The Republic of Ingushetia (Russian: Респу́блика Ингуше́тия, Respublika Ingushetiya; Ingush: ГӀалгӀай Мохк, Ğalğaj Moxk) is a federal subject of Russia (a republic), located in the North Caucasus region with its capital at Magas. In terms of area, the republic is the smallest of Russia's federal subjects except for the two federal cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. It was established on June 4, 1992 after the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was split in two.[11] Ingushetia is home to the indigenous Ingush, a people of Vainakh ancestry.
The name "Ingushetia" is derived from an ancient village of Ongusht (renamed in 1859 to Tarskaya and in 1944 transferred to North Ossetia) and the Georgian ending -eti, all together meaning "(land) where the Ingush live".
Ingushetia is one of Russia's poorest and most restive regions. The ongoing military conflict in neighboring Chechnya has occasionally spilled into Ingushetia, and the republic has been destabilized by corruption, a number of high-profile crimes (including kidnapping and murder of civilians by government security forces[12]), anti-government protests, attacks on soldiers and officers, Russian military excesses and a deteriorating human rights situation.[13][14]
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[edit] Geography
Ingushetia is situated on the northern slopes of the Caucasus. It has an area of c. 4,000 km². It borders Republic of North Ossetia-Alania (SW/W/NW/N), Chechen Republic (NE/E/SE) and Georgia (southwards). The highest point is the Gora Shan[15] (4451 m).
A 150 km stretch of the Caucasus Mountains runs through the territory of the republic.
[edit] Rivers
Major rivers include:
[edit] Natural resources
Ingushetia is rich in marble, timber, dolomite, plaster, limestone, gravel, granite, clay, thermal medical water, rare metals, mineral water, oil (over 60 billion tons), and natural gas reserves.
[edit] Climate
Ingushetia's climate is mostly continental.
- Average January temperature: −10 °C (14 °F)
- Average July temperature: +21 °C (69.8 °F)
- Average annual precipitation: 450–650 mm (18–26 in).
- Average annual temperature: +10 °C (50 °F)
[edit] Etymology
The Ingush is the nation indigenous to the Caucasus. They mostly inhabit the Republic of Ingushetia. They refer to themselves as Ghalghai (from Ingush: Ghal ("fortress") and ghai ("inhabitants", or, according to another Russian interpretation, "citizen"). The Ingush speak the Ingush language, which has a very high degree of mutual intelligibility with neighboring Chechen.
[edit] Demographics
- 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
- Source: Russian Federal State Statistics Service
| Births | Deaths | Birth rate | Death rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 6,889 | 1,867 | 25.3 | 6.8 |
| 1996 | 5,980 | 1,958 | 20.9 | 6.8 |
| 1997 | 6,055 | 1,957 | 20.6 | 6.7 |
| 1998 | 5,929 | 2,064 | 19.8 | 6.9 |
| 1999 | 6,624 | 1,953 | 20.6 | 6.1 |
| 2000 | 8,463 | 2,117 | 21.5 | 5.4 |
| 2001 | 8,753 | 1,875 | 19.4 | 4.2 |
| 2002 | 7,578 | 1,874 | 16.4 | 4.1 |
| 2003 | 7,059 | 1,785 | 14.9 | 3.8 |
| 2004 | 6,794 | 1,751 | 14.2 | 3.7 |
| 2005 | 6,777 | 1,821 | 14.0 | 3.8 |
| 2006 | 7,391 | 1,830 | 15.1 | 3.7 |
| 2007 | 8,284 | 1,625 | 16.7 | 3.3 |
| 2008 | 9,215 | 1,561 | 18.3 | 3.1 |
- Ethnic groups
According to the 2002 Russian Census (2002), ethnic Ingush 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ingush | 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%) |
[edit] Administrative divisions
[edit] Ingush genetics
"The Caucasus populations exhibit, on average, less variability than other populations for the eight Alu insertion poly-morphisms analysed here. The average heterozygosity is less than that for any other region of the world, with the exception of Sahul. Within the Caucasus, Ingushians have much lower levels of variability than any of the other populations. The Ingushians also showed unusual patterns of mtDNA variation when compared with other Caucasus populations (Nasidze and Stoneking, submitted), which indicates that some feature of the Ingushian population history, or of this particular sample of Ingushians, must be responsible for their different patterns of genetic variation at both mtDNA and the Alu insertion loci."[16][17]
[edit] History
- 10,000-8000 BC
- Migration of the linguistic ancestors of the Ingush people to the slopes of the Caucasus from the Fertile Crescent. Agriculture, irrigation, and the domestication of animals.[18]
- 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.[19]
- 4000-3000 BC
- 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).[19]
- 1239 AD
- Destruction of the Alan capital of Maghas and Alan confederacy of the Northern Caucasian highlanders, nations, and tribes by Batu Khan (a Mongol leader and a grandson of Genghis Khan).[20]
[edit] Modern Ingush history
Ingush are known by the following names: Ghalghai/Gelgai, Kist/Koost, Gergar/Gegar, Dzoordzook, Glivi, Ongusht, Galash, Tsori, Jairakh, Khamhoi, Metshal, Fyappi, and Nyasareth.[21] The history of the Ingush is closely related to that of the Chechens. From the 9th to the 12th centuries, Georgian missionaries partially Christianised the Ingush. The remains of several temples, notably the Tkha-bya-Yer-d and the Al-Bee-Yer-d can be found in Ingushetia. Ingush peacefully converted to Islam in the beginning of the 19th century with the help of Shaikh Kunta-Khadzhi, a Chechen Islamic scholar.
