Information on reburial of Hadji Murad's remains caused no resonance in Azerbaijan

The Azerbaijani authorities have preferred to ignore the news about the opening of the grave of Hadji Murad and transportation of his remains to Dagestan, despite an obvious violation of the law; and there was no broad public discussion, the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have noted.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that photo and video materials of the reburial ceremony of Hadji Murad's remains, held in the Dagestani village of Khunzakh in early June, appeared in the media. On May 31, authorities of the Khunzakh District called this information a fake. However, photo and video testimonies appeared in mass media that the reburial ceremony in Khunzakh really took place. The grave of Hadji Murad is located in the Gakh District of Azerbaijan; and Arif Gadjily, the head of the "Musavat" Party, found traces of opening the grave.

Residents of the Gakh District were mostly indifferent to the information about a possible stealing of the remains, Namik Mantash, a local historian, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "Many don't even know that Hadji Murad was buried in our district. This topic is being discussed in small groups of people who are interested in history. Of course, they are dissatisfied with the disappearance of historical relics. But there are no expressions of protest or outrage at the public level," Mr Mantash said.

In general, the reburial has caused no much resonance in Azerbaijan as a whole, Tofig Tyurkel, an observer of the "Turan" News Agency, has noted. "This is because of the ambiguous attitude towards Hadji Murad's personality. Some treat him as a 'negative hero who betrayed Sheikh Shamil.' On the other hand, Hadji Murad has no direct relation to the history of Azerbaijan," Mr Tyurkel told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

In his opinion, the secret removal of the remains of Hadji Murad is an obvious violation of Azerbaijani laws, but the authorities have chosen "not to make a fuss about this issue."

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 28, 2019 at 06:31 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.