Total population | |
---|---|
12,000–30,000 (2007) [1] | |
Languages | |
Chechen, Jordanian Arabic [2] | |
Religion | |
Mostly Sufi Islam | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Chechens, Chechens in Syria, Ingush, Kists, Bats |
Chechens of Jordan are Chechens who have inhabited Jordan since the expulsion of North Caucasians in the 19th century. [3] Chechens have played an important role in the foundation of Jordan as a modern state.
In the second half of the 18th century, the Russian Empire was fighting the peoples of the Caucasus in an expansionist war, known as the Caucasian War. [4] One of the outcomes of the war was that many native peoples of the Caucasus were forcefully expelled to the Ottoman Empire. An estimated 5,000 Chechen families were expelled to the Ottoman Empire. [5] In March 1903, the Ottoman authorities sent the first 700 Chechen families to the region of Transjordan. The Chechen settlers chose to settle non-populated areas most suitable for agriculture and close to water sources. These settlers founded Zarqa, Jordan's second largest city. [6]
In October 1920, after establishing the Emirate of Transjordan, the United Kingdom mobilized a "mobile force" under the command of Captain Frederick Gerard Peake to defend the territory against both internal and external threats. The Mobile Force was based in Zarqa. 80% of its men were drawn from the local Chechen community. [7]
Chechens are heavily represented in the Jordanian armed forces and intelligence apparatus since the foundation of the Emirate of Transjordan. [8]
Chechens and Circassians are mandated 3 seats in the Jordanian house of representatives, [9] currently two of those seats are held by Chechens.[ citation needed ]
Imam Shamil was the political, military, and spiritual leader of North Caucasian resistance to Imperial Russia in the 1800s, the third Imam of the Caucasian Imamate (1840–1859), and a Sunni Muslim sheikh of the Naqshbandi Sufis.
The Arab Legion was the police force, then regular army, of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate, in the early part of the 20th century, and then of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, an independent state, with a final Arabization of its command taking place in 1956, when British senior officers were replaced by Jordanian ones.
Kumyks are a Turkic ethnic group living in Dagestan, Chechnya and North Ossetia. They are the largest Turkic people in the North Caucasus.
The Chechens, historically also known as Kisti and Durdzuks, are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group of the Nakh peoples native to the North Caucasus. They are the largest ethnic group in the region and refer to themselves as Nokhchiy. The vast majority of Chechens are Muslims and live in Chechnya, an autonomous republic within the Russian Federation.
Ingush, historically known as Durdzuks, Gligvi and Kists, are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Republic of Ingushetia in central Caucasus, but also inhabitanting Prigorodny District and town of Vladikavkaz of modern day North-Ossetia. The Ingush are predominantly Sunni Muslims and speak the Ingush language.
The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus (MRNC), also referred to as the United Republics of the North Caucasus, Mountain Republic, or the Republic of the Mountaineers, was a short-lived state in Eastern Europe. It encompassed the easternmost portions of the North Caucasus and emerged during the Russian Civil War and existed from 1918 to 1919. It formed as a consolidation of various Caucasian ethnic groups, including the Abazins, Circassians, Chechens, Karachays, Ossetians, Balkars, Ingush, and Dagestanis.
The Caucasian War or the Caucasus War was a 19th-century military conflict between the Russian Empire and various peoples of the North Caucasus who resisted subjugation during the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. It consisted of a series of military actions waged by the Russian Imperial Army and Cossack settlers against the native inhabitants such as the Adyghe, Abaza-Abkhazians, Ubykhs, Chechens, and Dagestanis as the Tsars sought to expand.
Aslambek Ilimsultanovich Vadalov, also known by his nom de guerre Emir Aslambek, is a Chechen rebel leader fighting in the North Caucasus. He was appointed the supreme leader of the Caucasus Emirate on 1 August 2010, though this was later retracted.
