Republic of Ingushetia

Ingushetia (; russian: Ингуше́тия; inh, ГӀалгӏайче, Ghalghayče), officially the Republic of Ingushetia,; inh, Гӏалгӏай Мохк, Ghalghay Moxk is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. The republic is part of the North Caucasian Federal District, and shares land borders with the country of Georgia to its south; and borders the Russian republics of North Ossetia–Alania and Chechnya to its west and east, respectively; while having a border with Stavropol Krai to its north. It also is one of the least-populated republics of Russia at under 500,000.

Its capital is the town of Magas, while the largest city is Nazran. At 4,000 square km, in terms of area, the republic is the smallest of Russia's non-city federal subjects. It was established on June 4, 1992, after the Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was split in two.Law of June 4, 1992Official website of the Republic of Ingushetia
Social-Economic Characteristics
The republic is home to the indigenous Ingush, a people of Nakh ancestry. As of the 2021 Census, its population was 509,541.

Largely due to the insurgency in the North Caucasus, Ingushetia remains one of the poorest and most unstable regions of Russia. Although the violence has died down in recent years, the insurgency in neighboring Chechnya has occasionally spilled into Ingushetia. According to Human Rights Watch in 2008, the republic has been destabilized by corruption, a number of high-profile crimes (including kidnapping and murder of civilians by government security forces), anti-government protests, attacks on soldiers and officers, Russian military excesses and a deteriorating human rights situation. According to Russian media, Ingushetia has the lowest alcohol consumption in Russia.

Etymology

The name ''Ingushetia'' is derived from the ancient village ''Angusht'', which was renamed ''Tarskoye'' and transferred to North Ossetia in 1944 after the deportation of 23 February 1944, a.k.a. operation "Lentil".

The Ingush, a nationality group indigenous to the Caucasus, mostly inhabit Ingushetia. They refer to themselves as Ghalghai (from Ingush: ''Ghala'' ("fortress" or "town") and ''ghai'' ("inhabitants" or "citizens"). According to the linguist Johanna Nichols, the Ingush speak the Ingush language, which is different from Chechen but is placed into the same language group due to the passive bilingualism of the Ingush people. The Ingush are traditionally a classless society based on a clan system and unwritten law (approximately 350 clans live in Ingushetia today). Every clan, and each clan member, are viewed as equal. Unlike the neighboring nations in the Caucasus (excluding Chechens), the Ingush never had social superiors or inferiors. The Ingush/Ingushetia were also known by the following names: Gelia (American cartographer J. H. Colton, Strabo), Tschetschna (German geographers Joseph Grassl and Joseph Meyer), Ghalghai/Gelgai (self), Nakh (self, meaning "people"), Vainakh (self, meaning "our people"), Kist ( Georgian), Gergar (self), Dzurdzuk (Georgian), Ghlighvi (Georgian), Angushtini (Russian), Machaloni ( Ossetian), Chechen highlanders called Ingush Makhaloni or Makhloi (according to Chechen historian Khalid Oshayev), Orstkhoi (self), Nart-Orstkhoi (self), Galash (self), Tsori (self), Dzheirakhoi (self), Khamhoi (self), Metshal (self), Fyappi (self), and Nyasareth (self). The self-namings represent different Vainakh tribes which make up the Ingush population today. The history of the Ingush is closely related to that of the Chechens. Byzantine and Georgian missionaries partially Christianised the Ingush, although Christianity was weakened by the Mongol invasions. The remains of several churches, notably the Tkhaba-Yerdy and the Albe-Yerd can be found in Ingushetia. The Ingush gradually converted to Islam throughout the 18th–19th century. Vakhushti of Kartli wrote in 1745 that the inhabitants of the village ''Angushti'' were Sunni Muslims.

