Ismet Yildiz, the Minister of National Defense in Turkey, and other government officers participated in the opening ceremony of a pro-Russian Chechen association in the city of Sivas, Turkey.

According to local sources, Ismet Yildiz, the Minister of National Defense in Turkey; Hilmi Bilgin, the AK Party’s parliamentarian from Sivas; Ali Kolat, Sivas’ Governor; Dogan Urgup, Sivas’ Mayor from the nationalist party BBP; and Lieutenant General Mustafa Ilter, the Brigade Commander of Sivas participated in the opening ceremonies of the “Sivas Chechen Culture and Solidarity Association” (Sivas Cecen Kultur ve Dayanisma Dernegi) on April 8. Along with the officers of the Turkish government, the pro-Russian regime’s representatives there included: Emruddin Edilgiriyev, deputy President of the pro-Russian Chechen government; Dikalu Muzakayev, Culture Minister of the pro-Russian Chechen government; and Muslim Khuchiyev, the pro-Russian Mayor of Grozny. After the opening ceremony, the group and other guests participated in “The Sister Cities: Grozny-Sivas Union Night”. During the evening, Muslim Khuchiyev presented the Grozny city key to Sivas’ mayor, Dogan Urgup. “They gave us the key to their city, our hearts are open. We saw today that Turkey’s geography stretches far beyond its borders. While Chechnya’s cultural geography reaches Sivas, Turkey’s cultural geography reaches Central Asia and the Pacific. We are proud of this. We have only one wish; Grozny must not be destroyed again,” said National Defense Minister Yildiz in his short speech. “We are really happy and pleased with your interest. Thank you very much,” said Edilgiriyev in his response. The Chechen dance group “Vainakh” also performed during the promotion of the pro-Russian government.

It must be also noted that the day before, the pro-Russian Chechen delegation and their new association’s representatives visited Sivas’ mayor and the governor at their offices, presented them with gifts and conveyed messages from the Russian side which are not exactly known. Sivas is a particularly important city for the pro-Russian regime because there are a few Chechen villages containing the old Diaspora. The city is considered to be a key point in legitimizing the pro-Russian regime inside the old Diaspora in Turkey.

The pro-Russian regime in the Russian occupied Chechen Republic of Ichkeria had earlier declared their ambitions in opening so-called Chechen cultural centers in Diasporas, but, they were not successful at all in Europe. This has been because assassinations and assassination attempts against Chechen refugees in Europe were tied to the pro-Russian regime in Chechnya, which receives ongoing criticism from human rights organizations and advocates. However, the Turkish government opened their doors to the pro-Russian regime’s representatives without any hesitation, even after six unsolved high profile murders in Istanbul. Recall that in December of 2011, the Swiss newspaper “Le Matin” published a story about the Chechen businessman Bulat Chagaev. The writer mentioned Turkey as a place that is often used as a base for dirty work that is carried out by the tyrannical pro-Russian regime. Turkey and Russia have became close partners, while at the same time, Turkey strongly defends the terrorist organization “Hamas” and the Palestinian issue against Israel as well as Syrian separatists against the Bashar Hafez al-Assad government; the same Turkish government prefers to forget the Chechen nation’s pain, only because of their dependence on Russian oil and natural gas.

*Text was written by Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco