Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that the country must be "ten times stronger" than Armenia "every day," explaining this by the need to maintain military superiority even after the initialing of a peace agreement between the two countries. He outlined his position on October 2 at the 8th Congress of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party in Baku.
Every year on March 28, Kabardino-Balkaria celebrates the Day of the return of the Balkar people to their homeland and the restoration of national statehood. The holiday was officially established in 1994. Today in Nalchik there are no large-scale official events for political reasons.
On March 28, 1957, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on the return of the Balkar people from Central Asia to their historical homeland after 13 years of forced exile was issued.
More than 37,000 people were deported. More than half of the deportees were children and about 30 per cent were women. The rest are men, including those who returned from the war after being wounded. According to statistical data, by October 1948 the number of Balkars reached the lowest level. 31.7 thousand people. People died because of the unbearable climate, disease, hunger.