Actual News from Chechnya

News update

According to the NATO Secretary General George Robinson the long term Chechen conflict can be settled with the use of military force as well as politically. This statement has been made by Robinson after his meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Robertson believes that this opinion is shared not only by the NATO but also by the countries that have already faced the problem of international terrorism. The NATO Secretary General admits that Russia should struggle against the terrorists on its territory. He also claims that terrorist mean tactics proves the necessity of fighting them in Chechnya.
(more...)

Chechen history

The third stage
The third stage of Russian-Chechen relations falls on the first half of the 19th century. During General A.P.Yermolov's term as Commander of the Russian army in the Caucasus (1816-1827) military pressure intensifies as Russian troops continue to advance deep into Chechnya. Chechnya responds by stepping up its resistance movement, which, for more than 30 years, was headed by Beibulat Teimiev. Teimiev for the first time managed to unite most of Chechen communities. And he made an attempt to unite mountain people too by concluding an alliance between free Chechnya and feudal principalities of the North Caucasus. Beibulat Taimiev called for a peaceful solution to the conflict and wanted to avoid a big war with Russia. His treacherous murder led to the escalation of military operations. The year 1828 became a turning-point in the Caucasian war. The struggle for independence waged by separate mountain communities in Chechnya and Daghestan entered a new phase. The muridism movement that started in Daghestan spread to the eastern areas of Chechnya. Imams Gazi-Magomed, Gamzat-Bek, Shamil and Tashov-Khadzhi headed "gazavat" - a holy war of Muslims against the infidels. In 1834 Imam Shamil succeeded in accomplishing what Sheik Mansur had started: to unite part of the North Caucasian highlanders in their struggle against tsarist Russia and set up a theocratic sharia state known as imamat that turned out capable enough to resist the world's strongest military power at the time for 27 years. In 1859 Shamil suffered defeat and became an honourary captive of Emperor Alexander II. He and his family were treated kindly by the tsar and they renounced the ideals of the Caucasian war. Chechnya found itself under tsarist military administration, and instead of autonomy in internal affairs as promised Chechens got a colonial regime with total violence and were driven to the foothills and mountain areas. In agreement with Turkey the tsarist regime began to deport Chechens to the Ottoman Empire. As a result, the tsarist authorities got rid of a considerable number of Chechens. 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".
(more about The history of Russian-Chechen relations ...)

Russia - Chechnya

Public organizations to Chechnya

The International Red Cross Committee has been handling charity efforts in the North Caucasus for ten years now. More than 250 000 people are receiving medications, food, and other aid from the organization. The committee has spent 27 million dollars for humanitarian programs this year. Projects for the next year are already on the drawing board. According to head of the Red Cross mission in Russia Michele Minning, there will be more help in 2003 going to refugee camps in Ingushetia and to Chechnya. The Red Cross is going to focus on the most underprivileged strata, namely the disadvantaged, orphans, single mothers, and families with many children. The committee had to reshuffle the lists of aid recipients for that. We are determined to continue our operations in the North Caucasus in close cooperation with other humanitarian organizations, said Michele Minning.
(more about Russia - Chechnya...)

