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Kazbek Sultanov, head of the department of the Institute of World Literature of the RAS
Never neither in the Soviet period, nor in the post- or pre-Soviet periods could the Gulistan Treaty stand out as a special date.
It has held its place in the historical chronicle as the Turkmanchay Treaty, which caused the death of Alexander Griboyedov, and so on.
So, in taking this decision of the special accent on this contract and this 200th anniversary, it seems to me that the leadership of Dagestan took on a very serious commitment.
Because what is history today? This, above all, is historical knowledge in its entirety.
If it becomes, and there are some of the symptoms of it, a Soviet-style jubilee celebration with its "we are together forever" and so on, no one will be satisfied.
Times have changed. All of these things are very tightly correlated with the current situation of the crisis of mutual trust.
So this is a very serious question: why and how is it chosen? Here it is not about the legal legitimacy and so on, and we are discussing a purposeful choice, because all these...
How old is Kabarda? 400 years have passed since the reign of Ivan the Terrible. About 500 years have passed.
Here the echo of the Soviet ideological machine is felt. Because these are only figures, they must somehow be internally motivated.
I think that all of this should get a truer sense not turning here in October Hall, in Makhachkala Theater and so on.
The date and all other dates, especially during this period of the Caucasian War, the historical memory works like memory facing the past.
Historical memory has lost this sense of perspective, because the past is not transformed into the coming period and not into the outgoing current period.
This nostalgic conservatism is very strong, including in Dagestan, as well as in the Caucasus in general.
By itself, it does not cause criticism, but it seems to choke off this sense of perspective.
In one of my articles I have written that actually there is a fight between two parties in Dagestan - the party of memory and the party of hope.
Hope is modernizing trends and renewed future as well.
What do we want from Dagestan? There is no answer to this question.