INGUSHETIA

The 'Republic of Ingushetia' (; Ingush: ГӀалгӀай Мохк) is a federal subject of Russia. The direct romanization of the republic's Russian name is ''Respublika Ingushetiya''. The name 'Ingushetia', derives from the Georgian name for the Republic, which is ''Ingusheti'', meaning "(land) where the ''Ingush'' live".

Contents

Geography

Time zone

Rivers

Mountains

Natural resources

Climate

Ethnicity

Demographics

Administrative divisions

Early Ingush History

Modern Ingush History

Military history of Ingushetia

Politics

Economy

Religion

See also

References

External links

Geography

Ingushetia is situated on the northern slopes of the Caucasus.

★ ''Area'': ca. 4,000 km²

★ ''Borders'':

★
★ ''internal'': Republic of North Ossetia-Alania (SW/W/NW/N), Chechen Republic (NE/E/SE)

★
★ ''international'': Georgia (S)

★ ''Highest point'': Mount Stolovaya (2,993 m)

Time zone

Ingushetia is located in the Moscow Time Zone (MSK/MSD). UTC offset is +0300 (MSK)/+0400 (MSD).

Rivers

Major rivers include:

★ Assa River

★ Sunzha River

Mountains

A 150 km stretch of the Caucasus Mountains runs through the territory of the republic.

Natural resources

Ingushetia is rich in timber, rare metals, oil, and natural gas reserves.

Climate

Climate of Ingushetia is mostly continental.

★ ''Average January temperature'': -7°C.

★ ''Average July temperature'': +22°C

★ ''Average annual precipitation'': 1,200 mm.

Ethnicity

The 'Ingush' are an ethnic group of the North Caucasus, mostly inhabiting the Russian republic of Ingushetia. They refer to themselves as Ghalghai (from Ingush: Ghal - fortress, ghai - habitants; another Russian interpretation - citizen). The Ingush are predominantly Sunni Muslim and speak the Ingush language, which has a very high degree of mutual intelligibility with neighboring Chechen.

Demographics

★ 'Population': 467,294 (2002)

★
★ ''Urban'': 198,496 (42.5%)

★
★ ''Rural'': 268,798 (57.5%)

★
★ ''Male'': 218,194 (46.7%)

★
★ ''Female'': 249,100 (53.3%)

★ 'Females per 1000 males': 1,142

★ 'Average age': 22.2 years

★
★ ''Urban'': 22.4 years

★
★ ''Rural'': 22.1 years

★
★ ''Male'': 21.4 years

★
★ ''Female'': 22.9 years

★ 'Number of households': 64,887 (with 463,532 people)

★
★ ''Urban'': 28,751 (with 197,112 people)

★
★ ''Rural'': 36,136 (with 266,420 people)

★ 'Vital statistics' (2005)

★
★ ''Births'': 6,777 (birth rate 14.0)

★
★ ''Deaths'': 1,821 (death rate 3.8)

★ 'Ethnic groups'
According to the 2002 Russian Census (2002), ethnic Ingushes make up 77.3% of the republic's population. Other groups include Chechens (20.4%), Russians (1.2%), and a host of smaller groups, each accounting for less than 0.5% of the total population.

	census 1926	census 1939	census 2002
Ingushes	69,930 (93.1%)	79,462 (58.0%)	361,057 (77.3%)
Chechens	2,572 (3.4%)	7,848 (5.7%)	95,403 (20.4%)
Russians	922 (1.2%)	43,389 (31.7%)	5,559 (1.2%)
Others	1,709 (2.3%)	6,368 (4.6%)	5,275 (1.1%)

Administrative divisions

Early Ingush History

★ '10,000-8,000 BC' migration of proto-Ingush people to the slopes of the Caucasus from the Fertile Crescent domestication of animals, and irrigation are used.^[1]

★ '6000-4000 BC' Neolithic era. Pottery is known to the region. Old settlements near Ali-Yurt and Magas, discovered in the modern times, revealed tools made out of stone: stone axes, polished stones, stone knives, stones with holes drilled in them, clay dishes etc. Settlements made out of clay bricks discovered in the plains. In the mountains there were discovered settlements made out of stone surrounded by walls some of them dated back 8000 BC.^[2]

★ '4000-3000 BC' Rise of the Sino-Caucasian culture. Invention of the wheel (3000 BC), horseback riding, metal works (copper, gold, silver, iron) dishes, armor, daggers, knives, arrow tips. The artifacts were found near Naser-Kort, Muzhichi, Yi-E-Borz (now Surkhakhi), Abi-Goo (now Nazran).

