How does the Ingush language differ from the Chechen language? How to distinguish an Ingush from a Chechen

There are different versions of the origin of this small people - some researchers believe that the Batsbis came to Georgia from Ingushetia, other ethnographers put forward the version of the resettlement of the Tsova-Tushins from Chechnya. In Georgia itself, they are convinced that the Batsbis are just a branch of the Georgian people.

The only Vainakhs are Orthodox

If we take into account the age of the ancient Ingush Orthodox churches(Tkhaba-Erdy, Albi-Erdy and Targimsky), numerous archaeological finds (Christian books, crosses), then we can assume that the spread of Christianity among the Vainakh peoples, from whom the Chechens, Ingush and Batsbis descended, occurred in the 11th – 13th centuries. Chechen toponymy also points to the Christian past of the inhabitants of these places - for example, the name of the village of Kernstne is translated as “Christian”, and Gochachga aga - “meadow of St. George”.

The ancestors of the Vainakhs maintained contact with the Georgian Church until the invasion of Tamerlane, after which the Christianization of the highlanders ceased for a long time, and these peoples began to gravitate toward pagan culture. And in the XVII - XVIII centuries The majority of the Vainakhs converted to Islam. Only the Batsbis remained Orthodox and practice this religion to this day.

On the outskirts of Georgia

Today, the number of Batsbis (they are also called Tsova-Tushins) is about three thousand people. They live in Tusheti (north-eastern mountainous region of Georgia), most of all in the village of Zemo-Alvani. The Batsbis have their own language (there is no written language in it); Orthodox Vainakhs also speak Georgian and Russian. This people assimilates with the Georgians; the life and culture of the Batsbis are in many ways reminiscent of the life of their neighboring ethnic group.

From time immemorial, the Batsbi people have been cattle breeders; in the summer they graze their herds in the mountains, and in the winter they go down to their villages.

Friendly but independent

The Batsos strive to maintain ties with their historical homeland - in particular, residents of the border regions of Ingushetia are actively in contact with some clans of the Batsbis.

These people are trying to maintain their independence in defiance of the official policy of Georgia, aimed at the total Georgianization of the ethnic groups living in the country. This “socializing” process was started by Zviad Gamsakhurdia. At one time, the Batsbians had self-government and represented, in essence, a medieval public education. The batso lost their autonomy in the 16th century, when the Kakheti king Alexander II captured the lands of Tusheti. In the first half of the twentieth century, the Georgian authorities tried to resettle the Batsbis deep into Kakheti; in the forties, during Stalin's repressions some of the people were expelled from their habitual places.

All these ups and downs, as well as the massive settlement of Tusheti by Georgians in the 70s of the twentieth century, contributed to the gradual loss of the Batsbi people’s centuries-old ties with the Chechens and Ingush.

Religious traditions are respected

Nevertheless, the historically related unity of the Chechens, Ingush and Batsbis is still observed today, although the differences between the Muslim Vainakhs and the Christian Vainakhs in terms of observing religious rituals are fundamentally different. For example, sitting at the same table with Chechens, batso can calmly eat pork, having first crossed himself before the meal, as befits an Orthodox Christian.

Gruzinskaya takes care of the Batsbians Orthodox Church. The Vainakh people are becoming churched more and more actively, although still late XIX centuries, the Tsova-Tushins (mainly among young people) had strong pagan traditions: young girls and women in Lent They often “listened to the devils” - they guessed by certain signs what event was about to happen in a particular house in the Batsbi village - joyful or sad.

The initial community of these two peoples was somewhat separated by the course of the Caucasian War of the nineteenth century and the policies of the tsarist authorities. Now that part of the population, which is called the common people, is more committed to unity, believing that they are one people - Chechens and Ingush. The difference is emphasized only by the creative intelligentsia, which does not see a single ethnic group here.

Eighties

The very beginning of the eighties was marked by a sharp increase in tension in good neighborly relations: a struggle broke out for the Prigorodny district (Chermen, Kambileevskoye, Oktyabrskoye), during which the Ossetians demanded that all Ingush be evicted from the republic. Mass riots began, accompanied by the deployment of army units to restore world order. The Ingush had their registration restricted, which they rightly considered discrimination. Clashes with killings and beatings continued.

All this continued in the 90s, and the Ingush were constantly reminded of their activities during World War II, the connections of numerous gangs with the Wehrmacht, and the brutal reprisals against Red Army soldiers. In 1991, the Ingush came into conflict with the Ossetian police to such an extent that it was introduced state of emergency, and the Supreme Council even decided to make concessions to the people offended by the deportation. But fate decreed otherwise.

