History of Chechnya
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Chechen society has traditionally been organized around many autonomous local clans, called teips. Even today, many Chechens consider themselves loyal to their teip and tukkhum above all; this is one reason why it has been difficult to forge a united political front against Russia.
From the 7th century through the 16th century Chechens and Ingushes were mostly Christians and pagans but then the influence of Islam spread until Sunnites became the majority. After Chechens converted to Islam the conflicts with their Christian neighbours such as Georgians and Cossacks, as well as with the Buddhist Kalmyks, intensified.
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[edit] Russian Empire
Russian influence started as early as the 16th century when Ivan the Terrible founded Tarki in 1559 where the first Cossack army was stationed. The Russian Terek Cossack Host was established in lowland Chechnya in 1577 by free Cossacks resettled from Volga to Terek River. In 1783 Russia and the eastern Georgian kingdom of Kartl-Kakheti (which was devastated by Turkish and Persian invasions) signed the Treaty of Georgievsk, according to which Kartli-Kakheti received protection by Russia.
In order to secure communications with Georgia and other regions of the Transcaucasia the Russian Empire began spreading her influence into mountains of Caucasus, met with fierce resistance by the mountain tribes. In 1785 they started waging a holy war against the Russians under Sheikh Mansur who was captured in 1791 and died a few years later.
Following the incorporation of Dagestan into the Empire in 1803-1813, Imperial Russian forces under Aleksey Yermolov began moving into highland Chechnya in 1830 to secure Russia's borders with the Ottoman Empire. In the course of the prolonged Caucasian War, the Chechens, along with many peoples of the Eastern Caucasus, united into the Caucasian Imamate and resisted fiercely, led by the Dagestani heroes Ghazi Mohammed, Gamzat-bek and Imam Shamil, but Chechnya was finally absorbed into the Russian Empire in 1859 after Shamil's capture.
Russian occupation caused a prolonged wave of emigration until the end of the 19th century. Thousands of highlanders moved to Turkey and other countries of the Middle East, while Cossacks and Armenians settled in Chechnya. During the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78 the highlanders rose against Russia once more, but were defeated again.
[edit] Soviet Union
After the conquest of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus by the Bolshevik forces, finished in 1922, the Chechnya-Ingushetia region received status of an autonomous republic within the Soviet Union in 1936. The republic included not only the ethnically Chechen mountains but also large stretches of steppe inhabited by the Terek Cossacks.
During World War II, despite the fact that about 40,000 Chechens and Ingushes fought in the Red Army (50 of them received the highest recognition of the Hero of the Soviet Union), the Soviet government accused them of cooperating with the Nazi invaders, who had controlled the western parts of Chechnya-Ingushetia for several months of the 1942/1943 winter. It was claimed that some Chechens were eager to show the Nazis mountain passages leading to Azerbaijan, whose oil reserves were the goal of the Operation Blue.
On orders from Stalin the entire population of the republic was exiled to Kazakhstan. Over a quarter died. The Chechens were allowed to return only in 1957, four years after Stalin's death in 1953. In 1949 Soviet authorities erected a statue of 19th century Russian general Aleksey Yermolov in Grozny. The inscription read, "There is no people under the sun more vile and deceitful than this one."
In the 20th century some lowland territories of Chechnya changed their owners several times. After Russian Civil War lands populated by Cossacks and Russian colonists were granted to Chechens and Ingushes as a reward for their support of the Bolsheviks against the White movement. Later these lands were partially returned to the Cossacks or Ossetians. [1]
[edit] Post-Soviet Chechnya
After the demise of the Soviet Union, the situation in Chechnya became unclear. Below is the chronology of that time
- sometime During the Soviet era, there was the Checheno-Ingushkaya ASSR, consisting of Chechnya and Ingushetia. In 1990 it was renamed to the Checheno-Ingushkaja Respublika (Chechen-Ingush Republic).
- On September 1, 1991 some Chechen politicians formed the "National Congress of Chechen People", declared that part of the Chechen-Ingush Republic became an independent state of the Chechen Republic and stated that supreme power is given to the Executive Committee lead by Dzhokhar Dudayev.
- On September 2, 1991 a group of religious and public figures made a petition, claiming that the Executive Committee was not legitimate and that actions of the Committee might inevitably lead to bloodshed.
- On September 6, 1991 the building of the Supreme Soviet was occupied by Dzhokhar Dudayev's guards.
- On September 15, 1991, a last session of the Supreme Soviet of the Chechen-Ingush Republic took place, and it decided to dissolve itself (under the request of Dudayev's guards).
- On October 1, 1991 some of the ex-deputies decided to divide the republic into the Chechen Republic and the Ingush Republic.
