Ingush nationalism is the belief that the Ingush people should constitute a nation. Ingush nationalism has been variously utilised as both a secular and Islamist concept at various times, and has become particularly important since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the 1992 East Prigorodny conflict with North Ossetia.
Modern Ingush nationalism emerged in the mid-1950s, following the 1944 deportation of the Chechens and Ingush and Ingush being subsequently allowed to return. Much of Ingush land had been repopulated by Ossetian settlers in the period between their deportation and their return, and three days of massive violence broke out before the Soviet government restored order. Ingush nationalism continued largely among underground Sufi brotherhoods, [1] with occasional public events such as the 1973 Grozny meeting strengthening public nationalist sentiments. [2]
Amidst Perestroika and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ingush nationalists began to publicly organise, forming organisations such as Nijsxo and the Congress of the Ingush People in an effort to secure their autonomy separately from Chechnya (which was then united with Ingushetia as the Chechen-Ingush ASSR) and retake Prigorodny District. This ultimately resulted in the establishment of modern Ingushetia in 1992. [3] [4] Rising Ingush and Ossetian nationalism culminated in the 1992 East Prigorodny conflict, which resulted in the ethnic cleansing of Prigorodny District's Ingush population by North Ossetian and Russian forces. As a response, Ingush nationalism and anti-Russian sentiment sharply increased, and in 1994 the region's nationalist leaders urged eventual independence. [5]
Ruslan Aushev, the first President of Ingushetia, was elected in 1993 by a coalition of Ingush nationalist groups. An ideological secularist, he came into conflict with Islamist militant forces, which were spreading from the Middle East to the Caucasus. [6] His 2002 removal and replacement by Murat Zyazikov led Ingush to turn to Jihadism, leading to the beginning of the insurgency in Ingushetia. Zyazikov's own removal in 2008 was met with widespread celebration among Ingush, and Caucasus experts such as Ivan Sukhov [7] and Valery Dzutsati speculated that his replacement, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, would pursue Ingush nationalist policies to deescalate the conflict and bring stability to the republic. Yevkurov called for the return of Ingush refugees to Prigorodny District in a first for a republican leader. In response, the jihadist Caucasus Emirate declared that the Vilayat Galgayche would hold control over all of North Ossetia. Both the Caucasus Emirate and pro-Russian Ingush forces used Ingush nationalism during the insurgency in the North Caucasus. [8]
The 2018 Chechnya–Ingushetia border agreement was met with widespread protests in Ingushetia, amidst the formalisation of the border and rumours that Chechnya would receive much more land than publicly declared. [9] The Ingush Independence Committee, an Ingush nationalist organisation, was formed in 2023. [10]
North Ossetia, officially the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. It borders the country of Georgia to the south, and the Russian federal subjects of Kabardino-Balkaria to the west, Stavropol Krai to the north, Chechnya to the east and Ingushetia to the southeast. Its population according to the 2021 Census was 687,357. The republic’s capital city is Vladikavkaz, located on the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains.
The history of Chechnya may refer to the history of the Chechens, of their land Chechnya, or of the land of Ichkeria.
Nazran is the largest city in Ingushetia, Russia. It served as the republic's capital from 1991 to 2000, until it was replaced by Magas, which was built for this purpose. It is the most populous city in the republic: 122,350 (2021 Census); 93,335 (2010 Russian census); 125,066 (2002 Census); 18,246 (1989 Soviet census).
Ingushetia or Ingushetiya, officially the Republic of Ingushetia, 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 to its west and north and Chechnya to its east and northeast.
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.
Prigorodny District is an administrative and municipal district (raion), one of the eight in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia. It is located in the east of the republic. The area of the district is 1,460 square kilometers (560 sq mi). Its administrative center is the rural locality of Oktyabrskoye.
The Republic of North Ossetia – Alania is a federal subject of Russia, located in the Caucasus region.
