The BBC Russian Service has joined forces with online news portal Caucasian Knot to assess what everyday life is like in the North Caucasus, where violence is becoming more common.
This is the second of a series of articles bringing together thoughts and opinions from the region - North Caucasus through the eyes of bloggers.
LECHI KHAMZATOV
Lechi Khamzatov (a pen-name) was born in the southern Russian region of Astrakhan, and now lives in the Chechen capital, Grozny. A history graduate, he has been a journalist for two years and also runs a small business.
Recently a statue of assassinated Chechen leader Akhmat Kadyrov - which had dominated one of the city’s main streets since 2005 - was pulled down. Many people are still wondering where the several-tonne bronze monument has disappeared to.
What happened in the Chechen capital of Grozny resembled a high-profile security operation. This operation was not directed against suicide bombers, rebels or their accomplices. Chechen authorities dismantled the statue of Kadyrov - the “first Chechen president” and father of the current Chechen leader Ramzan - in the middle of the night in a highly secretive fashion.
People had grown used to the monument and then all of a sudden it was removed and taken away to an undisclosed location. Moreover, monuments, busts and statues of Akhmat Kadyrov were removed from everywhere - from main squares of Chechen towns and schools. So there is reason for bewilderment.
Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechen parliament speaker Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov and mufti of Chechnya Sultan Mirzayev had a simple explanation for why the monument was dismantled - they said this was the wish of Akhmat Kadyrov himself.
But as Kadyrov was assassinated back in 2004, and the monument was erected in 2005, why did it take until 2009 for them to recall his reluctance to have monuments of himself made
Akhmat Kadyrov is already part of history. His is part of the official discourse as the saviour of the Chechen people from complete elimination and a passionate fighter against extremism, Wahhabism, terrorism and the rest.
In the unofficial (people’s) history he went down as the ex-mufti of the separatist Ichkeria, which waged a jihad against Russia, who then betrayed his ideals to become a no less ardent supporter of Russia’s unity.
But there is still a question burning in the minds of some of Chechnya’s more inquisitive residents: Where did the monument go
One Grozny resident even made a seditious, but interesting guess that the statue was pulled down because of the financial crisis. He reckoned the Kadyrov monument and all the smaller statues were melted and sold off.
Bronze fetches a good price these days.
FATIMA PLIYEVA
Fatima Pliyeva (a pseudonym), 24, was born in a village in Ingushetia and is a journalism student. Her articles have appeared in local newspapers and now she writes for web-based publications.
When women from the North Caucasus find themselves in central Russia they are made to face the stereotype that a woman from Ingushetia is a “veiled Muslim wife”.
I have personally encountered such stereotypes. People would tell me: it must be tough for women, men must be despotic where you live. It is often said that in the Caucasus women are forced to marry. And although unlike women in Arab countries we do not wear the veil, people do not think there is much difference between us.
“The bride is not captured and thrown into a car, she gets into it voluntarily”
Fatima
Ingush journalism student
Most young Muslim women from the North Caucasus who come to Moscow to study wear tight jeans. This is not in line with Islamic laws and at home it would be considered strictly indecent.
Of course, the lifestyle, values and social status of an Ingush woman is very different from that of a native Muscovite. I would define the Ingush woman’s lifestyle as Islamic-secular.
Some of her values are the same as of any other Russian woman, but some are informed by Islam.
For instance, an Ingush girl:
- Cannot go to discos (in fact, as far as I am aware, there are none in Ingushetia)
- Is forbidden from spending the night, or even the evening, out
- Is not allowed to bring her fiance home
- Is often forbidden from visiting a girlfriend
But all this varies and depends on the individual’s family traditions.
Some families - generally those of clerics - forbid their young women from studying, working and even leaving the house.
But in the majority of cases it is considered acceptable and, in fact, desirable, for an Ingush woman to get an education and a job.
Educated and employed women even enjoy better chances as prospective brides.
These days girls are rarely made to marry by force. It was the generation of our mothers and grandmothers that was subjected to this.
Now girls are “abducted” (as tradition requires) after they consent to this ritual. The bride is not captured and thrown into a car, she gets into it voluntarily.
Sometimes parents refuse to give their daughter to the man who proposes. Then he tries again and again until he has worn them out and they finally agree to give their daughter to him.
SERGEI AKHMEDOV
Sergei Akhmedov (not his real name) was born in 1968 in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan. He is an economics graduate and is currently unemployed.
Recently, leaflets with a “hitlist” of people targeted for assassination appeared in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala. It was alleged these lists were compiled by relatives of policemen who had been killed.
On the leaflets were the names of 16 journalists, human rights activists and lawyers. They were said to be accomplices of rebels and a blood feud was proclaimed against them.
Rumours are rife in Dagestan about who could be behind the hitlists. Some claim it was an act of provocation by security officials; others accuse some destructive force that wants to destabilise the republic ahead of the upcoming change of government.
Everyone seems to agree that the relatives of the policemen who were killed were not in any way involved in putting together the hitlist.
There is another aspect to this incident that is not being discussed at all - the involvement of the authorities. Of course, it was not public officials who distributed these leaflets around the city at night, but some of their statements might have provoked the incident.
For example, Dagestani President Mikhu Aliyev and assassinated minister of the interior Adilgerei Magomedtagirov had openly and repeatedly voiced their discontent about local independent journalists and human rights activists.
Obviously nobody dares allege publicly that the easiest way to deal with the opponents of the ruling regime would be to put a bullet in their head.
But I have a creeping suspicion that some officials would not be terribly saddened if two or three people whose names are on the hitlist were assassinated.
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