Ichkeria
The flag of the ChRI
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The coat of arms of the ChRI
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Ichkeria is a Turkic name for the central part of Chechnya. According to the legend, all "pure" Chechen teips originated there.
When Chechen separatists proclaimed the independence of the Chechen Republic, they used the name Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI) to refer to independent Chechnya.
In 1991, as the USSR was collapsing, Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudaev declared independence of Chechnya. Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev refused to recognize Chechen independence. Indeed, no country in the world recognized independent Chechnya. For the timeline of events that led to declaration of independence see History of Chechnya#Post-Soviet Chechnya.
The main reason for the discriminative treatment of different independence declarations is a matter of the Soviet hierarchy of different regions: the international community decided to recognize those who had the Socialist Soviet Republic (SSR) status in the USSR (including Russia itself), while those with Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic (ASSR) status were not recognized. While the SSR's were theoretically (but not practically) semi-sovereign under the Soviet rule, the ASSR's were part of SSR's. The result was that some Central Asian republics became independent with reluctance, while some smaller but eagerly independence-minded republics (mainly Chechnya and Dagestan, but also Tatarstan and Tuva) had to choose between surrendering their nationhood or starting active resistance. Only the Chechens chose the latter.
There are no countries that officially recognize Chechen independence, in part to avoid jeopardizing their diplomatic relationships with Russia. In the past, Chechen independence was recognized by the Taliban, but the ChRI never recognised the Taliban in turn. The Islamic State of Afghanistan has never recognized Chechen independence.
In 1997, the Russian Federation undersigned the Peace Treaty and Principles of Interrelation between Russian Federation and Chechen Republic of Ichkeria which can be seen by some standards as a recognition of the ChRI by Russia. After the 1999 Chechen raid on Dagestan lead by Shamil Basayev and the consequent Second Chechen War, the Treaty is considered no longer in force by Russia.
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Last updated: 08-24-2005 09:42:37
