Ingushetia
Encyclopedia
The Republic of Ingushetia 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. The republic is home to the indigenous Ingush
, a people of Vainakh ancestry. Population:
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), anti-government protests, attacks on soldiers and officers, Russian military excesses and a deteriorating human rights situation.
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 (4451 m).
A 150 km stretch of the Caucasus Mountains
runs through the territory of the republic.
, timber
, dolomite
, plaster
, limestone
, gravel
, granite
, clay
, thermal medical water, rare metals, mineral water
, oil
(over 60 billion tons), and natural gas
reserves.
, 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
.
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.
. Agriculture
, irrigation
, and the domestication of animals.
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.
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
).
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
).
. 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":
Unlike Chechens who fought the Caucasian War
against Russia, Ingush clans resorted mostly to underground resistance. The Russians built the fortress Vladikavkaz
("ruler of the Caucasus") on the place of Ingush village of Zaur. 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 "Muslim
s need to live under Muslim rulers". It seems that he wanted to liberate the land for Ossetians
and Cossaks. 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.
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
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 Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
; up to 30 percent perished during the journey or in the first year. 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". The deportation was classified by the European Parliament
in 2004 as genocide
. 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 In 1989 Ingush were officially rehabilitated along with other peoples that had been subjected to repressions.
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. 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 squad
s. according to Human rights watchdogs Memorial and Mashr The Ingush mountains are closed for Ingush nationals. 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.
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.
In the beginning of August 2008 the war between Georgia
and South Ossetia
broke out, in which the Russian Federation subsequently became involved. 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 31 August 2008 Magomed Yevloyev
, the head of Ingush opposition and the owner the website ingushetiya.ru
, was killed by Russian security forces 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."
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.
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. Under the current rule of Yevkurov, Ingushetia seems much calmer showing some semblance of Russian government. Attacks on policemen have fallen by 40% and abductions by 80%.
, in all the recorded history and reconstructable prehistory
the Ingush people
have never undertaken battle except in defense. 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.
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:
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:
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
.
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, Moscow
sent in an additional 2,500 interior ministry troops, more than tripling the number of special forces in Ingushetia in July.
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
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.
.
Recent presidents :
Recent Chairmen of the Government:
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.
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.
with some Sufi minority which 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
.
Federal subjects of Russia
Russia is a federation which, since March 1, 2008, consists of 83 federal subjects . In 1993, when the Constitution was adopted, there were 89 federal subjects listed...
of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
(a republic
Republics of Russia
The Russian Federation is divided into 83 federal subjects , 21 of which are republics. The republics represent areas of non-Russian ethnicity. The indigenous ethnic group of a republic that gives it its name is referred to as the "titular nationality"...
), located in the North Caucasus
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....
region with its capital at Magas
Magas
Magas is the capital of the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia. The town was founded in 1995; it replaced Nazran as the capital of the republic in 2002. In terms of population, Magas is the smallest capital of a federal subject in Russia: -History:...
. In terms of area, the republic is the smallest of Russia's federal subjects except for the two federal cities, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. It was established on June 4, 1992 after the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
The Chechen–Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, or Chechen–Ingush ASSR ;) was an autonomous republic within the Russian SFSR...
was split in two. The republic is home to the indigenous Ingush
Ingush people
The Ingush are a native ethnic group of the North Caucasus, mostly inhabiting the Russian republic of Ingushetia. They refer to themselves as Ghalghai . The Ingush are predominantly Sunni Muslims and speak the Ingush language...
, a people of Vainakh ancestry. Population:
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
Georgian language
Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
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
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
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), anti-government protests, attacks on soldiers and officers, Russian military excesses and a deteriorating human rights situation.
Geography
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
. It has an area of c. 4,000 km². It borders Republic of North Ossetia-Alania
North Ossetia-Alania
The Republic of North Ossetia–Alania is a federal subject of Russia . Its population according to the 2010 Census was 712,877.-Name:...
(SW/W/NW/N), Chechen Republic
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
(NE/E/SE) and Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
(southwards). The highest point is the Gora Shan (4451 m).
A 150 km stretch of the Caucasus Mountains
Caucasus Mountains
The Caucasus Mountains is a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region .The Caucasus Mountains includes:* the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and* the Lesser Caucasus Mountains....
runs through the territory of the republic.
