The Minsk-Novosti agency, with the support of the Minsk City Executive Committee, has published the latest installment of its "People's Fortress" project, dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War, featuring the defenders and liberators of the Belarusian land who were born in the Soviet republics. The tenth episode is dedicated to two natives of Turkmenistan: Oraz Annayev and Klychniyaz Azalov.

Oraz Annayev served in the border troops, after which he worked in the police. With the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, he rejoined the army. In September 1943, near the village of Nivki in the Gomel region, the guard sergeant major was one of the first to break into enemy trenches, killing a dozen enemy soldiers and overcoming a German officer in hand-to-hand combat. Annayev died on October 23, 1943, and was buried in Komarin, the first regional center in Belarus to be liberated. He was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously, and a street in Minsk bears his name.

In the same area, near the village of Nivki, a cavalry regiment saber soldier, Klychniyaz Azalov, distinguished himself. On September 27, 1943, after crossing the Dnieper, Soviet infantry repelled enemy attacks for two hours. During the offensive, Azalov was one of the first to break into an enemy trench and, in hand-to-hand combat, killed 13 German soldiers and two officers, receiving three bayonet wounds. Two months later, he returned from the hospital to his regiment, but was killed on December 27, 1943. Azalov was also awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously.

As noted in the article, during the Great Patriotic War, more than 180 thousand sons and daughters of Turkmenistan went to defend the Soviet Motherland. Of these, 15 thousand were awarded orders and medals, 11 became full Cavaliers of the Order of Glory, and 16 Turkmen citizens were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

The "People's Fortress" project was initiated by the Belarusian delegation to the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the CIS and supported by all national delegations to the IPA CIS. The project's materials are published in newspaper articles, radio podcasts, and videos, and will culminate in an interactive photo exhibition dedicated to the defenders of the Brest Fortress and the soldiers of various nationalities who liberated Belarus.