Residents of Pankisi Gorge believe Akhmed Chataev not involved in Istanbul terror act

Akhmed Chataev was not interested in the organization of the terror act at the airport in Istanbul, since Turkey is home to many ethnic Chechens. This opinion was voiced by members of the Chechen Diaspora in the Georgia's Pankisi Gorge. After his release from the Georgian prison, Akhmed Chataev went to Turkey and did not come back to Georgia. This was reported by his former advocate.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Umar Idigov, the leader of the "Foundation for Integration of the Caucasian Peoples", a resident of the Pankisi Gorge, that Akhmed Chataev "had no reason to spoil relations with Turkey."

Akhmed Chataev lost his right arm during the war in Chechnya, and thus he was well-known as "One-Armed Akhmed". After his detention in the Lopota Gorge in August 2012, he got his left foot amputated in Gori.

In August 2015, it was reported that in Istanbul, the police try to detain the leader of a unit of the "Islamic State" (IS) (banned in Russia), well-known under the nickname of "One-Legged Akhmed".

In January, an official from the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) has reported that one of the IS units was plotting terror acts on the territory of the country and that the battalion "is led Akhmed Chataev aka 'One-Armed'."

Natives of Northern Caucasus, especially of Chechnya, have become associated with the Islamic radicalization and terrorism, and thus, in Europe, they are accused of terrorism without distinction. This was stated by Sasha Kulaeva, the head of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Department of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).

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