of signatures is underway.

The appeal was published on the website Change.org by Moscow resident Mark Dudko. As at 6:20 a.m. Moscow time of September 24, the appeal gathered 405 signatures of required 500. The appeal states that "Circassians are one of the first allies of Russia in Northern Caucasus."

According to Mark Dudko, the author of the appeal, "being the legal successor of the Russian Empire, Russia is responsible for the consequences of this war, and it is time to correct the mistakes of the past and open the border for the Circassian refugees from Syria."

The appeal has also been posted on Facebook page of the group "Help Compatriots from Syria". According to the accompanying text, the appeal was adopted at the conference at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation in Moscow.

According to the Federal Migration Service (FMS) Department for Kabardino-Balkaria, as of May 1, 2015, 894 Syrian Circassians lived in the republic.

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