Tarkhan Gaziyev
Encyclopedia
Tarkhan Ismailovich Gaziyev , also known as Emir Tarkhan, is a Chechen
Mujahid
Emir
(commander) fighting in the North Caucasus
.
Held in great respect by fellow fighters for his courage, military skills and depth of faith, Gaziyev was named commander of the Southwest Front of the Armed Forces of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
by rebel leader Dokka Umarov on 24 September 2006, and was later appointed head of the National Security Service at the beginning of March 2007. Following the formation of the Caucasus Emirate
in the fall of 2007, the entity was re-named “Raisa Mukhabarat
” (Security Service), and Gaziyev retained his post; however, following a summer 2010 dispute over the leadership and goals of a future separatist state in the North Caucasus, Umarov revoked Gaziyev's title along with fellow field commanders Khuseyn Gakayev, Aslambek Vadalov
, and the Saudi-born Muhannad.
A July 2011 Sharia
Court proceeding about the discord conducted by the Caucasus Emirate in Chechnya would lead to a ruling in favor of Umarov; as a result of the trial, numerous Chechen commanders who withdrew their oaths of allegiance to him instead re-affirmed their loyalty to the Emir of the Caucasus Emirate. Among them were Gakayev and Vadalov, but apparently not Gaziyev.
, Gaziyev held a number of top military positions in Chechnya's armed underground resistance, commanding a squad of several dozen militants that operated mainly in the Achkoi-Martan district.
Officially wanted by federal authorities since 14 May 2004, Gaziyev has established his rebel credentials by carrying out an array of attacks on Russian security forces and local pro-Moscow authorities, including:
Virtually every insurgent operation conducted in the Itum-Kale district from 2002–2011, as well as all operations undertaken in the Achkoi-Martan district from 2007-2011 are alleged to be attributable to Gaziyev; altogether, he has led sub-units on dozens of missions in the past decade.
Later, in September 2010, Gaziyev appeared on video alongside Gakayev and Vadalov; in the clip, they denounced Umarov and declared Gakayev the leader of the re-organized Chechen resistance. The genesis of the dispute was over the precise vision of an independent state in the North Caucasus as well as Umarov's allegedly autocratic leadership style; in siding with Gakayev and Vadalov, as well as Muhannad (whom Umarov would accuse of fomenting dissent within the insurgency ranks in tandem with Gaziyev), Gaziyev had "opted for moderate radicals with views closer to traditional Chechen nationalists." The fact that Gaziyev had sided with the Chechen nationalists was considered a huge blow to Umarov's power and credibility; numerous middle- and lower-ranking militant leaders departed with the four veteran field commanders, putting Umarov in an increasingly isolated position. In response, Umarov stripped Gakayev, Vadalov, Gaziyev, and Muhannad of their titles and appointments.
In video statements released in October 2010, Gakayev, Vadalov and Gaziyev explained their motives for breaking away from Umarov, with Gaziyev noting that "there is no one who has been at his side longer than we have, or who knows him better than we do.... We thought about this for a long time, we prayed to Allah so as not to destroy the accord among fighters." Gaziyev would also define the goals of the Chechen nationalists as "cleansing our country of the enemies of Allah, establishing Sharia law to defend the poor and disadvantaged, and bringing up our future generation in the Muslim faith."
On 23 July 2011, the rebel website Kavkaz Center
stated that a ruling by the Caucasus Emirate's Sharia
Court had resolved the nearly year-long dispute between the transnational Islamists led by Umarov and a significant segment of the more localized, traditional anti-Russian Chechen irredentists led by Gakayev. Following the month-long court proceedings, Umarov re-appointed Gakayev his naib
(deputy) in the eastern sector of Chechnya, while Vadalov and "a number" of Chechen field commanders who had earlier renounced their bayat (allegiance) instead renewed their loyalty to Umarov. Noticeably absent from the gathering was Gaziyev, and an appeal from Umarov to "mujaheds in the North Caucasus and Chechnya...to put behind [you] all the disagreements that existed between us and direct all your strength, all your will toward elevating the word of Allah and [against] our enemy the unbelievers," implied that some Chechen fighters, possibly including Gaziyev and the men he commands, still refuse to acknowledge Umarov's title of supreme commander. In naming Aslan Byutukaev (Emir Khamzat) commander of the western sector of Chechnya, Umarov also abolished the southwestern front previously run by Gaziyev until his dismissal in the fall of 2010, further evidence that Gaziyev is not presently a part of the reconciliation.
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...
Mujahid
Mujahideen
Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
Emir
Emir
Emir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...
(commander) fighting 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....
.
Held in great respect by fellow fighters for his courage, military skills and depth of faith, Gaziyev was named commander of the Southwest Front of the Armed Forces of 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...
by rebel leader Dokka Umarov on 24 September 2006, and was later appointed head of the National Security Service at the beginning of March 2007. Following the formation of the Caucasus Emirate
Caucasus Emirate
The Caucasus Emirate also known as the Caucasian Emirate is a self-proclaimed virtual state entity, partially successor to the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and was officially announced on October 31, 2007 by former President of Ichkeria Dokka Umarov, who became the first Emir...
in the fall of 2007, the entity was re-named “Raisa Mukhabarat
Mukhabarat
Mukhābarāt is the Arabic term for intelligence, as in intelligence agency. In the West, the term is sometimes used negatively, connotating repression, often by means of secret police or state terror, in Arab countries...
