The Congress of the Kalmyk people or the Chuulhn is expected to be held on May 29, 2021 in Elista, the Republic of Kalmykia. The delegates will address the questions about the socio-political situation of the Kalmyk people. This was reported by the Prometheus Security Environment Research Center with reference to its own sources in the public sector of Elista city.

Among the reasons that prompted the Congress, the organizers name “a crisis and dangerous situation in which the Oirat-Kalmyk people find themselves”, as well as “discrimination of the rights, powers, and interests of the people and the Republic of Kalmykia by the central federal authorities of Russia.”

The Chuulhn is the highest national representative body of the Kalmyk people, authorized to make decisions and statements on behalf of the entire people. The organizing committee announced the draft agenda of the Chuulhn Congress, which will be proposed for approval by the delegates:

1. On the statehood of the Republic of Kalmykia (through to the fault of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Kalmykia has been deprived of the status of a state within the Russian Federation, unlike other national republics).
2. On the power structure and socio-economic catastrophe of the Republic of Kalmykia.
3. On elections to state authorities (nomination of a single (people’s) candidate for member of the State Duma [Ed.: the parliament] of the Russian Federation and participation in other upcoming elections).
4. Election of the executive body of the Chuulhn Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk people, empowered to represent the interests of the Oirat-Kalmyk people both in the Russian Federation and in the international arena.

“We face existential challenges. We are witnessing the rapid degradation of state and social institutions, growing poverty, complete absence of reforms, and a policy of targeted assimilation. All these factors, jointly and separately, are pushing the young and able-bodied population to leave Kalmykia. The ethnic group is on the verge of extinction. The worst thing is that the authorities pretend that there are no problems. Officials are accountable to the Kremlin, but not to the people. That is why we intend to publicly discuss the problems of the Kalmyk people. This is the first step, without which we will not be able to move on – towards solving our problems, ”said the Organizing Committee of the Chuulhn Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk people.

The Kalmyks are the only Mongol-speaking and Buddhist people in Europe, the indigenous population of the Republic of Kalmykia (Russian Federation). Self-names are “Khalmg” and “Oirat”. The total number of Kalmyks in the Russian Federation is estimated at about 180 thousand people (57.4% of the total number of residents of Kalmykia).

Let us recall that in May 2020, one of the largest Finno-Ugric peoples of the Russian Federation – the Erzians – approved a system of national representative bodies. The leaders of the Erzya national movement, in their comments to the media, explained that the system of national representative bodies of the Crimean Tatar people was taken as a model.

Translated by Andrii Gryganskij, edited by Artem Velichko. Distribution and reprint with reference to the source is welcome! InformNapalm materials are available under a public license Creative Commons Attribution, CC BY. The condition for using our materials is a hyperlink to the original source in the first or second paragraph of your publication. InformNapalm social media pages:

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