Natural resources
Ingushetia is rich in marbleMarble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
, timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
, dolomite
Dolomite
Dolomite is a carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate CaMg2. The term is also used to describe the sedimentary carbonate rock dolostone....
, plaster
Plaster
Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...
, limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
, granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
, thermal medical water, rare metals, mineral water
Mineral water
Mineral water is water containing minerals or other dissolved substances that alter its taste or give it therapeutic value, generally obtained from a naturally occurring mineral spring or source. Dissolved substances in the water may include various salts and sulfur compounds...
, oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
(over 60 billion tons), and natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
reserves.
Climate
Ingushetia's climate is mostly continental.- Average January temperature: -10 °C
- Average July temperature: 21 °C (69.8 °F)
- Average annual precipitationPrecipitation (meteorology)In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
: 450 millimetre. - Average annual temperature: 10 °C (50 °F)
Etymology
The Ingush, a nationionality group indigenous to the CaucasusCaucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, 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
Ingush language
Ingush is a language spoken by about 413,000 people , known as the Ingush, across a region covering Ingushetia, Chechnya, Kazakhstan and Russia. In Ingush, the language is called ГІалгІай Ğalğaj .-Classification:...
, which has a very high degree of mutual intelligibility with neighboring Chechen
Chechen language
The Chechen language is spoken by more than 1.5 million people, mostly in Chechnya and by Chechen people elsewhere. It is a member of the Northeast Caucasian languages.-Classification:...
.
Demographics
- Population:
- 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)
Russian Census (2002)
Russian Census of 2002 was the first census of the Russian Federation carried out on October 9 through October 16, 2002. It was carried out by the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics .-Resident population:...
, ethnic Ingush
Ingush people
The Ingush are a native ethnic group of the North Caucasus, mostly inhabiting the Russian republic of Ingushetia. They refer to themselves as Ghalghai . The Ingush are predominantly Sunni Muslims and speak the Ingush language...
make up 77.3% of the republic's population. Other groups include Chechens
Chechen people
Chechens constitute the largest native ethnic group originating in the North Caucasus region. They refer to themselves as Noxçi . Also known as Sadiks , Gargareans, Malkhs...
(20.4%), Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
(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 Ingush people The Ingush are a native ethnic group of the North Caucasus, mostly inhabiting the Russian republic of Ingushetia. They refer to themselves as Ghalghai . The Ingush are predominantly Sunni Muslims and speak the Ingush language... |
69,930 (93.1%) | 79,462 (58.0%) | 361,057 (77.3%) |
| Chechens Chechen people Chechens constitute the largest native ethnic group originating in the North Caucasus region. They refer to themselves as Noxçi . Also known as Sadiks , Gargareans, Malkhs... |
2,572 (3.4%) | 7,848 (5.7%) | 95,403 (20.4%) |
| Russians Russians The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries.... |
922 (1.2%) | 43,389 (31.7%) | 5,559 (1.2%) |
| Others | 1,709 (2.3%) | 6,368 (4.6%) | 5,275 (1.1%) |
History
10,000-8000 BC: Migration of the linguistic ancestors of the Ingush people to the slopes of the Caucasus from the Fertile CrescentFertile Crescent
The Fertile Crescent, nicknamed "The Cradle of Civilization" for the fact the first civilizations started there, is a crescent-shaped region containing the comparatively moist and fertile land of otherwise arid and semi-arid Western Asia. The term was first used by University of Chicago...
. Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
, and the domestication of animals.
6000-4000 BC: Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
era. Pottery is known to the region. Old settlements near Ali-Yurt and Magas
Magas
Magas is the capital of the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia. The town was founded in 1995; it replaced Nazran as the capital of the republic in 2002. In terms of population, Magas is the smallest capital of a federal subject in Russia: -History:...
, 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.
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
Nazran
Nazran is a town in the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia. It served as the republic's capital in 1991–2000, until the town of Magas was specially built as the new capital. Nazran is the largest city of the republic: -General:...
).
