Хабзэ Логотип Public and Political Organization
🌐 English ▼

Appeal of 40 organizations of the Circassian diaspora to the Head and deputies of the Parliament of the KBR

16 June 2026

40 organizations of the Circassian diaspora demand the preservation of constitutional guarantees of statehood, security, and territorial integrity of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic.

To the Head of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic
Honorable Kazbek Valeryevich Kokov
For information: To the Chairperson of the Parliament of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic T.B. Egorova,
deputies of the Parliament of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic of the VII convocation

Joint appeal of 40 organizations of the Circassian diaspora to the Head and deputies of the Parliament of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic demanding the preservation of constitutional guarantees of statehood, security, and territorial integrity of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic

Appeal Image

Honorable Mr. Head!

We, the Caucasian (Circassian) public organizations operating in various countries of the world, follow the recent constitutional processes taking place in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic with great attention and concern.

The fact that, at the request of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, the question of excluding provisions from the Constitution of the Republic that guarantee the state character of Kabardino-Balkaria, its territorial integrity, and the inviolability of its territory has been placed on the agenda, causes deep anxiety among us.

Being descendants of peoples torn from their historical homeland as a result of forced exile, even after a century and a half we continue to maintain historical, cultural, and spiritual ties with Kabardino-Balkaria, Adygea, Karachay-Cherkessia, Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan, and Abkhazia (although formally it does not belong to the same category), as well as with the entire North Caucasus.

Therefore, events affecting the constitutional status, institutional existence, and historical achievements of the national republics of the North Caucasus concern not only the citizens living in these republics, but also millions of Circassians and Caucasian descendants living all over the world.

For us, these republics are not merely administrative units. They represent the institutional carriers of the historical memory of our peoples, their political existence, cultural continuity, and connection with the historical homeland.

Therefore, we do not view the discussion of excluding the provisions guaranteeing territorial integrity, territorial inviolability, and the state character of the Republic from the Constitution of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic as a purely technical constitutional initiative.

As is well known, the policy of centralization pursued in the Russian Federation over the past twenty-five years has been accompanied by a consistent reduction in the political, administrative, and constitutional status of the republics that are subjects of the federation. The actual loss of effect of the Federal Treaty of 1992, the abolition of the right of peoples to elect the heads of the republics, the weakening of the positions of national languages in public life, and the gradual liquidation of institutions, powers, and names that symbolized the state status of the republics became the main stages of this process.

Today, attempts to cast doubt on such fundamental constitutional principles as “territorial integrity”, “inviolability of territory”, “state character of the republic” and the provision that the head of the republic is the guarantor of these values, testify to a new and extremely critical stage of this process.

Excluding these guarantees from the Constitution of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic will mean not just changing individual legal norms or bringing them into line with federal legislation. Such an approach will also be perceived as a further dilution of the constitutional status of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic and a narrowing of its options to independently determine its future.

We are not a party to any political confrontation. However, we are convinced that preserving the constitutional status of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic is important not only for the Kabardians (Circassians), Balkars, and other peoples of the Republic, but also for preserving the federal structure of the Russian Federation, and can serve as an important example for other republics.

In federal states, the goal of constitutional harmonization should not be the subordination of the constitutional statuses of the republics to the central authority, but rather the assurance of federal unity through the preservation of the constitutional powers and guarantees of the equal subjects of the federation.

Honorable Mr. Head!

The question before you today is not merely a technical adjustment of constitutional terminology. It is about the future of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. It is about the future of the connection of millions of Circassians and all the peoples of the North Caucasus, scattered across the globe, with their historical homeland.

One of the main pillars that allows the diaspora to maintain a connection with the homeland is the preservation of the existence, identity, and constitutional status of the national republics of the North Caucasus.

We openly express our concern over initiatives that could weaken the constitutional status and historical achievements of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, and declare our support for any actions aimed at protecting the constitutional rights of the Republic.

This is why we consider it our historical duty to express our position publicly. We are convinced that the decision you make will influence not only the present day, but also the historical memory of future generations.

Respectfully,

Signatory organizations: