Actual News from Chechnya

News update

Chechnya should restore its housing sector on its own with financial support from the federal centre, the Board of the State Construction committee was told by Chairman Nikolai Koshman. Bringing over the work force and construction materials from other regions was a mistake in the previous restoration campaign in Chechnya, Koshman declared. Chechnya has enough construction organizations of its own, enough construction workers who can guarantee quite decent construction standards, Koshman told Itar-Tass. According to preliminary estimates, restoration in Grozny and settlements on the right-hand bank might take no less than five years, Koshman said. A plan of the city restoration presented to the Board of the construction committee by an expert of a Moscow construction research institute envisages re-location of an administrative centre in Grozny, enlargement of a green zone and construction of two traffic rings around the city.
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More than 20 members of bandit units, who committed crimes in the guise of servicemen of the federal forces, were arrested in Chechnya over the past 5 months, Russia's deputy Prosecutor-General Sergei Fridinsky said. According to RIA Novosti, among the arrestees were two criminals who had kidnapped Kenneth Gluck of Doctors without Borders, he said. While committing their crimes, militants disguised as Russian servicemen spoke Russian, introduced themselves as Russian special services' agents, and asked people for documentd as though they were checking passports, Fridinsky narrated. It was in this manner that they kidnapped and killed Chechen mufti Gichikayev in December 2002. According to Fridinsky, militants disguised as Russian soldiers committed around 80 crimes against Chechen civilians and servicemen of the federal forces.
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Chechen history

Chechnya | Questions and answers

This pamphlet is about Chechnya , a Russian territory which has witnessed the most tragic events over the past decade. The book is the latest update on the Chechen Republic . And this is very important, since a lack of fresh and accurate information about events in Chechnya generates many distorted conceptions and rumours - both within and outside Russia . For example, that Chechen society is allegedly inherently alien to Russia , that pro-Russian elements in the republic are marginalised; and lastly, that Russian power structures are fighting the Chechen people, rather than armed bandit groups. The reality, however, is that only with the return of the legitimate authorities are villages and towns being restored, children going to school for the first time in many years, and pensioners receiving long-forgotten pensions, i.e. a social rebirth is underway. Lying ahead are a referendum on a new Chechen constitution, and parliamentary and presidential elections. These votes will be held, despite continued attempts by bandit groups and their leaders to scupper the process of normalisation in the republic, the latest terrorist act being the bombing of the republican government building. The war being waged by Chechen separatists against federal forces and more often than not against their own co-citizens is by no means a "national liberation struggle of the Chechen people", but an episode in the overall offensive by international terrorism on the fundamental principles of modern civilisation. The facts show that being a part of the Russian Federation in no way threatens the Chechen Republic 's cultural identity, the free use of its own language, and preaching Islam. On the contrary, it was during de facto "independence" from Russia that the Chechen people suffered a humanitarian tragedy on an unprecedented scale. Hostage-taking, the slave trade and plundering came to form the economic basis of the new regime, while chaos and war became the form of its political existence. We want to emphasise once more: Chechnya is part of Russia , geographically, politically and civilisation-wise. So a hypothetical triumph of radical Islamism on its territory would be anti-historical. Such a development would signify the establishment in the midst of Europe of a Taliban-like regime, with all ensuing consequences for the international community. The corporate author - journalists of the Russian Information Agency Novosti - have attempted to be as brief as possible on providing answers to the most-often asked questions (above all posed by a foreign audience) about the Chechen issue. Hence the book's title: " Chechnya : Questions and Answers". It draws heavily on information provided by various Russian ministries and departments that in one or another way are involved in normalising life in the republic.
Russian Information Agency Novosti
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Chechen ethnos

