Kabardians and Balkars quarreled over a battle in 1708 that may not have happened. There are detainees, a riot policeman had his head broken

A group of Kabardian riders tried to march through a Balkar village. They weren't allowed in, they had to call the National Guard

On September 17, a group of 30 Circassians (aka Kabardians) went on a horseback trip to Mount Kanzhal on the occasion of the anniversary of the Battle of Kanzhal, an important event in the history of the Circassians. The group was headed by a member of the Public Council of the North Caucasian Federal District Ibragim Yaganov.

On the way to Kanzhal, the Balkar village of Kendelen is located - Yaganov's group reached it on September 18. However, the villagers refused to let the Circassians through.

As reported the Caucasian Knot publication , the riders entered Kendelen on the afternoon of September 18 - however, the local residents refused to let them out of the village, effectively blocking the expedition. Earlier, according to sources of the "Caucasian Knot", the residents of Kendelen offered the organizers of the march to go up the mountain, bypassing the village, but they did not agree. Clashes began between the Circassians and the Balkars; at the scene arrived fighters of the National Guard and representatives of the administration of Kabardino-Balkaria . They wanted to take the marchers out of the village on buses, but they refused. Then the security forces blocked Kendelen and did not let people who came to support the Circassians go there. Soldiers of the National Guard opened fire in the air; Several people were injured in the clashes. "Kommersant" indicates that the employees of the Russian Guard beat people with truncheons; stones were thrown at them in response.

On the night of September 19, local residents organized a watch in Kendelen. The next day, Circassian activists again tried to break through the cordon, was used against them. tear gas

Zaurbek Kozhev, head of the sector of medieval and modern history at the Institute for Humanitarian Studies of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, in a conversation with Meduza, outlined a slightly different version of events than the Caucasian Knot featured. According to him, the riders still changed the route - which became the catalyst for collisions. “The authorities behaved inadequately. The riders informed in advance about the planned trip and received permission. But a few days before the date of the celebration, some representatives of the authorities began to persuade them not to take part in this, says Kozhev. “The number of riders has dwindled, and those who did set out did not ride directly on the road through Kandalen, but took a detour along a steep slope. When this became known, part of the Kabardian youth took it as disrespect. It was fueled by provocations on the Internet. And, unfortunately, it led to what it led to. The youth gathered and demonstrated that they can pass [through the Balkar village].”

The next day the conflict escalated. A rally was held in Nalchik, clashes took place near Kendelen, there are wounded riot police

On September 19, a spontaneous rally began near the government building of Kabardino-Balkaria in the center of Nalchik. Its participants demanded that the authorities figure out what was happening in Kendelen. Several dozen policemen were pulled into the square; later, the Republican Minister for Ethnic Affairs of Kabardino-Balkaria Anzor Kurashinov came out to the protesters - after a conversation with him, the protesters dispersed, and the two detained activists were released without drawing up a protocol.

On the same day, supporters of the Balkar horse campaign tried to come to the aid of its participants in Kendelen. This led to clashes with police near the village of Zayukovo (a cordon was set up there, which the protesters tried to break through), as well as at the Baksan traffic police checkpoint, where, according to local media, several dozen people were detained. The "Caucasian Knot" reports with reference to the Ministry of Internal Affairs that two riot policemen were injured in Zayukovo - one of them was hit in the head by a stone, the other was hit by a car.

At the same time, the organizer of the equestrian trip, Ibragim Yaganov, announced on the afternoon of September 19 that the expedition was over. on his Facebook He posted a video with the caption “The horse crossing in honor of the Battle of Kanzhal has been successfully completed. Horses in the stable. Yaganov did not answer questions from Meduza.

The celebration of the anniversary of the Battle of Kanzhal often leads to clashes. For Kabardians, this is part of their identity; Balkars believe that there was no battle

“Since the 1990s, we have always had problems with this horse trip,” a Circassian ethnographer told Meduza, who asked not to be named. As the interlocutor explains, the Battle of Kanzhal is a significant event for Circassian folklore: “It is not just a part of history, but for many it is a part of memory, equivalent to the present.” Kabardians believe that in 1708 their ancestors refused to pay tribute to the Crimean Khan, and when he tried to punish them for it, they defeated his army, after which they finally stopped paying tribute. “Some Balkar researchers believe that this is a fake, that this battle did not take place. At the same time, at the everyday level, everything is fine with us with the Balkars, I have friends from the Balkars, ”continues the interlocutor of Meduza. - In short, when the intelligentsia talk to each other, you might think that we will have a war tomorrow. But if we take domestic relationships, then everything is fine with us. ”

“The Balkars perceive any attempt by the Kabardians to revive their historical memory as a threat to their national interests,” adds Zaurbek Kozhev of the Institute for Humanitarian Research. He claims that part of the Balkar elite is dissatisfied with the existence of a united Kabardino-Balkarian republic and believes that the interests of the Balkars can only be fully protected in a separate subject of the Federation.

According to Meduza’s interlocutors, an additional factor in the September 18-19 clashes could be the fact that similar problems arose ten years ago in Kendelen. The villagers then also refused to let the participants of the equestrian campaign go out to meet them with posters “There was no Kanzhal battle” and “We will not let you stake out the land.”

“Whether this battle took place or not is not so important now,” says Ekaterina Kapustina, Ph.D. According to her, the main reason is the tension between the Kabardians and the Balkars, which in this case is intensifying, since the territory on which, as is commonly believed, the Battle of Kanzhal took place, is now assigned to the Balkar villages (the Balkars are a people related to the Crimean Tatars ) . “The idea that now Kabardian horsemen will rush through our territory to celebrate some kind of battle, which may not have happened, is perceived by many locals as an attempt to symbolically seize territory,” Kapustina concludes.

Polina Eremenko