The Soviet Union ceased to exist, Chechnya declared independence, and Ingushetia decided to remain part of the Russian Federation. In 1992, Ingushetia again became a republic within Russia. At the same time, a whole series of murders of Ingush took place in the Prigorodny district, after which borders were drawn between Ingushetia and North Ossetia, and the latter lost the ill-fated region. Ossetians are also a hot-blooded people: traffic police officers started shooting at the Ingush, after which the latter were allowed not only to wear, but also to use firearms. The war did not want to stop. Ingush blocked the post internal troops and demanded withdrawal armed forces Russian Federation from its territory. Fighting continued.

If the Russians leave the Caucasus

What then? There will be bloody chaos, according to local residents, taught by bitter experience. They remember what happened in Chechnya after the complete expulsion of the entire Russian population: there was criminal chaos, people were kidnapped not only in Chechnya, but throughout the country, after which Wahhabis appeared with their unifying ideology, and almost immediately a civil war began.

There has never been order and silence in the Caucasus; it simply cannot exist there at all, since there is traditionally no strong statehood and there is nowhere for it to come from. Neighbors here always more or less actively killed each other. And besides, they stole cattle, robbed, stole women, and then took cruel revenge for all this. That's when there was a strong external manager - definite, even if not full order was still observed. For example, under the rule Russian Empire or under the USSR.

Without strong hand the Ingush and Chechens will again start territorial disputes with each other and with all their neighbors. Unification is hardly possible. Sharia and adat (custom) usually help to temporarily reconcile the warring parties. But in the Caucasus, only very close “friends” - fellow villagers, relatives, or, in extreme cases, representatives of the same nationality - can decide on Sharia or adat. Since there are a huge number of nationalities in this region, a solution is unlikely to come.

The main arbiter in the Caucasus is profit. And strength. Chechens can simply buy Ingush: with help in the pogrom of Ossetians, for example. Or promise participation in the affairs of the “Chechen empire”. Only in this case will the Ingush recognize the power of the Chechens and perhaps even bow down. Without bonuses, all these disputes are resolved only by force. This has always been the case, and hardly anything has changed over the past decades.

On February 23, 1944, Operation Lentil began: the deportation of Chechens and Ingush “for aiding the fascist occupiers” from the territory of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (CIASSR) to Central Asia and Kazakhstan. The Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was abolished, from its composition 4 districts were transferred to the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, one district was transferred to the North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and the Grozny region was created on the rest of the territory.

Operation () was carried out under the leadership of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR Lavrentiy Beria. The eviction of the Chechen-Ingush population was carried out without any problems. During the operation, 780 people were killed, 2,016 “anti-Soviet elements” were arrested, and more than 20 thousand firearms were confiscated. 180 trains with total number 493,269 people resettled. The operation was carried out very efficiently and showed the high skill of the management team Soviet Union.

People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR Lavrentiy Beria. He approved the “Instructions on the procedure for the eviction of Chechens and Ingush”, arrived in Grozny and personally supervised the operation

Prerequisites and reasons for punishment

It must be said that the situation in Chechnya was already difficult during the revolution and the Civil War. During this period, the Caucasus was engulfed in real bloody turmoil. The highlanders had the opportunity to return to their usual “craft” - robbery and banditry. The Whites and the Reds, busy at war with each other, could not restore order during this period.

The situation was also difficult in the 1920s. So, " Short review banditry in the North Caucasus Military District, as of September 1, 1925” reports: “The Chechen Autonomous Region is a hotbed of criminal banditry... For the most part, Chechens are prone to banditry as the main source of easy money, which is facilitated by the large availability of weapons. Nagorno-Chechnya is a refuge for the most inveterate enemies of Soviet power. Cases of banditry by Chechen gangs cannot be accurately accounted for” (Pykhalov I. Why Stalin evicted peoples. M., 2013).

In other documents, similar characteristics can be found. “A brief overview and characteristics of existing banditry on the territory of the IX Rifle Corps” dated May 28, 1924: “The Ingush and Chechens are most prone to banditry. They are less loyal to the Soviet regime; a highly developed national feeling, brought up by religious teachings, is especially hostile to Russians - infidels.” The authors of the review made correct conclusions. In their opinion, the main reasons for the development of banditry among the highlanders were: 1) cultural backwardness; 2) the semi-wild morals of the mountain people, prone to easy money; 3) economic backwardness of the mountain economy; 4) lack of firm local authority and political and educational work.