1239 AD: Destruction of the Alan
Alania
Alania may refer to:*Alania, the medieval state of the Alans or Alani people in the North Caucasus*The short name of the modern North Ossetia-Alania, one of the Caucasian republics in the Russian Federation...
capital of Maghas
Maghas
Known exclusively from Arabic sources, Maghas or Maas was the capital city of Alania, a medieval kingdom in the Greater Caucasus. Its location is uncertain, with some authors favouring North Ossetia and others pointing to Arkhyz in modern-day Karachay-Cherkessia, where three 10th-century churches...
and Alan confederacy of the Northern Caucasian highlanders, nations, and tribes by Batu Khan
Batu Khan
Batu Khan was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Ulus of Jochi , the sub-khanate of the Mongol Empire. Batu was a son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. His ulus was the chief state of the Golden Horde , which ruled Rus and the Caucasus for around 250 years, after also destroying the armies...
(a Mongol leader and a grandson of Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
).
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. The history of the Ingush is closely related to that of the ChechensChechen people
Chechens constitute the largest native ethnic group originating in the North Caucasus region. They refer to themselves as Noxçi . Also known as Sadiks , Gargareans, Malkhs...
. From the 9th to the 12th centuries, Georgian
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
missionaries partially Christianised
Christianization
The historical phenomenon of Christianization is the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once...
the Ingush. The remains of several temples, notably the Tkha-bya-Yer-d
Tkhaba-Yerdy Church
Tkhaba-Yerdy is the ruins of the largest medieval Christian church in Ingushetia, Russian Federation. It is located deep in the Assin Gorge between the auls of Khairakh and Puy, Dzheyrakhsky District, near the border with Georgia...
and the Al-Bee-Yer-d can be found in Ingushetia. Ingush peacefully converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
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
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
and Ossetians
Ossetians
The Ossetians are an Iranic ethnic group of the Caucasus Mountains, eponymous of the region known as Ossetia.They speak Ossetic, an Iranian language of the Eastern branch, with most also fluent in Russian as a second language....
started in the middle of the 19th century. Russian General Evdokimov and Ossetian
Ossetian
Ossetian may refer to:* The Ossetian language* A member of the Ossetian people* A person from the region of Ossetia...
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 StanitsaStanitsaStanitsa is a village inside a Cossack host . Stanitsas were the primary unit of Cossack hosts.Historically, the stanitsa was a unit of economic and political organisation of the Cossack peoples primarily in the southern regions of the Russian Empire.Much of the land was held in common by the...
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 KhutorKhutorKhutor or khutir is usually taken to refer to a single-homestead rural settlement of Eastern Europe.In Cossack-settled lands that encompassed today's Ukraine, Kuban, and the lower Don river basin the word khutor was used to describe new settlements which had detached themselves from stanitsas...
Tarski in 1867.
Unlike Chechens who fought the Caucasian War
Caucasian War
The Caucasian War of 1817–1864, also known as the Russian conquest of the Caucasus was an invasion of the Caucasus by the Russian Empire which ended with the annexation of the areas of the North Caucasus to Russia...
against Russia, Ingush clans resorted mostly to underground resistance. The Russians built the fortress Vladikavkaz
Vladikavkaz
-Notable structures:In Vladikavkaz, there is a guyed TV mast, tall, built in 1961, which has six crossbars with gangways in two levels running from the mast structure to the guys.-Twin towns/sister cities:...
("ruler of the Caucasus") on the place of Ingush village of Zaur. Russian General Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov
Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov
Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov , or Ermolov , was a Russian Imperial general of the 19th century who commanded Russian troops in the Caucasus War.-Early life:...
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
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
by claiming that "Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s need to live under Muslim rulers". It seems that he wanted to liberate the land for Ossetians
Ossetians
The Ossetians are an Iranic ethnic group of the Caucasus Mountains, eponymous of the region known as Ossetia.They speak Ossetic, an Iranian language of the Eastern branch, with most also fluent in Russian as a second language....
and Cossaks. Some Ingush willingly went into exile to deserted territory in the Middle East where many of them died and the rest were assimilated
Cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
. It was estimated that 80% of the Ingush left Ingushetia for the Middle East in 1865.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 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
Dekulakization
Dekulakization was the Soviet campaign of political repressions, including arrests, deportations, and executions of millions of the better-off peasants and their families in 1929-1932. The richer peasants were labeled kulaks and considered class enemies...
and unified Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
and Ingushetia into Chechen-Ingush ASSR. In 1944 near the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Ingush and Chechens were falsely accused of collaborating with the Nazis
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and the entire Ingush and Chechen populations were deported to Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
, Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
, and Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
; up to 30 percent perished during the journey or in the first year. The Prague Watchdog
Prague Watchdog
Prague Watchdog was an English, Czech and Russian-language Prague-based on-line service that collected and disseminated information on the crisis in Chechnya and reporting on the conflict in the North Caucasus, focusing on human rights, humanitarian situation, media access and coverage, and the...
claims that "in the early years of their exile about half of the Chechens and Ingush died from hunger, cold and disease". The deportation was classified by the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
in 2004 as genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
. They were allowed to return to Checheno-Ingushetia (but not to Prigorodny District
Prigorodny District
Prigorodny District is the name of several administrative and municipal districts in Russia:*Prigorodny District, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, an administrative and municipal district of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania...