Chechens as an ethnic group

In the 15th century, highland Chechens started building villages on the outskirts of the Nakh kingdom of Simsim (Simsir.) The Chechens were then locked up in fierce fighting with the Horde-backed Kumyk, Noghai and Kabardian Princes and Khans who used as their own the flatland fields and pastures the Chechens had been forced to cede to the nomads.What is known as the heroic Illi - epic legends and ballads - date back to that period. Farming and livestock breeding reach a qualitatively new level. The Chechens get to know more about metals and start manufacturing household utensils and weaponry of copper, zinc and silver, as well as iron. Village artisans work wonders. Weapons, jewelry, various kinds of household utensils are made for sale. Oral and literary sources make mention of streets and even villages populated entirely by blacksmiths, gunsmiths, makers, jewelers.Things manufactured in that period have been found all over Chechnya and Ingushetia. Remnants of potmakers' ovens, smithies and artisans' shops date to the Middle Ages. The potmaker's oven found near the village of Duba Yurt has been almost undamaged by time. It was made in the 13th, if not 11th, century. Certain cross sections of society could read and write. The Nakh tribes, larger communities and khanates maintained diplomatic correspondence with neighboring nations, like Georgia.
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Issue 80
29.03.03

Chechnya: news | arguments | facts

24 Mart 2003  Chechen athletes to take part in all All-Russia championships this year
Chechnya s minister for sport and physical culture Haidar Alkhanov has said that Chechen athletes would participate more vigorously in Russian competitions. The Graeco-Roman wrestling tournament of the Southern federal district among 14 and 15-year olds in Mahachkala featured 12 wrestlers from youth sport school in Naurskaya. The Chechen team was led by Arbi Machuraev. Overall, the event brought together more than 200 athletes. S. Usmanov from the Kirov village became champion in the most prestigious 87-kg weight. I. Magomadov from Naurskaya stanitsa became bronze-winner in the 35-kg division. Both booked a spot in the finale of the Russian Graeco-Roman wrestling championship that starts in Volgograd on April 9. The Chechen team participated in the youth free-style wrestling championship of the southern federal district that wound up in Elista. The results showed that Chechen wrestlers are yet unable to square up to athletes from Dagestan and North Osetia. The Chechen team did not win any medals. However, six Chechen athletes will take part in the finale of the Russian championship that will take place early in April in St. Petersburg. More than 150 sambo fighters from 15 cities of Russias 4 federal districts took part in the third championship among 10 to 14-year olds that was held in St. Petersburg in commemoration of the paratroopers of the 6th expeditionary force company killed in Chechnya . Chechnya was represented by 5 athletes. Its team was led by H. Abdulaziev from youth sport school in Argun and Z. Ahmadov from profile sport school of the Olympic reserve. The wrestlers competed in two weight groups, 13-14 year olds and 12-10 year olds. Four Chechen athletes featured in the first group and one in the second. All five won medals. 32 kg H. Ahmadov from Argun and 72 kg I. Islamov from Argun too became gold-winners. 38 kg H. Jabrailov from the settlement of Aldy competed among 12-10 year olds. Losing three points to hosting fighter in the final bout, he accomplished a four-point throw seconds before the end and took the title. There is also one silver and one bronze medal in Chechnya s tally. Silver-winner A. Ayubov from Argun was declared best wrestler of the tournament. The trip of the Chechen athletes was funded by the Chechen youth affairs committee. Gudermes hosted the Chechen heavy athletics championship. There are about 10 heavy athletics training groups now in the republic. In recent years, they prepared several Russian champions and medal winners of European tournaments. The present Chechen championship featured two Russian masters of sport and several candidate-masters. On teams standings, heavy lifters of the Grozny rural district left others behind. Pupils of K. Magomadov from the Berdekel village grabbed the bulk of medals. They were followed by athletes from Urus-Martan and Gudermes.
(more News from Chechnya)

