Many Dagestani Chechens, known as Akkins, have still not returned to their native villages in northwest Dagestan after the deportations of 1944, a Dagestani newspaper has reported. The Akkins' native Aukhovskiy District was disbanded after the deportations and became Novolakskiy District, with two villages assigned to Kazbekovskiy District.

When the Chechens returned to the Caucasus in 1957, the Akkins were not allowed back to their villages, as another Dagestani ethnic group, the Laks, had been resettled there. Over time the Akkins moved into the district and many now live alongside the Laks, the newspaper said. In the early 1990s Dagestan passed a decree that the Akkin Chechens could return to their homes and Aukhovskiy District should be restored.

Although a Dagestani government commission has been set up to tackle the problem, the restoration of Aukhovskiy District has been postponed twice and is now due in 2006.

The following is the text of Albert Mekhtikhanov's report in Dagestani newspaper Molodezh Dagestana on 20 February headlined "Dagestani Chechens"; subheadings as published by the newspaper:

What associations does the date of 23 February conjure up for us? Obviously, it is a holiday, the Day of the Defenders of the Fatherland, which is commemorated in our country every year. This is what it means to the majority of us. But not to the Chechens. To them, 23 February is the date of a great tragedy, one might say, of a national catastrophe.

On 23 February 1944, the entire Chechen nation in full muster was deported from its native land (and other places where Chechens resided) to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The nation was declared to be a traitor and punished.

"Traitor" nation?

What were the reasons for this monstrous action? Presumably, the Chechens behaved very loyally towards the Hitlerites who were advancing towards the Caucasus and even waited for the Germans. There was much talk about gangs of Chechen deserters who deserted Soviet formations and returned to their native republic and, so to speak, could not wait for the fascists' arrival. There was talk about the core of Chechen anti-Soviet nationalists as well, who even groomed a wonderful white stallion as a gift to the Fuehrer Adolf Hitler. There were some other rumours too, which were used as a pretext for the deportation.

No-one talked about the fact that the majority of the people had nothing to do with those games of adventurers, though, or that tens of thousands of Chechens among the ranks of the Red Army bore arms and fought against the Nazis at that moment. Neither did anyone talk about the fact that, by that time, 36 Vaynakhs [Chechens and Ingush] had been awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Nor did anyone mention that during the years of the Great Patriotic War, there were traitors among all Soviet peoples. Among the Ukrainians, for example. Belarusians. Among the Dagestanis. Incidentally, the number of traitors among the Russians was so large that the "Russian Liberation Army" (ROA) was formed from them, and Lt Gen [Andrey] Vlasov was put in command.

For some reason, all these and other peoples who had traitors among them were not deported anywhere, whereas the Chechens, Ingush, Kalmyks, Crimean Tatars, Karachay and some other "lepers" were put on the black list. Among the deported were those Chechens who at that moment resided in Dagestan. The majority of them resided in Aukhovskiy District in the northwestern part of our republic.

Now you will not find that district on the map of Dagestan. After the Dagestani Chechens were deported, the district was annulled. Most of it was renamed Novolakskiy District, and two settlements of the former Aukhovskiy District, Aktash-Aukh and Yurt-Aukh (currently Lenin-Aul and Kalinin-Aul) were included in Kazbekovskiy District.

So, Aukhovskiy District of Dagestan was wiped off the face of the earth and remains only in history textbooks. And also in the hearts and memories of Dagestani Chechens.

Efficiently, in a Stalinist way Movladi Saipov, chairman of the organizational committee for the restoration of Aukhovskiy District (it is a legal structure established by the government of the Republic of Dagestan), related to us how the deportation of the Chechens from their area of residence was conducted.

Yes, he is a Dagestani Chechen: Now that an increasing number of facts are emerging, it becomes clear that we had a faint chance of staying on our native land. For example, quite a large community of local Kist Chechens has been, and is, residing in Georgia. The issue of their deportation was raised, but the leadership of the Communist Party of Georgia interceded for them and requested that they should not be included among the Chechens who were to be deported. The Kists were sort of counted as Georgians (on the grounds of their residence in Georgia) and were saved. This "trick" did not work with the Dagestani Chechens, so they were deported together with the population of Chechen-Ingushetia (for those who do not remember: in Soviet times, there were no separate Chechnya and Ingushetia, the single Chechen-Ingush Autonomous SSR existed instead). This is how it was done.

The deportation was mainly carried out by the NKVD [People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs] forces. At 0400 on 23 February, men were convened at central squares of all settlements in which Chechens resided (including on Dagestani territory) and told that the entire people were to be deported. Minimum time was allowed for preparations, usually half an hour. The people could take with them only what they could carry themselves. Since many of them had small children, they effectively took no possessions with them. The operation was carried out rapidly, efficiently and at lightning speed, in the Stalinist way, so to speak.

