Ingush residents oppose celebration postponement of 25th republic's anniversary

Residents of Ingushetia interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have criticized the postponement to July 11 of festive events in honour of the 25th anniversary of the republic. The Ingush residents intend to celebrate the date on June 4. After the liquidation of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR (Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic), Ingushetia and Chechnya chose the different ways of development, noted historians and human rights defenders.

According to the press service of the Ingush leader, the main festive events were postponed to the end of the month of Ramadan. They will be held in Magas and Nazran on July 11.

Ruslan Parchiev, the chairman of the Ingush Union of the Victims of Genocide, has reminded that in November 1991, a referendum was held on the restoration of the Ingush statehood through the formation of the Ingush Republic as part of the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic).

According to Professor Sergey Arutyunov, an ethnologist and historian, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), the differences between the Ingush and Chechen people are similar to the differences between such closely related peoples as Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians.

"However, the affinity does not prevent each of the peoples from having its own political entities and being at enmity between themselves in some cases," he said.

"In Chechnya, there was probably the only organized separatist movement not only in Northern Caucasus, but also in Russia. Ingushetia inclined to be closer to the federal centre in hope to get help in the dispute over the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia," noted Alexander Cherkasov, the chairman of the Council of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

He has also added that in Chechnya, the policy of suppressing dissent in any sphere is strikingly different from civil society in Ingushetia.

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