Chechen people 622772 225781861 2008-07-15T11:06:23Z Kuban kazak 439789 /* History */ {{Infobox Ethnic group |group=Chechens (Noxçi) |image={{Chechen people mosaic|300}} |caption = |poptime= More than 1.5 million worldwide |popplace= |region1 = '''{{flagcountry|Russia}}''' |pop1 = 1.36 million (including in Chechnya) |region2 = {{flagcountry|Chechnya}} |pop2 = 1,031,000<ref name="census"/> |region3 = [[Image:Flag of Ingushetia.svg|25px]] [[Ingushetia]] |pop3 = 95,000<ref name="census"/> (down from est. 180,000 in early 2002<ref>[http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0205/p07s02-woeu.html Russia says 'return,' but Chechen refugees stay put] ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'', February 05, 2002</ref>) |region4 = {{flagcountry|Turkey}} |pop4 = 100,000<ref name="host"/> |region5 = [[Image:Flag of Dagestan.svg|25px]] [[Dagestan]] |pop5 = 88,000<ref name="census">Russian Census of 2002</ref> |region6 = [[Image:Flag of Moscow (Russia).png|25px]] [[Moscow]] |pop6 = 14,000 (registered)<ref name="census"/> <br> 80,000 (estimated)<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2359451.stm Moscow's Chechens fear siege fall-out], [[BBC News]], 26 October, 2002</ref> |region7 = {{flagcountry|Kazakhstan}} |pop7 = 75,000 |region8 = [[Image:Flag of Stavropol Krai.png|25px]] [[Stavropol Krai]] |pop8 = 13,000<ref name="census"/> |region9 = {{flagcountry|Azerbaijan}} |pop9 = 10,000 |region10 = {{flagcountry|Jordan}} |pop10 = 8,000<ref name="host"/> |region11 = {{flagcountry|Egypt}} |pop11 = 5,000<ref name="host"/> |region12 = {{flagcountry|Georgia}} |pop12 = 4,000 (not including 7,000 [[Kist people]]) |region13 = {{flagcountry|Syria}} |pop13 = 4,000<ref name="host"/> |region14 = {{flagcountry|Iraq}} |pop14 = 2,500<ref name="host">[http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/12785/chechens_in_the_middle_east.html Chechens in the Middle East: Between Original and Host Cultures], Event Report, Caspian Studies Program</ref> |region16 = All data from 2002 (including the offical [[Russian Census (2002)|Russian 2002 census]]) |rels=[[Sunni Islam]] ([[Sufism]]) |langs= [[Chechen language|Chechen]], [[Russian language|Russian]] |related= [[Ingush people|Ingush]], [[Bats people|Bats]], [[Kist people|Kists]] }} '''Chechens''' ([[Chechen language|Chechen]]: ''Hохчи'' / ''Noxçi'') constitute the largest native [[ethnic group]] originating in the [[North Caucasus]] region. They refer to themselves as '''Nokhchii''' (singular Nokhchi or Nokhcho), which comes from the name of a large Chechen [[tribe]], the Nokhchmekhkakhoi, and their homeland. The isolated [[mountain]] terrain of the [[Caucasus]] and the strategic value outsiders have placed on the areas settled by Chechens has contributed much to the Chechen community [[ethos]] and helped shape a unique national character. ==Origins of the word Chechen== The term "Chechen" is ultimately believed to derive from the [[Iranian languages|Iranian]] name for the Nokhchii and it first occurs in [[Arabic language|Arabic]] sources from the 8th century. According to popular tradition, the Russian term "Chechen" comes from the name of the village of Chechen-Aul, where the Chechens defeated [[Russia]]n soldiers in 1732. The word "Chechen", however, occurs in [[Russian language|Russian]] sources as early as 1692 and the [[Russians]] probably derived it from the [[Kabardian language|Kabardian]] "Shashan".