Balkar Protests

IWPR's Caucasus Reporting Service has a report on recent relatively large-scale protests in Kabardino-Balkaria, following the murder of a local leader:

Hundreds of people from the Balkar ethnic minority defied a security crackdown at the weekend to hold a rally in Nalchik, the capital of the North Caucasian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, in protest at what they describe as persistent discrimination by the authorities.

Some of the 1,500 people at the May 28 demo called for the recreation of Balkaria within its 1944 boundaries – a time when the Balkars were deported to Central Asia en masse by Stalin, shortly after the mass deportation of the Chechens and Ingush. The demonstrators also complained about police intimidation and abuses in Balkar villages in Kabardino-Balkaria.

The immediate trigger for the protest was the murder of a leading Balkar politician who had opposed a new law which redraws all the territorial boundaries inside the republic. The legislation is encountering mass opposition.

More trouble broke out on May 30 in the town of Tyrnyauz when a spontaneous rally was held to protest against attempts to sack Elbrus district head Khizir Makitov, another strong opponent of the territorial law. A delegation of ministers arrived in the town to announce the dismissal of Makitov and the appointment of his successors, but failed to persuade deputies in the local assembly of their decision.

Balkars, a Turkic ethnic group, currently comprise around ten per cent of the population in Kabardino-Balkaria, being outnumbered by Kabardins and Russians.

The authorities made strenuous attempts to obstruct the initial rally, cutting off access to mountain villages from the early morning of May 28 and even cancelling public transport. The square in front of the government building was surrounded by a triple cordon of police and interior ministry troops. The spot where the protest actually took place - a memorial to victims of political repression - had an even higher concentration of troops.

The residents of the Balkar village of Khasanya, on the edge of Nalchik, got through the cordons with difficulty and walked into the centre of the city. “The actions of our authorities cannot be explained,” said Ramazan Friev, deputy head of administration of Khasanya. “You can’t call it anything but provocative.

“We made an application to hold the rally ten days in advance, as is required by law, and met the interior minister on the day before. He promised that they would not obstruct us. We are capable of providing our own security and we have a group of 250 trained sportsmen who keep an eye on things.”