Dagestanis and Chechens are the peoples of the North Caucasus, whose territories border each other. Many consider relations between peoples tense due to the incompleteness of the process of land division. In fact, many Dagestanis consider Chechens to be brothers and maintain friendly relations with them.
The origins of the conflict between Chechens and Dagestanis
In 1944, several hundred thousand Chechens (along with the Ingush) were deported from villages of the border region of Dagestan to Central Asia and Kazakhstan during the operation “Lentil”. The reason was the accusation of Chechens and Ingush in the mass evasion of confrontation between Nazi Germany. Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria directed this operation by the people's commissar of internal affairs of the USSR.
As a result of the deportation, Dagestanis were forcibly relocated to a new cross-border residence previously owned by Chechens. After the collapse of the USSR, the deported Chechens wanted to return to their homeland, but their housing was already occupied by the Dagestanis, who did not decide to cede their territory to the Chechens, since they had already formed their own way of life. There was a conflict between peoples, which served as an echo of further disputes between the two peoples.
So, in June 2019, the Dagestanis demolished the road sign of the Chechen Republic at the exit from Kizlyar, where the border between the republics passes. This event aroused the indignation of both peoples and received publicity at the political level. Local residents marked the situation as a continuation of the territorial division. Ramzan Kadyrov officially announced that Dagestan is not claiming to foreign territory, and also that the sign was installed in the right place - from the side of the Chechen Republic.
For almost three decades, Chechens have raised the issue of restoring the Aukhov district of Dagestan, from which their ancestors were deported. Upon returning from exile, the deported Chechens were resettled in other regions of Dagestan, it was not possible to return to the "native land" where their relatives were buried. Now Chechens are actively raising the issue of establishing historical justice and re-creating the Aukhov region within its former borders. This circumstance causes indignation of the Dagestanis. Ideas about the relocation of part of the citizens of Dagestan to other territories cause them understandable discontent.
