Rauf Arashukov being arrested in the Federation Council (Sergey Bobylev / TASS)
Russian senator Rauf Arashukov has been arrested inside the Federation Council, the Russian parliament’s upper chamber in Moscow, over the murder of two people in his native Karachay–Cherkessia. [Read more…]
(kbrria.ru)
Russia’s Minister of North Caucasus Affairs has accused the subjects of the North Caucasus Federal District of stealing gas and electricity and chronic non-payment. But many locals say the utility bills are beyond what they can pay.
Mufti of Karachay–Cherkessia Ismail Berdiyev and head of the Coordination Centre for Muslims of the North Caucasus speaking at the centre’s conference (/Muftiate of Tatarstan)
Ingushetia’s Muftiate was absent on Saturday at a conference of Muslim religious authorities from throughout the Russian North Caucasus, OC Media has learnt. While the Muftiates of all other republics attended, Ingushetia was represented by the state religious authorities, who have been in public conflict with the Mufti since 2015.
The 19 August conference in Nalchik (/kbr.ru)
A conference took place in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, on Sunday on the preservation of the Circassian language. Participants voiced a hope that a long-running issue over the creation of a single alphabet for East and West Circassian, the language’s two primary dialects, could soon be resolved.
Photo: Ruslana Alibekova. Source: chernovik.net. All rights reserved.
New legislation that makes studying minority languages voluntary in Russian schools comes as signs of decreasing usage emerge.
Small business in the streets of Nalchik (Aslan Urumov /OC Media)
While official statistics may say otherwise, many see unemployment in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay–Cherkessia as among the worst in Russia. Deindustrialisation, social alienation, and local corruption have all played a part in the region’s stagnation.
Graduation ceremony in Cherkessk (kchr.ru)
Following a wave of criticism, Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science (Rosobrnadzor) in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay–Cherkessia and the republics’ ministries of education will recheck the results of school leaving exams for graduates who received gold medals, as a disproportionate number were awarded there. The results will be announced by the end of this month, state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Activists at the memorial to the Circassian victims of the Russian–Caucasian War.
Officially sanctioned organisations in what was once historical Circassia work almost exclusively to promote Circassian language and culture. Beneath the surface, however, young people espouse more radical ambitions — recognition of the Circassian Genocide, and creation of a united Circassia.
Memorial event in Nalchik (Luiza Orazayeva/Caucasian Knot)
The twenty-first May marked the anniversary of the symbolic end of the 1817–1864 Russian conquest of the Caucasus, which resulted in the Russian annexation of the North Caucasus and the ethnic cleansing of Circassians, the majority of whom were either killed or deported to the Ottoman Empire.
The Circassian Language Day was marked at the Tbilisi State University (Sulkhan Bordzikashvili/ OC Media)
International Circassian Language Day, which is marked by Circassians in Russia and abroad, was celebrated in the North Caucasian republics of Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, and Adygea, and in Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi on 14 March. [Read more…]
