Republic of Ingushetia - History - Modern Ingush History

Modern Ingush History

The Ingush are also 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 Chechens. From the 9th to the 12th centuries, Georgian missionaries partially Christianised the Ingush. The remains of several temples, notably the Tkha-bya-Yer-d and the Al-Bee-Yer-d can be found in Ingushetia. Ingush peacefully converted to Islam in the beginning of the 19th century with the help of Shaikh Kunta-Khadzhi, a Chechen Islamic scholar.

Russian historians claim that the 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, on June 29, 1832 Russian Barron Rozen reported in letter No.42 to Count Chernishevski that "on the 23rd of this month I exterminated eight Ingush villages. On the 24th I exterminated nine more villages near Targim." By November 12, 1836 (letter no.560, he was claiming that highlanders of Dzheirkah, Kistin, and Ghalghai had been "partially subdued".

Colonization of Ingush land by Russians and Ossetians started in the middle of the 19th century. Russian General Evdokimov and Ossetian colonel Kundukhov in 'Opis no. 436' "gladly reported" that "the result of colonization of Ingush land was successful":

  • Ingush village Ghazhien-Yurt was renamed to Stanitsa Assinovskaya in 1847
  • Ingush village Ebarg-Yurt was renamed to Stanitsa Troitskaya in 1847
  • Ingush town Dibir-Ghala was renamed to Stanitsa Sleptsovskaya in 1847
  • Ingush village Magomet-Khite was renamed to Stanitsa Voznesenskaya in 1847
  • Ingush village Akhi-Yurt was renamed to Stanitsa Sunzhenskaya in 1859
  • Ingush village Ongusht was renamed to Stanitsa Tarskaya in 1859
  • Ingush town Ildir-Ghala was renamed to Stanitsa Karabulakskaya in 1859
  • Ingush village Alkhaste was renamed to Stanitsa Feldmarshalskaya in 1860
  • Ingush village Tauzen-Yurt was renamed to Stanitsa Vorontsov-Dashkov in 1861
  • Ingush village Sholkhi was renamed to Khutor Tarski in 1867.

Unlike the 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 wrote in a letter to the Tsar of Russia, "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 (dated 12 January 1827) on the impossibility of forceful Christianization of the Ingush, Yermolov 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. In the same year, the Russian Tsar offered help in the deportation of Ingush and Chechens to Turkey and the Middle East by claiming that "Muslims need to live under Muslim rulers". It seems that he wanted to liberate the land for Ossetians and Cossaks. Some Ingush willingly went into exile to deserted territory in the Middle East where many of them died. The remainder 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 broke their promise 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, the 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% 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 the Prigorodny District) in 1957, several years after the death of Stalin. Most 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. These hardships and injustices led to a peaceful Ingush protest in Grozny in 16 January 1973, which was crushed by the Soviet troops In 1989, the Ingush were officially rehabilitated along with other peoples that had been subjected to repressions.

In 1991, when the Chechens declared independence from the Soviet Union to form the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, the Ingush chose to secede from the Chechen-Ingush Republic. Thus, in 1992 the Ingush joined the newly-created Russian Federation to try to resolve the conflict with Ossetia peacefully, also in the hope that the Russians would return their land as a token of their loyalty. However, 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, with over 60,000 Ingush civilians being forced from their homes in the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia. As a result of the conflict, Ruslan Aushev was appointed the first president of Ingushetia and partial stability returned under his rule.

In 1994, when the first Russo-Chechen war started, the number of refugees in Ingushetia from both conflicts doubled. According to the UN, for every citizen of Ingushetia, one refugee arrived from Ossetia or Chechnya. This influx was very problematic for the economy, which collapsed after Aushev's success. The second Russo-Chechen war which started in 1999 brought more refugees (at some point there was one refugee for 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. Many young Ingush men were abducted by Russian and Ossetian death squads. according to Human rights watchdogs Memorial and Mashr The Ingush mountains are closed for Ingush nationals. The number of rebel attacks in Ingushetia rose, especially after the number of Russian security forces were tripled. For example, according to a Russian news agency a murder of an ethnic-Russian school teacher in Ingushetia was committed by two ethnic-Russian and ethnic-Ossetian soldiers; Issa Merzhoev the Ingush Police detective who solved the crime was shot at and killed by "unknown" assailants shortly after he had identified the murderer. At least four people were injured when a vehicle exploded on 24 March 2008. An upsurge in violence in these 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. After the outbreak of the war, there were virtually no more attacks or abductions of Ingush civilians by "unknown" forces. Most of the 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, opposition activist Magomed Khazbiyev proclaimed, "We must ask Europe or America to separate us from Russia."

On October 18, 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. Reports from Ingush opposition sources suggested as many as forty to fifty Russian soldiers were killed.

On October 30, 2008 Zyazikov was dismissed from his office (he himself claimed he resigned voluntarily). On the next day, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov was nominated by Dmitry Medvedev and approved as President by the People's Assembly of Ingushetia. 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%.

Read more about this topic:  Republic Of Ingushetia, History

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