The heroic ballads known as "illi" had been replaced, by the second half of the 19th century, by lyrical songs with an anticolonial message. The main character of these songs protests against the imposition of foreign will and seeks freedom. Songs of the late 19th century make wide use of such words as "hard labor," "prison," and "exile." Take, for example, "The Song Of A Hard Labor Convict," "To A Bird." "Don't You Weep, My Lad," "An Old Chechen Ditty," "The Song Of A Siberian Exile." Lyrical songs of that period reveal how the people felt. The song "The High Mountains" says: You are standing high, oh ye mountains! You are spreading far and wide, oh ye mountains! How many starving orphans have found refuge On the cliffs that cut through the clouds... Oh, if I could only share the grief of my heart With the blue sky, the sky would drop down To the sprawling expanses of oceans and deserts - So much grief I hold in my breast! Chechen poet M.Mamakayev and translating poet Nikolai Asanov wrote in the introduction to An Anthology Of Chechen-Ingush Verse (The State Publishing House of Belle Lettre Literature, Moscow, 1959): "These manifestations of the oral tradition are reflective of the life of the Chechens and the Ingushis, their hopes and dreams, and all their joys and sorrows. There is nothing sadder that old Chechen songs: the autumn wind rustling in a mountain canyon, tears shed for the people who seemed to have no future." The song "The Red Deer" is one of the most interesting pieces of the Chechen lyrics: He will not wet his parched tongue With the icy water of a mountain spring. Downwards - to the bottom of the canyon he goes every day And, his ears pricked, he laps water from the ground, He drinks yet feels thirsty, and he has not a moment of sleep: An enemy will catch him as soon as his head gets heavy with sleep. The red deer is always on the alert, he takes a look around And washes his body with his thin tongue. He sharpens his antlers at the cliff, With his hoof beating impatiently on the roots of a tree. And, his antlers lying flat on his shoulders, He rushes forward with a call to the does. He gets no answer. He is all alone... Oh, young highlander! You are just like him: always wanting more love and failing to get it! (more...)

Famous Chechens
Cultural figures
Tapa Elimbaev

It is widely believed that all Chechens are good dancers. Whenever there is a holiday both young and old are dancing. That is the tradition. The 20th century marked the beginning of dance on stage. Tapa Elimbaev became one of the first professional choreographers in Chechnya. His career started in a school dance club. He was then a student of a culture and propaganda school and a soloist of the folk song and dance ensemble under vocational training schools. Later on, from 1960 to 1964, he was the ensembles leader. Those were the years when he came up with his first experimental productions. Elimbaev got his second higher education at the producers and choreographers faculty of the Moscow State Institute of Theatrical Art. Right after graduation he worked in Germany at the Berlin School of Choreography and on stages of famous Berlin theatres Komische Oper, Staats Oper and Friedrichstaats Palaz, where he staged two one-act ballets. In the 70s Elimbaev became the leader of the state folk ensemble of the Chechen-Ingush republic, which he soon transformed into the Vainakh dance ensemble. There he proved himself as a master choreographer. Elimbaevs original productions, such as Under Vainakh Skies, Shepherds Dance, A Mountain Legend, Horsemens Dance, Benoye Dance, and joke dances Married Bachelors and The Party formed the basis of a tour program, which the Vainakh ensemble showed in many countries of the world: Mozambique, Kenya, South America, Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Jordan. Tapa Elimbaev is Merited Artist of the Russian Federation and a number of other republics, National Prize Laureate, winner of international festivals and Young Communist League Prize winner. He is currently the head of the Bazhaev childrens art academy Vainakh in Moscow. The children study dancing, painting and applied arts. Elimbaevs talent and professionalism guarantee that the academy will raise a new generation of masters of arts of the Chechen Republic.
(more about famous chechens...)