Information review by the headquarters of the IX Rifle Corps on the development of banditry in the areas where the corps was located in the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Okrug, Mountain SSR, Chechen Autonomous Okrug, Grozny Governorate and Dagestan SSR in July-September 1924: “Chechnya is a bouquet of banditry. The number of leaders and fickle gangs of bandits committing robberies, mainly in the territories neighboring the Chechen region, cannot be counted.”

To fight bandits in 1923, they held a local military operation, but it turned out to be not enough. The situation became especially aggravated in 1925. It should be noted that banditry in Chechnya during this period was purely criminal in nature; there was no ideological confrontation under the slogans of radical Islam. The victims of the robbers were the Russian population from the regions adjacent to Chechnya. Dagestanis also suffered from Chechen bandits. But, unlike the Russian Cossacks, the Soviet government did not take away their weapons, so the Dagestanis could fight off predatory raids. According to the old tradition, Georgia was also subjected to predatory raids.

In August 1925, a new large-scale operation began to clear Chechnya of gangs and confiscate weapons from the local population. Accustomed to the weakness and softness of the Soviet authorities, the Chechens initially prepared for stubborn resistance. However, this time the authorities acted harshly and decisively. The Chechens were shocked when numerous military columns, reinforced with artillery and aviation, entered their territory. The operation followed a standard pattern: hostile villages were surrounded and demands were made to hand over the bandits and weapons. If they refused, they began machine-gun and artillery shelling and even air strikes. Sappers destroyed the houses of gang leaders. This caused a change in the mood of the local population. Resistance, even passive resistance, was no longer thought about. Village residents handed over their weapons. Therefore, casualties among the population were small. The operation was successful: all the major bandit leaders were captured (in total, 309 bandits were arrested, 105 of them were shot), a large number of weapons, ammunition - more than 25 thousand rifles, more than 4 thousand revolvers, etc. (It should be noted that now all these bandits have been rehabilitated as “innocent victims” of Stalinism.) For some time, Chechnya was calmed down. Residents continued to hand over weapons after the operation was completed. However, the success of the 1925 operation was not consolidated. Obvious Russophobes with connections abroad continued to occupy key positions in the country: Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin, etc. The policy of combating “Great Russian chauvinism” continued until the early 1930s. Suffice it to say that the Small Soviet Encyclopedia praised the “exploits” of Shamil. The Cossacks were deprived of their rights, the “rehabilitation” of the Cossacks began only in 1936, when Stalin was able to push the main groups of “Trotskyist internationalists” (then “fifth column” in the USSR) away from power.

In 1929, such purely Russian territories as the Sunzhensky district and the city of Grozny were included in Chechnya. According to the 1926 census, only about 2% of Chechens lived in Grozny; the rest of the city's residents were Russians, Little Russians and Armenians. There were even more Tatars in the city than Chechens - 3.2%.

Therefore, it is not surprising that as soon as pockets of instability arose in the USSR associated with “excesses” during collectivization (the local apparatus that carried out collectivization largely consisted of “Trotskyists” and deliberately incited unrest in the USSR), in 1929 a riot broke out in Chechnya. major uprising. The report of the commander of the North Caucasian Military District, Belov, and a member of the RVS of the district, Kozhevnikov, emphasized that they had to deal not with individual bandit uprisings, but with “a direct uprising of entire regions, in which almost the entire population took part in an armed uprising.” The uprising was suppressed. However, its roots were not eliminated, so in 1930 another military operation was carried out.

Chechnya did not calm down in the 1930s either. In the spring of 1932, a new major uprising broke out. The gangs were able to block several garrisons, but were soon defeated and dispersed by the approaching units of the Red Army. The next escalation of the situation occurred in 1937. From this it was necessary to intensify the fight against bandit and terrorist groups in the republic. In the period from October 1937 to February 1939, 80 groups with a total number of 400 people operated in the republic, and more than 1 thousand bandits were illegal. As a result of the measures taken, the gangster underground was cleared out. More than 1 thousand people were arrested and convicted, 5 machine guns, more than 8 thousand rifles and other weapons and ammunition were confiscated.

However, the calm did not last long. In 1940, banditry in the republic intensified again. Most of the gangs were replenished by fugitives and deserters of the Red Army. Thus, from the autumn of 1939 to the beginning of February 1941, 797 Chechens and Ingush deserted from the Red Army.

During the Great Patriotic War Chechens and Ingush “distinguished themselves” by mass desertion and evasion of military service. Thus, in a memorandum addressed to the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Lavrentiy Beria “On the situation in the regions of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic”, compiled by the Deputy People's Commissar of State Security, State Security Commissioner of the 2nd rank Bogdan Kobulov dated November 9, 1943, it was reported that in January 1942, during recruitment the national division managed to recruit only 50% of its personnel. Due to the stubborn reluctance of the indigenous people of the Chechen-ChIASSR to go to the front, the formation of the Chechen-Ingush cavalry division was never completed; those who were able to be drafted were sent to reserve and training units.

In March 1942, out of 14,576 people, 13,560 people deserted and evaded service. They went underground, went to the mountains, and joined gangs. In 1943, out of 3 thousand volunteers, 1870 people deserted. To understand the enormity of this figure, it is worth saying that while in the ranks of the Red Army, 2.3 thousand Chechens and Ingush died or went missing during the war.

At the same time, during the war, banditry flourished in the republic. From June 22, 1941 to December 31, 1944, 421 gang incidents were noted on the territory of the republic: attacks and murders on soldiers and commanders of the Red Army, NKVD, Soviet and party workers, attacks and robberies of state and collective farm institutions and enterprises, murders and robbery ordinary citizens. In terms of the number of attacks and murders of commanders and soldiers of the Red Army, organs and troops of the NKVD, the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic during this period was slightly inferior only to Lithuania.

During the same period of time, 116 people were killed as a result of bandit activities, and 147 people died during operations against bandits. At the same time, 197 gangs were liquidated, 657 bandits were killed, 2,762 were captured, 1,113 turned themselves in. Thus, in the ranks of the gangs that fought against Soviet power, many more Chechens and Ingush died and were arrested than those who died and went missing at the front. We must also not forget the fact that in the conditions of the North Caucasus, banditry was impossible without the support of the local population. Therefore, a significant part of the republic’s population was the bandits’ accomplices.

Interestingly, during this period, the Soviet government had to fight mainly with young gangsters - graduates of Soviet schools and universities, Komsomol members and communists. By this time, the OGPU-NKVD had already knocked out the old cadres of bandits raised in the Russian Empire. However, young people followed in the footsteps of their fathers and grandfathers. One of these “young wolves” was Khasan Israilov (Terloev). In 1929, he joined the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and entered the Komvuz in Rostov-on-Don. In 1933 he was sent to Moscow to the Communist University of the Toilers of the East. Stalin. After the start of the Great Patriotic War, Israilov, together with his brother Hussein, went underground and began preparing a general uprising. The start of the uprising was planned for 1941, but then it was postponed to the beginning of 1942. However, due to the low level of discipline and lack of good communication between rebel cells, the situation got out of control. A coordinated, simultaneous uprising did not take place, resulting in protests by individual groups. Scattered protests were suppressed.

Israilov did not give up and began work on party building. The main link of the organization were aulkoms or troki-fives, which carried out anti-Soviet and rebel work on the ground. On January 28, 1942, Israilov held an illegal meeting in Ordzhonikidze (Vladikavkaz), which established the “Special Party of Caucasian Brothers.” The program provided for the establishment of a “free fraternal Federative Republic of the states of the fraternal peoples of the Caucasus under the mandate of German Empire" The party had to fight “Bolshevik barbarism and Russian despotism.” Later, in order to adapt to the Nazis, Israilov transformed the OPKB into the “National Socialist Party of the Caucasian Brothers.” Its number reached 5 thousand people.

In addition, in November 1941, the Chechen-Mountain National Socialist underground organization" Its leader was Mairbek Sheripov. The son of a royal officer and younger brother Civil War hero Aslanbek Sheripov, Mairbek joined the CPSU (b), and in 1938 he was arrested for anti-Soviet propaganda, but in 1939 he was released for lack of proof of guilt. The Chairman of the Forest Industry Council of the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the fall of 1941 went underground and began to unite around himself the leaders of gangs, deserters, fugitive criminals, and also established connections with religious and teip leaders, persuading them to revolt. Sheripov's main base was in the Shatoevsky district. After the front approached the borders of the republic, in August 1942, Sheripov raised a major uprising in the Itum-Kalinsky and Shatoevsky regions. On August 20, the rebels surrounded Itum-Kale, but were unable to take the village. A small garrison repelled the attacks of the bandits, and arriving reinforcements put the Chechens to flight. Sheripov tried to connect with Israilov, but was destroyed during a special operation.

In October 1942, the uprising was raised by the German non-commissioned officer Reckert, who was sent to Chechnya in August at the head of a reconnaissance and sabotage group. He established contact with Sahabov’s gang and, with the assistance of religious authorities, recruited up to 400 people. The detachment was supplied with weapons dropped from German aircraft. The saboteurs were able to raise some villages in the Vedensky and Cheberloyevsky districts to revolt. However, the authorities quickly suppressed this protest. Reckert was destroyed.