Russian historians claim that Ingush willingly came under Russian rule in 1810 (most of the information sources are based on a report of General-Major Delpotso 13 June 1810 No.48). However, Russian Barron Rozen on 29 June 1832 reported in letter No.42 to Count Chernishevski that "on the 23rd of this month I exterminated eight Ingush villages. On the 24th near Targim I exterminated nine more villages." In 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. 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.
Unlike Chechens who fought the Caucasian War against Russia, Ingush clans resorted mostly to underground resistance.[22] The Russians built the fortress Vladikavkaz ("ruler of the Caucasus") on the place of Ingush village of Zaur.[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] 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 the Ingush." He suggested the separation of the Ingush and Chechens in order for Russia to win the war in the Caucasus. In another letter from General Ermolov to Lanski on the impossibility of forceful Christianization of the Ingush (dated 12 January 1827) he wrote: "This nation, the most courageous and militaristic among all the highlanders, cannot be allowed to be alienated..." The last organized rebellion (the so-called "Nazran insurrection") in Ingushetia occurred in 1858 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 Ingush 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.[22] Some Ingush 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 the Ingush left Ingushetia for the Middle East in 1865.[32][33]
After the Russian Revolution of 1917 the Ingush were promised that their villages and towns would be returned. The Soviets lied and confiscated the remaining Ingush properties by collectivization and dekulakization[34] and unified Chechnya and Ingushetia into Chechen-Ingush ASSR. In 1944 near the end of World War II, Ingush and Chechens were falsely accused of collaborating with the Nazis and the entire Ingush and Chechen populations were deported to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Siberia on the orders of Joseph Stalin; up to 30 percent perished during the journey or in the first year.[35][36][37] The Prague Watchdog claims that "in the early years of their exile about half of the Chechens and Ingush died from hunger, cold and disease".[38] The deportation was classified by the European Parliament in 2004 as genocide.[39] They were allowed to return to Checheno-Ingushetia (but not to Prigorodny District) in 1957, several years after the death of Stalin. Majority 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 homes back from the Ossetians and Russians. It all led to a peaceful Ingush protest in Grozny in 16 January 1973, crushed by the Soviet troops[40] In 1989 Ingush were officially rehabilitated along with other peoples that had been subjected to repressions.[41]
In 1991 the Chechens declared independence from the Soviet Union as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. The Ingush's 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 would return their land back for their loyalty to Russia. However, the ethnic tensions in North Ossetia led to the outbreak of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict in late October, when another ethnic cleansing of the Ingush population started and over 60,000 Ingush civilians were forced from their homes in the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia.[22] 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 1994, 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 (at some point there was one refugee per every Ingush citizen: 240,000 from Chechnya plus 60,000 from North Ossetia at the peak in 2000) and misery to Ingushetia. In 2001 Aushev was forced to leave his presidency and was succeeded by Murat Zyazikov, a former KGB general. The situation worsened under his rule. Numerous young Ingush men were abducted by Russian and Ossetian death squads.[42][43][44][45] according to Human rights watchdogs Memorial [46] and Mashr[47] The Ingush mountains are closed for Ingush nationals.[48] The number of rebel attacks in Ingushetia on the rise especially after the number of Russian security forces were tripled. For example, according to Russian news agency a murder of an ethnic-Russian school teacher in Ingushetia was done by two ethnic-Russian and an ethnic-Ossetian soldiers; Issa Merzhoev the Ingush Police detective who solved the crime was shot at and killed by "unknown" assailants right after he solved the murder.[49] At least four people were injured when a vehicle exploded on 24 March 2008. An upsurge in violence in recent months targeted local police officers and security forces. In January 2008, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation launched a "counter-terrorism" operation in Ingushetia after receiving information that insurgents had been preparing a series of attacks.[50] In the beginning of August 2008 the war between Georgia and South Ossetia broke out, in which the Russian Federation subsequently became involved.[51] Since the beginning of the war the number of attacks and abductions of Ingush civilians by "unknown" forces is practically nil. Majority of Russian forces were transferred to North and South Ossetias[52] 31 August 2008 Magomed Yevloyev, the head of Ingush opposition and the owner the website ingushetiya.ru, was killed by Russian security forces[53] Shortly before the unrecognised opposition group People's Parliament of Ingushetia Mekhk-Kkhel called for the recognition of the Russian semi-autonomous republic's independence, and opposition activist Magomed Khazbiyev said, "We must ask Europe or America to separate us from Russia." [54][55]