Chechen cuisine
Grain dishes
Siskal-churek (serves 1)

Corn flour - 168 g , Water - 100 g , Salt - 2 g
Sift flour. Heat water to 50 to 60 degrees Celsius. Add water to flour. Knead and cut batter into 1.5 to 2.0 cm-thick circles of 20 to 25 cm in diameter. Bake in ungreased griddle turning over at regular intervals. Serve with kald-dyatta or to-beram and Kalmyk tea.
Kald-dyatta
Cottage cheese - 64 g , Melted butter - 20 g, Egg - half , Salt- 5 g
Mix thoroughly salted cottage cheese and melted or unmelted butter and finely chopped boiled egg.
To-beram, Cottage cheese - 40 g , Sour cream - 60 g , Salt - 5 g
Mix thoroughly salted cottage cheese and sour cream.
Kalmyk tea , Milk- 100 g , Green tea (pressed) - 4g , Pepper- 0.1 g ,
Butter- 10 g , Salt - 0.5 g , Boiled water - 100 g
Put pressed green tea into boiling water. Wait till tea comes to boil. Let cool for 5 minutes, filter, add scalded milk, salt, black pepper, butter.
more ...)

Issue 28
24.09.02

Chechen diary

24 September 2002  Handover of authority over counter-terrorist operation is on table

As the situation in Chechnya is changing to the better, there will be no need for Russian Defense Ministry units to stay there, said Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasilyev. Police, he said, will handle order in the republic on its own. The building of the law enforcement agencies on native personnel is still in progress in Chechnya, said the Deputy Minister. It is hardly possible to create full-fledged district police offices this year, he noted, because new and previous police staff needs to be thoroughly selected and retrained. Handover of authority over the counter-terrorist operation from the Federal Security Service to the Interior Ministry is considered in the context of general situation in the republic. The final decision is yet to be made, he said, but it is not a long way coming as the terrorist activity is curbed in. Vladimir Vasilyev cited several positive developments Chechnya has seen this year, referring to growing tax revenues coming from oil industry, and bumper harvest, all indicating that things look good in the republic. No matter how hard terrorists are trying to undermine the situation in Chechnya, they will not succeed, V. Vasilyev emphasized. (more from Chechen diary)

23 September 2002  Oil and gas extraction in Chechnya on the up

The oil network of Chechnya is up-and-running and is working for the good of all people of the republic, says general director of the Grozneftegaz Baudi Khamidov. The enterprise employs some 5 000 people. All oil extracted is sold abroad. Nearly 721 000 tons of oil have been exported this year bringing in a total of 2,6 billion rubles. All revenue is put into the republics coffers. The local budget has received 350 million rubles in taxes this year. Even tax payments to the federal budget are getting back to the republic. More than 816 000 tons of oil have been extracted in Chechnya since the beginning of the year, which is 100 000 tons more than last year. Five oil fields and 13 wells have already been put into operation this year and 23 gushers destroyed. Overall, 54 oil wells are presently on track in Chechnya. About 125,9 billion cubic meters of gas have been extracted in the republic this year. Gas pipeline network has been restored by now and corporate gas consumers are put on tabs. Steady advances of the oil-and-gas industry go a long way toward the growth of tax and non-tax revenues in Chechnya. According to the office of Vladimir Elagin, minister handling social and economical revival of Chechnya, federal share of revenues grew ten-fold, 785,3 million rubles, year-on-year and republican one grew two-fold, 626,5 million rubles. (more from Chechen diary)

22 September 2002  Bureau of Mr. Sultigov is ready to provide real aid for the Chechen people

Reorganization of the Bureau of the Russian Presidents human rights envoy to Chechnya Abdul-Khakim Sultigov is in full swing. Mr. Sultigov has told our correspondent that staff is being selected at the moment for the bureau and its regional departments. Future officials must be respected and well-known in their districts and enjoy confidence of the local residents, administration and military. They must also have clearly defined civilian position and be ready to react not barely in word but truly in deed to any violation of human rights and freedoms whoever does it. The envoy underscored there are many such people in the republic, and the bureaus main task is to select best of them. Mr. Sultigov expects each regional department to have a direct-action unit, including a doctor and an ambulance car to examine an injured and apply emergency help, that is extremely crucial for the remote areas where one cannot call for first aid. The bureau will likewise contribute to ensuring rights of living, medical assistance and help at child-birth. The human rights envoy in Chechnya believes curfews must not spread on ambulance cars since, medical emergency is beyond the bounds of politics. (more from Chechen diary)