Chechnya as seen by friends

Pavel Vasilyevich Florensky, academician, Doctor of Science (Geology and Mineralogy), professor of the Gubkin Oil-and-Gas University in Moscow, and the grandson of Pavel Alexandrovich Florensky, the great Russian philosopher and an Orthodox priest, who fell victim to Stalins purges, is closely linked with the Caucasus, part of which is Chechnya. Many of his students, who successfully worked on the oilfields in Chechnya, are restoring them now. More than once Pavel Florensky visited Chechnya, providing vocational guidance for his students during their industrial training. Pavel Florensky puts to his credit that he was acquainted with Imam Alimsultanov, a Chechen poet and singer song-writer, who was well known and very popular in the early 90s. They met in Abkhazia in 1993, where P.Florensky worked as ethnographer and reporter. Pavel Florensky praises highly Alim Sultanovs work as the author of ballades and songs of revelation. Most of all he likes The Silver-Headed Caucasus and a folk fable, About the Vainakh Traditions. Pavel Florensky remembers very well what Imam Alimsultanov told him about himself. A Chechen-Akkin by nationality and a representative of Eastern Vainakhs, he was born in Kyrgyzstan. When he was an one-year-old child, he was brought to his ancestors land. He finished a school in Grozny. Later he studied in a polytechnic institute. He was a land reclamation expert. As a poet and a singer song-writer, he was well-versed in the Vainakh folk tradition illi. Its three major components are ashug (a folk singer song-writer in the Caucasus), a three-string dechik-pondur (a traditional Caucasian musical instrument) and recitatives and legends about heroes. Imam Alimsultanov was an ashug by vocation. In the course of time he replaced his three-string pondur by a guitar a sign of time. He performed modern illis, rhyming them with folk tales and putting to music his favourite verses. He often used his own poems, the poems of Umar Yarychev, Mussa Geshayev, and also those of some other well-known Chechen poets in his songs. When I met with I. Alimsultanov, we used to ponder over the Chechens and the Russians common history, recollects P.V. Florensky. We were in absolute agreement that the fates of the Caucasian and the Russian peoples are closely inter-linked, he adds. I. Alimsultanov often compared a human society with a rainbow. All nations have their own cultures, religions, traditions, and customs, but taken together, they form a harmonious mosaic. I. Alimsultanov died in accident in Odessa in 1996. He is buried not far from Khasavyurt in Daghestan. Only a few of his songs have survived. Therefore, all the records that have been preserved are a dear memory for P.V. Florensky. Among them is a song to U. Yarychevs poem about F. Rubos painting The Capture of Shamil. In this song he ponders over the fate of the Caucasus and also over the fates of all those people from the Caucasus and other parts of Russia, who fell in the former wars.
more from Chechnya as seen by friends...)

Issue 42
12.11.02

Chechnya: news | arguments | facts

11 November 2002  Nurenergo does good job and there is more to come.
It is well known that the energy sector is the core of economy. This is only too true for Chechnya, whose economy has been virtually destroyed in the years of hostilities. So, the restoration in the republic has naturally started from that branch. The effort is handled by the Nurenergo union, subsidiary of RAO Unified Energy Systems funded from its budget. Multinational team of the Nurenergo led by one of the most influential people in Chechnya Nurdin Usamov has accomplished something next to impossible with the help of more than 1 000 experts from all across Russia. In almost no time at all, substations and transformer installations have been reconstructed in all districts of the republic and thousands of kilometers of power lines have been laid. As a result, more than 250 population centers are provided with energy now, both in flat country and in mountainous districts. Agriculture sector has also become a priority. The enterprises of the industry remain non-power-consuming, even though last year brought a generous crop yield and vine- and vegetable-growing are clambering to their feet. Electric power is largely exploited for lighting and partly for grain processing. It is necessary to restore processing workshops, dryers, etc. Nurenergo takes on board a difficult financial situation in the countryside. Though the common practice is that a consumer must restore engineering network on his own, farmers have been made an exception. Tens of farms have been provided with electricity and transformer installations. And all this has been done as much as cost-free. Nurenergo has a long row to hoe. The to-do list includes reserve lines, backup capacities, and addressing issues of telemechanics and automatics. In a word, it is imperative to enhance reliability of the energy network. One of the main tasks is activating the power station in Argun. It will permit to transfer current to integrated house-building factory, sugar plant, and meat complex. This will provide thousands of jobs. This is how energy workers contribute to improving the social and economic situation in the Chechen Republic.
(more News from Chechnya)

