Residents of Nalchik oppose erection of monument to Kalmykov

40 people in Nalchik went out to a rally against the installation in the city of a monument to Betal Kalmykov, the first secretary of the regional committee of the VKP(b) (All-Russian Bolshevik Communist Party). They demanded not to return the monument to the pedestal after restoration, and offered to exclude it from the register of cultural heritage objects.

The rally was organized by the Association of Victims of Political Repressions, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The monument to Kalmykov in Nalchik created by sculptor Mikhail Tkhakumashev was installed in November 1960. However, according to Marx Shakhmurzov, the chairman of the above Association, he "has no right to a monument."

Ismail Sabanchiev, the chairman of the "Council of Elders of the Balkar People" (known as the SSBN), has noted that over 17,000 people were repressed in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), many of them – at Kalmykov's initiative.

Valery Khatazhukov, the chairman of the KBR's Human Rights Centre, has noted that he is worried about the "revival of interest in the person of Stalin," and his "misanthropic ideology."

Zhelyabi Kalmykov, the head of the Coordination Council of Adyg public organizations, an associate professor of the Kabardino-Balkarian State University (KBSU) and a historian, believes that "the majority of KBR's residents are calm in relation to Kalmykov."

He also noted that Kalmykov stood at the cradle of KBR's statehood.

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