74th anniversary of deportation of Ingush

This year marks the 74th anniversary of deportation of Ingush to Kazakhstan and Central Asia. During operation, which began on February 23, 1944, nearly 500,000 people were forced to leave their homes. Ingush became victims of repression, which resulted in death of more than half of those who were deported from hunger, cold and disease.

Deportation was accompanied by false accusations of betrayal and support of German troops, although thousands of Ingush heroes fought on all fronts since the first days of the Great Patriotic War. Those people spent 13 years in deportation, surviving mainly thanks to representatives of other nations: Russians, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz. On January 9, 1957, Presidium of the Supreme Counclil of the USSR adopted a decree on restoration of status of the Chechen-Ingush SSR, which allowed deported peoples to return to their historical homeland. After the adoption of Law "On Rehabilitation of Repressed Peoples" in 1991, Russia recognized criminal policy against entire nations.

Last week, a memorial event was held in Moscow near the memorial to victims of political repressions with participation of the head of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov. It was timed to the anniversary of deportation of Ingush people. The venue was chosen on purpose - the Wall of Sorrow was opened in Moscow in October of 2017 and became the first monument to victims of political repression of Ingush in post-Soviet history. For the first time, representatives of Ingush diaspora in Moscow could honor the memory of victims of 1944 genocide at the national memorial dedicared to repressed people.

Deputy сhairman of Ingushetia's government Alikhan Tsechoev, representatives of both houses of parliament, members of Ingush diaspora, Ingush students of Moscow universities came to the memorial to honor the memory of those who were repressed.

Mukharbek Didigov, member of the Federation Council from the Republic of Ingushetia, sain in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza that "it's a tragic date, and everyone should always remember it, never forget about this date. The future of our republic, the future of our nation is bright. We have a wonderful, beautiful youth, and we bet everything on it."