Milana Terloeva
Encyclopedia
Milana Bakhaeva (born December 30, 1979 in Orekhovo
, Chechnya
), also known by the pen name
Milana Terloeva, is a Chechen
journalist
and author of the 2006 French language
bestseller
Danser sur les ruines. Une jeunesse tchétchène (Dancing on ruins. A Chechen youth).
A refugee
during the Second Chechen War
, Milana was one of eight Chechen students at the University of Grozny selected to study abroad by the human rights
organization Études Sans Frontières in 2003, and she graduated with a Masters degree in journalism
from the prestigious Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris
in 2006.
, sixty kilometers west of the Chechen capital Grozny
and near the border of Ingushetia
, and she lived with her parents and grandmother, who had survived the forced deportations of most Chechens to Central Asia
on February 23, 1944.
As a child growing up in the Soviet Union
, the family was relatively well-off, but suffered due to the spiraling increase in crime
after the dissolution of the Soviet Union
: One night in January 1993, someone left a large iron case outside the family doorstep. Inside was the body of Milana's father, assassinated.
After the beginning of the First Chechen War
on December 11, 1994, Milana and her family first took refuge in their cellar, and lived without running water or electricity. As the situation in her village worsened further, her family took refuge in Grozny
, which had already been ruined. The family returned to Orekhovo at the end of the war in 1996, and they found that their homes had been extensively looted, and Russian soldiers living in her house had soiled everything with their excrement, including her prized ball gown, in an effort to humiliate them.
With the start of the Second Chechen War
, Milana and her family sought refuge in Ingushetia
along with hundreds of thousands of other refugees. She returned to Grozny six months later, and enrolled in the heavily-damaged University of Grozny, studying the French language
with dreams of continuing her education in Europe. She aspired to become a journalist, so that she would be able to bring justice to Chechen victims of the wars.
French students opposed to the new war in Chechnya
started the organization Etudes Sans Frontières in March 2003 as a means for rescuing Chechen students from the warzone and providing them with a French education
. (In 1997, Chechen President
Aslan Maskhadov
appealed to Western nations
to allow Chechen students into their universities, as he dreamed of liberally oriented leaders who would be capable of rebuilding a society that had been destroyed by war. The call fell on deaf ears, and at the time only madrassas from Saudi Arabia
and Pakistan
opened their doors to Chechens
). By that September, the organization had sponsored eight Chechen students, including Milana, to study in Paris.
As a journalism
student at Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris
, Milana excelled academically, graduating as the salutatorian
in her graduating class in 2006. She also worked at the internationally-circulated French newspapers Le Monde
and Courrier International
in August 2004. She also befriended the late journalist Anna Politkovskaya
.
Hachette Livre
, the largest publishing house in France, contacted Milana to write about her experiences during the First
and Second Chechen War
s, and she wrote her autobiography
, Danser sur les ruines. Une jeunesse tchétchène (Dancing on ruins. A Chechen youth), which describes the raids in which many of her family members were captured, her journey from Grozny
to Paris, and of her experiences as a student at Sciences Po.
Despite numerous job offers in Paris, Milana decided to return to Grozny, to open up an independent newspaper, but realized that she would be unable to because of current censorship
and death threats. She is currently working on creating a European cultural center
in Chechnya, and is currently working on a second book, on Chechen
women.
Milana is fluent
in Chechen
, French, English, and Russian, and she can read Arabic
. Her interests include drawing
and Russian literature
.
Orekhovo
Orekhovo is a Moscow Metro station in Orekhovo-Borisovo Severnoye District, Southern Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line, between Tsaritsyno and Domodedovskaya stations....
, 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...
), also known by the pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
Milana Terloeva, is a Chechen
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...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and author of the 2006 French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
bestseller
Bestseller
A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...
Danser sur les ruines. Une jeunesse tchétchène (Dancing on ruins. A Chechen youth).
A refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
during 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 ....
, Milana was one of eight Chechen students at the University of Grozny selected to study abroad by the human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
organization Études Sans Frontières in 2003, and she graduated with a Masters degree in journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
from the prestigious Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris
Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris
The Institut d'études politiques de Paris , simply referred to as Sciences Po , is a public research and higher education institution in Paris, France, specialised in the social sciences. It has the status of grand établissement, which allows its admissions process to be highly selective...
in 2006.
Biography
Milana was born in the village of OrekhovoOrekhovo
Orekhovo is a Moscow Metro station in Orekhovo-Borisovo Severnoye District, Southern Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line, between Tsaritsyno and Domodedovskaya stations....
, sixty kilometers west of the Chechen capital 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...
and near the border of Ingushetia
Ingushetia
The Republic of Ingushetia is a federal subject of Russia , 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...
, and she lived with her parents and grandmother, who had survived the forced deportations of most Chechens to Central Asia
Population transfer in the Soviet Union
Population transfer in the Soviet Union may be classified into the following broad categories: deportations of "anti-Soviet" categories of population, often classified as "enemies of workers," deportations of entire nationalities, labor force transfer, and organized migrations in opposite...
on February 23, 1944.