- On October 27, 1991, an unofficial election was held. Less than 20% (probably 12%) of the population participated, and Dzhokhar Dudayev was elected. Many false ballots were made, so the number of ballots significantly exceeded number of registered voters.
- On November 1, 1991 Dudayev issued a decree of Chechen independence (Указ об "Об объявлении суверенитета Чеченской Республики с 1 ноября 1991 г.")
- On November 2, 1991, the 5th Assembly of People's Deputies of RSFSR (the Russian parliament of that time) took place. A resolution was issued stating that the Chechen Supreme Soviet and President were not legitimate.
- On May, 1993 Chechen parliament and Muftiat (Islamic high council) made an appeal to the Chechen people to defend the old constitution and restore legitimate power. The decision of the Chechen constitutional court was that Dudayev's actions were illegal.
The civil war then started. The Russian federal government refused to recognize Chechen independence and made several attempts to take full control of the territory of the Chechen Republic. The federal government supported a failed coup designed to overthrow Dudayev in 1994.
As a background, many ethnic minorities exist in the Russian Federation alongside a predominantly Russian culture, and commentators speculate that if Russia permits Chechen independence, then other groups might also push for independence.
[edit] First Chechen War (1994-1996)
Main article: First Chechen War
Russian federal forces overran Grozny in November, 1994. Although the forces achieved some initial successes, the federal military made a number of critical strategic blunders during the Chechnya campaign and was widely perceived as incompetent. Led by Aslan Maskhadov, separatists conducted successful guerrilla operations from the mountainous terrain. By March 1995, Aslan Maskhadov became leader of the Chechen resistance.
In June, 1995, Chechen guerrillas occupied a hospital in the southern Russian town of Budyonnovsk (in Stavropol Krai), taking over 1,000 hostages. Federal forces attempted to storm the hospital twice and failed; the guerrillas were allowed to leave after freeing their hostages. This incident, televised accounts of war crimes and mass destruction, and the resulting widespread demoralization of the federal army, led to a federal withdrawal and the beginning of negotiations on March 21, 1996.
Separatist President Dudayev was killed in a Russian rocket attack on April 21, 1996 and the Vice-president Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev became president. Negotiations on Chechen independence were repeatedly finally tabled in August 1996, leading to the end of the war and withdrawal of federal forces.
Aslan Maskhadov was elected President in 1997, but was unable to consolidate control as the country devolved into regional bickering among local teip leaders and organized criminal factions.
[edit] Second Chechen War (1999-2002) and its consequences
Main article: Second Chechen War
In August 1999 renegade separatist Chechen army commanders led a band of soldiers into Dagestan. Headed by Shamil Basayev and Amir Khattab, the insurgents fought Russian forces in Dagestan for a week before being driven back into Chechnya proper. On September 9, 1999, Chechens were blamed for the bombing of an apartment complex in Moscow and several other explosions in Russia (see:Russian Apartment Bombings).The Russian government claims that there is also strong evidence that local terrorist activity is supported with money and arms from Islamic militant groups such as Al-Qaeda.
Russia's new prime minister Vladimir Putin, ordered forces back into Chechen territory on pretexts of Dagestan raid and the bombings. Currently, most of Chechnya is controlled by the federal military and republican police. In 2002, federal forces installed a government of pro-Moscow Chechens into local government offices. In 2003, referendum on constitution and presidential election were held and a republic's government formed. Chechens who work in government jobs are very often assassinated by the Chechen separatist forces.
Some of the Chechen separatist forces have retreated into Georgia. Russia accuses the Georgian government of willingly harboring militants and demands that the Georgian government take action against the separatists. Several separatists have been detained by Georgian authorities, but Russia claims that these are empty gestures, and has repeatedly warned Georgia that if real measures are not taken soon to control the Chechen separatists, it would bomb the perceived rebel sanctuaries in the country.[citation needed]
Vladimir Putin announced that the Chechen war had ended in early 2002, but separatist forces still control a large portion of the mountainous southern regions of the country and regularly skirmish with federal troops and pro-federal Chechens. However, in according with the announcement, the federal army releases power to the republican police.
Both the federal and separatist armies have been widely criticized by human rights groups such as Amnesty International for alleged war crimes committed during the two Chechen wars, including well-documented accusations on both sides of rape, torture, looting, and the murder of civilians.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- History of Chechnya at Columbia Encyclopedia
- (in English and Russian) Official rebel website, the Chechenpress.
- History of Chechnya at ChechnyaFree.ru, Official Russian government website
- The history of the ChRI (in Russian)
- FIDH: Terror and Impunity : A Planned System
- Russia's Splitting Headache - A Brief History Of Chechnya
