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Ingushetia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Republic of Ingushetia (English) Республика Ингушетия (Russian) ГӀалгӀай Мохк (Ingush) |
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|---|---|
 Location of the Republic of Ingushetia in Russia |
|
| Coat of Arms | Flag |
 Coat of arms of Ingushetia |
 Flag of Ingushetia |
| Anthem: National Anthem of the Republic of Ingushetia | |
| Capital | Magas |
| Established | June 4, 1992 |
| Political status Federal district Economic region |
Republic Southern North Caucasus |
| Code | 06 |
| Area | |
| Area - Rank within Russia |
4,000 km² 83rd |
| Population (as of the 2002 Census) | |
| Population - Rank within Russia - Density - Urban - Rural |
467,294 inhabitants 73rd 116.8 inhab. / km² 42.5% 57.5% |
| Official languages | Russian, Ingush |
| Government | |
| President | Murat Zyazikov |
| Chairman of the Government | Ibragim Malsagov |
| Legislative body | People's Assembly |
| Constitution | Constitution of the Republic of Ingushetia |
| Official website | |
| http://www.ingushetia.ru/ | |
The Republic of Ingushetia (Russian: Респу́блика Ингуше́тия; Ingush: ГӀалгӀай Мохк) is a federal subject of Russia. The direct romanization of the republic's Russian name is Respublika Ingushetiya. The name Ingushetia, derives from the Georgian name for the Republic, which is Ingusheti, meaning "(land) where the Ingush live".
Contents |
Ingushetia is situated on the northern slopes of the Caucasus.
- Area: ca. 4,000 km²
- Borders:
- internal: Republic of North Ossetia-Alania (SW/W/NW/N), Chechen Republic (NE/E/SE)
- international: Georgia (S)
- Highest point: Gora Shan[1] (4451 m)
Ingushetia is located in the Moscow Time Zone (MSK/MSD). UTC offset is +0300 (MSK)/+0400 (MSD).
Major rivers include:
A 150 km stretch of the Caucasus Mountains runs through the territory of the republic.
Ingushetia is rich in timber, rare metals, oil, and natural gas reserves.
Climate of Ingushetia is mostly continental.
- Average January temperature: -7°C.
- Average July temperature: +22°C
- Average annual precipitation: 1,200 mm.
| Ingush (Ghalghai) |
|---|
| Total population |
|
300,000 |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan |
| Language(s) |
| Russian, Ingush |
| Religion(s) |
| Sunni Islam |
| Related ethnic groups |
| Chechens, Bats, Kists |
The Ingush are an ethnic group of the North Caucasus, mostly inhabiting the Russian republic of Ingushetia. They refer to themselves as Ghalghai (from Ingush: Ghal - fortress, ghai - habitants; another Russian interpretation - citizen). The Ingush are predominantly Sunni Muslim and speak the Ingush language, which has a very high degree of mutual intelligibility with neighboring Chechen.
- Population: 467,294 (2002)
- Urban: 198,496 (42.5%)
- Rural: 268,798 (57.5%)
- Male: 218,194 (46.7%)
- Female: 249,100 (53.3%)
- Females per 1000 males: 1,142
- Average age: 22.2 years
- Urban: 22.4 years
- Rural: 22.1 years
- Male: 21.4 years
- Female: 22.9 years
- Number of households: 64,887 (with 463,532 people)
- Urban: 28,751 (with 197,112 people)
- Rural: 36,136 (with 266,420 people)
- Vital statistics (2005)
- Births: 6,777 (birth rate 14.0)
- Deaths: 1,821 (death rate 3.8)
Birth rate was 15.9 in the first half of 2007.[2]
- Ethnic groups
According to the 2002 Russian Census (2002), ethnic Ingushes make up 77.3% of the republic's population. Other groups include Chechens (20.4%), Russians (1.2%), and a host of smaller groups, each accounting for less than 0.5% of the total population.
