Karachais dispute about rehabilitation outcomes of repressed nations

Some Karachai activists believe that the political rehabilitation of Karachais is over. Their opponents object claiming that the payments for the lost property were grossly inadequate. There are fewer and fewer mass events on the day of the revival of the Karachai nationals, but the holiday helps preserving the memory of deportation victims and feeling the nation's unity, residents of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) have emphasized.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that participants in the action in Karachaevsk, dedicated to the Revival Day of the Karachai People, had commemorated those who perished during the years of deportation. On the occasion of the 67th anniversary of the return of Karachais from exile, book and photo exhibitions were opened in the republic.

Islam Khubiev, the chairman of the KChR's regional branch of the Russian Writers' Union, has narrated the deportation story of his family.

"My father was deported as a child. He was exiled along with his mother, younger sisters and brother in November 1943. In 1944, his mother died; at the age of 11, he buried his mother and raised the younger ones himself. In 1957, everyone returned to Karachay ... There were many such stories; a total of 16,000 Karachai men were at war. Of these, nine thousand perished at the front, and women, children, old and disabled people were sent to Central Asia and Kazakhstan," Mr Khubiev has stated.

According to his story, November 2, the deportation day, is an important and tragic day. He believes that the adoption of the rehabilitation law in April 1991 confirms that the rehabilitation process is completed.

In the opinion of Ilyas Bogatyryov, the president of the "Elbrusoid" Fund, political rehabilitation is over. As for material rehabilitation, according to his version, back in the 1990s money was allocated for partial compensation, but there were questions about the distribution of funds.

A member of the local parliament believes that it is too early to treat the rehabilitation of the Karachais as complete. "If the issue regarding land plots is more or less resolved, then regarding property and payments, Karachais have received practically nothing," he has noted.