<ref>Jaimoukha p.12</ref> ==Geography== The Chechen people are mainly inhabitants of [[Chechnya]], which is internationally recognized as part of the [[Russian Federation]]. There are also significant Chechen populations in other Russian regions (especially in [[Dagestan]], [[Ingushetia]] and [[Moscow]]). Outside Russia, countries with significant Chechen [[diaspora]] populations are [[Republic of Georgia|Georgia]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Turkey]], and the [[Arab world]] (especially [[Jordan]] and [[Syria]]). These are mainly descendants of people who had to leave Chechnya during the [[Caucasian War]], which led to the annexing of Chechnya by the [[Russian Empire]] around 1850, and the 1944 Soviet [[deportation]] in the case of Kazakhstan. More recently, tens of thousands of [[Chechen refugees]] settled in the [[European Union]] and elsewhere as the result of the [[Chechen Wars]] since 1994. == History == {{POV-section|date=July 2008}} The [[Vainakh]] tribes, the [[ancestor]]s of the Chechens and [[Ingush]], lived in the [[highland]]s of the region since the [[prehistory]] (there is [[archeology|archeological]] evidence of historical continuity dating back since 10,000 B.C.<ref name="science">{{cite journal |author=Bernice Wuethrich |year=2000 |month=19 May |title=Peering Into the Past, With Words |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=288 |issue=5469 |pages=1158 |url=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/288/5469/1158 |doi=10.1126/science.288.5469.1158}}</ref>). In the 16th century, they began settling in the [[lowland]]s and the [[Islamization]] of the Chechen people began under the influence of bordering nationalities.<ref name="chechenya">Sven Gunnar Simonsen, ''Chechnya''</ref> This period was followed by the long and difficult Russian expansion into the Caucasus, when the Chechens with their extensive lowlands territory and access to the central pass were prime targets of the Russian conquest efforts. During the wars, large numbers of lives due to the Russian [[scorched earth]] tactics which decimated the local population as the [[tsar]]ist troops tried to break the fierce resistance while large numbers of the ''[[Muhajir (Caucasus)|muhajir]]'' [[refugee]]s [[emigration|emigrated]] or were forcibly{{Pov?}} deported to the [[Middle East]].<ref name="nichols"/> Since then there have been various Chechen [[rebellion]]s against Russian power{{Pov?}} , as well as resistance to [[Russification]]{{Pov?}} and the [[Soviet Union]]'s [[collectivization]] and [[antireligion|antireligious]] campaigns. In 1944 the Moscow's repressions gained apogeum as the Chechens and Ingush,{{Pov?}} together with several other Caucasian nationalities, were ordered by [[Joseph Stalin]] to be all deported [[en masse]] to Kazakhstan and [[Siberia]] and at least one-quarter and perhaps{{Pov?}} half of the entire Chechen nation perished in the process.{{Pov?}} <ref name="nichols"/> Though "[[rehabilitation|rehabilitated]]" in 1956 and allowed to return the next year, the survivors lost economic resources and [[civil rights]] and, under both Soviet and post-Soviet governments, they have been the objects of (official and unofficial) [[discrimination]] and discriminatory public discourse{{Pov?}} .<ref name="nichols"/> The Chechen attempts to regain{{Pov?}} independence in the 1990s after the [[fall of the Soviet Union]] led to the two next bloody wars with the new Russian state. {{seealso|History of Chechnya}} ==Language== {{main|Chechen language}} The main languages of the Chechen people are [[Chechen language|Chechen]] and [[Russian language|Russian]]. Chechen belongs to the family of Nakh languages (North-Central Caucasian Languages). Literary Chechen is based on the central lowland dialect. Other related languages include [[Ingush language|Ingush]], which has speakers in Ingushetia, and [[Bats language|Batsi]], which is the language of the cattle-farmers in part of Georgia. ==Culture== Prior to the adoption of [[Islam]], the Chechens practiced