Origin of Ingushetia's population

According to Leonti Mroveli, the XI-century Georgian chronicler, the word Caucasian is derived from the Vainakh ancestor Kavkas.
According to Professor George Anchabadze of Ilia State University "The Vainakhs are the ancient natives of the Caucasus. It is noteworthy, that according to the genealogical table drawn up by Leonti Mroveli, the legendary forefather of the Vainakhs was "Kavkas", hence the name Kavkasians, one of the ethnicons met in the ancient Georgian written sources, signifying the ancestors of the Chechens and Ingush. As appears from the above, the Vainakhs, at least by name, are presented as the most "Caucasian" people of all the Caucasians (Caucasus – Kavkas – Kavkasians) in the Georgian historical tradition."
The Soviet-Russian anthropologists and scientists N.Ya. Marr, V.V. Bounak, R.M. Munchaev, I.M Dyakonov, E.I. Krupnov and G.A. Melikashvilli wrote: "Among Ingush the Caucasian type is preserved better than among any other North Caucasian nation",
Professor of anthropology V.V.Bounak "Groznenski Rabochi" 5, VII, 1935. Professor G.F.Debets recognized that Ingush Caucasian anthropologic type is the most Caucasian among Caucasians. In an article in Science Magazine Bernice Wuethrich states that American linguist Dr. Johanna Nichols "has used language to connect modern people of the Caucasus region to the ancient farmers of the Fertile Crescent" and that her research suggests that "farmers of the region were proto-Nakh-Daghestanians". Nichols is quoted as stating that "The Nakh–Dagestanian languages are the closest thing we have to a direct continuation of the cultural and linguistic community that gave rise to Western civilization"

Genetics of Ingushetia's population

The Ingush have 89% of J2 Y-DNA which is the highest known frequency in the world and J2 is closely associated with the Fertile Crescent.

The mitochondrial DNA of the Ingush differs from other Caucasian populations and the rest of the world. "The Caucasus populations exhibit, on average, less variability than other orldpopulations for the eight Alu insertion polymorphisms analyzed here. The average heterozygosity is less than that of any other region of the world, with the exception of Sahul. Within the Caucasus, the Ingush have much lower levels of variability than any of the other populations. The Ingush also showed unusual patterns of mtDNA variation when compared with other Caucasus populations (Nasidze and Stoneking, submitted), which indicates that some feature of the Ingush population history, or of this particular sample of the Ingush, must be responsible for their different patterns of genetic variation at both mtDNA and the Alu insertion loci."

History

Prehistory

;10,000–8000 BC: According to Bernice Wuethrich's article "Peering Into the Past, With Words", Johanna Nichols showed that linguistic evidence indicates the ancestors of Nakh people migrated to the slopes of the Caucasus from the Fertile Crescent where farming and raising sheep and cattle had been discovered. Nichols stated: "The Nakh–Dagestanian languages are the closest thing we have to a direct continuation of the cultural and linguistic community that gave rise to Western civilisation." Anthropologist Henry Harpending of the University of Utah is impressed by her research.

;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 to 8000 BC.

;4000–3000 BC: 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 Nasare-Cort, Muzhichi, Ja-E-Bortz (also known as Surkha-khi), Abbey-Gove (also known as Nazran or Nasare).

;20 BC: Strabo first mentions Geli, or Galgai in his reference to a nation in the center of the Caucasus. O.W. Wahl in 1875 in his book "The Land of the Czar" page 239 mentioned "These two opinions mentioned by Strabo come after all to the same point ; for the Legi are the modern Lesghi, and the Geli the Ingush tribe Galgai, and the Keraunian Mountains are the northern ranges of the Caucasus as far as the Beshtaú." The same statement about Gelia being Ingush was made by a German professor Karl Koch in 1843 in his book "Reise durch Russland nach dem kaukasischen Isthmus" page 489. Jacobus Van Wijk Roelandszoon, Jacobus van Wijk (Roelandszoon) in 1821 book "Algemeen aardrijkskundig woordenboek volgens de nieuwste staatkundige veranderingen, en de laatste, beste en zekerste berigten" page 1050 also mention that Gelli or Gelad are the Ingush people which is mentioned by Zonaras.

