Nalchik musician claims being forced to leave his house

Kabardian musician Zuber Euaz, the art director of the BZABZA Adyg-Abkhazian music and dance theatre, treats as unfounded the demand from the Nalchik Mayor's Office to leave a house in the city centre and to move to a one-room apartment on the city outskirts. Circassian activists supported the musician.

Zuber Euaz lives together with his mother and sister in a two-room house in Malokabardinskaya Street, which Nonna Euaz, the musician's mother, bought in 1999 at her own expense.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Nonna Euaz that in 2008, the Nalchik administration warned that the houses were not to be subjected to repair, since they would be demolished.

The musician's mother is not aware what commission and on what grounds recognized the house as dilapidated.

In his turn, Zuber Euaz has said that last year, the Nalchik administration awarded him a certificate of honour signed by the City Mayor "for his contribution to the revival and popularization of the folk musical culture."

"On June 8, I returned the letter to the city administration for moral reasons," the musician said.

According to Zuber Euaz, the city administration "has not yet filed a lawsuit on his eviction, but letters with threats come regularly."

According to Mukhamed Khafitse, the leader of the public organization "Adyge Khase", "the interests of the Zuber Euaz's family members should be taken into account", since he "shows the Adyg national art around the world."

Zuber Euaz "is in the forefront of the national culture," emphasized Valery Khatazhukov, the leader of the Kabardino-Balkarian Human Rights Centre (HRC).

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