82 years have passed since Moscow forcibly expelled Chechens and Ingush from their homelands.
Modern.az recalls that from February 23 to March 9, 1944, the Soviet Union carried out one of its most brutal operations - the deportation of Chechens and Ingush.
Within a few days, between 500,000 and 650,000 representatives of the Chechen and Ingush peoples were forcibly removed from their lands, their homes were burned, and those who resisted were shot on the spot. They were declared "guilty" solely due to their ethnic origin.
Women, children, and the elderly were loaded into cold cattle cars and sent to Central Asia. People died on the way from cold, hunger, and disease. This was not an evacuation, but a forced expulsion organized by the state.
According to various estimates, approximately 100,000 Chechens and 23,000 Ingush perished during the deportation and in the first years in Kazakhstan. This meant the death of every 4th Chechen and Ingush. The tragedy arose not as a result of a natural disaster or war, but as a result of a political decision by the center.
Despite all hardships, in 1956, both peoples found the opportunity to return to their native lands, and today the republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia commemorate the anniversary of the tragedy.