;900 AD – 1200 AD: the kingdom in the center of the Caucasus splits into Alania and Noble Alania (known from Russian as Царственные Аланы). German scientist Peter Simon Pallas believed that Ingush people (Kist) were the direct descendants from Alania.

;1239 AD: Destruction of the Alania capital of Maghas (both names known solely from Muslim Arabs) and Alan confederacy of the Northern Caucasian highlanders, nations, and tribes by Batu Khan (a Mongol leader and a grandson of Genghis Khan) "Magas was destroyed in the beginning of 1239 by the hordes of Batu Khan. Historically Magas was located at approximately the same place on which the new capital of Ingushetia is now built" – D.V.Zayats

;1300 AD – 1400 AD: War between the Alans, Tamerlan, Tokhtamysh, and the Battle of the Terek River. The Alan tribes build fortresses, castles, and defense walls locking the mountains from the invaders. Part of the lowland tribes occupied by Mongols. The insurgency against Mongols begins. "One map of the area during the Mongol period gives us a clue why there was not much written about the Vainakh— as the area of Chechnya-Ingushetia on that map is simply marked as "ungovernable". This is not surprising, as the majority of armies moving north or south would be interested in passing through the mountains and getting to their ultimate destinations as quickly as possible— leaving the peoples between the two passes relatively unmolested." – Schaefer, Robert W. "Insurgency in Chechnya and the North Caucasus: From Gazavat to Jihad" p. 51. In 1991 the Jordanian historian Abdul-Ghani Khassan presented the photocopy from old Arabic scripts claiming that Alania was in Chechnya and Ingushetia, and the document from Alanian historian Azdin Vazzar (1395–1460) who claimed to be from Nokhcho tribe of Alania.

;1558 AD: Russian conquest of the Caucasus. 1558 Temryuk of Kabarda sends his emissaries to Moscow requesting help against Ingush tribes from Ivan the Terrible. Ivan the Terrible marries Temryuk's daughter Maria Temryukovna the Circassian (Kabardin) tsaritsa. Alliance formed to gain the ground in the central Caucasus for the expanding Tsardom of Russia against stubborn Vainakh defenders.

;1562 AD: Joint Russian, Kabardian, and Nogay forces attack Ingush. According to Russian sources 164 Ingush settlements were completely destroyed in this war. Lowland Ingushetia occupied by Russia and their Kabardian allies.