22 September 2002  Railway terminal in Grozny revamped

Restoration work at the Grozny railroad terminal is largely complete. The building is almost totally revamped, passenger halls are already on tap, and booking stalls are upgraded with modern equipment. According to the terminals director Leila Taramova, the railway station is now the best building in the Chechen capital. The restoration involved all personnel of the station who worked shoulder to shoulder, both rank-and-file and managers. Counterparts from Mineralnye Vody also did their bit by installing electric devices and laying communication. By winter, the terminal intends to resume railway traffic between Grozny and Moscow. The trains bound there are presently setting off from Gudermes. This route is functioning without a glitch: trains have been shuttling there regularly and Chechen railroaders drew rebukes from neither the North Caucasian railroad nor from any other arteries the train goes through. The route from Grozny, however, will be more convenient and needed. It is still a long way to go before the line is opened. The job at hand is to repair approaching tracks, upgrade the carriage and locomotive park, and many other things are yet to be done. Grozny railroaders are planning to launch two more routes linking the city with Rostov-na-Donu and Astrakhan. (more from Chechen diary)

Chechen history

The history of Russian-Chechen relations


The history of Russian-Chechen relations
(continuation) Chechens responded with uprisings. The tsarist regime tried to resolve the problem by force, by exterminating, isolating and deporting the most active of the rebels. But the policy provoked new disturbances. A significant fact was that laws regulating the rights and freedoms of citizens of the Russian Empire did not spread on Chechens and Ingushes. Chechnya was ruled by the so-called "military-people's administration". Analyzing the reasons for the Caucasian war it has to be pointed out that it resulted from both the military expansion of the tsarist regime and the internal strife in the Caucasus, the struggle of the local elite for power and influence in the communities of the mountain people . The aggressive ethnic nationalism and religious extremism in Chechnya have always been opposed by pro-Russian forces supporting a secular democratic state and traditional Islam. Analyzing the Caucasian war, the history of Russian-Chechen relations, it is important to bear in mind the social and class nature of the movement of big ethnic groups. Meanwhile, ethnic movements, uprisings, revolutions and wars in the Caucasus of both the past and the present are caused, first of all, by social and economic reasons, backwardness and poverty of most of the population thrown at the mercy of the corrupt colonial administration and local bureaucracy. The whole experience of Russian-Caucasian relations testifies to a clash of interests of the elites that don't always coincide with national ones. The brightest example of that is the current "Chechen crisis". Undoubtedly, an element of inter-civilizational conflict is present in the confrontation between Russia and Chechnya but in our point of view, it is not a prevailing one. More than that, the ethnic factor has always been decisive in the Chechen resistance movement , which often acquired religious colouring. Preservation and development of the ethnic group has always taken the upper hand over religious wars. It would be good to remember that the mass consolidation of Chechen communities in the war against Russia and the invitation of Imam Shamil to Chechnya was not so much the result of the propaganda of ideas of "gazavat", as of General Grabbe's punitive operation in the small Chechen republic in 1840 and brutal reprisals against civilians. Violence and flagrant interference in their traditional way of life pushed the mountain people into war with Russia. Violence gave rise to violence. The same happened in the Chechen war of today. Launching large-scale military operations against civilians, Moscow provoked mass resistance to federal troops on the part of Chechens and aggressive separatism (nationalism). But even in that situation only part of Chechens participated in the armed struggle. Most people of Chechnya were against a war with Russia. More than that, some Chechen communities were fighting both against Imam Shamil and against Dudaev. Nevertheless, it was during the Caucasian war that the ideology of Chechen militant nationalism was born. This serves as a support for present-day separatists in Chechnya who reject Chechnya's union with democratic Russia, crossing peaceful constructive periods out of the history of Russian-Chechen relations. It should be borne in mind, however, that in the past war and Islam contributed a lot to the unification of Vainakh tribes laying the foundation for the formation of the Chechen nation and consolidating a considerable part of the population in their struggle against the tsarist policy of forced colonization.
(in detail...) 

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