The Chechens were given to understand right away that any perplexity, misunderstanding or slowness, not to mention resistance, would be punished on the spot in the most violent manner. That is why so many shots were fired both in Chechen-Ingushetia and in Aukhovskiy District during the deportation - those who "did not understand" or allowed themselves to lose their temper, become angry, or, God forbid, resist representatives of the authorities were punished that way.

Those were illustrative lessons for the rest of the population: the people quickly realized that what was going on was "for real" and that it was better not to risk their lives. All Chechens without exception were to be deported, regardless of their social origin, membership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (at that time - the all-Russian Communist Party of Bolsheviks) or occupancy of leadership posts. The top ethnic Chechen officials were taken away by the last special train, though, in more or less human conditions. The rest travelled as if they were cattle, in box cars.

But first, the people had to be taken from their settlements to railway stations and trains. Such trains awaited the Chechens in Groznyy, Gudermes and our Khasavyurt, where predominantly Akkins (residents of Aukhovskiy District) were brought. However, not everyone was lucky to find themselves in the then popular cars, Studebakers. Some were forced to walk, with children and luggage in their hands. Others managed to use horse-drawn carts. If a person could not manage to pack some food and winter clothes in the allocated time, it was his or her problem, as was losing relatives in the mess: they could be taken to different railway cars (or even different trains) and taken to different places of exile. Sometimes a brother did not know where his sister was taken, and parents had no idea where their children were. Of course, people nonetheless were trying to stay together and not get lost in the atmosphere of horror that reigned then.

A "nice" journey!

The Chechens who resided in other cities (for example, in Makhachkala) were also deported. Also, if a Chechen woman was married to an Avar or Kumyk, the woman was deported, whereas her husband was allowed to stay. But the majority of such husbands (as well as the majority of non-ethnic Chechen women married to Chechens) preferred to share the misfortune of their spouses. Chechens who were in the army were taken away from their units and, without any explanations, were added to other deportees. Naturally, decorations, orders and wounds received in battles "for the Motherland and for Stalin" meant nothing.

The journey to Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan is a separate issue. As was already noted, the people were taken away in box cars. Only some of them were equipped with stoves and were heated, others were freezing cold. Let me remind you, the "journey" itself took place in late February - early March, and vast Kazakh steppes are the most serious test even to enthusiasts of swimming in the winter. But this was not the only problem. Not all the Chechens were able to take the required amount of food with them in the bustle, and no-one was going to feed them along the way.

The journey itself dragged on for many days (in different cases, from 13 days to one month). The trains would often stop for a long time.

The people were only seldom allowed to come out of their cars - to go to the "toilet amidst nature", to gather brushwood for the cars with stoves and so forth. Only at the end of the journey Kazakhs or Kyrgyz who would come across them would show mercy and share some food with the few lucky people who would get it (the food).

The basic "toilet" in a car was not isolated in any way, and shy Chechen women and girls could not use it in the presence of men. Sometimes it would end tragically, when, as eyewitnesses say, women's bladders would burst [as published] and so on. Some people figured out to surround the toilets with screens made with available clothes.

Warm clothes were a great luxury in cold cars, though. Only seldom, at stopovers, were people allowed to come out of the cars and get some water. This means that for the two or three weeks of the journey, hygiene was out of the question. Hence numerous cases of dysentery and transmission of various infectious diseases.

All this - hunger, cold, illnesses - resulted in many deaths, and many never made it to the place of exile. The older people would put the bodies in the corner of the car and cover them with clothes not to traumatize the children. Naturally, as relatives and loved ones of passengers who were still alive were dying, an atmosphere of permanent grief reigned in the cars, in addition to physical and mental anguish.

Extensive propaganda work was done in advance with local Kazakhs and Kyrgyz at the places of exile. Local residents were told that "bloodthirsty Chechens", notorious bandits and, in general, enemies of the people were being brought there, that they were traitors who had to be treated accordingly. At the same time, it was surprising that the majority of Chechens were quartered in the houses of the very same Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, since there was no vacant accommodation for them.

Thirteen years of hope

However, causing animosity between the locals and the deportees could not be managed: Kazakhs and Kyrgyz could see that those were ordinary people like themselves, many were practising Muslims, they prayed, and so on. All this brought people together. As to the hardships of everyday life, everyone was accustomed to them then, during wartime.

Many Chechens died already there, soon after arrival.

Let me remind the readers that no-one was going to feed them, and only those who managed to find a job at local collective and state farms were able to get at least some food. Those Chechens who were able to work would share their already meagre rations with the elderly and children. The food shortage was catastrophic. Many would gather and eat grass from the steppe, including inedible grass.

Of course - Movladi Saipov went on to say - the rest of the Soviet peoples too did not live in luxury back then, in wartime. But it was twice, three times as difficult for the Chechens. First, they lost many of their countrymen over a short period of time. Second, they were deprived of their Motherland, without any explanation for such a severe punishment. However, the Chechens nourished hope that they would return for all 13 years.