| census 1926 | census 1939 | census 2002 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ingushes | 69,930 (93.1%) | 79,462 (58.0%) | 361,057 (77.3%) |
| Chechens | 2,572 (3.4%) | 7,848 (5.7%) | 95,403 (20.4%) |
| Russians | 922 (1.2%) | 43,389 (31.7%) | 5,559 (1.2%) |
| Others | 1,709 (2.3%) | 6,368 (4.6%) | 5,275 (1.1%) |
- 10,000-8,000 BC
- Migration of proto-Ingush people to the slopes of the Caucasus from the Fertile Crescent domestication of animals, and irrigation are used.[1]
- 6000-4000 BC
- Neolithic era. Pottery is known to the region. Old settlements near Ali-Yurt and Magas, discovered in the modern times, revealed tools made out of stone: stone axes, polished stones, stone knives, stones with holes drilled in them, clay dishes etc. Settlements made out of clay bricks discovered in the plains. In the mountains there were discovered settlements made out of stone surrounded by walls some of them dated back 8000 BC.[2]
- 4000-3000 BC
- Rise of the Sino-Caucasian culture. Invention of the wheel (3000 BC), horseback riding, metal works (copper, gold, silver, iron) dishes, armor, daggers, knives, arrow tips. The artifacts were found near Naser-Kort, Muzhichi, Yi-E-Borz (now Surkhakhi), Abi-Goo (now Nazran).[2]
Ingushes are known by the following names: Ghalghai, Gelgai, Kist, Koost, Amazons, Gergar, Narts, Gegar, Dzoordzook, Glivi, Ongusht, Alans, Galash, Tsori, Jairakh, Khamhoi, Metshal, Fyappi, and Nyasareth.[3] The history of the Ingush is closely related to that of the Chechens. From the 9th to the 12th centuries, Georgian missionaries partially Christianized the Ingushes. The remains of several temples, notably the Tkha-bya-Yer-d (the temple of 2000) and the Al-Bee-Yer-d can be found in Ingushetia. Ingushes reverted to Islam in the beginning of the 19th century with the help of a Chechen Islamic scholar Shaikh Kunta-Khadzhi who brought teaching of Islam. Ingushes readily accepted the religion.
Russian historians claim that Ingushes willfully came under Russian rule in 1810.[citation needed] Nevertheless Ingush took part in the Caucasian War against Russia. Russian Barron Rozen on 29 June 1832 reported in the letter No.42 to Count Chernishevski that "on the 23-d of this month I exterminated eight Ingush villages. On the 24-th near Targim I exterminated nine more villages." In the letter No.560 on 12 November 1836 Barron Rozen claimed that highlanders of Dzheirkah, Kistin, and Ghalghai were "partially subdued". The colonization of Ingush land by Russians and Ossetians started in the middle of the 19th century.[citation needed] Russian General Evdokimov and Ossetian colonel Kundukhov in 'Opis No.436' "gladly reported" that "the result of colonization of Ingush land was successful":
- Ingush village Ghazhien-Yurt was renamed to Stanitsa Assinovskaya in 1847
- Ingush village Ebarg-Yurt was renamed to Stanitsa Troitskaya in 1847
- Ingush town Dibir-Ghala was renamed to Stanitsa Sleptsovskaya in 1847
- Ingush village Magomet-Khite was renamed to Stanitsa Voznesenskaya in 1847
- Ingush village Akhi-Yurt was renamed to Stanitsa Sunzhenskaya in 1859
- Ingush village Ongusht was renamed to Stanitsa Tarskaya in 1859
- Ingush town Ildir-Ghala was renamed to Stanitsa Karabulakskaya in 1859
- Ingush village Alkhaste was renamed to Stanitsa Feldmarshalskaya in 1860
- Ingush village Tauzen-Yurt was renamed to Stanitsa Vorontsov-Dashkov in 1861
- Ingush village Sholkhi was renamed to Khutor Tarski in 1867.
The Russians also built the fortress Vladikavkaz ("ruler of the Caucasus") on the place of Ingush village of Zaur.[citation needed] Russian General Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov in his letter to Tsar of Russia wrote: "It would be a grave mistake for Russia to alienate such a militaristic nation as Ingushes" He suggested the separation of Ingushes and Chechens for Russia to win the war in the Caucasus.[citation needed] The strategy worked. The last organized rebellion (so-called "Nazran insurrection") in Ingushetia occurred in 1865 when 5,000 Ingush started a fight but lost to superior Russian forces. The rebellion signalled the end of the First Russo-Caucasian War. The same year Russian Tsar offered help in deportation of Ingushes and Chechens to Turkey and the Middle East by claiming that "Muslims need to live under Muslim rulers". It seems that he wanted to liberate the land for Ossetians and Cossaks.[citation needed] Some Ingushes willingly went into exile to deserted territory in the Middle East where many of them died and the rest were assimilated. It was estimated that 80% of Ingushes left Ingushetia in 1865.[citation needed]
After the Russian Revolution of 1917 the Ingushes were promised that their villages and towns will be returned back. The Soviets lied and confiscated the remaining Ingush properties[citation needed] and unified Chechnya and Ingushetia into Chechen-Ingush ASSR. In 1944 near the end of World War II Ingushes and Chechens were accused of collaborating with the Nazis and the entire Ingush and Chechen populations were deported to Kazakhstan and Siberia with great loss of life, estimated at up to two thirds. They were rehabilitated in the 1950s, after the death of Stalin, and were allowed to return home in 1957. However, much of Ingushetia's territory had been settled by Ossetians and part of the region had been transferred to North Ossetia. The returning Ingush faced considerable animosity from the Ossetians. The Ingush were forced to buy their houses back from the Ossetians and Russians. It all led to a peaceful Ingush protest in Grozny in 1975, crushed by the Soviet troops.[citation needed]
In 1991 the Chechens declared independence from the Soviet Union as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. The Ingushes' choice was to secede from the Chechen-Ingush Republic and in 1992 they joined the newly-created Russian Federation to peacefully resolve the conflict with Ossetia; they were also hoping that Russians will return their land back for their loyalty to Russia. However, the ethnic tensions in North Osssetia led to the outbreak of an abortive Ingush rebellion and the week-long Ossetian-Ingush conflict in late October, when another ethnic cleansing of Ingush population started and over 60,000 Ingush civilians were forced from their homes in the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia.[4] As the result of the conflict Ruslan Aushev was appointed the first president of Ingushetia and partial stability returned under his rule in Ingushetia.