Modern Ingush History

Ingushes are known by the following names: Ghalghai, Gelgai, Kist, Koost, Amazons, Gergar, Narts, Gegar, Dzoordzook, Glivi, Ongusht, Alans, Galash, Tsori, Jairakh, Khamhoi, Metshal, Fyappi, and Nyasareth.
^[3] The history of the Ingush is closely related to that of the Chechens. From the 9th to the 12th centuries, Georgian missionaries partially Christianized the Ingushes. The remains of several temples, notably the Tkha-bya-Yer-d (the temple of 2000) the Al-Bee-Yer-d can be found in Ingushetia. Ingushes reverted to Islam in the beginning of the 19th century with the help of a Chechen Islamic scholar Shaikh-Kunta-Khadzhi Kishiev who brought peaceful teaching of Islam. Ingushes readily accepted the religion. Russian historians claim that Ingushes willfully came under Russian rule in 1810. However, the reality was very different. Russian Barron Rozen on 29 June 1832 reported in the letter to Count Chernishevski that "on the 23-d of this month I exterminated eight Ingush villages. On the 24-th near Targim I exterminated nine more villages" (No.42). 12 November 1836 Barron Rozen in letter No.560 claimed that highlanders of Dzheirkah, Kistin, and Ghalghai were "partially subdued". The colonization of Ingush land by Russians and Ossetians started in the middle of the 19th century. Russian General Evdokimov and Ossetian colonel Kundukhov in 'Opis No.436' "gladly reported" that "the result of colonization of Ingush land was successful:

Ingush village Ghazhien-Yurt was renamed to Stanitsa Assinovskaya in 1847.

Ingush village Ebarg-Yurt was renamed to Stanitsa Troitskaya in 1847.

Ingush town Dibir-Ghala was renamed to Stanitsa Sleptsovskaya in 1847.

Ingush village Magomet-Khite was renamed to Stanitsa Voznesenskaya in 1847.

Ingush village Akhi-Yurt was renamed to Stanitsa Sunzhenskaya in 1859.

Ingush village Ongusht was renamed to Stanitsa Tarskaya in 1859.

Ingush town Ildir-Ghala was renamed to Stanitsa Karabulakskaya in 1859.

Ingush village Alkhaste was renamed to Stanitsa Feldmarshalskaya in 1860.

Ingush village Tauzen-Yurt was renamed to Stanitsa Vorontsov-Dashkov in 1861.

Ingush village Sholkhi was renamed to Khutor Tarski in 1867."'