25 Mart 2003  Education minister visited Chechnya
Chechnya will receive every assistance to restore its educational system. Thats the promise given by Russia s education minister Vladimir Philipov who during his first visit to Chechnya took part in the meeting of the republics education ministry held on March 12 in the regional center Znamenskaya. Addressing education ministrys workers Mr. Philipov declared that education is now within the reach of all Chechens : 450 schools with a pupils enrolment of 200 thousands are functioning in Chechnya . He promised that before the end of the academic year 100 volumes of artistic classical literature will be sent to all the schools. Schools will also be supplied with sporting equipment and computers. According to minister Philipov Chechen teachers have suggested that Russian language should be the medium of instruction in republican schools while Chechen language should be a compulsory subject. That proposal has been included in the draft of the law on education for Chechnya drawn up by Chechen teachers and scientists.. That law will come into force on September 1 2003. Education minister Philipov says that much attention is being given to the development of a network of pre-school institutions in Chechnya Currently kindergartens are attended by 5 per cent of Chechen children. 500 thousand dollars will be spent to develop pre-school education in the republic, minister Philipov disclosed revealing however that in the last 7 to 8 years young Chechens aged 17 to 25 years had not received professional training . For them the so-called resource centers on the basis of professional specialized schools and technical secondary schools have been established. Young people can receive general education and other professions in such centers. Vladimir Philipov said that in 3 years the Chechen education ministry has done a lot of work and the credit for that must go to the teachers. He decorated a number of education workers with merited education worker medal.
(more News from Chechnya)

26 Mart 2003  Chechen prosecutors office is 3 years old
Vladimir Kravchenko legal adviser class 3 is the prosecutor general of Chechnya. At the present time there are 15 prosecutors offices in Chechnya manned by 263 legal officers out of whom 112 are Chechens. In 3 years of work 9 officers have died performing their official duty but despite all the difficulties prosecutors continue to serve conscientiously and selflessly. Last year alone they opened investigations into more than 3 thousand criminal cases out of which 2315 have been completed and sent to the courts for listing and hearing. A few days ago Chechen prosecutor general Kravchenko again called on members of illegal armed units to lay down their arms and go back to a peaceful life. I am ready to guarantee security to all those who lay down their weapons, Mr. Kravchenko said . Last year 66 militants laid down weapons and all of them were allowed to go free after appropriate investigations. The establishment in 2002 of district military prosecutors offices has helped to a large extent in improving the state of law and order in Chechnya. Five military prosecutor offices are currently functioning in Khankale, Shali, Borzoi and Itum-Kale. Participation by employees of military prosecutors office in all anti-terrorist operations is mandatory. Starting from the autumn of 1999 50 Russian servicemen have been prosecuted by military courts for crimes against local inhabitants and in 2002 19 criminal investigations were launched.
(more News from Chechnya...)

27 Mart 2003  K. Ibrahimov: Russian intellectuals
The gathering of Chechen and Moscow writers in the Russian capital brought to a close the festival of Chechen culture. In the hall of the international community of writers union poets and prose writers talked about common problems, remembered friends and read their works. The Chechen writer and playwright Sayid-Hamzat Nunyev chaired the gathering. Chechen guests heard a lot of pleasant words said about them. The well known poetess Lyudmila Shipahina spoke about her friendship with Raisa Ahmatova. Chechens believe in eternal friendship, she said and her response ended with a poem which was concluded like this:

"Old dignities not dropping,
In heavens guilt not measuring,
Chechnya my sister,
Lets embrace in tears."

