Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (/ɪtʃˈkɛriə/ itch-KERR-ee-ə; Chechen: Нохчийн Республик Ичкери, romanized: Nóxçiyn Respublik Içkeri; Russian: Чеченская Республика Ичкерия, romanized: Chechenskaya Respublika Ichkeriya; abbreviated as "CHRI" or "CRI"), known simply as Ichkeria, and also known as Chechnya, was a de facto state that controlled most of the former Checheno-Ingush ASSR.
- Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
- Nóxçiyn Respublik Içkeri (Chechen)
- Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
- Nóxçiyn Respublik Içkeri (Chechen)
- Soviet autonomous republic (1991)
- Independent state (de facto; 1991–2000)
- Government in exile (2000–present)
- State secularism[1] (1991–1996)
Sunni Islam (1996–2000)
Unitary semi-presidential Republic (1991-1997)
Unitary semi-presidential Islamic republic (1997-2000)[2]
8 June 1991
1 November 1991
11 December 1994
12 May 1997
26 August 1999
6 February 2000
31 October 2007
15,300 km2 (5,900 sq mi)
The First Chechen War of 1994–1996 resulted in the victory of the separatist forces.[4] After achieving de facto independence from Russia in 1996,[5][6] kidnappings and violence between gangs plagued the region, which the government was unable to control.[7][8] In November 1997, Chechnya was proclaimed an Islamic republic.[9][10] The Second Chechen War began in August 1999, with Ichkeria falling and subsequently being forcibly subsumed back under the control of the Russian central government in 2000. An insurgency followed soon thereafter, officially ending in April 2009 after several years of conflict.[11] Since 2000, the Ichkerian government has continued its activities in exile.
In September–October 1991, Dudayev's supporters seized power in Chechnya in the Chechen Revolution. Dudayev was subsequently elected as Chechnya's President and in this new position, he proclaimed Chechnya's independence from Russia. The move was welcomed by Georgia's President Zviad Gamsakhurdia. Gamsakhurdia was one of the first to congratulate Dudayev with victory and attended his inauguration as president in Grozny.[12] While Chechnya did not receive backing from the international community, it received support and attention from Georgia, which became its only gateway to the outside world that was not controlled by Moscow.
Close ties between Gamsakhurdia and Dudayev led to Russian officials, including Alexander Rutskoy, accusing Georgia of "fomenting unrest in the [Chechen autonomous] republic".[13]
In October 2022, the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada voted to recognize the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria as "temporarily occupied" by Russia.[14][15]
Etymology[edit]
The name Ичкерия (Ičkérija) comes from the river Iskark in South-Eastern Chechnya.[16] The term was mentioned first as "Iskeria" in a Russian document by Colonel Pollo from 1836.[17]
The illesh, or epic legends, tell of conflicts between the Chechens and the Kumyk and Kabardin princes.[18] The Chechens apparently overthrew both their own overlords and the foreign ones, using the widespread nature of the guns among the populace to their advantage.[18] As Jaimoukha puts it, "based on the trinity of democracy, liberty and equality", feudalism was abolished and the "tukkhum-teip" legal system was put into place, with the laws of adat introduced.[18] The "tukkhum-teip" system (see Nakh peoples) functioned somewhat similar to that of a Western democracy, except that there was little importance of a centralized judicial branch (instead local courts held precedence), and that teips (roughly, clans) functioned like provinces, with representatives being elected by teip as well as by region.[19]
Human rights[edit]
First Chechen War[edit]
The human rights situation in Chechnya during the hostility phases had long been a concern among several human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, who, after several years of investigation and gathering evidence, referred to the situation as disturbing.[107] Throughout the span of the first Chechen war, Russian forces have been accused by Human Rights organizations of starting a brutal war with total disregard for humanitarian law, causing tens of thousands of unnecessary civilian casualties among the Chechen population. The main strategy in the Russian war effort had been to use heavy artillery and air strikes leading to numerous indiscriminate attacks on civilians. This has led to Western and Chechen sources calling the Russian strategy deliberate terror bombing on parts of Russia.[108] According to Human Rights Watch, the campaign was "unparalleled in the area since World War II for its scope and destructiveness, followed by months of indiscriminate and targeted fire against civilians". Russian forces attacked civilians many times throughout the war.[109] One of the most notable war crimes committed by the Russian army during the First Chechen War is the Samashki massacre, in which it is estimated that up to 300 civilians died during the attack.[110] Russian forces conducted an operation of zachistka, house-by-house searches throughout the entire village. Federal soldiers deliberately and arbitrarily attacked civilians and civilian dwellings in Samashki by shooting residents and burning houses with flame-throwers. They wantonly opened fire or threw grenades into basements where residents, mostly women, elderly persons, and children, had been hiding.[111] Russian troops intentionally burned many bodies, either by throwing the bodies into burning houses or by setting them on fire.[112] A Chechen surgeon, Khassan Baiev, treated wounded in Samashki immediately after the operation and described the scene in his book:[113]