Operation Lentil
Today is a national holiday in Kyrgyzstan: Defenders of the Fatherland Day, or more simply Army Day or even, Man’s Day.
To a small group, however, the day has a more poignant significance. It was on February 23rd, 1944, when Beria ordered the expulsion of the entire Chechen and Ingush populations, (about half a million people), from the North Caucasus to new homes in Siberia and Central Asia, (including Kyrgyzstan), as part of a forced settlement program known as Operation Lentil.
From shortly before until just after the Second World War, the Soviet government under Josef Stalin organized several mass deportations; this being just one of them. It is estimated that over six million people in total were affected by these internal forced migrations, and considerable number are thought to have perished in the process.
Operation Lentil was ordered in response to the Chechen insurgency of 1940-44, (it’s normally considered to have ended in 1944 – although some resistance in the remote Chechen mountains persisted until 1947). A small group of Chechens had established a guerilla base deep in the mountains and gathered support for an planned armed insurrection against the Soviet authorities. After the German invasion of the USSR in June 1941 more support was garnered, (strengthened by draft dodgers evading conscription desertions from the Red Army), but the planned uprising in January 1942 was aborted as a result of the stalled German advance, poor communications between the rebel groups in the mountains. (The mountainous terrain also caused problems for the Soviet counter insurgency operations.)
The Germans tried to make contact with the rebels and at least one joint operation seems to have been held, but in fact there were significant differences between the two and most historians doubt that the two were allied in any serious way.
Despite this, and the fact that some 40,000 Chechens and Ingush fought in the Red Army, (some 50 of them being granted the highest award, that of Hero of the Soviet Union), the accusation of collaboration with the enemy is often cited as one of the reasons behind the decision.
The severe weather conditions and brutal means of transport led to thousands of deaths, and European Parliament has acknowledged the deportation as an act of genocide.
Kazakhstan received the bulk of the deportees with over 300,000 registered in the 1949 census. In the same census, Kyrgyzstan had just over 60,000 and there were about 500 registered in neighbouring Uzbekistan.
The deported were allowed to return to their former homes in Chechnya until 1957, after Khrushchev’s ”secret speech” denouncing the “cult of personality” surrounding Josef Stalin and the Soviet reversal of the policy of forced deportations. The number in the country has fallen since then and it is now thought that there are only about three thousand left in the country.
Life isn’t always easy for them. Although it might be thought that the similarities between the Chechen and Kyrgyz peoples, (a shared religion; the use of, and cultural importance of epic poems and stories to convey historical accounts; a close knit society where family connections are important and a love of the mountains – even the traditional practice of Ala Kachuu – Bride Kidnapping), might provide some sort of bond, the Chechens are often viewed with suspicion and there are often comments made linking them with “organized crime”. That was further emphasized by the involvement of a Chechen convict in the murder of a parliamentarian in 2005.
To a certain extent, it seems as this element of distrust and suspicion has been further heightened by the situation back in Chechnya. It’s almost as if the very mention of the name Chechnya summons up unpleasant images of extremism and devastation.
The suggestion to declare February 23rd as World Chechen Day to commemorate the deportations of Operation Lentil are not likely to be met with much sympathy in either Russia or Kyrgyzstan, where Defenders of the Fatherland will be the focus of today’s festivities, but for a small group of people here in Kyrgyzstan, the holiday will have bitter connotations.
Bishkek