) in 1957, several years after the death of Stalin. Majority of Ingushetia's territory had been settled by Ossetians
Ossetians
The Ossetians are an Iranic ethnic group of the Caucasus Mountains, eponymous of the region known as Ossetia.They speak Ossetic, an Iranian language of the Eastern branch, with most also fluent in Russian as a second language....
and part of the region had been transferred to North Ossetia
North Ossetia-Alania
The Republic of North Ossetia–Alania is a federal subject of Russia . Its population according to the 2010 Census was 712,877.-Name:...
. 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
Grozny
Grozny is the capital city of the Chechen Republic, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 271,596; up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Census. but still only about two-thirds of 399,688 recorded in the 1989...
in 16 January 1973, crushed by the Soviet troops In 1989 Ingush were officially rehabilitated along with other peoples that had been subjected to repressions.
In 1991 the Chechens declared independence from the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria is the unrecognized secessionist government of Chechnya. The republic was proclaimed in late 1991 by Dzokhar Dudayev, and fought two devastating wars between separatists and the Russian Federation which denounced secession...
. 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
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
of the Ingush population started and over 60,000 Ingush civilians were forced from their homes in the Prigorodny District
Prigorodny District, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania
Prigorodny District is an administrative and municipal district , one of the eight in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia. Its administrative center is the rural locality of Oktyabrskoye...
of North Ossetia. As the result of the conflict Ruslan Aushev
Ruslan Aushev
Ruslan Sultanovich Aushev was the president of Ingushetia from March 1993 to December 2001. He was reportedly the youngest officer in the Soviet army to reach the rank of Lieutenant General. He received the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union on May 7, 1982...
was appointed the first president of Ingushetia and partial stability returned under his rule in Ingushetia.
In 1994, when the first Russo-Chechen war
First Chechen War
The First Chechen War, also known as the War in Chechnya, was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from December 1994 to August 1996...
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
Murat Zyazikov
Murat Magometovich Zyazikov is the former president of the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia. He was born in what is now Kyrgyzstan. Zyazikov was a controversial politician in Ingushetia.- Political Career :...
, a former KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
general. The situation worsened under his rule. Numerous young Ingush men were abducted by Russian and Ossetian
Ossetian
Ossetian may refer to:* The Ossetian language* A member of the Ossetian people* A person from the region of Ossetia...
death squad
Death squad
A death squad is an armed military, police, insurgent, or terrorist squad that conducts extrajudicial killings, assassinations, and forced disappearances of persons as part of a war, insurgency or terror campaign...
s. according to Human rights watchdogs Memorial and Mashr The Ingush mountains are closed for Ingush nationals. 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
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
school teacher in Ingushetia was done by two ethnic-Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
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.
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
Counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...
" operation in Ingushetia after receiving information that insurgents had been preparing a series of attacks.
In the beginning of August 2008 the war between Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
and South Ossetia
South Ossetia
South Ossetia or Tskhinvali Region is a disputed region and partly recognized state in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic....
broke out, in which the Russian Federation subsequently became involved. 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 31 August 2008 Magomed Yevloyev
Magomed Yevloyev
Magomed Yakhyаvich Yevloyev was an Ingush journalist, lawyer, and businessman, and the owner of the news website Ingushetiya.ru, known for being highly critical of Murat Zyazikov, the President of Ingushetia, a federal subject of Russia bordering Chechnya...
, the head of Ingush opposition and the owner the website ingushetiya.ru
Ingushetiya.ru
Ingushetia.org is a non-government Ingush news agency and web site and was owned by Magomed Yevloyev. Its server is located in the United States....
, was killed by Russian security forces 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."
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.