” (Security Service), and Gaziyev retained his post; however, following a summer 2010 dispute over the leadership and goals of a future separatist state in the North Caucasus, Umarov revoked Gaziyev's title along with fellow field commanders Khuseyn Gakayev, Aslambek Vadalov
Aslambek Vadalov
Aslambek Ilimsultanovich Vadalov , also known by his nom de guerre Emir Aslambek, is a Chechen rebel leader fighting in the North Caucasus. He was appointed the supreme leader of the Caucasus Emirate on 1 August 2010, though this was later retracted....
, and the Saudi-born Muhannad.
A July 2011 Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
Court proceeding about the discord conducted by the Caucasus Emirate in Chechnya would lead to a ruling in favor of Umarov; as a result of the trial, numerous Chechen commanders who withdrew their oaths of allegiance to him instead re-affirmed their loyalty to the Emir of the Caucasus Emirate. Among them were Gakayev and Vadalov, but apparently not Gaziyev.
Rebel activity
Gaziyev was born on 11 November 1965 in the small village of Pozh-Poroy in the mountainous Itum-Kale district of the former Chechen–Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. During the Second Chechen WarSecond 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 ....
, Gaziyev held a number of top military positions in Chechnya's armed underground resistance, commanding a squad of several dozen militants that operated mainly in the Achkoi-Martan district.
Officially wanted by federal authorities since 14 May 2004, Gaziyev has established his rebel credentials by carrying out an array of attacks on Russian security forces and local pro-Moscow authorities, including:
- The murder of the Chairman of the Council of Elders of the Itum-Kale district in the village of Abugroi.
- An attack on both a school building and the house of the school's head of administration in the village of Gukhoy in the Itum-Kale district; the administration head's nephew was killed and four policemen were wounded in the attack.
- Leading twenty militants in an assault on the village of Alkhazurovo which killed four police officers and one soldier on 19 March 2008.
- A series of armed raids in several villages within the Achkoi-Martan and Urus-Martan districts on 20–21 April 2008.
Virtually every insurgent operation conducted in the Itum-Kale district from 2002–2011, as well as all operations undertaken in the Achkoi-Martan district from 2007-2011 are alleged to be attributable to Gaziyev; altogether, he has led sub-units on dozens of missions in the past decade.
Split with Dokka Umarov
The first public disagreement between Gaziyev and Umarov occurred in 2008 when Gaziyev refused to carry out an order to assassinate respected Chechen commander and Islamic scholar Arbi Yovmirzaev (Emir Mansur), who had publicly condemned Umarov's pronouncement of the Caucasus Emirate.Later, in September 2010, Gaziyev appeared on video alongside Gakayev and Vadalov; in the clip, they denounced Umarov and declared Gakayev the leader of the re-organized Chechen resistance. The genesis of the dispute was over the precise vision of an independent state in the North Caucasus as well as Umarov's allegedly autocratic leadership style; in siding with Gakayev and Vadalov, as well as Muhannad (whom Umarov would accuse of fomenting dissent within the insurgency ranks in tandem with Gaziyev), Gaziyev had "opted for moderate radicals with views closer to traditional Chechen nationalists." The fact that Gaziyev had sided with the Chechen nationalists was considered a huge blow to Umarov's power and credibility; numerous middle- and lower-ranking militant leaders departed with the four veteran field commanders, putting Umarov in an increasingly isolated position. In response, Umarov stripped Gakayev, Vadalov, Gaziyev, and Muhannad of their titles and appointments.
In video statements released in October 2010, Gakayev, Vadalov and Gaziyev explained their motives for breaking away from Umarov, with Gaziyev noting that "there is no one who has been at his side longer than we have, or who knows him better than we do.... We thought about this for a long time, we prayed to Allah so as not to destroy the accord among fighters." Gaziyev would also define the goals of the Chechen nationalists as "cleansing our country of the enemies of Allah, establishing Sharia law to defend the poor and disadvantaged, and bringing up our future generation in the Muslim faith."
On 23 July 2011, the rebel website Kavkaz Center
Kavkaz Center
The Kavkaz Center is a privately run website by pro-Chechen which aims to be "a Chechen internet agency which is independent, international and Islamic" that "does not represent the viewpoint of any state structures"...
stated that a ruling by the Caucasus Emirate's Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
Court had resolved the nearly year-long dispute between the transnational Islamists led by Umarov and a significant segment of the more localized, traditional anti-Russian Chechen irredentists led by Gakayev. Following the month-long court proceedings, Umarov re-appointed Gakayev his naib
Naib
Naib is an Arabic term for a local leader in some parts of the Ottoman Empire and eastern Caucasus.Naib or NAIB may also refer to:*National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball or National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics...
(deputy) in the eastern sector of Chechnya, while Vadalov and "a number" of Chechen field commanders who had earlier renounced their bayat (allegiance) instead renewed their loyalty to Umarov. Noticeably absent from the gathering was Gaziyev, and an appeal from Umarov to "mujaheds in the North Caucasus and Chechnya...to put behind [you] all the disagreements that existed between us and direct all your strength, all your will toward elevating the word of Allah and [against] our enemy the unbelievers," implied that some Chechen fighters, possibly including Gaziyev and the men he commands, still refuse to acknowledge Umarov's title of supreme commander. In naming Aslan Byutukaev (Emir Khamzat) commander of the western sector of Chechnya, Umarov also abolished the southwestern front previously run by Gaziyev until his dismissal in the fall of 2010, further evidence that Gaziyev is not presently a part of the reconciliation.