The Orstkhoy, historically commonly known under their exonyms: Karabulaks, Balsu, Baloy, are a historical ethnoterritorial society among the Chechen and Ingush peoples. Their homeland is in the upper reaches of the Assa and Fortanga rivers in the historical region of Orstkhoy-Mokhk. In the tradition of the Chechen ethno-hierarchy, it is considered one of the nine historical Chechen tukkhums, in the Ingush tradition as one of the seven historical Ingush shahars.
Liwa al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, Brigade of Emigrants and Supporters or literally Banner of the Emigrants and Supporters), also known as Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, formerly the Muhajireen Battalion, is a Salafi jihadist group consisting of both Arabic-speaking fighters and fighters from the North Caucasus that has been active in the Syrian Civil War against the Syrian government. The group was briefly affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in 2013, but after changes in leadership, it took an increasingly hostile stance against it. In September 2015, JMA pledged allegiance to the al-Nusra Front.
The Chechen–Russian conflict was the centuries-long ethnic and political conflict, often armed, between the Russian, Soviet and Imperial Russian governments and various Chechen forces. The recent phase of the conflict started after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and ended with the oppression of Chechen separatist leaders and crushing of the separatist movement in the republic proper in 2017.
Aukh is a historical region in the current republic of Dagestan, populated by Chechens. Aukh encompasses parts of the Novolak, Khasavyurtovsky, Babayurtovsky and Kazbekovsky districts. The Chechens of Dagestan call themselves Aukhs (ӏовхой), and speak the Aukh dialect of the Chechen language.
Ajnad al-Kavkaz is a Chechen-led Salafi jihadist militant group in northwestern Syria, operating primarily in the mountainous and forested areas of Latakia Governorate. Although it was formed by former fighters of the Caucasus Emirate and was tentatively linked to the organization, AK operated autonomously from the beginning and later cut ties with the Caucasus Emirate. Though it had become "the largest of the Muslim factions from the former Soviet Union fighting in Syria" by September 2016, AK's activity dwindled in the following years. In 2022, the group's centre of operations shifted from Syria to Ukraine, as most AK militants had begun mobilizing to fight against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As of 2023, AK has largely been engaged in the Battle of Bakhmut in Ukraine.
Ahmad Ramzi Ibn Abdin was a general in the Jordanian Armed forces of Chechen descent. Ahmad Ramzi was a Hero of Jordan recipient.
Circassians in Jordan are descendants of Circassian refugees who arrived in Jordan in the late 19th century after the Circassian genocide in the 1860s and the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). They settled in Jordan, then a part of Ottoman Syria, in and around Amman and Jerash. Circassians are credited with founding modern Amman as the city had been previously abandoned.
Sakasena is a historical region on the territory of modern Azerbaijan. The former core of the 7th - 6th century BCE of the Scythian kingdom of Ishkuz. It got its name from the tribes of the Scythians, who later entered the tribal union of the Caucasian Albanians. At the end of the 6th - beginning of the 5th century BCE it was part of the satrapy Media under the Achaemenid Empire. At the beginning of the 2nd century BCE it was annexed to Greater Armenia, becoming the Gavar (district) of the Nahanga (province) of Utic. In the division of Great Armenia in 387, it went to the Caucasian Albania, which was, under the treaty, subordinate to the Sassanids. It was located South of the middle course of the Kura, in the area of modern Ganja.
Chechen mujahideen in Syria are ethnic Chechen members of Sunni Islamist armed groups. They are organized into military factions, and take part in the civil war in Syria to fight against the government of Bashar al-Assad on the side of the Syrian opposition and Tahrir al-Sham, also on the side of the Islamic State.
Rustam Magomedovich Azhiev also known by the pseudonym Abdul Hakim al-Shishani is commander-in-chief of the Chechen battalion OBON fighting on the Ukrainian side in the Russo-Ukrainian war. Azhiev is a veteran of the Second Russo-Chechen war and fought on the side of the opposition in the Syrian civil war. In the latter he was the leader of the rebel group Ajnad al-Kavkaz.
Amirkhamza Turlov, also known as Amiramza or Amir Garze was a prince from the Turlov dynasty who ruled the Turlov Principality until his retirement in 1728. The beginning of his reign is not known, although it must have been before 1707.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)