19:42, 13 November 2018

Residents of Chechnya treat mosque opening in Khaibakh as landmark event

The village of Khaibakh. Photo: screenshot of the video by the user Shaiman Bocharova. Argun museum-reserve https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrwS4uQkesM

The participants in the opening ceremony of the mosque in the village of Khaibakh, which was attended by residents of the Galanchozh District, recalled the tragic events of 1944 and honoured the memory of hundreds of people who were burned down in the village during deportation.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 31, Ramzan Kadyrov ordered to improve and landscape the territories at the border with Ingushetia. On November 5, he announced the year 2019 in Chechnya to be the year of the Galanchozh District – the authorities plan to settle this territory, currently uninhabited.

The operation named "Chechevitsa" (Lentils), during which Chechens and Ingushes were massively evicted from the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to Central Asia and Kazakhstan, was conducted from February 23 to March 9, 1944. Because of the snowfall, residents of Khaibakh could not descend from the mountains, which disrupted the deportation schedule. The State Security Commissioner ordered to force villagers – according to various sources, from 200 to 700 people – into the stable and burn them down. Those who tried to escape were shot dead from submachine guns.

"Many people came to the opening of the mosque, mostly descendants of those who inhabited these lands," says the report of the "Grozny" TV Channel.

The Khaibakh mosque has been rebuilt by descriptions of old-timers, Naima Neflyasheva, a blogger of the "Caucasian Knot", has noted.

"Restoration of Khaibakh is a matter of honour for all residents of the Galanchozh District. The terrible tragedy of our people happened here; over 700 old men, women and children were burned down alive during the deportation," says Murad, a historian and a resident of Chechnya.

Let us remind you that in 2014, the film "It's Ordered to Forget", made in Chechnya and dedicated, among other things, to the events in Khaibakh, was banned for screening in Russia.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 13, 2018 at 03:23 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.