Circassian Diaspora in Turkey Launches Mass Petition Against KBR Crackdown on May 21 Commemorations
18.05.26 10:00
A large-scale petition campaign has been launched by Circassian and North Caucasian diaspora organisations in Turkey, directed at Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) Head Kazbek Kokov and relevant Russian federal institutions, protesting what signatories describe as a systematic campaign of intimidation against residents of the republic ahead of the annual May 21 Day of Remembrance.
Circassian Diaspora in Turkey Launches Mass Petition Against KBR Crackdown on May 21 Commemorations
A large-scale petition campaign has been launched by Circassian and North Caucasian diaspora organisations in Turkey, directed at Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) Head Kazbek Kokov and relevant Russian federal institutions, protesting what signatories describe as a systematic campaign of intimidation against residents of the republic ahead of the annual May 21 Day of Remembrance.
The immediate trigger is a warning campaign documented by the KBR Human Rights Center: in the week leading up to May 21, Russian law enforcement agencies in Nalchik have been summoning residents to police stations and issuing formal warnings — citing Article 20.2 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offences — threatening fines, detention, or criminal prosecution for participating in or organising public gatherings. An infographic distributed widely by the Centre carries the word "PROHIBITED" over an image of a past Circassian commemoration march, and explicitly addresses KBR Head Kokov, noting that warnings will continue to be issued throughout the week.
The diaspora petition condemns this practice in unambiguous terms. Calling the warnings "groundless, intimidatory and purely preventive in character," the signatories point out that in all the years the May 21 march has been held, not a single incident of disorder or unlawful conduct has ever been recorded — a fact, they note, acknowledged by police officers present at past events. They further recall that when the march was suspended in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the public accepted the restrictions without objection, as they applied equally to all mass gatherings. What has followed since, they argue, is categorically different: a targeted, year-on-year tightening of repression directed specifically at Circassian memory.
The petition situates May 21 firmly within the framework of historical justice. The date marks the genocide and mass deportation of the Circassian people during the Russo-Caucasian War — a historical fact recognised by the KBR Parliament itself in its resolution of 7 February 1992, which defined those events as "a genocide committed against the Circassian people." The signatories stress that peaceful commemoration of this date is not a political demonstration but an exercise of the most fundamental human rights.
The escalating pattern of repression lends urgency to the campaign. In the previous year, eight participants in the May 21 march were detained and received administrative arrest sentences. In October 2025, a higher court upheld the ban, confirming what the petitioners describe as an institutionalised suppression of the right to memory.
The petition calls on KBR leadership to guarantee citizens' constitutional rights, end all intimidation and obstruction of the May 21 commemorations, and allow the annual mourning march to proceed peacefully in accordance with tradition — as it has for decades.