Actual News from Chechnya

News update

The Western European tour of the Chechen youth ensemble of folk dance Lovzar promises to make a sensation. The tour of the young, but already prominent artists starts on Wednesday with the performance at the Pierre Cardin Theatre on Champs d'Elysee - one of the notorious stages in the French capital. The ensemble, conducted by Magomed Takhayev, will perform for the Western European spectators a lambent program "Caucasian Dances". Four dozens of dancers and orchestra players, with the youngest 14-year-old participant, intend to impress the pampered Paris spectators with lambent and lyrical dances of mountain people. The Lovzar ensemble, which means on Chechen "games and fun", was formed in 1984. The present ensemble won a number of Russian and international musical contests and festivals, participated in charity events and in a number of foreign tours, which brought the ensemble a deserved acknowledgement and audience's acclaim. Shortly before the arrival to France, where Lovzar would perform for the first time, the ensemble gave a concert on stage of the Kremlin Palace in Moscow. The tour is held under the aegis of UNESCO.
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The Russian president's human rights envoy to Chechnya, Abdul-Khakim Sultygov, has called reports from Western media and human rights' activists about mass killings in the republic a provocation act. "This is a planned action that concerns a new stage in the information stand-off, aimed at discrediting the referendum and the judicial system in Chechnya and at thwarting the amnesty," he told Interfax. The envoy feels that in this way, European politicians are trying to justify an initiative brought by Rudolf Bindig, a representative of PACE's judicial committee, to set up an international crimes tribunal in Chechnya. Sultygov has denied assertions that the Chechen administration has a classified document alleging mass civilian casualties in the republic. "This is a decoy," the envoy said. He lashed out against the Human Rights Watch for claiming alleged involvement of federal forces in mass crimes against civilians. "Rather than a human rights' organization, it is an extremist organization, spreading totalitarian notions about Europe's democratic values," said Sultygov. He described the rally held by human rights' campaigners in downtown Moscow last Saturday as "a link in the same chain of provocation acts." "However, this is the people's right to protest against a war in Chechnya that was stopped already long ago by the Chechen people," said Sultygov.
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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 culture

Music

The modern school of professional music draws inspiration from the richest heritage of folk singing and musical tradition. Melodies, composed by unknown authors who lived a long time ago, are still loved by the people. But the 20th century left us a long list of folk musicians, creators of popular pieces of music.20th century creations are usually named after those who composed and played them. Music sheets exist thanks to professional musicians. The Bisirkhoyev family, Yusup Gadayev, Sesikat Dudayeva, Ibraghim Batayev, Baudin Suleimanov are the best known of the folk musicians. Highly talented accordeon player Magomayev composed the well known "Shamil's Prayer." One day, a legend says, Imam Shamil's forces were trapped. The situation was hopeless. But Shamil got an idea. At first he knelt in prayer, then gave orders to his musicians and, loath as he was of any kind of entertainment, started dancing. His fiery dancing aroused his men. And, in the midst of the dancing, Shamil gave orders for fighting. His men fought like lions and broke the circle of siege. "Shamil's Prayer" consists of two parts: the first is sad and slow-moving, the second makes you want to dance. Composer G.Kh.Melpurnov (1900-1957) did much for the development of professional music in Chechnya. It was on his initiative that a band of folk instruments was formed in 1936. The bandmen played the traditional dechik-pondur, harmonica, zurna, and percussion instruments, as well as the more modern balalaika counterbass and updated adkhoku-pondury. While collecting and polishing Chechen and Ingush folk tunes, G.Kh.Melpurnov produced his own arrangements and original pieces of music.
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Issue 85
16.04.03