For the first few years, they believed that "Comrade Stalin" knew nothing of this mess and that if he found out about it, he would punish the guilty and bring the nation back to its motherland. It became very popular back then to ask in reply to the traditional "Salam Aleykum" and "How are things?": "So when shall we go back to the Caucasus?" Even now, in their native land, Chechens of the older and middle generations frequently ask this question as a joke after greetings. A minor digression.

Here is what the late Dagestani historian, Candidate of Sciences Muslim Gadzhiyev notes in one of his works: "After the deportation of the Chechens and Ingush, the whole territory of Chechen-Ingushetia, as well as Aukhovskiy District, became deserted and void. But it was considered inexpedient to simply abandon these fertile lands. That is why they started to resettle people from Chechnya's neighbouring regions. The west was inhabited by Ossetians, the north by Russians and Cossacks from Stavropol Territory, and the east by our countrymen, Dagestanis. In total, 61,000 Dagestanis were moved from the mountainous areas of Dagestan to Chechen lands. This is how 144 settlements ceased to exist in Dagestan (all their residents were moved to Chechnya and Aukhovskiy District).

In addition, Dagestanis from Qvareli District in Georgia were moved to Chechnya. Effectively this was deportation too. The migration of the Dagestanis took place in difficult conditions of impassable roads in the spring. The elderly, women and children walked. They were not supplied with food and warm clothes. Thick clay on slippery roads made it difficult to walk. The resettlement was accompanied by many other problems.

Movladi Saipov continues his narrative. This is how he assesses the resettlement of Dagestanis in Chechnya and Aukhovskiy District:

We understand that the resettlement of Dagestanis to our lands was also largely forced. But equalizing it with the deportation of the Chechens itself would not be quite correct in our opinion. No matter what, it was not conducted at gunpoint. The elderly say that, as early as during our deportation, representatives of arriving Dagestanis would visit homes and seek better accommodation. It was understandable of them: instead of barren cliffs, they were getting very fertile Chechen lands. We are especially thankful to the people of south and mountainous Dagestan, who simply refused to be resettled.

Back home!

Meanwhile, 9 January 1957 came, when the decree "On restoration of the Chechen-Ingushetian Autonomous SSR" was issued. The period of Khrushchev's Thaw, in which many disgraces of the previous era were condemned, had its effect. We know that the international community pressurized Moscow too by suggesting the restoration of justice. The Chechens, who had been nourishing hopes of returning home for all these years, rushed to their motherland without a second thought.

Those who resided on the territory of Chechen-Ingushetia itself were luckier: they simply went back to their native republic which was liberated for them.

The destiny of the Dagestani Chechens (Akkins, residents of Aukhovskiy District) who, naturally, wanted to go back to their native - and already non-existent - Aukhovskiy District, proved to be more difficult. They were forbidden to do so - "to avoid complicating the situation". One can understand this: Aukhovskiy District was already turned into Novolakskiy, where the resettled Laks (ethnic group in Dagestan) resided, whereas Avars from the village of Almak of Kazbekovskiy District had already moved by that time to the other two villages.

The Chechens were simply not allowed to their former native district.

Some people would settle in Khasavyurt itself, others in ethnic Chechen settlements of Khasavyurtovskiy and Babayurtovskiy districts.

This was at least some way out of the situation, but the majority of the residents of Aukhovskiy District wanted to go back to their own houses in their own villages. Those houses were occupied, however.

The sense of patriotism pushed them to get settled right in the outskirts of those occupied auls [mountain villages], dig mud huts for the time being and then build at least some kind of dwelling.

When they sensed the persistence of the Chechens who resided in Aukhovskiy District, the authorities eventually allowed them to do so. The Chechens were outlawed for some more time, however: they would not get their registration at their old new place of abode, their children were not allowed to local schools, and so forth. Now the majority of settlements of Novolakskiy District are multi-ethnic: they are simultaneously inhabited by Laks who have not yet left and by Chechens who have already arrived.

In the villages of Lenin-Aul and Kalinin-Aul, Avars and Chechens reside together. What is to become of these places? Will Aukhovskiy District of Dagestan ever be restored? As early as in 1991, the Russian law "On rehabilitation of repressed peoples" was adopted. A decree of the third congress of the people's deputies of Dagestan was adopted on the basis of that law. The decree envisaged that the Dagestan Chechens certainly were entitled to come back to their settlements and that Aukhovskiy District had to be restored.

Like before the deportation of Chechens, the district will include the territory of what is now Novolakskiy District and two settlements of Kazbekovskiy District, Lenin-Aul and Kalinin-Aul. Aukhovskiy triangle The process, naturally, is not a simple one, or, to be more precise, is extremely complex. Because first, [ethnic] Laks have to vacate the settlements of Novolakskiy District where they currently reside. The process of resettlement of Laks to the lands north of Makhachkala is already under way, some people have already moved to the new place of residence.