In 1995, when the first Russo-Chechen war started, the number of refugees in Ingushetia from both conflicts doubled. According to the UN per every citizen of Ingushetia there was one refugee from Ossetia and Chechnya. This created a tremendous problem for the economy. It collapsed after Aushev's success. The second Russo-Chechen war which started in 1999 brought more refugees (240,000 at the peak in 2000) and misery to Ingushetia. In 2001 President Aushev was forced to leave his presidency and was succeeded by Murat Zyazikov, a former KGB general. The situation worsened under his rule and continues to decline. Numerous young Ingush men are abducted by suspected Russian death squads yearly. The Ingush mountains are closed for Ingush nationals.[citation needed] The number of a mysterious terrorist attacks (according to Russian news agency a of an ethnic-Russian school teacher in Ingushetia was done by two ethnic-Russian and an ethnic-Ossetian soldiers; the Police detective who solved the crime was shot at and badly wounded by unknown assailants[5]) in Ingushetia on the rise especially after the number of Russian security forces were tripled.
According to Johanna Nichols, in all of recorded history and reconstructable prehistory the Ingush people have never undertaken battle except in defense.[6] However, Ingush were hired in a number of wars. For example, when Persians attacked Georgia, King Alexander and his 100 Roman bodyguards took shelter with his wife's Ingush relatives. Half of the Ingush army was sent and defeated the Persians. II-III BC Georgian kings also received military assistance in their conquest from Ingush people.[7]
During World War I, 500 cavalrymen from an Ingush regiment of the Wild Division boldly attacked German Iron Division. The Russian Emperor Nicholas II, assessing the performance of the Ingush and Chechen regiments during the Brusilov breakthrough on the Russian-German front in 1915 wrote in his telegram to the Governor-General of the Tersky region Fleisher:
The Ingush regiment pounced upon the German "Iron Division" like an avalanche. It was immediately supported by the Chechen regiment. The Russian history, including the history of our Preobrazhensky regiment, does not know a single instance of a horse cavalry attacking an enemy force armed with heavy artillery: 4.5 thousand killed, 3.5 thousand taken prisoner, 2.5 thousand wounded. Less than in an hour and a half the "Iron Division" ceased to exist, the division that had aroused fear in the best armies of our allies. On behalf of me, the royal court and the whole of the Russian army send our best regards to fathers, mothers, sisters, wives and brides of those brave sons of the Caucasus whose heroism paved the way for the destruction of German hordes. Russia bows low to the heroes and will never forget them. I extend my fraternal greetings, Nicholas II, August 25th, 1915.[8]
In 1941, when Germans attacked the USSR, the whole Russian front was retreating 40 km a day. Out of 6,500 defenders of Brest Fortress 6,000 Soviet troops capitulated. 500 troops were fresh conscripts of Ingush and Chechen origin. Defenders held the fortress for over a month against the Germans and even managed to stage several attacks from the Fortress. The last defender's name has been unknown for a long time; his documents identified him as a man called Barkhanoyev. Decades later, official records revealed it was Umatgirei Barkhanoyev from the Ingush village of Yandare. Recently, the memoirs of Stankus Antanas, a Lithuanian national and former Waffen SS officer, were published in Ingushetia. He recalls that in July 1941, his regiment was ordered to "finish off" the remaining Soviet soldiers in the fortress. When the Nazis decided that no defenders had been left alive, a Waffen SS general lined up his soldiers on the parade ground to award them with decorations for capturing the fortress. Then a tall and smart Red Army officer came out from the fortress's underground bunker:
He was blind because of his wounds and walked with his left arm extended forward. His right hand rested on a gun holster. He walked along the parade grounds wearing a ragged uniform, but his head was held high. The entire division was shocked at the sight. Approaching a shell-hole, he turned his face toward the west. The German general suddenly saluted this last defender of the Brest Fortress, and the rest of the officers followed suit. The Red Army officer drew a handgun and shot himself in the head. He fell on the ground facing Germany. A deep-drawn sigh aired over the parade grounds. We all stood 'frozen' in awe of this brave man.[9]
In 1994-1996 Ingush volunteers fought alongside Chechens in the Russian-Chechen war. Besides few incidents (including the killings of Ingush civilians by the Russian soldiers), Ingushetia was largely kept out of the war by determined policy of non-violence pursued by President Ruslan Aushev.[10]
This changed after the beginning of the Second Chechen War, and especially since the rule of President Murat Zyazikov in 2002. In the first major rebel attack in the a military convoy was destroyed in May 2000 and 18 soldiers were killed. In the June 2004 Nazran raid, Chechen and Ingush guerillas attacked government targets across Ingushetia, resulting in the deaths of at least 90 people, among them republic's acting interior minister Abukar Kostoyev, his deputy Zyaudin Kotiyev and several other officials. In response to a sharp escalation in attacks by insurgents since the summer of 2007,[11] Moscow sent in an additional 2,500 interior ministry troops, more than tripling the number of special forces in Ingushetia in July.[12]
The head of government and the highest executive post in Ingushetia is the President.