As a child growing up in 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....
, the family was relatively well-off, but suffered due to the spiraling increase in crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
after the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
: One night in January 1993, someone left a large iron case outside the family doorstep. Inside was the body of Milana's father, assassinated.
After the beginning of the First 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...
on December 11, 1994, Milana and her family first took refuge in their cellar, and lived without running water or electricity. As the situation in her village worsened further, her family took refuge 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...
, which had already been ruined. The family returned to Orekhovo at the end of the war in 1996, and they found that their homes had been extensively looted, and Russian soldiers living in her house had soiled everything with their excrement, including her prized ball gown, in an effort to humiliate them.
With the start 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 ....
, Milana and her family sought refuge in Ingushetia
Ingushetia
The Republic of Ingushetia is a federal subject of Russia , 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...
along with hundreds of thousands of other refugees. She returned to Grozny six months later, and enrolled in the heavily-damaged University of Grozny, studying the French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
with dreams of continuing her education in Europe. She aspired to become a journalist, so that she would be able to bring justice to Chechen victims of the wars.
French students opposed to the new war in Chechnya
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 ....
started the organization Etudes Sans Frontières in March 2003 as a means for rescuing Chechen students from the warzone and providing them with a French education
Education in France
The French educational system is highly centralized, organized, and ramified. It is divided into three different stages:* the primary education ;* secondary education ;...
. (In 1997, Chechen President
President of Ichkeria
This is a list of Presidents of the unrecognised Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, a pro-independence movement that controlled most of Chechnya from 1991 to 1999...
Aslan Maskhadov
Aslan Maskhadov
Aslan Aliyevich Maskhadov was a leader of the Chechen separatist movement and the third President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.He was credited by many with the Chechen victory in the First Chechen War, which allowed for the...
appealed to Western nations
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
to allow Chechen students into their universities, as he dreamed of liberally oriented leaders who would be capable of rebuilding a society that had been destroyed by war. The call fell on deaf ears, and at the time only madrassas from Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
opened their doors to 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...
). By that September, the organization had sponsored eight Chechen students, including Milana, to study in Paris.
As a journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
student at Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris
Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris
The Institut d'études politiques de Paris , simply referred to as Sciences Po , is a public research and higher education institution in Paris, France, specialised in the social sciences. It has the status of grand établissement, which allows its admissions process to be highly selective...
, Milana excelled academically, graduating as the salutatorian
Salutatorian
Salutatorian is an academic title given, in the United States and Canada, to the second highest graduate of the entire graduating class of a specific discipline. Only the valedictorian is ranked higher. This honor is traditionally based on grade point average and number of credits taken, but...
in her graduating class in 2006. She also worked at the internationally-circulated French newspapers Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
and Courrier International
Courrier International
Courrier International is a Paris-based French weekly newspaper which translates and publishes excerpts of articles from over 900 international newspapers. It also has a Portuguese and a Japanese edition...
in August 2004. She also befriended the late journalist Anna Politkovskaya
Anna Politkovskaya
Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya was a Russian journalist, author, and human rights activist known for her opposition to the Chechen conflict and then-President of Russia Vladimir Putin...
.
Hachette Livre
Hachette Livre
-France:*Calmann-Lévy*Deux Coqs d'Or*Disney Hachette Edition*EDICEF*Editions 1*Editions du Chêne**E.P.A*Éditions Dunod*Editions Foucher*Editions Stock*Fayard**Editions Mille et Une Nuits**Editions Mazarine**Pauvert*Gautier-Languereau*Grasset...
, the largest publishing house in France, contacted Milana to write about her experiences during the First
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...
and 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 ....
s, and she wrote her autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, Danser sur les ruines. Une jeunesse tchétchène (Dancing on ruins. A Chechen youth), which describes the raids in which many of her family members were captured, her journey from 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...
to Paris, and of her experiences as a student at Sciences Po.
Despite numerous job offers in Paris, Milana decided to return to Grozny, to open up an independent newspaper, but realized that she would be unable to because of current censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
and death threats. She is currently working on creating a European cultural center
Cultural center
A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run...
in Chechnya, and is currently working on a second book, on Chechen
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...
women.
Milana is fluent
Fluency
Fluency is the property of a person or of a system that delivers information quickly and with expertise.-Speech:...
in 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:...
, French, English, and Russian, and she can read Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
. Her interests include drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
and Russian literature
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union...
.
External links
- Christian Science Monitor article on Milana Bakhaeva Milana Bakhaeva website on Sciences Po - School of Journalism website
- Milana Bakhaeva CV on Sciences Po website
- French Publishers' Agency article on "Dancing on Ruins" Interview with L'Express Livres Plurielles.fr Article Interview with RTL Madmoizelle Book Review