Chechnya: news | arguments | facts

16 April 2003  Housing is built and jobs created in Grozny
The Chechen Republics capital has been gradually getting back to normal, with housing and public services rebuilt, and streets improved. Grozny residents have been increasingly more often pointing out that their city used to be one of the Soviet Unions most comfortable cities to live in. 25% of Chechnyas able-bodied population are busy working on construction sites in Grozny today. In all, 25,000 Grozny residents have jobs, which is 9% more than last year. The city administration has sweeping plans to carry out. They want to create some 15,000 new jobs and provide at least 2,500 families with housing. 1 billion roubles have been allocated for restoring municipal and private housing this year. Efforts are now made to provide for design plans and specification and cost estimates. Grozny played host to a meeting of Russian Construction Agency officials to analyze at length the way the contractors performed last year. The meeting took the decision to reduce the number of prime contractors from 21 to 10 and re-distribute the volume of work and construction projects among them. The main contractor, - the Federal Directorate for Construction and Restoration in Chechnya, has cancelled contracts of those who invariably fell behind schedule. The Directorates acting general director Mikhail Fadeyev says that they will be turning over housing for occupancy steadily, with no rush work involved. The Chechen capital is built and rebuilt strictly in keeping with the general layout that was offered by the design institute Giprogor and approved by the Russian Construction Agency board in late March this year. Under the plan, it is mostly blocks of flats of only a few storeys that will be built in Grozny because of the regions high seismic activity. The general layout provides for building 800,000 square metres of housing in the central part of Grozny. The plan authors also thought of improving the city environment, so gardens will account for a much larger city area, while environment-unfriendly enterprises will be pushed out of the city.
(more News from Chechnya)

16 April 2003  Head of a gang responsible for explosions in Grozny killed
Ruslan Edilov, the head of a gang that is responsible for the explosion of a bus carrying builders on April 7th and a Niva car filled with Chechen security officers on April 7th, was killed when offering resistance during a raid on his gang. According to RIA Novosti, one fighter has been arrested. The scene of action has proved to be a cache of quite an arsenal of weapons, ammunition and explosives, including home-made grenade-launchers, land mines, devices for noiseless shooting, over three kilos of trotyl and ten radio stations. The bus blast on April 4th on Sadovaya Street in Grozny killed eight and injured 14 local residents who were engaged in rehabilitating destroyed buildings. Five security service officers were killed in the land mine blast on April 7.
(more News from Chechnya)

15 April 2003  UN humanitarian mission arrived in Chechnya
The UN humanitarian mission arrived in Chechnya on Tuesday, RIA Novosti reports. The Chechen administration said that the UN mission consisted of representatives of the UN World Food Programme, the World Health Organisation, representatives of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the UN Deputy Humanitarian Co-ordinator. The UN delegation was received by Chairman of the Chechen Administration Anatoly Popov. Secretary of the Chechen Security Council Rudnik Dudayev, First Deputy Chairman of the Chechen Administration Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov and Health Minister Musa Akhmadov participated in the meeting. The social, political and humanitarian issues as well as human rights protection and the life of refugees were discussed at the meeting.
(more News from Chechnya...)

15 April 2003  Successes On Path Towards Knowledge
According to Russian Education Minister Vladimir Filippov who visited Chechnya last month the republic has reached considerable successes in the education system development. Over the two years the number of schoolchildren and students has increased by 6 times and the level of school teaching meets Russia's national standards. Chechen Education Minister Lema Dadaev says 80 per cent of the schoolchildren are supplied with textbooks and the schools staffed with teachers virtually in full. The Moscow Academy of Training Teachers and Chechen Pedagogical Institute help teachers raise their professional level. Until the end of the year 300 of 390 secondary schools in Chechnya will gain as many as 900 sets of equipment for classes of chemistry, physic and biology. The sets cost 10 million rubles allocated from the federal budget. The school libraries are also being replenished. A 100-volume set of Russian classical writings has been granted by Russia's Higher Education Ministry to be distributed among schools. A little time is left before the end of the academic year. Chechen Government's Chairman Anatoly Popov has asked Russia's Education Ministry to provide Chechen graduates with 500 places in institutes of higher education and colleges in various Russian regions. Like last year they will take their entrance exams in Grozny. The number of places in Chechnya's institutions are expected to be increased and branches of a range of institutions open in Chechnya's parts. Some institutes of neighboring North Caucasian republics will also open their branches in Chechen regional centers. Chechen Education Minister Lema Dadaev has stressed with ll these Chechen young people have every possibility to study.
(more News from Chechnya...)