Recent presidents :
- Ruslan Aushev: November 10, 1992 (Head of the Republic until March 7, 1993)—December 28, 2001
- Akhmed Malsagov (interim): December 28, 2001—May 23, 2002
- Murat Zyazikov: May 23, 2002—present
Recent Chairmen of the Government:
- Ruslan Tatiyev: March 1993—July 1993
- Tamerlan Didigov: July 1993—March 1994
- Mukharbek Didigov: March 1994—December 1996
- Belan Khamchiyev: December 1996—August 1998
- Magomet-Bashir Darsigov: August 1998—November 25, 1999
- Akhmed Malsagov: November 25, 1999—June 15, 2002
- Sultan Gireyev (acting): June 15, 2002—August 26, 2002
- Viktor Aleksentsev: August 26, 2002 (acting to September 30, 2002)—June 19, 2003
- Timur Mogushkov: June 19, 2003—June 30, 2005
- Ibragim Malsagov: June 30, 2005—present
The parliament of the Republic is the People's Assembly comprising 34 deputees elected for a four year term. The People's Assembly is headed by the Chairman. As of 2006, the Chairman of the People's Assembly is Makhmud Sultanovich Sakalov.
The Constitution of Ingushetia was adopted on February 27, 1994.
Ingushetia is a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation.
The capital was moved from Nazran to Magas in December 2002.
There are some natural resources in Ingushetia: mineral water in Achaluki, oil and natural gas in Malgobek, forests in Dzheirakh, metals in Galashki. The local government is considering the development of tourism however this is problematic due to the uneasy situation in the republic itself and the proximity of some conflict zones.
Ingush State University, the first institute of higher education in the history of Ingushetia was founded in 1994 in Ordzhonikidzevskaya.[3]
Most Ingush people are Sunni Muslims of various Sufi orders.
- ^ Bernice Wuethrich (19 May 2000). "Peering Into the Past, With Words". Science 288 (5469): 1158.
- ^ a b N.D. Kodzoev. History of Ingush nation.
- ^ Khasan Sampiev. The Land of Towers.
- ^ Johanna Nichols (February 1997). The Ingush (with notes on the Chechen): Background information. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
- ^ B.Polonkoev (August 2007). The Murderers are not Insergents. www.gazeta.ru. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
- ^ Johanna Nichols (February 1997). The Ingush (with notes on the Chechen): Background information. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
- ^ Khasan Sampiev. The Land of Towers.
- ^ Chechen History.
- ^ Russian News and Information Agency RIA Novosti: DEFENSE OF THE MOTHERLAND IS EVERY MUSLIM'S DUTY.
- ^ Johanna Nichols (February 1997). The Ingush (with notes on the Chechen): Background information. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
- ^ [TIMELINE OF VIOLENCE IN INGUSHETIA: SUMMER-FALL 2007 http://www.peaceinthecaucasus.org/IngushetiaTimeline.pdf]
- ^ Violence escalates in turbulent Russian region Wed Aug 29.
- (English) About Ingushetia
- (Russian) Official website of Ingushetia.
- (Russian) Ingushetiya.ru—an unofficial website of Ingushetia.
- (Russian) The first president of Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev's website.
- (English) History, Language and culture of Ingushetia at Berkeley. CA.
- (Russian) Ingush Music/Video/Literature website.
- (Russian) Magas, Ingush youth website.
- (Russian) President of Ingushetia's website.
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