Chechen Republic of Ichkeria

Noxçiyn Respublika Noxçiyçö
Нохчийн Республика Нохчийчоь
Chechen Republic of Ichkeria

Flag Coat of Arms
Official language	Gay
Capital	Grozny (Jokhar-is-gay, after 1996)
President	Doku Umarov
Independence  – Declared  –
National anthem	Death or Freedom

The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria IPA: [ɪtʃkərˈiːə] (Chechen Latin Noxçiyn Respublika Noxçiyçö, Chechen Cyrillic Нохчийн Республика Нохчийчоь) is the unrecognized secessionist government of Chechnya. Bordering Stavropol Krai to the northwest, the republic of Dagestan to the northeast and east, Georgia to the south, and the republics of Ingushetia and North Ossetia to the west, Chechnya is located in the Northern Caucasus mountains.

1991-1994

In November 1990, Dzhokhar Dudaev was elected head of the Executive Committee of the unofficial opposition All-National Congress of the Chechen People, which advocated sovereignty for Chechnya as a separate republic within the Soviet Union. This vote was reaffirmed by a referendum in October 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Dudayev, in his new position as president of Ichkeria, unilaterally declared the republic's sovereignty and its secession from the Soviet Union and Russia. Not recognized by any government except Georgia under Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the country has maintained an unstable existence, due in part to constant threats of invasions from Russian Federation.

Rule of Dudayev in early 1990s was marked by a human right violation happening throughout de-facto independent Chechnya. Thousands of the republic's non-Chechen residents (mainly, but not limited to, citizens of Slavic origin) fleed to mainland Russia or Russia's North Ossetia region. The new government of Chechnya was accused of indirect encouraging the displacement and crimes against citizens belonging to region's national minorities.

1994-1996

See First Chechen War

1996-1999

After the war, parliamentary and presidential elections took place in January 1997 and brought to power Aslan Maskhadov, chief of staff and prime minister in the Chechen coalition government, for a five-year term. The Islamic Republic of Ichkeria was proclaimed in 1998 and the sharia system of justice was introduced.

Aslan Maskhadov tried to concentrate power in his hands to establish authority, but failed to create an effective state or a functioning economy. The situation gradually slid out of the control of the government, and the republic descended into chaos. The war ravages and lack of economic opportunities left large numbers of heavily armed and brutalized former guerillas with no occupation but further violence. A growing epidemic of kidnappings, robberies, and murders of fellow Chechens and outsiders, most notably the beheading of four employees of British Granger Telecom in 1998, put an end to possibilities of outside investment. Maskhadov proved unable to guarantee the security of the oil pipeline running across Chechnya from the Caspian Sea, and illegal oil tapping and acts of sabotage deprived his regime of crucial revenues and exasperated his allies in Moscow.

In lieu of the devastated economic structure, kidnapping emerged as the principal source of income countrywide, procuring over $200 million during the three year independence of the chaotic fledgling state. In May 1998, Valentin Vlasov, a personal envoy of Boris Yeltsin, was kidnapped and released on November 13; the Russian government reportedly paid a $7 million ransom for his release. On October 25 1998, Shadid Bargishev, Chechnya's top anti-kidnapping official, was killed in a remote controlled car bombing as he was about to begin a major campaign against hostage-takers. In March of 1999, General Gennadiy Shpigun, the Kremlin's envoy to Chechnya, was kidnapped at the airport in Grozny, and ultimately found dead in 2000.

Political violence was rife as well. On December 10 Mansur Tagirov, Chechnya's top prosecutor, disappeared while returning to Grozny. On June 21 the Chechen security chief, Lecha Khulygov, and a guerrilla commander, Vakha Dzhafarov, fatally shot each other in an argument. The internal violence in Chechnya peaked on July 16 1998, when fighting broke out between Maskhadov's National Guard force led by Sulim Yamadayev and radical Wahhabi-sect militants in the town of Gudermes; over 50 people were reported killed and the state of emergency was declared in Chechnya. [1] In 1998 and 1999 President Maskhadov survived several assassination attempts, blamed on the Russian intelligence services.

Since 1999

See Second Chechen War

Politics

Since the declaration of independence in 1991, there has been an ongoing battle between secessionist officials and federally appointed officials. Both claim authority over the same territory.

Since the fall of Grozny in 2000 some of the Ichkerian government is based in exile, including in the Arab countries, Poland, United States and United Kingdom.

See also

• History of Chechnya
• Chechenpress
• List of unrecognized countries

External links

• 10 years ago Russian special forces killed Chechnya's self-proclaimed president, Dzhokhar Dudayev Moscow News
• EP:The Background of Chechen Independence Movement V: The Dagestan Provocation
• FMSO: A Tale of Two Theaters: Russian Actions in Chechnya in 1994 and 1999
• Text of the Peace Treaty
• ASF, Edvard Kline, Chechen History
• Kennan Institute, Mikhail Alexseev, The North Caucasus Conflict and its Implications for Russia
• [2] Global Politician, David Storobin, The Chechen fight for independence
• The Time's cover on Chechnya, 2003