But Akkin Chechens would like the process to unfold faster, because the date of restoration of Aukhovskiy District has already been postponed twice: first from 1996 to 2000, now to 2006. No-one gives guarantees to the Dagestani Chechens that the issue will be resolved by that time. In general, the whole range of problems is dealt with by the government of the Republic of Dagestan or, to be more precise, the special government commission for resettlement of residents of Novolakskiy District and for restoration of Aukhovskiy District.

New accommodation for the resettled Laks is being built north of Makhachkala by the Novostroy trust, which is headed by N.M. Dadayev.

Properly speaking, if one might say so, I, Movladi Saipov, head the Akkin Chechen organizational committee for restoration of Aukhovskiy District. The organizational committee is part of the commission of the government of the Republic of Dagestan. It is clear that these issues are interrelated, Movladi Saipov continues.

First Laks have to be moved from here to new places of residence, and only then should Aukhovskiy District be restored. Appropriate conditions have to be created for the Laks at the new place for resettlement: accommodation has to be built, infrastructure has to be created, many organizational issues have to be resolved and so on. All this is being done, but, I repeat, at a much slower pace than was planned. This is not a matter of our impatience.

We, the representatives of the organizational committee for restoration of Aukhovskiy District, are between the devil and the deep blue sea, so to speak. People in the Dagestani government are often irritated when we constantly raise these acute issues, we are a headache for them. As to ordinary Dagestani Chechens, they perceive us as representatives of Dagestani authorities and reproach us for slowness and at times make harsh accusations against us that we are not active enough in protecting the interests of our Chechen community. These are the conditions in which we have to work. Let me be straightforward: we do have questions. According to our information, the lists of those who are to be given accommodation include not only those Laks who are moving here from Novolakskiy District. Complete strangers are included in the lists, Movladi Saipov asserted categorically.

The position of the leadership of Novolakskiy District is also not fully comprehensible to us. We feel that they want to extend as much as possible the existence of the administrative unit of Novolakskiy District here, as to the officials, it means power, high posts, funding and some other things which I will not discuss now. According to our information, many residents of Novolakskiy District are not going to move to the settlements that were created specially for them north of Makhachkala.

They left Novolakskiy District long ago and now live and work comfortably in Makhachkala itself, Kaspiysk and other towns of Dagestan. At the same time, they have not moved officially from Novolakskiy District, which means that they did not deregister and did not hand in their accommodation. They let their relatives who for now remain there, or tenants, live in their houses.

Difficult questions

Some funding schemes are also not quite comprehensible to us, Movladi Saipov continued. No, we do not want to raise these issues solely because they are acute. We want us, the Dagestani Chechens, to be understood correctly. The decision to reconstitute Aukhovskiy District within Dagestan was adopted, was it not? The mechanism of how it was to be implemented was also established, right? Then why is the implementation itself being dragged out?

We feel that the delay is not caused by objective reasons alone. And we are right in not having the desire to make the destiny of the Dagestani Chechens someone's "feed rough", "rollovers" and other things to which we are already accustomed. And one more thing. The population of Novolakskiy District is moving, albeit slowly and stridently. I am certain that ordinary Laks do not need this uncertainty which lasts for years either, they themselves want the issue to be resolved faster. The authorities simply have to actively assist this process.

On the other hand, we understand that residents of the villages of Lenin-Aul and Kalinin-Aul (they are Avars who moved here from the village of Almak of Kazbekovskiy District) do not even want to talk about the issue of vacating these villages yet. By way of a reminder, those are the former Chechen villages of Aktash-Aukh and Yurt-Aukh of Aukhovskiy District. We understand that this is a complex issue. And we do not demand at all that it should be resolved by use of violence. On no account should this happen! Therefore, here too there is a need for methods of people's diplomacy, for the involvement of respected Avars, elders and so on.

After all, a resettlement proposal should be so attractive and comfortable to the Avars who now reside there that they will accept it. The Almighty Himself knows: we, the Dagestani Chechens, only want to live in our native revived Aukhovskiy District of Dagestan.

Aukhovskiy District never had anything to do with Chechnya and the Chechen Republic. It had always been land inhabited by local Chechens but which belonged to Dagestan. We only ask to restore this state of affairs as soon as possible. (End of Movladi Saipov's narrative).

Read about the present-day life and problems of the 120,000-strong Chechen community in Dagestan, as well as about the conversations with respected Akkins Arbi Batyrsultanov and Abdurakhman Musayev in the next issue of our newspaper.

[Signed] Albert Mekhtikhanov, Khasavyurt - Novolakskiy District - Makhachkala