The Russians also built the fortress Vladikavkaz (ruler of the Caucasus) on the place of Ingush village of Zaur. Russian General Yermolov in his letter to Tsar of Russia wrote: "It would be a grave mistake for Russia to alienate such a militaristic nation as Ingushes" He suggested the separation of Ingushes and Chechens and the separation must be very deep for Russia to win the war in the Caucasus. The strategy worked. The last organized rebellion in Ingushetia occurred in 1865 when 5000 Ingush nationals started a fight but lost to superior Russian forces. It was labeled "Nazranovski boont". The rebellion signaled the end of the First Russo-Caucasian War. The same year Russian Tsar offered help in deportation of Ingushes and Chechens to Turkey and the Middle East by claiming that "Muslims need to live under Muslim rulers". It seems that he wanted to liberate the land for Ossetians and Cossaks. Some Ingushes fell for the trap and willingly went into exile to deserted territory in the Middle East where majority of them died and the rest were assimilated. It was estimated that 80% of Ingushes left Ingushetia in 1865. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 the Ingushes were promissed that their villages and towns will be returned back. The Soviets lied and confiscated the remaining Ingush properties and unified Chechnya and Ingushetia into Chechen-Ingush ASSR. In 1944 near the end of World War II Ingushes and Chechens were falsely accused of collaborating with the Nazis and the entire Ingush and Chechen populations were deported to Kazakhstan and Siberia with great loss of life - an estimated two thirds (In 2006 European Parliament classified the deportation of 1944 as genocide). They were rehabilitated in the 1950s, after the death of Stalin, and were allowed to return home in 1957. However, much of Ingushetia's territory had been settled by Ossetians and part of the region had been transferred to North Ossetia. The returning Ingush faced considerable animosity from the Ossetians. The Ingush were forced to buy their houses back from the Ossetians and Russians. It all led to a peaceful Ingush protest in Grozny in 1975. The protesters were crushed by the Soviet troops with extreme prejudice. In 1991 Chechnya declared independence from Russia. The Ingushes' choice was to remain in Russia to peacefully resolve the conflict with Ossetia. They were also hoping that Russians will return their land back for their loyalty to Russia. However, it seems that politicians in Ossetia and Russia had other plans. By repeatedly killing of Ingush civilians in Ossetia they fueled the rebelion in 1992. The violence flared during the Ossetian-Ingush conflict in late October 1992 when another ethnic cleansing of Ingush population started. Sixty thousands of Ingush civilians were forced from their homes in the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia.^[4]. As the result of the conflict Ruslan Aushev was appointed as the first president of Ingushetia. Partial stability returned under his rule in Ingushetia. In 1995 when the first Russo-Chechenian 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 misery to Ingushetia. In 2001 President Aushev was forced to leave his presidency. A new president Murat Zyazikov a former KGB general took his place. The situation worsened under his rule and continues to decline. Hundreds of young Ingush men are abducted by Russian and Ossetian death squads yearly. The Ingush mountains are closed for Ingush nationals. Ingushetia is now surrounded by lawless Chechnya on the East, blocked by Ossetians on the West, and by Russian and Ossetian boardguard FSB troops on the South. The number of terrorist attacks in Ingushetia on the rise especially after the number of Russian security forces were tippled. According to Russian news agency GAZETA.RU the murder of an ethnic-Russian school teacher in Ingushetia was done by two ethnic-Russians and an ethnic-Ossetian soldiers. The Police detective I.Mezhoev of Ingushetia who solved the crime was shot at and badly wounded by "unknown" assailants.^[5]

Military history of Ingushetia

In all of recorded history and reconstructable prehistory the Ingush people have never undertaken battle except in defense^[4]. However, Ingush were hired in a number of wars. For example, when Persians attacked Georgia, King Alexander and his 100 Roman bodyguards took shelter with his wife's Ingush relatives. Half of the Ingush army was sent and defeated the Persians. II-III BC Georgian kings received military assistance in their conquest from Ingush people^[3]. During World War I, 500 knights from an Ingush regiment of the Wild Division boldly attacked German Iron Division. The Russian Emperor Nicholas II, assessing the performance of the Ingush and Chechen regiments during the Brusilov breakthrough on the Russian-German front in 1915 wrote in his telegram to the Governor-General of the Tersky region Fleisher: "The Ingush regiment pounced upon the German "Iron division" like an avalanche. It was immediately supported by the Chechen regiment. The Russian history, including the history of our Preobrazhensky regiment, does not know a single instance of a horse cavalry attacking an enemy force armed with heavy artillery: 4.5 thousand killed, 3.5 thousand taken prisoner, 2.5 thousand wounded. Less than in an hour and a half the "iron division" ceased to exist, the division that had aroused fear in the best armies of our allies. On behalf of me, the royal court and the whole of the Russian army send our best regards to fathers, mothers, sisters, wives and brides of those brave sons of the Caucasus whose heroism paved the way for the destruction of German hordes. Russia bows low to the heroes and will never forget them. I extend my fraternal greetings, Nicholas II, August 25th, 1915".^[8]
In 1941, when Germans attacked the USSR, the whole Russian front was retreating 40 km a day. Out of 6,500 defenders of Brest Fortress 6000 Soviet troops capitulated. 500 troops were fresh conscripts of Ingush and Chechen origin. Defenders held the fortress for over a month against the Germans. They even managed to stage several attacks from the Fortress. The last defender's name has been unknown for a long time. Recently, the memoirs of Stankus Antanas, a Lithuanian national and former Waffen SS officer, were published in Ingushetia. He recalls that in July 1941, his regiment was ordered to "finish off" the remaining Soviet soldiers in the fortress. When the Nazis decided that no defenders had been left alive, a Waffen SS general lined up his soldiers on the parade ground to award them with decorations for capturing the fortress. Then a tall and smart Red Army officer came out from the fortress's underground bunker. "He was blind because of his wounds and walked with his left arm extended forward. His right hand rested on a gun holster. He walked along the parade grounds wearing a ragged uniform, but his head was held high. The entire division was shocked at the sight. Approaching a shell-hole, he turned his face toward the west. The German general suddenly saluted this last defender of the Brest Fortress, and the rest of the officers followed suit. The Red Army officer drew a handgun and shot himself in the head. He fell on the ground facing Germany. A deep-drawn sigh aired over the parade grounds," Antanas recounts. "We all stood 'frozen' in awe of this brave man." His documents identified him as a man called Barkhanoyev. Decades later, official records revealed it was Umatgirei Barkhanoyev from the Ingush village of Yandare^[9]. Hitler and Mussolini personally visited the ruins of the Fortress after it was captured.
In 1994-1996 Ingush volunteers fought alongside Chechens in the Russian-Chechen war. Ingushetia kept out of the war by determined non-violence^[4].
In response to an escalation in attacks by insurgents, Moscow in late July 2007 sent in an additional 2,500 interior ministry troops, almost tripling the number of special forces in Ingushetia. ^[11]