The mountaineers also made a feasible contribution to the military power of the Third Reich. In September 1942, the first three battalions of the North Caucasus Legion were formed in Poland - the 800th, 801st and 802nd. At the same time, the 800th battalion had a Chechen company, and the 802nd battalion had two companies. The number of Chechens in the German armed forces was small due to mass desertion and evasion of service; the number of Chechens and Ingush in the ranks of the Red Army was small. Therefore, there were few captured highlanders. Already at the end of 1942, the 800th and 802nd battalions were sent to the front.

Almost simultaneously, the 842nd, 843rd and 844th battalions of the North Caucasus Legion begin to be formed in Mirgorod, Poltava region. In February 1943 they were sent to Leningrad region to fight partisans. At the same time, in the town of Wesola, battalion 836-A was formed (the letter “A” meant “Einsatz” - destruction). The battalion specialized in punitive operations and left a long bloody trail in the Kirovograd, Kyiv regions and France. In May 1945, the remnants of the battalion were captured by the British in Denmark. The highlanders asked for British citizenship, but were extradited to the USSR. Of the 214 Chechens of the 1st company, 97 were prosecuted.

As the front approached the borders of the republic, the Germans began sending scouts and saboteurs into the territory of the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, who were supposed to prepare the ground for a large-scale uprising, commit sabotage and terrorist attacks. However, only Recker's group achieved the greatest success. The security officers and the army acted quickly and prevented the uprising. In particular, failure befell the group of Oberleutnant Lange, abandoned on August 25, 1942. Pursued by Soviet units, the chief lieutenant with the remnants of his group, with the help of Chechen guides, was forced to cross the front line back to their own. In total, the Germans abandoned 77 saboteurs. Of these, 43 were neutralized.

The Germans even trained “the governor of the North Caucasus - Osman Gube (Osman Saidnurov). Osman in Civil War fought on the side of the whites, deserted, lived in Georgia, after its liberation by the Red Army, fled to Turkey. After the start of the war, he completed a course at a German intelligence school and entered the service of naval intelligence. To increase his authority among the local population, Guba-Saidnurov was even allowed to call himself a colonel. However, plans to incite an uprising among the highlanders failed - the security officers captured the Gube group. During the interrogation, the failed Caucasian Gauleiter made a very interesting confession: “Among the Chechens and Ingush, I easily found the right people, ready to betray, go over to the side of the Germans and serve them.”

Another interesting fact is that the local leadership of internal affairs actually sabotaged the fight against banditry and went over to the side of the bandits. The head of the NKVD of the Chechen Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, state security captain Sultan Albogachiev, an Ingush by nationality, sabotaged the activities of local security officers. Albogachiev acted in conjunction with Terloev (Israilov). Many other local security officers also turned out to be traitors. Thus, the traitors were the heads of the regional departments of the NKVD: Staro-Yurtovsky - Elmurzaev, Sharoevsky - Pashayev, Itum-Kalinsky - Mezhiev, Shatoevsky - Isaev, etc. Many traitors turned out to be among the rank and file of the NKVD.

There was a similar picture among the local party leadership. Thus, when the front approached, 16 leaders of the district committees of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) quit their jobs and fled (there were 24 districts and the city of Grozny in the republic), 8 executives district executive committees, 14 collective farm chairmen and other party members. Apparently, those who remained in their places were simply Russian or “Russian-speaking.” The party organization of the Itum-Kalinsky district became especially famous, where the entire leadership team became bandits.

As a result, during the years of the most difficult war, the republic was engulfed in an epidemic of mass betrayal. The Chechens and Ingush fully deserved their punishment. Moreover, it should be noted that according to wartime laws, Moscow could punish many thousands of bandits, traitors and their accomplices much more harshly, up to and including execution and long prison terms. However, we once again see an example of humanism and generosity of the Stalinist government. Chechens and Ingush were evicted and sent for re-education.

Psychological feature of the problem

Many current citizens Western world, and even Russia, are unable to understand how to punish whole people for the crimes of its individual groups and “individual representatives.” They proceed from their ideas about the world around them, when they are surrounded as a whole by the world of individualists, atomized individuals.

The Western world, and then Russia, after industrialization, lost the structure of a traditional society (essentially peasant, agrarian), connected by communal ties and mutual responsibility. The West and Russia have moved to a different level of civilization, when each person is responsible only for his crimes. However, at the same time, Europeans forget that there are still areas and regions on the planet where traditional, tribal relations prevail. Such a region is both the Caucasus and Central Asia.