11 November 2002  Itum Kalinsky district: 9 schools in Chechnya mountains

Chechnya is a field of arduous labour today. There are many pressing issues to tackle. But at the same time one has to look into the future. And the republics future is children. This is what head of the Itum-Kalinsky district administration Edilbek Uzuev thinks. It is largely thanks to his efforts that the educational situation has improved in this mountainous district. 626 pupils have gone to school this year and there were just over one hundred of them in local schools in 2000. 4 secondary, 3 incomplete secondary, and two junior schools are functioning in Itum-Kalinsky district now. The schools are provided with manuals by 70 percent. Another problem is lack of space. Two schools are still based on rented premises and another two in tents. Head of the district education department Sobi Shakhbulatova feels sure that enthusiasm and professional attitude of local teachers yields palpable results even in such dire straights. Childrens eyes are shining with thirst for learning. Itum-Kalinsky district is a border territory. Good neighbourly relations with the locals based on mutual help have long become a tradition among the border guards who provided a more than 140-thousand rubles worth of schoolbooks to the local schools as part of a humanitarian effort. S. Shakhbulatova says teachers who would like to work in the district are always welcome. Pedagogues earn 3,5 to 4 000 rubles on average. The local authorities are actively helping in resolving housing issues.
(more News from Chechnya...)

10 November 2002  Childrens healthcare in Chechnya

The Chechen Deputy Health Minister handling maternity and childhood care Sultan Alimkhadzhiev has said that the recent census in Chechnya shows that the average number of children in a family is four or five and the birth rate in the republic is at 21.2 percent. The health Ministry gives priority to childrens healthcare. As a result the number of beds in childrens hospitals has recently increased and a republican childrens hospital for one hundred children and a 12-bed intensive care ward at the republican hospital for children in Grozny have been commissioned. The second childrens hospital in the city has also opened an intensive care ward for nine persons. The intensive care wards are being built in the district hospitals too. The maternity hospitals in the republic are 70 percent equipped with special equipment. The organization of pregnant womens healthcare by the doctors at the district antenatal clinics has reduced the childrens fatality rate. A reduction in the number of handicapped children born has been noted. The death rate of the unborn children has reduced too. To this end on the recommendations of the health ministry the number of Caesarian sections have increased and the women with seams on wombs and those who experienced the death of foetus or gave birth to children with pathology are being registered. They are under the observation of doctors at the mother and child centre opened recently at the central maternity hospital. Chechnya also realizes several projects to improve childrens heath. For one, the programme of Chechnyas children consists of several sections such as safe motherhood, handicapped children and orphans. Among the others are endocrinology and anti-tuberculosis programmes. The Chechen government and the fund for essential medical insurance help to realize these programmes. Under this programmes 15 000 children were vaccinated against hepatitis this year. To this end the government bought vaccines for 15 million rubles. International humanitarian agencies of the Organization for Security and Cooperation and the United Nations and Red Cross help Chechnya to equip childrens hospitals and clinics.
(more News from Chechnya...)

10 November 2002  Public service center in Gudermes Region
The center includes hairdressers saloon, tailors shop, TV, radio and photoshops, providing services of all sorts for the population and state and private enterprises. In comparison with commercial centers, the prices are considerably lower here. The equipment for the shops and hairdressers saloon as well as various materials are supplied by the Chechen governmental committee for publis service. The equipment is new and updated. All the centers officials are the local residents. The three-storey building houses the tailors shop,Spring, with four deprtments. One more department functions in tailors shop 2. Its specialists sew custom-made coat, costumes and working uniforms. High in demands are the bedding items. The center frequently receives large orders from the enterprises. One of the latest was 700 bedding iteds. 40 tailors work to provide daily service for up to 200 consumers. According to the centers director, Emdi Shakhmurzaev, the working process is well-run and the center can cope with even more orders. Given returning of the situation in Chechnya to normal, the center prepares for receiveing more clients. (more News from Chechnya)

