A tragic life of an Ingush: Ahmed Yusupovich

A news report came from the apiam.narod.ru Web Site about the tragic life of an Ingush person who had to live in exile while Stalin was in power.

This news report is considered to be an elaboration of attempts on the part of the Prigorodnii Ingushes to make a safe return home from a life they had had to lead in virtually bad conditions of refugee camps after they were sent into exile just in the wake of the ’92 battle in North Ossetia between Ossetians and Ingushes.

The web site chose the tragic life of Ahmed Yusupovich to report online. He was born in 1929 in the village of Mochki-Yurt (currently named Chermen) of Prigorodnii province in the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. While he was a teenager, he was with his family sent in 1944 into exile in . He had to work instead of studying in kolkohozes in either extremely hot or cold weather. This way he perhaps remained safe from hunger, but his parents could not. His parents died in before they had a chance to return home. He settled in after his marriage. He returned to his country in 1957 when he was given a green-light to do so. He was not, like other Ingushes, permitted to live in his village; his huge efforts eventually earned him official permission to stay in the village of Mayski in Prigorodnii province. He built a house for himself in this village and raised eight kids. He frequently went to as a seasonal worker to earn his living there.

Each time he went to , he found a job and worked in the same village where his parents were exiled and lived until they died. This way, he had the chance to see the grave of his parents as well as his former friends. Although he did not work on a seasonal basis any more after the mid-1970s, he carried on with his habit of seeing annually his parents’ grave up until 1991, when the former was dispersed. With the standards of living decreasing day after day, Yusupovich’s household experienced further with impoverishment. Grown-up kids left the house. Only Ayshat, the little girl, remained in the house with her parents. She was interested in music as well handicraft. The villagers of Mayski did not suffer much from the 1992 crisis between Ossetians and Ingushes, because Yusupovich and other villagers made early contact with the federal forces and succeeded in sustaining far lesser damage in the end. Things, however, changed when refugees in large numbers flowed into the village and increased the village population by three or times larger. Difficulties began to emerge both socially and economically hard enough to frustrate the villagers. on 24 November 2007, Yusupovich’s daughter Ayshat was run down in Vladikavkaz by a BTR armed vehicle while she was walking down the road from Vladikavkaz to Mozdok. This vehicle belonged in the Nr. 3724 military unit. Three months of police investigation seems to be likely to end with the Vladikavkaz military prosecutor issuing a decision against Ayshat and in favor of the military officers. Just like Yusupovich overcame numerous difficulties in his lifetime, after the death of his daughter, too, he still remains strong enough to stay alive and healthy and seek only justice for his daughter, not compensation or retaliation definitely. ÖZ/FT