By Musa Musaev, exclusively to VK
Over the past few years the Russian and Azerbaijani authorities have confirmed on numerous occasions that they have no territorial claims on each other. The line of the land border is fixed by the Border Treaty signed by both Presidents in September 2010. This line coincides with the ex-border between the Dagestani Autonomous Republic and the Azerbaijani Soviet Republic.
Two villages – Khrakh-Uba and Uryan-Uba – found themselves in Azerbaijan, even though the residents of these villages are Russian citizens and don’t wish to accept Azerbaijani citizenship. Tensions there keep growing, and this is a matter of great concern for Moscow, Baku and Makhachkala. The Dagestani Minister for National Policies and Religious Affairs, Bekmursa Bekmursaev, had to hold a special press-conference on the subject.
He confirmed that Azerbaijani passport and visa service officials often visit the two villages and ask them to observe Azerbaijani law. However, the villagers’ position is uncompromising; they’ve denied all proposals of the Azeri authorities. According to the Minister, they are being subjected to aggressive propaganda by forces, interested in Russian-Azerbaijani discord.
The problem exists on different levels: international, federal, republican and municipal. Last year Dagestani representatives visited Khrakh-Uba more than once; the problem was discussed during visits of Dagestani representatives to Baku. Dagestan asked the Russian Federal Ministry for Regional Development to help the villagers resettle and move back to Russia, but the Federal Ministry for Regional Development said that there are no grounds for such help, as Dagestan has a stable population growth indicator and thus this territory can’t be included in the Federal resettlement program. At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the villagers have no legal grounds for possessing Azerbaijani lands.
In the end, the President of Russia asked the Dagestani authorities to help the residents of the villages, treating each case separately. A special commission was organized. The Azerbaijani authorities gave the villagers three months to decide whether they would prefer to leave or to accept Azerbaijani citizenship by August 24, 2011.
For now, the villagers have been offered four different ways to resolve the problem: they can buy temporary or permanent registrations; they can become Azerbaijani citizens and give up Russian citizenship, or they can become citizens of both states. The last way is most supported by the Russian embassy in Baku.
None of these satisfies all the wishes of the villages’ residents: they don’t want to become Azerbaijani citizens, they want to move to Dagestan and to get compensation for their possessions left in Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani government agreed to compensation, and some of the Khrakh-Uba residents agreed and left for Dagestan. However, others thought the compensations offered to be too small.
The villagers also complain that their right to freely cross Russian-Azeri border is being violated, as well as a number of other rights. They complain about the closing of the village school. However, according to the Azeri migration service, there are almost no children left in Khrakh-Uba. Still, the Azerbaijani authorities promised to organize school classes again after a meeting of the Head of the Dagestani Republic and the Azerbaijani Vice-PM. The Vice-PM also guaranteed that no aggressive measures would be undertaken in order to deport the villagers. The Russian Ministry for Regional Development is trying to find places for new re-settlers in over-populated Dagestan.
To be continued