14 April 2003  Sultan Vagapov ready to act as mediator for those coming back to peaceful life
In Shatoi the clergy and elders are content with the fact that the referendum of March 23d went through smoothly in their region. Russian President Vladimir Putins address to the Chechen residents on the eve of voting and his comments on the popular support for the constitution during his meeting with Akhmad Kadyrov in the wake of the referendum met with a heartfelt response on the part of Chechens. Now Shatoi residents, the Shatoi kadi Sultan Vagapov points out, look forward to an improvement in all aspects of life. People hope that the promised compensation will soon be paid and that the restoration work will speed up. It is necessary to restore the hospital, schools and seven worst damaged mosques of the districts 26. Residents themselves have restored the other 19 mosques. Shatoi residents also pin their hopes on the Russian Presidents initiative to declare an amnesty for those who have not been involved in committing grave crimes. Sultan Vagapov says that peace is the most cherished aspiration of the district clergy, elders and all residents. He appeals to the members of illegal armed groups to give up resistance, return home and back to peaceful life. It is for 10 years that the people of Chechnya have been suffering, Sultan Vagapov says, so it is high time that this suffering ended and the people could live in keeping with the Constitution. He says he is ready to act as a mediator for all those who wish to return to peaceful life and adds that he will help all such people to give themselves up, hand over their weapons and return to civilian life.
(more News from Chechnya)

Chechen ethnos

The invasion of Tamerlane

An even more fearsome invader, Tamerlane, followed on the Tartar-Mongols' heels. He had defeated the Golden Horde before making an incursion into the mountainous part of Chechnya and destroying the reviving villages and towns. He did away with the Simsim Khanate of Islamic Chechnya whose ruler, Gayur Khan, was an ally of the Golden Horde. Tamerlane's forces numbered up to half a million fighting men. But in Chechnya Tamerlane met with stiff resistance. And it was only after several attacks by his hundredfold stronger forces that Tamerlane managed to seize control of the mountainous villages. That is why in Chechnya the Lame Timur - Tamerlane - was cruel as never before. He turned the hostilities into a regular bloodbath. Villages were burnt down and razed to the ground both on the plains and in the mountainous part of Chechnya.The ancestors of today's Chechens would not bow down to the invaders. But to fight off Genghiz Khan's and Tamerlane's hosts, they had to bring to perfection their system of defensive installations. The highest density of population, the lack of arable land forced them to take advantage of every mountain slope and every small plateau. They had gained experience in terracing the reclaimable land. They brought soil and humus to their terraced fields and kitchen gardens.Dwelling and defensive towers made of mountain rock, as well as the multitiered crypts of more than 500 "cities of the dead," can still be seen in the mountainous part of Chechnya. Magnificent monuments of architecture are located in the Argunski, Assinski and Dzherakhovski Canyons, and in the environs of the high-altitude lakes of Kazenoi-Am and Galanchozh.
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Chechen history

The current conflict in Chechnya is largely rooted in the history of Russian-Chechen relations, which include six stages.

The first stage
The first stage, which started in the middle of the 16th century and lasted until the end of the 17th century, was marked by a peaceful colonization of the region. That period is characterized by vassal-allied forms of relations between Moscow tsars and elders of Chechen communities. Moscow was trying to expand its influence in the region by political and economic means mainly. The policy was a success and Chechen communities voluntarily (by signing agreements) announced recognition of the supreme power of the Moscow state.
The second stage
The second stage, which lasted almost throughout the 18th century, marks the beginning of Russia's open military expansion to the North Caucasus. Under Peter I and then Catherine II the doctrine of colonizing the mountain areas prevalent.
Though in 1781 oaths of allegiance were officially registered the voluntary submission of Chechen communities bordering on Russian fortresses, the year 1785 marked the beginning of a powerful movement in Chechnya under the leadership of Sheikh Mansur. That was when Chechen people launched an armed struggle for freedom and independence. Sheikh Mansur was the first to make an attempt (still popular nowadays) to unite peoples of the North Caucasus into a single Islamic state. But he failed to do so.
The anti-colonial movement started in Chechnya by highlanders spread to other regions of the North Caucasus. Taking part in the resistance were mainly the lower strata . As for the rich, at first they tried to use the peasants movement to consolidate their power in the mountain communities and restore freedom of choice in relations with Moscow. Soon afterwards, they got scared of the growing anti-feudal movement of Sheikh Mansur and in a number of cases even joined Russian troops to suppress the mutinous peasants. The first imam of North Caucasian highlanders fought tsarist troops for about six years, but suffered defeat. Sheikh Mansur was captured in 1791 and died in the Schlusselburg Fortress.
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.
(more about chechen history...)

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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