Ingushetia in Caucasian War and part of Terek Cossacks Okrug

In XVIII century Ingush were mostly pagan and Christian with some Muslim minority. Beginning 1588 some Chechen societies joined Russia ( ru) ( ru). In 1785 Chechen leader Sheikh Mansur starts the rebellion against Russia. He gathers his Chechen and Dagestani forces and because of the fear of looting of his own villages from his standing army he orders the attack against Ingush Karabulak settlements. However, the Ingush defeated Mansur and he is forced to retreat.
Russian historians claim that the Ingush volunteered to become a part of Russia. This conclusion is based mostly on the document signed on 13 June 1810, by General-Major Delpotso and representatives of 2 Ingush clans. Other clans resisted the Russian conquest. In 1811 Russian envoy of a German origin Moritz von Engelhardt at czar's request visited mountainous Ingushetia and offered Ingush people to join Russia promising many benefits from czar. The representative of the Ingush people rejected the proposal with the reply: "Above my hat I see only sky". This encounter later will be used by Goethe in his "Freisinn"
On June 29, 1832, Russian baron Rozen reported in letter No.42 to count Chernishev that "on the 23rd of this month I exterminated eight Ghalghai (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, Kist, and Ghalghai had been temporarily conquered. In 1829 Imam Shamil starts the rebellion against Russia. He conquers Dagestan, Chechnya and then attacks Ingushetia hoping to convert Ingush people into Islam thus gaining strategic ally. Ingush defeated Imam Shamil forces then and later in 1858 when he tried again two more times to capture Ingushetia. Locked in warfare with two strong opponents and their allies, Ingush forces were decimated. According to Russian officer Fedor Tornau who fought the Ingush with the aid of Ossetian allies, at most Ingush had only six hundred warriors. However, the Russian conquest in Ingushetia was extremely difficult and the Russian forces began to rely on the method of colonization: extermination of the local population and repopulation of the area with Cossack and Ossetian loyalists.
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.
After multiple losses of Imam Shamil at the end of Caucasian War, Russians and Chechens unify their forces. Former Chechen rebels and their men join Russian ranks. 3 November 1858 General Evdokimov ordered (order N1896) a former rebel commander naib Saib-Dulla Gekhinski (Saadulla Ospanov) of Chechnya to attack and destroy Ingush settlements near Assa and Fortanga rivers: Dattikh, Meredzhi, Aseri, Shagot-Koch and others. After the losses, the remaining 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 signaled the end of the First Russo-Caucasian War. In the same year, the Russian Tsar encouraged the emigration 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 Cossacks. Some Ingush became exiled 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 Soviets promised the Ingush that the villages and towns annexed during the colonization would be returned to the Ingush. Ingushetia becomes a major battleground between the old archenemies: general Denikin and Ingush resistance fighters. In his memoirs, general Denikin writes: "Ingush people are the least numerous, most welded, and strongly martial organization. They were, in essence, the supreme arbiter of the North Caucasus. The moral of the appearance was defined long ago in Russian text-books of geography, "the chief occupation – animal husbandry and robbery ..." The last one of the two reached special art in the society. Political aspirations came from the same trend. The Ingush are mercenaries of the Soviet regime, they support it but don't let the spread of it in their province. At the same time, they tried to strike up relations with Turkey and sought the assistance from the Turks from Elisavetpol, and Germany – from Tiflis. In August, when the Cossacks and Ossetians captured Vladikavkaz, the Ingush intervened and saved the Soviet Board of Commissioners of Terek, but sacked the city and captured the state bank and mint. They robbed all the neighbors: the Cossacks and Ossetians in the name of "correcting historical errors" for a shortage of land, the Bolsheviks – in return for their services, Vladikavkaz citizens – for their helplessness, and the Kabardins – just out of habit. They were hated by everyone, and they did their "craft" in unison, well organized, in a big way, becoming the richest tribe in the Caucasus."

Ingushetia at part of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus

On December 21, 1917 Ingushetia, Chechnya, and Dagestan declared independence from Russia and formed a single state called the "United Mountain Dwellers of the North Caucasus" (also known as Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus), which was recognized by Central Powers (Germany, Austro-Hungary and Turkey), Georgia, and Azerbaijan (which declared their independence from Russia in 1918) as an independent state. For example, Anna Zelkina writes that in May 1918 the first country to recognize independence was Turkey:

Later Germany and others followed the recognition. According to P. Kosok:

According to British War Office, Germans tried to establish the military base in Ingushetia.

The capital of the new state was moved to Temir-Khan-Shura (Dagestan). The first prime minister of the state was elected Tapa Chermoyev, a Chechen prominent statesman; the second prime minister was Ingush statesman Vassan-Girey Dzhabagiev who also was the author of the Constitution of the land in 1917. In 1920 he was reelected for a third term. In 1921 Russians attacked and occupied the country and forcefully merged it with the Soviet state. The Caucasian war for independence continued and the government went into exile.