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 state in Eurasia and encompassing the entirety of the North Caucasus that 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 East Prigorodny conflict, also referred to as the Ossetian–Ingush conflict, was an inter-ethnic conflict within the Russian Federation, in the eastern part of the Prigorodny District in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, which started in 1989 and developed, in 1992, into a brief ethnic war between local Ingush and Ossetian paramilitary forces.
In June 2000, the North Caucasian Chechen separatist-led Chechen insurgents added suicide bombing to their tactics in their struggle against Russia. Since then, there have been dozens of suicide attacks within and outside the republic of Chechnya, resulting in thousands of casualties among Russian security personnel and civilians. The profiles of the suicide bombers have varied, as have the circumstances surrounding the bombings.
Vilayat Galgayche, formerly known as Ingush Jamaat, was an Islamist militant organization connected to numerous attacks against the local and federal security forces in the Russian regions of Ingushetia and Chechnya in the North Caucasus. Since 2007 it has been a part of the Caucasus Emirate and takes part in the Insurgency in the North Caucasus. The group is thought to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people, mostly policemen, military personnel and officials.
Yunus-bek Bamatgireyevich Yevkurov is a Russian colonel general and politician. For over 10 years he was the head of the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia, appointed by President Dmitry Medvedev on 30 October 2008. The following day, the People's Assembly of the Republic of Ingushetia, the republic's regional parliament, voted in favor of Yevkurov's appointment, making him the third Head of Ingushetia. He is a career soldier, paratrooper, and Hero of the Russian Federation who was involved in numerous conflicts where Russia played a key role, including Kosovo (1999) and Chechnya. On 22 June 2009, Yevkurov was seriously injured following a car-bomb attack on his motorcade in the city of Nazran.
The Insurgency in Ingushetia began in 2007 as an escalation of an insurgency in Ingushetia connected to the separatist conflict in Chechnya. The conflict has been described as a civil war by local human rights activists and opposition politicians; others have referred to it as an uprising. By mid-2009 Ingushetia had surpassed Chechnya as the most violent of the North Caucasus republics. However, by 2015 the insurgency in the Republic had greatly weakened, and the casualty toll declined substantially in the intervening years.
The insurgency in the North Caucasus was a low-level armed conflict between Russia and militants associated with the Caucasus Emirate and, from June 2015, the Islamic State, in the North Caucasus. It followed the official end of the decade-long Second Chechen War on 16 April 2009. It attracted volunteers from the MENA region, Western Europe, and Central Asia. The Russian legislation considers the Second Chechen War and the insurgency described in this article as the same "counter-terrorist operations on the territory of the North Caucasus region".
Idris Murtuzovich Bazorkin was a North Caucasian writer, playwright, poet and statesman who mainly wrote his works in Russian but also in Ingush to a lesser degree. He had been recognized a classic of the Ingush literature during his lifetime.
Ekaterina Sokirianskaia is a Russian human rights researcher, journalist, writer, professor of political science. Her researches dedicated mostly to the region of North Caucasus, where she worked at "Memorial", non-governmental human rights center from 2003 to 2008 as researcher, and at the Grozny University, where she taught political science.
The national liberation struggle of the Ingush people was a series of military clashes and uprisings of the Ingush people against the Russian Empire that colonized Ingushetia, as well as protest rallies and actions against the policies of the Russian Federation.
General elections were held in the Chechen Republic on 27 October 1991 to elect the president and parliament. The presidential election resulted in a victory for Dzokhar Dudayev.
The Congress of the Ingush People or the Congress of the Peoples of Ingushetia was a political organisation active in the Russian republic of Ingushetia from 1989 to 1999, when it formally became part of the legislature of Ingushetia and was reorganised into the People's Assembly. It was active during the East Prigorodny conflict, when it focused on the plight of Ingush refugees and the Russian military's support for the government of North Ossetia.
Nijsxo is an unregistered political party active in the Russian republic of Ingushetia since 1988.