On October 30, 2008 Zyazikov was dismissed from his office (he himself claimed he resigned voluntarily) and Yunus-Bek Yevkurov
Yunus-bek Yevkurov
Yunus-bek Bamatgireyevich Yevkurov is the current president of the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia, appointed by President Dmitry Medvedev on 30 October 2008...
was nominated by Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is the third President of the Russian Federation.Born to a family of academics, Medvedev graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1987. He defended his dissertation in 1990 and worked as a docent at his alma mater, now renamed to Saint...
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. Under the current rule of Yevkurov, Ingushetia seems much calmer showing some semblance of Russian government. Attacks on policemen have fallen by 40% and abductions by 80%.
Military history
According to professor Johanna NicholsJohanna Nichols
Linguist Johanna Nichols is a professor emerita on active duty in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research interests include the Slavic languages, the linguistic prehistory of northern Eurasia, language typology, ancient linguistic...
, in all the recorded history and reconstructable prehistory
Prehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
the Ingush people
Ingush people
The Ingush are a native ethnic group of the North Caucasus, mostly inhabiting the Russian republic of Ingushetia. They refer to themselves as Ghalghai . The Ingush are predominantly Sunni Muslims and speak the Ingush language...
have never undertaken battle except in defense. However, Ingush were hired in a number of wars. For example, when Persians attacked Georgia, King Alexander and his 100 Roman
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
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.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, 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:
In 1941, when Germans attacked the USSR
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, the whole Russian front was retreating 40 km a day. Out of 6,500 defenders of Brest Fortress
Brest Fortress
Brest Fortress , formerly known as Brest-Litovsk Fortress , is a 19th century Russian fortress in Brest, Belarus. It is one of the most important Soviet World War II war monuments commemorating the Soviet resistance against the German invasion on June 22, 1941...
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
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
officer came out from the fortress's underground bunker:
In 1994–1996 Ingush volunteers fought alongside Chechens in the Russian-Chechen war
First Chechen War
The First Chechen War, also known as the War in Chechnya, was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from December 1994 to August 1996...
. 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
Ruslan Aushev
Ruslan Sultanovich Aushev was the president of Ingushetia from March 1993 to December 2001. He was reportedly the youngest officer in the Soviet army to reach the rank of Lieutenant General. He received the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union on May 7, 1982...
.
This changed after the beginning of the Second Chechen War
Second Chechen War
The Second Chechen War, in a later phase better known as the War in the North Caucasus, was launched by the Russian Federation starting 26 August 1999, in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade ....
, and especially since the rule of President Murat Zyazikov
Murat Zyazikov
Murat Magometovich Zyazikov is the former president of the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia. He was born in what is now Kyrgyzstan. Zyazikov was a controversial politician in Ingushetia.- Political Career :...
in 2002. The first major rebel attack of the conflict, in which a military convoy was destroyed
Galashki ambush
Galashki ambush took place of May 11, 2000, when the separatist militants from the group of Shamil Basayev, led by a Galashki native Ruslan Khuchbarov, attacked and destroyed a convoy of the Russian Interior Ministry paramilitary forces in the Republic of Ingushetia...
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, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
sent in an additional 2,500 interior ministry troops, more than tripling the number of special forces in Ingushetia in July.
Civil disorders
A number of insurgency and terrorist attacks started again in 2008.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
Bashir Aushev
Bashir Magometovich Aushev was a Russian-Ingush politician, who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Ingushetia from 2002 until 2008.Aushev served as Deputy Prime Minister under former Ingush President Murat Zyazikov. Zyazikov was a former Soviet K.G.B. agent, who was unpopular in Ingushetia...
, a former deputy prime minister, as he stood outside his home in Nazran
Nazran
Nazran is a town in the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia. It served as the republic's capital in 1991–2000, until the town of Magas was specially built as the new capital. Nazran is the largest city of the republic: -General:...
.
On June 22, 2009 the president of the republic Yunus-Bek Yevkurov
Yunus-bek Yevkurov
Yunus-bek Bamatgireyevich Yevkurov is the current president of the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia, appointed by President Dmitry Medvedev on 30 October 2008...
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
On August 12, 2009, Gunmen killed construction minister Uslan Amerkhanov in his office in the Ingush capital, Magas
Magas
Magas is the capital of the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia. The town was founded in 1995; it replaced Nazran as the capital of the republic in 2002. In terms of population, Magas is the smallest capital of a federal subject in Russia: -History:...
.
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.