On 18 October 2008, a Russian military convoy came under grenade attack and machine gun fire near Nazran. Official Russian reports of the ambush, which has been blamed on local Muslim separatists, said two soldiers were killed and at least seven injured. Other reports according Ingush opposition suggested as many as 40 - 50 Russian soldiers were killed.[56][57]
On October 30, 2008 Zyazikov was dismissed from his office (he himself claimed he resigned voluntarily) and Yunus-Bek Yevkurov was nominated by Dmitry Medvedev and approved as a President by the People's Assembly of Ingushetia on the next day. This move was endorsed by major Russian political parties and by Ingush opposition.[58][59]
[edit] Military history
According to professor Johanna Nichols, in all the recorded history and reconstructable prehistory the Ingush people have never undertaken battle except in defense.[22] 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. In II-III BC Georgian kings also received military assistance in their conquest from Ingush people.[60]
During World War I, 500 cavalrymen from an Ingush regiment of the Wild Division boldly attacked the 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 25, 1915.[61]
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, an SS general lined up his soldiers on the parade ground to award them with decorations for capturing the fortress. Then, a 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.[62]
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.[22]
This changed after the beginning of the Second Chechen War, and especially since the rule of President Murat Zyazikov in 2002. The first major rebel attack of the conflict, in which a military convoy was destroyed occurred in May 2000 and caused the deaths of 19 soldiers. 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,[63] Moscow sent in an additional 2,500 interior ministry troops, more than tripling the number of special forces in Ingushetia in July.
[edit] Civil disorders
A number of insurgency and terrorist attacks started again in 2008.[64]
Here is a list of recent attacks:
On September 30, 2008, a suicide bomber attacked the motorcade of Ruslan Meiriyev, Ingushetia's top police official.
On June 10, 2009, snipers killed Aza Gazgireeva, deputy chief justice of the regional Supreme Court, as she dropped her children off at kindergarten.
On June 13, 2009, a gunman fatally shot Bashir Aushev, a former deputy prime minister, as he stood outside his home in Nazran.
On June 22, 2009 the president of the republic Yunus-Bek Yevkurov was badly hurt when a suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives as the president's convoy drove past. The attack killed three bodygards [65]
On August 12, 2009, Gunmen killed construction minister Uslan Amerkhanov in his office in the Ingush capital, Magas.
On August 17, 2009, a suicide bomber killed 21 people in Nazran after he drove a truck full of explosives into a police station.
On April 5, 2010, a suicide bomber injured three police officers in the town of Karabulak. Two officers died at the hospital as a result of their injuries. While investigators arrived on scene, another car bomb was set off by remote. Nobody was hurt in the second blast.[66]
[edit] Ingushetia in books
[edit] Politics
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—October 30, 2008[67]
- Yunus-Bek Yevkurov: October 30, 2008–present (acting)
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—March 2008
- Kharum Dzeytov: March 2008-November 2008
- Rashid Gaysanov:November 2008–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 Organization.
The capital was moved from Nazran to Magas in December 2002.
[edit] Economy
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. However, Ingushetia continues to remain as one of Russia's poorest republics, largely due to the ongoing conflict, corruption and civil disorders. Unemployment is estimated to be around 53%, and growing poverty is a major issue.
[edit] Education
Ingush State University, the first institute of higher education in the history of Ingushetia, was founded in 1994 in Ordzhonikidzevskaya.[68]
[edit] Religion
The Ingush are predominantly Sunni Muslims and are often associated with one of two traditional Sufi orders: the Sufi tariqa Naqshbandi, represented in Ingushetia by the brotherhood of Deni Arsanov, and the tariqa Qadiriyyah, associated with Kunta-Haji Kishiev.[69][70] The Mufti Albogachiev represents Ingushetia in religious matters.[70][71] Most Ingush people adhere to the Shāfi‘ī Madh'hab of Sunni Islam.[72]
[edit] Sister region
[edit] Famous people
- Issa Kostoyev, policeman who captured serial killer Andrei Chikatilo.[74]
- Magomed Sagov, engineer[75]
- Ismail Esmurziev, engineer[76]
- Rakhim Chakkhiev, boxer [77]
- Nazyr Mankiev, wrestler[78]
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