There people are connected by family (including large patriarchal families), clan, tribal relations, as well as fraternity. Accordingly, if a person commits a crime, his local community is responsible and punished. In particular, this is why rape of local girls is rare in the North Caucasus; relatives, with the support of the local community, will simply “bury” the criminal. The police will turn a blind eye to this, since they consist of “their people.” However, this does not mean that “strangers” girls who are not behind strong family, community, safe. “Dzhigits” can behave freely on “foreign” territory.

Mutual responsibility is bright distinguishing feature any society at the tribal stage of development. In such a society there is no case that the entire local population does not know about. There is no hiding bandit, no killer whose location the locals do not know. The entire clan and generation bears responsibility for the criminal. Such views are very strong and persist from century to century.

Such relationships were characteristic of the era of tribal relations. During the period of the Russian Empire, and even more strongly during the years of the Soviet Union, the Caucasus and Central Asia were subject to strong civilizational and cultural influence of the Russian people. Urban culture, industrialization, and a powerful system of upbringing and education had a strong influence on these regions; they began the transition from tribal relations to a more advanced urban industrial society. If the USSR had existed for a few more decades, the transition would have been completed. However, the USSR was destroyed. North Caucasus and Central Asia did not have time to complete the transition to a more developed society, and a rapid rollback into the past began, archaization social relations. All this happened against the backdrop of degradation of the education system, upbringing, science and National economy. As a result, we got entire generations of “new barbarians”, welded together by family and tribal traditions, the waves of which are gradually sweeping Russian cities. Moreover, they merge with the local “new barbarians”, who are produced by the degraded (deliberately simplified) Russian education system.

Thus, it is necessary to clearly understand the fact that Stalin, who knew perfectly well the peculiarities of the ethnopsychology of mountain peoples with its principles of mutual responsibility and collective responsibility of the entire clan for a crime committed by its member, since he himself was from the Caucasus, completely correctly punished an entire people (several peoples). If local society had not supported Hitler’s collaborators and bandits, the first collaborators would have been crushed by the local residents themselves (or handed over to the authorities). However, the Chechens deliberately entered into conflict with the authorities, and Moscow punished them. Everything is reasonable and logical - crimes must be answered. The decision was fair and even mild in some respects.

The mountaineers themselves then knew why they were being punished. So, the following rumors circulated among the local population at that time: “The Soviet government will not forgive us. We don’t serve in the army, we don’t work on collective farms, we don’t help the front, we don’t pay taxes, banditry is all around. The Karachais were evicted for this - and we will be evicted.”

There are different versions of the origin of this small people - some researchers believe that the Batsbis came to Georgia from Ingushetia, other ethnographers put forward the version of the resettlement of the Tsova-Tushins from Chechnya. In Georgia itself, they are convinced that the Batsbis are just a branch of the Georgian people.

The only Vainakhs are Orthodox

If we take into account the age of the ancient Ingush Orthodox churches (Tkhaba-Erdy, Albi-Erdy and Targimsky), numerous archaeological finds (Christian books, crosses), then we can assume that the spread of Christianity among the Vainakh peoples, from which the Chechens, Ingush and Batsbis descended , occurred in the 11th – 13th centuries. Chechen toponymy also points to the Christian past of the inhabitants of these places - for example, the name of the village of Kernstne is translated as “Christian”, and Gochachga aga - “meadow of St. George”.

The ancestors of the Vainakhs maintained contact with the Georgian Church until the invasion of Tamerlane, after which the Christianization of the highlanders ceased for a long time, and these peoples began to gravitate toward pagan culture. And in the 17th – 18th centuries, the majority of Vainakhs converted to Islam. Only the Batsbis remained Orthodox and practice this religion to this day.

On the outskirts of Georgia

Today, the number of Batsbis (they are also called Tsova-Tushins) is about three thousand people. They live in Tusheti (north-eastern mountainous region of Georgia), most of all in the village of Zemo-Alvani. The Batsbis have their own language (there is no written language in it); Orthodox Vainakhs also speak Georgian and Russian. This people assimilates with the Georgians; the life and culture of the Batsbis are in many ways reminiscent of the life of their neighboring ethnic group.

From time immemorial, the Batsbi people have been cattle breeders; in the summer they graze their herds in the mountains, and in the winter they go down to their villages.

Friendly but independent

The Batsos strive to maintain ties with their historical homeland - in particular, residents of the border regions of Ingushetia are actively in contact with some clans of the Batsbis.

