Salau Aliyev

Salau Aliyev or Salau Aliev is a Kumyk nationalist and politician. With others, Aliyev was the founder (in 1990) of the Tenglik or "Kumyk Peoples' Party". Aliyev believes that the Kumyks are descended from the medieval Khazars and cites the Khazar Khaganate and the later Shamkhalate of Tarki as inspiring his vision of a Kumyk-dominated, independent Daghestan. His critics contend that such a state would be ruled by a minority of its population.

References

*Yoav Karny. "Highlanders: A Journey to the Caucasus in Quest of Memory." New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1999.