Ingushetia in books
- Our GameOur GameOur Game is a novel by John le Carré published in 1995. The title refers to Winchester College Football, as the two main characters were at Winchester long before the setting of the novel.-Plot summary:The disappearance of Dr...
John le CarréJohn le CarréDavid John Moore Cornwell , who writes under the name John le Carré, is an author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré"... - No Escape From Grozny David LeCompte
Politics
The head of government and the highest executive post in Ingushetia is the PresidentPresident of Ingushetia
The President of the Republic of Ingushetia is the highest office within the Government of Ingushetia.-Presidents of Ingushetia:*Ruslan Aushev *Murat Zyazikov *Yunus-bek Yevkurov...
.
Recent presidents :
- Ruslan AushevRuslan AushevRuslan Sultanovich Aushev was the president of Ingushetia from March 1993 to December 2001. He was reportedly the youngest officer in the Soviet army to reach the rank of Lieutenant General. He received the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union on May 7, 1982...
: November 10, 1992 (Head of the Republic until March 7, 1993)—December 28, 2001 - Akhmed Malsagov (interim): December 28, 2001—May 23, 2002
- Murat ZyazikovMurat ZyazikovMurat Magometovich Zyazikov is the former president of the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia. He was born in what is now Kyrgyzstan. Zyazikov was a controversial politician in Ingushetia.- Political Career :...
: May 23, 2002—October 30, 2008 - Yunus-Bek YevkurovYunus-bek YevkurovYunus-bek Bamatgireyevich Yevkurov is the current president of the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia, appointed by President Dmitry Medvedev on 30 October 2008...
: 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
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
of the Republic is the People's Assembly
People's Assembly of Ingushetia
The People's Assembly of Ingushetia is the unicameral legislature of that republic. It comprises 34 deputies elected for a four year term.The People's Assembly of Ingushetia was established in 1994....
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
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization , formed in 11 February 1991, in The Hague, is an international organization of political organisations and governments representing self-proclaimed "indigenous peoples, minorities, and unrecognised or occupied territories". The organization...
.
The capital was moved from Nazran
Nazran
Nazran is a town in the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia. It served as the republic's capital in 1991–2000, until the town of Magas was specially built as the new capital. Nazran is the largest city of the republic: -General:...
to Magas
Magas
Magas is the capital of the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia. The town was founded in 1995; it replaced Nazran as the capital of the republic in 2002. In terms of population, Magas is the smallest capital of a federal subject in Russia: -History:...
in December 2002.
Economy
There are some natural resources in Ingushetia: mineral waterMineral water
Mineral water is water containing minerals or other dissolved substances that alter its taste or give it therapeutic value, generally obtained from a naturally occurring mineral spring or source. Dissolved substances in the water may include various salts and sulfur compounds...
in Achaluki, oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
and natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
in Malgobek, forests in Dzheirakh, metals in Galashki. The local government is considering the development of tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
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.
Education
Ingush State University, the first institute of higher education in the history of Ingushetia, was founded in 1994 in Ordzhonikidzevskaya.Religion
The Ingush are predominantly Shāfi‘ī Madh'hab of Sunni IslamIslam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
with some Sufi minority which are often associated with one of two traditional Sufi orders: the Sufi tariqa Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi is one of the major Sufi spiritual orders of Sufi Islam. It is considered to be a "Potent" order.The Naqshbandi order is over 1,300 years old, and is active today...
, represented in Ingushetia by the brotherhood of Deni Arsanov, and the tariqa Qadiriyyah, associated with Kunta-Haji Kishiev
Kunta-haji
Kunta-haji Kishiev was Chechen Muslim mystic, the founder of a Sufi branch named Zikrism, and an ideologue of nonviolence and passive resistance...
.
Famous people
- Issa Kostoyev, policeman who captured serial killer Andrei ChikatiloAndrei ChikatiloAndrei Romanovich Chikatilo was a Ukrainian-born Soviet serial killer, nicknamed the Butcher of Rostov, The Red Ripper or The Rostov Ripper who murdered a minimum of 52 women and children between 1978 and 1990...
. - Magomed Sagov, engineer
- Ismail Esmurziev, engineer
- Rakhim Chakkhiev, boxer
- Nazyr MankievNazyr MankievNazyr Yunuzovich Mankiev is a Russian wrestler who won a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Greco-Roman wrestling. Resident of Krasnoyarsk.-External links:* *...
, wrestler