These people are trying to maintain their independence in defiance of the official policy of Georgia, aimed at the total Georgianization of the ethnic groups living in the country. This “socializing” process was started by Zviad Gamsakhurdia. At one time, the Batsbians had self-government and were, in fact, a medieval state entity. The batso lost their autonomy in the 16th century, when the Kakheti king Alexander II captured the lands of Tusheti. In the first half of the twentieth century, the Georgian authorities tried to resettle the Batsbis deep into Kakheti; in the forties, during Stalin’s repressions, some of the Batsos were expelled from their inhabited places.

All these ups and downs, as well as the massive settlement of Tusheti by Georgians in the 70s of the twentieth century, contributed to the gradual loss of the Batsbi people’s centuries-old ties with the Chechens and Ingush.

Religious traditions are respected

Nevertheless, the historically related unity of the Chechens, Ingush and Batsbis is still observed today, although the differences between the Muslim Vainakhs and the Christian Vainakhs in terms of observing religious rituals are fundamentally different. For example, sitting at the same table with Chechens, batso can calmly eat pork, having first crossed himself before the meal, as befits an Orthodox Christian.

The Georgian Orthodox Church provides care for the Batsbians. The Vainakh people are increasingly becoming churchgoers, although even at the end of the 19th century, the Tsova-Tushins (mainly among young people) had strong pagan traditions: during Lent, young girls and women often “listened to the devils” - they guessed by certain signs what was in a particular house. In the Batsbi village, an event is about to happen - joyful or sad.

Ingush Cavalry Regiment

How do Chechens differ from Ingush?

It is known that the Ingush and Chechens are one people, divided due to historical and socio-political reasons. Nevertheless, during the short period of their demarcation, the Chechens and Ingush managed to accumulate many differences.

Origins

In modern ethnology, it is customary to unite Chechens and Ingush general term- “Vainakh peoples” (Chech. “Vainakh”, Ingush. “Vainakh” - “our people”). This is exactly how representatives of the two Caucasian ethnic groups identify themselves.
The Chechens and Ingush did not create their own written language, and therefore their history was studied from the chronicles of neighboring peoples. Often this information was fragmentary and not always objective. However, today scientists can say with full confidence that Chechens and Ingush are among the oldest inhabitants Caucasus, belonging to the Vainakh language group of the Nakh-Dagestan family.
Historians find the ancestors of the Ingush (self-name Galgai) among the tribal union of Alans, which took part in the Great Migration of Peoples.

Anthropologist Viktor Bunak is confident that among the Ingush the ancient Caucasian (or Caucasian) type has been preserved “more than among any of the other North Caucasian peoples.”
This is how the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary describes the Ingush: “In appearance, the Ingush are lean, slender, of average height, with sharp features and quick eyes on a pale, dark face; the hair color is predominantly black, the nose is aquiline, the movements are hasty and impetuous.”
The Chechens (self-name Nokhchi), according to one hypothesis, appeared on the historical stage before the Ingush. Some researchers, including anthropologist Valery Alekseev, consider the Chechens to be descendants of the Hurrians, who lived in northern Mesopotamia in the 2nd millennium BC.
In Armenian sources of the 7th century, the Chechens are referred to as “nakhcha matyan” (“speaking the Nokhchi language”). In documents of the 16th-17th centuries one can find the tribal names of the Chechens - Ichkerins, Okoks, Shubuts. In the Russian language, the word “Chechen” became a transliteration of terms that existed among neighboring peoples - “Tsatsans”, “Shashens”, “Chachans”.
The appearance of Chechens, according to the Brockhaus and Efron dictionary, is as follows: “tall and well built. Women are beautiful. Anthropologically, Chechens are a mixed type. Eye color varies from black to more or less dark brown and from blue to more or less light green. In hair color, transitions from black to more or less dark brown are noticeable. The nose is often turned up and concave."
Genetic studies have shown that modern Chechens and Ingush, although they belong to the same haplogroup, are ethnically heterogeneous. Geneticist Khusein Chokaev, based on the latest research data, writes that the common ancestor of a significant part of the Chechen-Ingush ethnic group is a representative of the J2a4b (M67) subgroup, which originated in the territory of modern Turkey approximately 11.8 thousand years ago. The carriers of this haplotype were, among others, the Carians, Minoans and Pelasgians. But if the Ingush correspond to the J2a4b (M67) group by 87%, then the Chechens correspond to only 58%.