Politics

The head of government and the highest executive post in Ingushetia is the President.
Recent presidents :

★ Ruslan Aushev: November 10, 1992 (Head of the Republic until March 7, 1993)—December 28, 2001

★ Akhmed Malsagov (interim): December 28 2001—May 23, 2002

★ Murat Zyazikov: May 23 2002—present
Recent Chairmen of the Government:

★ Ruslan Tatiyev: March 1993—July 1993

★ Tamerlan Didigov: July 1993—March 1994

★ Mukharbek Didigov: March 1994—December 1996

★ Belan Khamchiyev: December 1996—August 1998

★ Magomet-Bashir Darsigov: August 1998—November 25, 1999

★ Akhmed Malsagov: November 25 1999—June 15 2002

★ Sultan Gireyev (acting): June 15 2002—August 26 2002

★ Viktor Aleksentsev: August 26 2002 (acting to September 30 2002)—June 19 2003

★ Timur Mogushkov: June 19 2003—June 30 2005

★ Ibragim Malsagov: June 30 2005—present
The parliament of the Republic is the People's Assembly comprising 34 deputees elected for a four year term. The People's Assembly is headed by the Chairman. As of 2006, the Chairman of the People's Assembly is Makhmud Sultanovich Sakalov.
The Constitution of Ingushetia was adopted on February 27, 1994.
Ingushetia is a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation.
The capital was moved from Nazran to Magas in December 2002.

Economy

There are some natural resources in Ingushetia: mineral water in Achaluki, oil and natural gas in Malgobek, forests in Dzheirakh, metals in Galashki. The local government is considering the development of tourism however this is problematic due to the standoff between NATO and Russia in the region.

Religion

Most Ingush people are Sunni Muslims of various Sufi orders.

See also

★ Music of Ingushetia

References

1. Peering Into the Past, With Words, Bernice Wuethrich, , , Science, 2000
2. History of Ingush nation, N.D. Kodzoev, , , , ,
3. The Land of Towers Khasan Sampiev
4. The Ingush (with notes on the Chechen): Background information Johanna Nichols
5. The Murderers are not Insurgents B.Polonkoev
6. The Ingush (with notes on the Chechen): Background information Johanna Nichols
7. The Land of Towers Khasan Sampiev
8. Chechen History
9. Russian News and Information Agency RIA Novosti: DEFENSE OF THE MOTHERLAND IS EVERY MUSLIM'S DUTY
10. The Ingush (with notes on the Chechen): Background information Johanna Nichols
11. Violence escalates in turbulent Russian region Wed Aug 29

External links

★ About Ingushetia

★ Official website of Ingushetia.

★ Ingushetiya.ru—an unofficial website of Ingushetia.

★ The first president of Ingushetia Ruslan Aushev's website.

★ History, Language and culture of Ingushetia at Berkeley. CA.

★ Ingush Music/Video/Literature website.

★ Magas, Ingush youth website.

★ President of Ingushetia's website.