22:45, 25 February 2019

Residents of Chechnya receive charity support on deportation anniversary

At the railway station, 1957, Frunze. Residents of the village of Yurt-Aukh. Photo: https://ru.wikipedia.org/

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of deportation of the Vainakhs, Chechnya has organized a large-scale distribution of foodstuffs to the poor. Religious rites have been held in the republic's cities and district centres.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 23, 2019, residents of Chechnya could hold religious ceremonies on the deportation anniversary of Vainakhs and the mourning meeting in Grozny. These actions, contrary to expectations, were announced by Ramzan Kadyrov, although in the past eight years, the leadership of Chechnya celebrated February 23 only as a state holiday.

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.

"On February 23, in connection with the 75th anniversary of Stalin's deportation, a large-scale charity event was organized at the direction of the republic’s leadership. 30,000 thousand bags of flour, sugar and rice, and food packages with chicken meat, honey cans bread, and so on were given to the needy families in Chechnya and Chechen Akkins in Dagestan," the spokesman of the Chechen Muftiate told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on February 24.

The charitable help was provided not only by the authorities, who had earlier forbade holding commemoration events on the deportation anniversary; on February 23, many residents of Chechnya distributed alms in memory of victims of repressions.

The religious rites of mavlid and zikr were held in all cities and regional centres of Chechnya. The main events took place on the territory of the main mosque of the republic "Heart of Chechnya" in Grozny.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 25, 2019 at 02:21 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: CK correspondents