a unique blend of religious traditions and beliefs. They partook in numerous rites and rituals, many of them pertaining to farming; these included rain rites, a celebration that occurred on the first day of plowing, as well as the Day of the Thunderer Sela and the Day of the Goddess Tusholi. Chechen society is structured around "tukhums" (unions of [[clan]]s) and 130 [[teip]], or clans. The ''teips'' are based more on land than on blood and have an uneasy relationship in peacetime, but are bonded together during war. Teips are further subdivided into ''gars'' (branches), and ''gars'' into ''nekye'' ([[patronymic]] families). The Chechen [[social]] code is called “Nokhchallah” where "Nokhcho" (Noxçuo) stands for "Chechen" and may be loosely translated as "Chechen character". The Chechen code of [[honor]] implies moral and ethical behavior, generosity and the will to safeguard the honor of women. ==Religion== Chechnya is predominantly [[Muslim]]. Some adhere to a [[Sufi]] tradition called [[Murid]]ism, while about half of Chechens belong to Sufi brotherhoods, or [[tariqa]]. The two Sufi tariqas that spread in the North Caucasus were the [[Naqshbandiya]] and the [[Qadiriya]]. The Naqshbandiya is particularly strong in Dagestan and eastern Chechnya, whereas the Qadiriya has most of its adherents in the rest of Chechnya and Ingushetia. Almost all Chechens belong to the [[Hanafi]] school of thought of [[Sunni Islam]].<ref name="nichols">[http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~bsp/caucasus/articles/nichols_1995-chechen.pdf Who are the Chechens?] by Johanna Nichols, [[University of California, Berkeley]].</ref> [[Salafism]] was introduced to the population in the 1950s. Some of the rebels involved in the [[Chechen wars]] are Salafists, but the majority are not.<ref>[http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=13&&issue_id=590 Shattering the Al Qaeda-Chechen Myth: Part 1], by Brian Glyn Williams, [[The Jamestown Foundation]], October 2, 2003</ref> ==Gallery== {{cleanup-gallery}} <center><gallery> Image:Evstafiev-chechnya-handshake.jpg|Chechen fighters in the late 20th century, photo by [[Mikhail Evstafiev]] <!-- Deleted image removed: Image:Ruslan Gelayev.jpg|Chechen guerrillas in the 21st century {{deletable image-caption|1={{subst:#time:l, j F Y| + 7 days}}}} --> Image:Dudaev&family.jpg|[[Dzhokhar Dudayev]] and his family Image:T.TM.ASI.112.jpg|Chechen children in the [[Pankisi Gorge]] Image:Evstafiev-chechnya-women-pray.jpg|Elderly Chechen women in Chechnya in 1994, photo by Mikhail Evstafiev Image:Evstafiev-chechnya-boy-house-burns.jpg|A young Chechen fighter in 1995, photo by Mikhail Evstafiev Image:Chechenchildren.jpg|Chechen refugees in Georgia in 2006 </gallery></center> ==See also== *[[Bats people]], a related ethnic groups in Georgia *[[Ingush people]], a related ethnic group in Ingushetia *[[Kist people]], a related ethnic groups in Georgia ==References== *The Chechens: A Handbook, by Amjad Jaimoukha, London, New York: Routledge, 2005 <references/> [[Category:Chechen people| ]] [[Category:Ethnic groups in Dagestan]] [[Category:Ethnic groups in Jordan]] [[Category:Ethnic groups in Kazakhstan]] [[Category:Ethnic groups in Russia]] [[Category:Ethnic groups in Syria]] [[Category:Ethnic groups in Turkey]] [[Category:Indigenous peoples of Europe]] [[Category:Muslim communities]] [[Category:Peoples of the Caucasus]] [[ar:شيشانيون]] [[be-x-old:Чачэнцы]] [[bg:Чеченци]] [[ca:Txetxens]] [[cs:Čečenci]] [[de:Tschetschenen]] [[es:Chechenos]] [[eo:Ĉeĉenoj]] [[ko:체첸인]] [[hr:Čečeni]] [[it:Ceceni]] [[he:צ'צ'נים]] [[nl:Tsjetsjenen]] [[ja:チェチェン人]] [[pl:Czeczeni]] [[ru:Чеченцы]] [[sr:Чечени]] [[sh:Čečeni]] [[fi:Tšetšeenit]] [[sv:Tjetjener]] [[tr:Çeçenler]]