WHY ESPECIALLY CHECHNYA?

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
07 July 05

Why did especially Chechnya raise categorically the issue of secession
from Russia among all the other autonomies of the former Soviet Union?
And why do the Chechens, unlike other peoples of the North Caucasus,
defy the situation in the region and continue resisting the federal
centre? To answer these questions it is necessary to take into account
a set of global, regional and internal factors which caused the
appearance of independent Ichkeria in the 1990s and its subsequent
downfall. In this article only one of these factors is discussed,
which seems to influence the behavour of the Chechen people and
leaders most of all. It is the ethnic and religious factor. Imparting
the developments in Chechnya that followed the dissolution of the USSR
with a geopolitical and geo-economic meaning, we cannot overlook this
factor because it is one of the main components of the Chechen
issue. Without considering the ethnic and religious factor of the
issue we cannot understand why, unlike the other unrecognized states
formed in the post-Soviet space (Nagorno Karabakh, Abkhazia, South
Osia, Transdniestr), the Chechens did not succeed in forming their own
viable structure of power required for building an independent
state. The aspiration of any people for freedom and independence is
determined by the national idea which foresees achievement of freedom
and independence through building a state. The national idea is formed
in the course of decades and centuries and is modified by the
historical, ethnic, religious, social, economic and cultural factors
which constantly feed the national idea, determining its content. Like
the history, culture, religion, social and political development of a
nation, the national idea cannot expire either. Therefore, the
attainment of freedom and independence and state building is only one
(although fundamental) of the stages of constant development of the
national idea. The national idea is the dominant unifying force, which
in a way cements all the ranks of the society within one ethnic unit
and determines the essence and peculiarities of their social
behaviour. Now let us observe what idea exactly dominated among the
Chechen people up to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Unfortunately, the history of the Chechen people is not studied
sufficiently. It is generally accepted that the Chechen society,
unlike the other peoples of the North Caucasus, was chiefly
egalitarian up to the 19th century. It differed from the other North
Caucasian societies which were based on a strong hierarchy. In the
Chechen society the tukhums (clans) of free peasants and warriors were
dominant. The relationships within the society were regulated by
unwritten, traditional rules; one of the most important rules was that
of vendetta. Murder of a Chechen or crime committed against a Chechen
was very dangerous and serious. This type of society supposes the
utter importance of such notions as freedom and equity. As a rule, it
does not accept subjection to any external or internal
force. Consequently, the opinion of strangers (the tukhum of another
people) means nothing to this society. It is here that the origin of
Chechens defiance of the Russians perceived by them as enslavers,
destroyers of the Chechen way of life with weapon, should be looked
for. As a result, the idea of liberation from Russians at any price
becomes dominant in the Chechen society, that is to say, it becomes
their national idea. The clan-based mode of life (the sanctuary of
Chechens), which caused the division of Chechens at peacetime, is,
therefore, pushed to the background when the issue of fighting the
Russians rises. This system of values that has survived up to this
day, as well as the anarchic disaccord and similarly anarchic unity
is, as it appears to us, the cause of all the achievements and losses
of the Chechen people. As to the religion, we think, it did not and
cannot have played a deciding role in proclamation of independence of
Chechnya. This is explained by the fact that in their approach to
Islam they have always been traditional. They preferred the
deeply-rooted customs rather. The long-lasting struggle between Islam
which entered the Caucasus as Sufism and the customs did not end in
the victory of the former which had to be adapted to the customs.

Therefore, at the time of dissolution of the USSR the religion was not
strong enough to cause radical separatism among Chechens, whereas the
national idea of the Chechen society anchored in extreme defiance
against the Russians was. It was this idea that spurred the line of
attaining the independence of Chechnya whatever it might cost the
Chechen people in the future. That is to say, state building in the
Chechen society was based on the idea of struggle against the Russian
invasion. Once in the critical period of the Caucasian war (1864) the
Chechen sheik Kunta Hajji Kishlinski warned his people against the
danger that the intolerance against the Russians contained. Brothers,
stop fighting If they make you go to church, go. It is only walls. Let
your souls be Muslim. I will never believe that some Turks may help us
Therefore, learn to live side by side with Russians, but if they make
you forget your language, your customs, rebel and get killed as one,
called Kunta Hajji Kishlinski. His words prove that the customs
prevail over Islam in the Chechen society. Anyway, the main motive for
state building in the Chechen society, the struggle against the
Russian invasion, was apparently insufficient for building their
independent state. And in the last 14 years the Chechen society did
not come up with a natural idea, whereas they badly need a new
ideological ground. Otherwise they are doomed to perpetual war against
the Russians. The evidence to this is the words of the first president
of Ichkeria Djohar Dudayev about the future of his home country in his
interview to BBC in January 1996. In answer to the question if the
Chechens are willing to negotiate directly with the Russian top
officials for signing an armistice Dudayev said that he personally
would rather continue the war. He explained his standpoint saying that
after ceasefire it would be more difficult for him as a president to
rule the country because he would have to reconstruct the country.

However, according to Dudayev, Russia would not aid Chechnya in any
way. On the contrary, Moscow would aspire to hinder the rehabilitation
of the Chechen economy at any way and divide the Chechen society.
Dudayev argued that it would be much difficult to counteract Moscows
actions than to fight against Russia. Therefore, he said, the war had
better last. It is much simple at war. There is the enemy and it
should be defeated. However, it is not correct to think that the
Ichkerian leaders did not recognize the necessity for a new
ideological basis. They also understand that the new ideology should
have the same action at peacetime, that is to say, fulfill the same
function as the idea of struggle against the Russian invasion used to
fulfill in the times of the clan-based structure of the Chechen
society (and fulfills now). Frankly speaking, since 1991 all that the
statesmen of Ichkeria have been doing was invention of an idea which
would underlie the structure of the future statehood of independent
Chechnya. Thus, the chief ideologist of Ichkeria Movladi Udugov
proposed a project of total Islamization of Chechnya, that is to say,
making a step towards Islam as a uniting idea. According to him, Islam
is a meta-racial, national ideology, therefore, only Islam can bring
together the Chechen society. Moreover, Udugov turns to one of the
branches of Islam, Wahhabism, and not the traditional Islam
(Sufism). However, Wahhabism was strange to the Chechen society. He
was opposed by Aslan Maskhadov and the mufti of Ichkeria then Ahmad
Hajji Kadirov killed in the terrorist action in Groznyy. The grey
cardinal of Chechnya, the president of the multinational holding
company Khozh Ahmed Nuhayev proposed another model of clan-based mode
of life of the Chechen society. According to him, the Chechens are
divided by ignoring the factor of clan-based mode of life of Chechens
in the political resolution of the Chechen issue rather than the
clan-based mode of life itself. There were also other artificial
proposals which were rejected by the Chechen society. Generally, it
can be said that the idea of struggle against the Russian invasion is
able to unite the Chechen people only at war. It is not accidental
that only at war did the Chechens manage to have an orderly state with
its president, army with its headquarters and commanders. As soon as
there is no war, the Chechen anarchism rises, dividing the society
into tukhums. Therefore, building a viable state by Chechens will be
enabled only if they admit the uselessness of their national idea,
sacrifice their hatred for the Russian people, as well as their
personal and clan interests to the national cause. Therefore, the main
task of the Chechen national elite is to free the consciousness of the
Chechen people from the folkloric and emotional perception of the
world and instill a reasonable perception of the reality in them.

ALEXANDER GRIGORIAN.
07-07-2005