Chechen history

Chechens (self-assumed name nokhchi) are the worlds most ancient people with unique anthropological type and culture. They are the largest ethnic group in the North Caucasus (more than 1 million people). The neighbouring Ingush people are very similar in genotype, culture and religion. Together they form the Vainakh people related by blood, common history, territorial, economic and cultural links and language. Vainakhs (Chechens, Ingushes) are aborigines of the Caucasus and speak Nakh, a language that belongs to the Iberian-Caucasian language family. The Vainakh (Chechen) ethnic and cultural complex was formed on the basis of various aboriginal people. Historically the Chechen community was formed as multi-ethnic and it kept absorbing ethnic elements of nomadic people and neighbouring high-landers, the evidence of which being the non-Vainakh origin of many Chechen clans.
The history of Chechnya can be described as a continuing struggle for freedom and independence against outside enemies, in which periods of prosperity alternated with defeats and new attempts to revive the statehood. In the early Middle Ages (4th-12th centuries) Chechens had to take up arms to defend themselves against invaders from Rome, Sasanid Iran, Arab Caliphate and Khazar Kaganate. The centuries-long struggle forged a military union of highlanders and laid the foundation for their statehood.
Early class states on the territory of Chechnya and Daghestan
A state structure of early class type known as Serir kingdom existed in the mountains of Chechnya and Daghestan in the 4th-12th centuries; and the Alan multi-ethnic early feudal state was formed on the plains and foothills of the North Caucasus.The steppes of present-day Chechnya were part of the Khazar Kaganate.
So, in the early Middle Ages Vainakh tribes together with kindred peoples of the Caucasus attempted to create their own statehood.The ancestors of Chechen people took an active part in the political life of medieval Georgia, Serir, Alania, Khazaria.
The difficult process of the formation of the Chechen nation
In the 13th 14th centuries Chechens were forced to retreat to the mountains by the Tatar-Mongols. In the late 14th century Tamerlanes troops defeated Semsim state that existed on the territory of Chechnya, after which Chechens suffered a long period of decline. The physical, material and cultural losses of the Vainakh people after the invasion of Tamerlane were so great that the historical link of times and cultures was once again broken. After the fall of the Golden Horde Chechens gradually descended from the mountains and colonized the Chechen plain anew.
By that time Chechens knew only too well what the yoke of foreign conquerors and their own feudal lords was like and rejected serfdom as incompatible with the whole of their previous history. In most of Chechnya they revived their traditional lifestyle on a qualitatively new level setting up free communities, where personal freedom became a value in itself but was limited by democratic and strict common law known as Adat. Since then belonging to tribal or feudal aristocracy was not enough for power to become hereditary. Individualism, cult of freedom and democracy were developed so strongly among the Vainakhs that at a certain stage they turned against the people themselves and began to hamper the process of the formation of the Chechen people. It was not accidental , that Chechen communities were at war with one another, and for fear of the elevation of people in their own midst that would create a precedent of power being hereditary, they chose rulers from representatives of either Kumyk or Kabardin dynasties, which, if need be, were easy to get rid of (which they did). Tribal Chechnya was afraid of elevating representatives of any of the Chechen clans. Hence they invited an impartial foreign prince (and the consequences of the baneful tradition are still making themselves felt).
Tribes and communities of highlanders all over the world live in big isolation and are notable for their independence and bellicosity. Slavery and serfdom are alien to mountain communities, where every man is a warrior. Feudal lords were able to spread their power on separate areas only and holding it was possible only when there was voluntary support from free and belligerent people. In the mountains family and tribal interests often prevailed over the national interests, so it was difficult to build a stable state structure there.
The Chechen community has always been a sort of non-state ethocratic one (in Greek etos means customs). Chechens had a tradition of holding peoples meetings, at which temporary warlords and community chiefs were elected but Vainakhs never had a tsar. For them the problem of consolidation was always a pressing one. Officer of the Russian Imperial Army Umalat Laudaev, a Chechen by origin, wrote in 1872 that a Chechen tribe consisting of numerous families that had quarreled with one another from time immemorial unanimity was alien. Hence residents of Nazran were irreconcilable enemies of Chechens living on the lowlands and on the Terek River; they robbed and killed one another; residents of Shatoi attacked those of the right bank of the Terek River, who responded by kidnapping Shatoi people and selling them into slavery to west Caucasus. Aukhs are closer to Kumyks and Nazranites to Ossetians and Kabardins rather than to their Chechen fellow tribesmen. This absence of unanimity on the part of Chechen communities reduced to minimum the political importance of the country they live in.
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Chechen cuisine

"The Chechens, like the rest of the highlanders, avoid extremes in their eating and drinking habits. What they usually eat is chureks or corn bread with mutton lard spread on it, and wheat stew with lard in it; water is their basic refreshment." "...Unleavend wheat or barley bread baked on charcoal, milk and cheese constitute their daily menu; meat is eaten, very rarely, by the richest of the Chechens." That was written about the Chechen eating habits in the 19th century. And it was not until the late 19th century that many vegetables grown in Europe - tomatoes, cabbage, radish - had found their way to the kitchen gardens of mountainous Chechnya. Chechen farming units have, since times immemorial, been self-sufficient, with only spices and sweetmeats being bought at the market. And, although they have become familiar with the cuisines of many other ethnic communities, the Chechen women cherish the very special culinary traditions of their own.
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