Instagram users criticize report about mosque named after Akhmat Kadyrov

A new mosque in the Chechen village of Makhkety in the Vedeno District was named in honour of Kadyrov Sr. at a request of the villagers, the authorities announced. Some villagers admitted that they would prefer a different name for the mosque, and users of the social network criticized officials for yet another manifestation of Chechnya's "Akhmatization."

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in Chechnya, the authorities began to create a cult of Akhmat Kadyrov immediately after his death in 2004. In particular, a mosque and an avenue were named after Kadyrov Sr. in Grozny.

"Now, about 5500 people live in the village, and there were not enough places in the old mosque," the village administration explained.

Magomed, a resident of the Makhkety village, expressed his dissatisfaction with the authorities' decision to name the mosque in honour of Kadyrov. "I believe it's wrong to name mosques in honour of any person. Mosques are first of all houses of Allah, where everyone asks for mercy from the Almighty," the local resident said.

Caucasian expert Akhmet Yarlykapov explains that the authorities of the republic treat the figure of Akhmat Kadyrov as the personality of a national hero, the founding father of modern Chechnya.

The cult of personality is not a Chechen tradition, notes Akhmed Gisaev, the head of the Human Rights Analysis Centre. "The Chechen people did not have any kings, and nobody ever exalted rulers ... The people who could die for their ideas became heroes," Akhmed Gisaev said. The expert sees the influence of the authoritarian political culture in the "Akhmatization" of Chechnya.