09 November 2002  News for Chechen readers

Though the Chechen National Library in Grozny has yet to rebuild, it carries on functioning in a temporary premise. The library houses only 7.5 thousand books but even these are actively used by students. Meanwhile, the officials are very optimistic about the future and preparing for a large-scale work. 10 officials of the Library are receiving training in the III all-Russia library innovation technologies school in Belgorod. A library for children has resumed its activity in Gudermez. The previous building burnt. The local administration has allocated a new premise, bookshelves and updated equipment for the library. The residents aid restore the book funds and along with the officials take part in repairing the building. Early next year over 10 thousand books with worlds fairy tales in Chechen will be delivered from Moscow. The books will be distributed free of charge in schools and preschool centers of Chechnya. According to the head of the press-service of the Chechen representative office to the Russian President, Edi Isaev, the action is charitable and sponsored by the Moscow publishing house, AST. Furthermore, preparations for the edition of the Chechen folk tales in Russian are under way. (more News from Chechnya)

Chechen traditions

Modern customs and traditions

The word "adat" stands for "custom" in the Arabic language and for "common law" in the world of Islam. It complements the rules of Sharia' law. It came into being in tribes and clans that allowed for blood feud, sworn kinship, etc. It is a set of rules for the daily life of clans and family units. It is a compilation of moral norms and traditions and, in fact, a real code of conduct that brings together all the different aspects of communal life in Chechnya. Chechen ethnographer Said-Magomed Khasiyev speaks about adat in the "Daimekhkan Az" ("The Voice of The Motherland") newspaper of ethnic Chechens abroad. He says that - "there are adats that elevate man, help him become better. They differ greatly from what the Chechens call "lamkersts" (the pagan customs of highland Chechnya.) Most Chechens reject these. Here is what a legend says. The famous highway robber and a kind of Chechen Robin Hood Zelimkhan met a grief-stricken woman. He asked her what had happened. "They took away my baby,"- the woman sobbed out. Zelimkhan hurried up after the kidnappers and soon saw two men who were carrying, wrapped up in a coat, the woman's baby. Zelimkhan begged and pleaded with them, asking them, for God's sake, for the sake of their parents and forebears, to return the infant to its mother. All in vain. He started threatening them and they slew the baby. What could Zelimkhan do but kill them? - Adat forbids Chechens to hurt small children and teenagers, women and elderly people. Even blood feuds exclude children, women and elderly people. But those who obey the pagan customs of highland Chechnya allow a revenger to go so far as to kill a woman. Take another example. A man steals a horse only to fall off the stolen animal and break his neck. Pagan law holds the owner of the stolen horse responsible for the thief's death. Adat holds no one but the dead thief to blame for what has happened: he stole another man's horse and his kinsmen ought to apologize for this. They have to give a gift to the owner of the stolen horse and, naturally, return the animal. More examples. Adat demands that a man keep order where he lives. A Chechen has two homes, a private (his regular home) and a public one (the village square.) Imagine, for example, that fighting breaks out on the village square. The farther from the square the fighters live, the more they will have to pay in reimbursement for the damages.Adat envisages different payments for wounds inflicted on the left and right-hand halves of human body. If a young man kidnaps a girl he likes, to be able to marry her, he ought to ask the girl if she would like to marry him or someone else. If she says she loves another man, the hapless bridegroom turns into a match-maker. This dramatic turn of developments occasionally put an end to hostilities, brought feuding families to peace. There are people who obey the rules of adat and there are people who stick to the rules of pagan law, in today's Chechnya. The latter feel free to steal, show off, use force. They may kidnap, rape or kill a girl." Said-Magomed Khasiyev is calling for an emphasis on the time-tested rules of adat. He points to the basic difference between adat and the rules of pagan law. He sees respect of adat as a way to the revival of public morality. "There will be no revival," - he says - "until everyone learns to ask themselves what good deeds they have done today. Chechens used to believe that every day man is given nine chances to do good and nine chances to go wrong. Tread not on a bug, keep from saying bad words, throw evil thoughts out of your head - this way you'll learn to do good. This is a way to high standards of public morality."
(more about chechen traditions...)

Copyright © CHECHNYA FREE.RU