Ingushetia as Part of Chechen-Ingush ASSR

Cossack General Andrei Shkuro in his book writes:

The Soviets confiscated the remaining Ingush properties by collectivization and dekulakization and unified Chechnya and Ingushetia into Chechen-Ingush ASSR.
During World War II Ingush youth were drafted into the Russian army. In August 1942 Nazi German forces captured half of the North Caucasus within thirty-three days moving from Rostov-On-Don to Mozdok 560 km or almost 17 km per day (see Battle of the Caucasus). From Mozdok to Malgobek same thirty three days, 20 km the German forces moved roughly 600 meters per day and were stopped only at Ordzhonikidze (modern-day Vladikavkaz) and Malgobek which were mostly populated by Ingush before the genocide of 23 February 1944. The fighting for the Malgobek was so intense that the small town was captured and recaptured four times until the Germans finally retreated. According to the Soviet military newspaper Red Star, after receiving the news about German brutality toward civilians in Kabardino-Balkaria, Ingush people declare Jihad(Gazavat) against Germans. Stalin planned the expansion of the USSR in the south through Turkey. Muslim Chechens and Ingush could become a threat to the expansion. In February 1944 near the end of World War II, Russian Army and NKVD units flooded the Chechen-Ingush ASSR. The maneuvers were disguised as military exercises of the southern district.

Genocide of 1944

During World War II, in 1942 German forces entered the North Caucasus. For three weeks Germans captured over half of the North Caucasus. They were only stopped at two Chechen-Ingush cities: Malgobek and Ordzhonikidze (a.k.a. "Vladikavkaz") by heroic resistance of natives of Chechen-Ingush ASSR. Soviet propaganda portrayed Chechens and Ingush as "traitors". On 23 February 1944, 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 in Operation Lentil, on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, while the majority of their men were fighting on the front. The initial phase of the deportation was carried out on American-supplied Studebaker trucks specifically modified with three submachine gun-nest compartments above the deported to prevent escapes. American historian Norman Naimark writes: The deportees were gathered on the railroad stations and during the second phase transferred to the cattle railroad carts. Up to 30% of the population perished during the journey or in the first year of the exile. 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. After the deportation Ingush resistance against Soviets rises again. Those who escaped the deportation, shepherds who were high in the mountains during the deportation combine forces and form rebel groups which constantly attack Russian forces in Ingushetia. Major rebel groups were led by Akhmed Khuchbarov, Tsitskiev brothers, and Ingush woman-sniper Laisat Baisarova. The last one of the male Ingush rebels was killed in 1977 by the KGB officers, while the female sniper Laisat Baisarova was never captured or killed. American professor Johanna Nichols, who specializes in Chechen and Ingush philology, provided the theory behind the deportation:

After the return from Central Asia

After 13 years of exile, the Ingush were allowed to return to Chechen-Ingushetia (but not to Ordzhonikidze a.k.a. "Vladikavkaz" or the Prigorodny District). 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 on 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.

Ingushetia as Part of the Russian Federation, post-Soviet period

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.

Ethnic cleansing of 1992

However, ethnic tensions in North Ossetia which were orchestrated by Ossetian nationalists (per Helsinki Human Right Watch), led to an outbreak of violence in the Ossetian–Ingush conflict in October–November 1992, when another ethnic cleansing of the Ingush population started. According to media reports, Ingush hostages were held in 1992 in Beslan high school gymnasium. The hostages were all kept in the same gymnasium, and deprived of food and water; at least one newborn, and several dozen male Ingush hostages were executed. In a possible retaliation in 2004, Chechen and Ingush militants took over 500 Osset hostages in Beslan high-school. (It was the same building where Ossetian militants had held hundreds of Ingush hostages in 1992). Over 60,000 Ingush civilians were forced from their homes in the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia. As a result of the conflict, pro-Russian general Ruslan Aushev, a decorated war hero from the War in Afghanistan, was appointed by the Russian government as the first president of Ingushetia to stop the spread of the conflict. Partial stability returned under his rule.

First and Second Chechen Wars

In 1994, when the First 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 was 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 Ossetia 31 August 2008 Magomed Yevloyev, the head of Ingush opposition and the owner of the website ingushetiya.ru

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