Disengagement

Over time, the Chechens mostly settled along the right tributaries of the Sunzha and Terek. Equally, their places of residence were mountains, foothills and plains. The Ingush concentrated to the west of the Chechen settlements, mainly in the upper reaches of the Sunzha.
The first signs of the division of the single Vainakh ethnic group, according to researchers, emerged after 1770, when the Ingush accepted Russian citizenship. Joining the empire brought its own characteristics to the way of life of this people. The division between the Ingush and Chechens intensified even more during the Caucasian War, which lasted intermittently from 1817 to 1864.
During the war years, it was Chechnya that became the main stronghold of resistance and the center of the military-religious movement of muridism. According to this teaching, the moral and political revival of Islam was possible only after the overthrow of the heterodox Russian yoke. The Muridist propaganda of Kazi-Mulla, Gamzat and Shamil bore fruit on Chechen soil, while the Ingush remained aloof from the “war for faith.”
After the end of the Caucasian War, the places inhabited by the Ingush for border tranquility were inhabited by Cossacks, who remained there until the arrival of Soviet power in the Caucasus. In 1921, the Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic arose on the territory of the former Terek and part of the former Kuban regions of the Russian Empire, and in 1936 the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic appeared on the map.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Chechens and Ingush again took different paths: radical movements calling for independence intensified in Chechnya, and Ingushetia decided to remain part of Russia. In the new situation, the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia ceased to be conditional and over time divided two subjects of the federation - the Republic of Ingushetia and the Chechen Republic.

Religion

The dominant religion of the Ingush and Chechens is Sunni Islam. However, the degree of its influence on both peoples is different. Despite the fact that Islam began to penetrate into the North Caucasus since the invasion of Genghis Khan, the majority of residents of Chechnya accepted it only in the 18th century. During the period of the Caucasian Wars, through the Muridist movement, Islam became so strong in Chechnya that it gave rise to real religious fanaticism there.
In Ingushetia, Islam adapted only in the middle of the 19th century, but did not take deep roots there. Until recently, many Ingush were still in the grip of ancient pre-Muslim beliefs, an integral part of which was the cult of family and ancestors. This cult obliged people to honor their shrines, such as the hearth and the hearth chain. They were preparing food near the fireplace and discussing important questions, performed rituals. The suprachain chain has also retained its connection with traditions. When a stranger entered an Ingush house and grabbed the chain, he fell under the protection of the owner, and if a bloodline touched it, he was freed from revenge.
Modern Ingushetia largely lives in line with political and religious freedom, which also affects religion. If in Chechnya only Sufi Islam is officially recognized, then in Ingushetia there are a large number of supporters of Salafism, which is perceived by many as a radical movement of Islam.
Unlike the Ingush religious consciousness Chechens were influenced by the tense socio-political situation last decades, which is why Salafism has not taken root in the public space of the Republic. In turn, especially among young people, there is a growing interest and desire for true Islam, in strict observance of all the prescriptions of the Koran and religious rituals.
Traditions
According to ethnographers, Chechen culture, to a greater extent than Ingush, has lost touch with traditional rituals characteristic of the Vainakhs. Thus, the Ingush are outraged by the Chechen custom of giving a guest soup, rather than a special meat dish of lamb, chicken or turkey, which has been practiced for centuries.
The same can be said about family relationships. An Ingush man usually does not meet his mother-in-law, they do not see each other at matchmaking, and do not meet at family celebrations and other events. The Ingush are very proud of this fact and believe that their families are much stronger than the Chechen ones.
There are differences in wedding rituals. For example, if the Chechens, after showing the guests, the bride stays in a separate room all day, then the Ingush people have a custom for the bride to stand in the corner of the main hall until the evening and accept gifts. Ingush women often wedding dress They prefer national clothes; Chechens are more modern in this regard.
The way of life of the Chechens and Ingush is largely determined by the teip (clan) structure. Ingush teips are also usually called “surnames”. If a Chechen teip can number hundreds of surnames, then the Ingush teip is most often limited to a few dozen, while Ingush surnames most often have pre-Islamic roots, while Chechen ones are predominantly Muslim.
The Ingush teip is usually exogamous. Marriages within the teip certainly occur, but are not encouraged. Chechens, on the contrary, prefer to create marriages within their teip in order to more firmly maintain family ties.
In Chechnya, teips are subordinate to large military-political associations - tukhums. There are nine of them in total. The Ingush have no such division. In the Vainakh environment, the Ingush are traditionally called the “tenth Tukkhum,” thereby emphasizing the closeness of the two neighboring peoples.
At the moment there are about 1 million 700 thousand Chechens in the world. In addition to Chechnya, they live in Ingushetia, Dagestan, Stavropol Territory, Volgograd Region, Kalmykia, Astrakhan, Saratov, Tyumen region, North Ossetia, abroad there are most of them in Turkey, Kazakhstan, France, Austria, Belgium.
The total number of Ingush people is about 700 thousand people. In addition to Russia, they also live in Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon.