| 21 Eylül 2007, 01:38:32 |
|
|
 |
« :» |
|
Flag of Daghestan The Republic of Dagestan (Russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н), older spelling Daghestan, is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). The direct transliteration of the republic's name is Respublika Dagestan. It is the largest republic of Russia in the northern Caucasus, both in area and population. Coat of arms of Daghestan The coat of arms of Dagestan was instituted on 1994 October 20. The eagle is a traditional symbol of nobility, courage, wisdom, and faith. Geography and demographics The republic is situated in the North Caucasus mountains. It is the southernmost part of Russia. Area: 50,300 km² Borders:internal: Kalmykia (N), Chechnya (W), and Stavropol Krai (NW) international: Azerbaijan (S), Georgia (SW) water: Caspian Sea (E) Highest point: Bazardyuzi Mountain (4,466 m) Maximum N->S distance: 400 km Maximum E->W distance: 200 km Time zoneDagestan is located in the Moscow Time Zone (MSK/MSD). UTC offset is +0300 (MSK)/+0400 (MSD)
RiversThere are over 1,800 rivers in the republic. Major rivers include: Sulak River Samur River Terek River LakesDagestan has about 400 km of coast line on the Caspian Sea.
MountainsMost of the Republic is mountainous, with the Greater Caucasus Mountains covering the south. The highest point is the Bazardyuzi peak at 4,466 m
Natural resourcesDagestan is rich in oil, natural gas, coal, and more. ClimateThe climate is hot and dry in the summer but the winters are hard in the mountain areas. Average January temperature: +2°C Average July temperature: +30°C Average annual precipitation: 200 (northern plains) to 800 mm (in the mountains) DemographicsA couple in traditional dress poses for a portrait in Dagestan. Photographed by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii circa 1907 to 1915. Because its mountainous terrain impedes travel and communication, Dagestan is unusually ethnically diverse, and still largely tribal. Unlike most other parts of Russia, the population of Dagestan is rapidly growing, mostly because of migration. Population: 2,576,531 (2002) Urban: 1,102,577 (42.8%) Rural: 1,473,954 (57.2%) Male: 1,242,437 (48.2%) Female: 1,334,094 (51.8%) Females per 1000 males: 1,074Average age: 25.2 years Urban: 25.1 years Rural: 25.2 years Male: 24.0 years Female: 26.3 years Number of households: 570,036 (with 2,559,499 people) Urban: 239,338 (with 1,088,814 people) Rural: 330,698 (with 1,470,685 people) Ethnic groupsThere is no single ethnic group with the name Dagestani. The people of Dagestan include over a dozen sizeable groups, including: Dagestani Peoples — 80%, including: people from the Northeast Caucasian language group 67% Avars — 28%, around 500,000 Dargins — 16%, around 300,000 Lezgins — 12%, over 200,000 Laks — 5%, around 100,000 Tabasarans — 4%, around 70,000 Rutuls — 1%, around 15,000 Aguls — 1%, around 15,000 Tsakhurs — around 10,000
people from the Turkic languages 19% Kumyks — 13%, over 200,000 Nogays — 2%, around 35,000 Azeris — 4%, around 85,000 Russians — 9%, around 85,000 Chechens — 3%, around 65,000 Other — 8%, including Tats — 1% around 10,000 Ukrainians — around 10,000 Tatars — less than 10,000 Ossetians — less than 5,000 Mountain Jews — likely less than 5,000 There are also tiny groups like the Balkars (who mostly live in Kabardino-Balkaria), or the Ginukh, numbering 200, members of a complex family of indigenous Caucasians — some 40 groups, including other little-known peoples such as the Akhwakh. Notable are also Lak people who immigrated after a Soviet population transfer, and the Hunzib or Khunzal people who live in only four towns in the interior. The lingua franca in Dagestan is Russian. Over 30 local languages are also commonly spoken. PoliticsThe head of government in Dagestan is the President. As of 2004, the president is Magomedali Magomedovich Magomedov. EconomyAs of 2000, the economy of Dagestan was broken down as follows: Industry: 24% Agriculture: 35% Construction: 26% Transport and communications: 5% Trade and services: 9% Other: 1% Important industries include food processing, power generation, oil extraction, machine building, chemicals, and instrument making. Dagestan's major exports are oil and fuel. Important agricultural products include fish from the Caspian Sea, wine and brandy, and various garden fruits. Dagestan continues to be the least urbanized republic in the Caucasus. |
|
|
|
« Son Düzenleme: 21 Eylül 2007, 21:56:27 Gönderen: avar »
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
| 21 Eylül 2007, 21:56:58 |
|
|
|
« Yanıtla #1 :» |
|
Introductıon
By Egbert Wesselink Dagestan is a republic within the Russian Federation, about the size of Scotland and counting approximately two million inhabitants. It is one of the most ethnically diverse regions in the world, counting 30 ethnic groups and 80-odd nationalities. These communities often live intermixed with a great deal of animosity between them, which is why the republic is a potential theatre for inter-ethnic conflict. In spite of this, the inter-ethnic clashes that occurred between 1989 and 1992 were limited in scope and there has been no similar violence since. In December 1994, Russian federal troops transitted through Dagestan en route to Chechnya, to confront the separatist government of President J.Dudaev. The attack provoked an outcry of indignation all over the Caucasus. Thousands of Dagestanis, Avars, Chechens, Lak, Dargins and others formed human blockades to stop the advance. Army units were shot at while passing through Dagestan, leaving several dead. This massive popular reaction caused anxiety that the war in Chechnya would be the start of an all-Caucasian war and would upset the delicate inter-ethnic balance in Dagestan. Dagestan shares the same problems that are felt all over the former Soviet Union: the development of an complex balance of political, economical, ethnic and criminal interest groups, lack of investment, a legacy of distorted economies that serve local needs inadequately, corruption at all levels of society, a failing judicial system, acute shortage of administrative and political skills, a spectacular rise of organized crime, lack of employment, and easy access to arms. The main factor dividing ethnic groups in Dagestan is the distribution of power, wealth and land along ethnic lines. The feeling that security can only be found within the ethnic group and under a system of self-government dominated political developments in 1989-1991. The political elite has succeeded, however, in keeping nationalist ambitions in check. They were helped by the fact that the mountainous and ethnically diverse nature of Dagestan renders irrelevant any idea of an independent state based on the concept of a single nation. In addition, local and national leaders act with great restraint out of fear of possible inter-ethnic violence. SOME BASIC FACTSGeographyDagestan is situated in the North-East of the Caucasus mountain range. It borders the Caspian Sea in the East, the Chechen Republic and Stavropol Territory in the West, the Kalmukya Republic in the North, and Azerbaijan and Georgia in the South. The republic measures 50,300 square km and had 37.5 inhabitants per square km in 1989. The Dagestani landscape changes from high mountains in the South to flat steppe land in the North. Because there is no easily accessible pass over the Caucasian mountains, the coastal plain of Dagestan, bordering the Caspian Sea, is an important North-South passage. The mountainous areas are still extremely isolated, notably in winter. PopulationIn 1989, according to the USSR census, Dagestan had 1,802,188 inhabitants. At present, the population is estimated at 2 million. By far the largest ethnic group, the Avars, make up just over 25 per cent of the population. The above table mentions only ten out of two dozen Dagestani ethnic-linguistic groups that were considered nationalities by the Soviet Union. Still other groups were considered ethnographic groups, although some of them have retained their linguistic, social and cultural specificity. Except for the Kumyks and Nogai, the Dagestani peoples are indigenous and traditionally mountain dwellers. They speak Caucasian languages and are related to other Caucasian peoples like the Chechens, Cherkessians, Kabardins, Adyghe and Abkhaz. The Kumyks and Nogai originate from the Central Asian plains. They traditionally live in the steppe regions and speak Turkic languages. Each Caucasian ethnic group is divided into tribes, clans, sub-clans and village communities. The basic unit in rural areas is the village community, corresponding to one or several clans divided into sub-clans, usually counting approximately 100 people descending from the same ancestor. A council of elders regulates relations between the clans and sub-clans. Loyalty to the sub-group is stronger than to the nationality as a whole. This contributes to a sitution whereby the peoples of Dagestan live ethnically segregated from each other, particularly in the rural areas. Daughters are generally not allowed to marry outside their own ethnic group. Mountain people who have settled in the plains tend to stick together. Even sovkhozes (state agricultural farms) are often de facto divided between the different ethnic communities that are employed.Between 1979 and 1989, the natural population growth in Dagestan as a whole was 10 per cent, while the mountain peoples increased by 14 per cent. By comparison, the Russian population decreased by 12 per cent between 1979 and 1989, mainly through emigration. In 1989, there was a 628,000-strong Dagestani diaspora registered in the former Soviet Union outside Dagestan.11 All Caucasian peoples are part of a wider diaspora, both because of labour migration and as a result of the deportations of the late 19th century and in 1944. Because of the economic crisis in the Soviet successor states, many members of the diaspora have returned to Dagestan over the past years. There are, however, no reliable figures available on this migration. EconomyThe traditional economy in the mountainous regions of Dagestan was based on sheep-breeding. In summer, the flocks grazed the alpine meadows, and in autumn they were brought to winter pastures in the northern territories of the Caspian lowlands. Small terraces in the valleys provided grain and other crops. The northern lowlands were mainly used for cattle-breeding. Dagestan shares in the general decline of the Russian economy. Additionally, it struggles with the legacy of being one of the poorest regions of the Russian Federation. Dagestan is badly connected with the outside world and has no important natural resources, while foreign investment is negligible and federal investment has declined since 1991. The weak economic infrastructure can be illustrated by the fact that 56 per cent of the population live in scattered villages.1 The return since 1990 of tens of thousands of migrant workers to Dagestan has added to existing pressures on the labour market. Not unlike elsewhere in the Russian Federation, successful new entrepreneurs are more often found in trade than in manufacturing. Nevertheless, the new private sector is dynamic and compensates partially for the economic decline, but lack of statistics makes it impossible to determine its real importance. The Dagestani industry is mostly defence related and suffers from acute lack of orders. Industrial contraction does not only affect the cities, but also mountain villages, where a number of high-tech military plants are located. Agriculture suffers from lack of investment, no reliable transport and trading system, and uncertainty about landownership. There is a shortage of agricultural land in the mountains, and, except for the dry steppes in the North, the lowlands offer only limited opportunities. Only a negligible part of the agricultural acreage is privately owned. In 1992, Dagestan was the fifth most heavily subsidized republic of the Russian Federation, paying 3,742 million rubles in taxes and receiving 22,939 million rubles in subsidies. The 1994 federal budget foresaw a quarterly subsidy "to equalize the level of social protection for the population" for Dagestan of 146,417 million rubles, the third highest in the Russian Federation, only comparable to some northern Siberian districts and the overcrowded republics of North Osetia and Ingushetia. LanguageMany of the 1.5 million speakers of Dagestani languages live in the mountainous areas. Linguists distinguish 29 different languages in Dagestan, which are mutually unintelligible. The most important is Avar, with approximately half a million speakers. The smallest Dagestani language is Hinukh with only 5,000 speakers in 1994, half of them living in the village of Hinukh, the other half forming a community near Makhachkala. Nine of Dagestan's indigenous languages have a literary tradition - Avar, Dargin, Kumyk, Lezgin, Tabasaran, Nogai, Azeri, Tat and Lak. The Russian language serves as the lingua franca in Dagestan. It is the language of communication in the plains and in the national administration. Russian is compulsory in primary and secondary school. Avar also often serves as a lingua franca between different Dagestani peoples. In order to prevent controversy, the Government of Dagestan in 1991 declined to make a decision on an official state language. "Multi-lingualism is common throughout the Caucasus but can take formidable proportions in Dagestan, where it has been noted that denizens of the highest areas usually speak the language of the group living beneath them, and so on down to the lowlands." Because in the mountain villages there are few occasions to speak Russian or Avar, only those who frequently trade and travel or have followed higher education have a good command of these languages. ReligionDagestan has been a centre of Islamic learning since the late Middle Ages. Eighty-eight per cent of the population of Dagestan belong to traditionally Muslim peoples. Despite the fact that only a handful of mosques survived the mass-destruction of the late 1920s and early 1930s, Islam has retained a central role in social life. In virtually every village in Dagestan there is a new mosque being built or one just constructed. Classical Arabic and Koran reading has been taught in schools since 1992. Nevertheless, ethnic allegiances are stronger than the idea of Islamic unity, as is shown by the fact that Islamic organizations strictly follow ethnic lines. The only sizeable non-Muslim community in Dagestan is that of the Russians. Among the mountain populations, Islam is of especially great importance in social life. Virtually all adult males are members of a wierd, one or other of the secret Sufi brotherhoods. Membership of the brotherhoods often follows the lines of membership of sub-clans. The brotherhoods regulate the religious life of their members and take care of the rituals that accompany important events in life like birth, marriage and death. Religious leaders mediate between clans and individuals and thus play a crucial role in the on-going process of palaver and peacemaking that accompanies a complicated society like that of Dagestan, but religious groups as such do not play an important role in politics. A Short History From the 5th century B.C. Dagestan was part of Caucasian Albania. In the 7th century A.D. it came under Arab domination and its population was converted to Islam. The Arabs were succeeded by Seljuk Turks in the 10th century, followed in the 13th century by the Mongols and the Golden Horde, of which the Nogai are descendants. The Ottoman Empire came to dominate the region in the 16th and the Persians in the 18th century. Even though nominally subject to foreign rulers, the people of Dagestan always retained a virtually independent position. Their own local leaders were extremely powerful, which partially explains the ferocious resistance that the mountainous peoples put up against the Russian Empire when it tried to impose effective political dominance. After the Napoleonic Wars, the Russian Empire tried to extend its influence to the Caucasus. The ensuing Caucasian War (1816-1856) is the most celebrated period in the history of Dagestan, especially of the Avars. Under their charismatic leader Imam Shamil, the Caucasians resisted the Russian advance in a bloody and often heroic war. By the end of the 19th century, millions of Caucasians had either been killed or forced to emigrate to the Ottoman Empire. The subsequent immigration of Russians and other Christian peoples radically changed the inter- ethnic balance in most Caucasian regions. The Soviet EraDuring the Russian Revolution, the Caucasian peoples of Dagestan actively supported the Bolsheviks. Vladimir I. Lenin's promises of autonomy for ethnic minorities appeared more attractive to them than the Russian nationalism of General Anton Denikin and his mainly Cossack White Army. The routing of the anti-Bolshvik ("White") forces in 1919 brought a bloody suppression of Cossacks, in which bands of Chechen, Avar and other Caucasian fighters sometimes voluntarily assisted the Red Army Commissars. Later, in 1920-1921, an anti-Bolshevik uprising, mainly supported by Avars, was brutally crushed. In 1921, the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed (DASSR). The DASSR was formed out of the former Tsarist Dagestan plus the Kumyk district of Terskaia region, later subdivided into Khazbekov, Novolaksky and Khasav Yurt districts. In 1922, the republic was extended to the north with former Terek-Cossack lands and parts of Stavropol Territory and Astrakhan Province, now called Kizlar, Tarumovsky and Nogaisky districts. In 1938, all the land north of the Terek river was returned to the Astrakhan Province. Lands west of the Kizlar district, formerly belonging to the Grebenovsky Cossacks, were added to Dagestan in 1923 and attached to Chechnya in 1957. Under Communist rule, government posts were judiciously divided according to nationality, often with no regard to professional ability. Power and resources were distributed according to a complicated system of ethnic quotas. The Post-Soviet EraIn 1990-1991, a movement for national independence emerged in Dagestan. This movement reached its peak in April 1991, when 39 out of 54 regional soviets supported a resolution to create a sovereign Dagestan Republic. The regions that voted against the resolution were those dominated by national groups that wished to secede from Dagestan, i.e the Kumyks, the Nogai and the Lezgins. In 1990, the Confederation of Mountainous Peoples of the Caucasus (CMPC) was founded by representatives of most Caucasian nations. The Confederation considered the actual territorial division of the whole Caucasus region artificial, constructed by and in the interest of Russian imperialism. The CMPC considered the unification of the Caucasian peoples a prerequisite for their survival. The organization received much attention when, during the Abkhaz-Georgian war in 1992-1993, it channelled sizeable North Caucasian military assistance to the Abkhaz. The ideas of the CMPC are shared by many Caucasians, but its reliance on the Government of Chechnya as well as its failure to play any role in the Chechen war has eroded its political relevance. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
| 21 Eylül 2007, 22:01:04 |
|
|
|
« Yanıtla #2 :» |
|
Peoples of Daghestan
By Egbert Wesselink AvarsThe Avars are subdivided into 17 sub-groups, each speaking their own dialect. They form the largest ethnic group in Dagestan. Their traditional territories in the mountainous districts of south-west Dagestan are almost exclusively populated by Avars. The Avar elite, together with Darghins, are firmly entrenched in the Dagestan state structures. The Avar national movement is the People's Front Imam Shamil, led by Gadzi Makhachev. The front never gained much significance. In 1992, it announced a moratorium on any activity unless other national movements were to challenge them. There are 45,000 Avars in the Belakan and adjoining districts in Northern Azerbaijan. On several occasions since 1991, local Avar leaders have expressed their hope that the Avar villages in the north-west of the district could be joined with Dagestan. The Avars' wish is supported by dubious Russian historians who claim that Belakan belongs to Russia. In June 1995, the press in Azerbaijan accused unspecified Russian circles of encouraging separatism among the Avars. On 11 July 1994, troops of Azerbaijan clashed with armed locals in the village of Gabakchel in the Belokanskii rayon of northwest Azerbaijan after the seizure of arms. The armed groups were reportedly linked with separatist Avars active in the regions bordering Dagestan. DarginsThe Dargins are subdivided into three groups, Dargins, Kubachins and Kaitags. They live mostly in Central Dagestan. Like the Avars and the Laks, they are relatively well represented in the Dagestan state structures. The establishment of the Dargin national movement Tsadesh (Unity) in 1991 was not aimed at undoing perceived injustices, but at countering the ambitions of other ethnic groups. Tsadesh has never shown much activity. According to one observer Dargins "follow everything that the Laks do". KumyksThe origin of the Kumyks is not clear, but it seems probable that they are rooted in an intermingling of indigenous Caucasian elements with Turkic-speaking tribes who migrated to Dagestan in the 10th century. Once dominating the Caspian lowlands, the Kumyks have become a minority of only 22 per cent in their homelands by the early 1990s, owing to massive migration of mountain peoples, principally Avars, Laks and Dargins. The wanton destruction of mountain villages and farming lands by the Soviet authorities has made this migration irreversible. The collectivization and the forced resettlement of mountain peoples to Kumyk territory destroyed the Kumyk's traditional settlement pattern and deprived them of half of their arable land. They have a high proportion of city-dwellers. In 1990, the newly formed national movement of the Kumyk, Tenglik (Equality), led by Salav Aliev, announced its intention to create a Kumyk national state. Referring to their past as the dominant group along the Dagestan coast, the advocates of Kumyk independence argued that only through full cultural sovereignty could the Kumyk language and culture recover after decades of russification and Soviet culture influence. It remains unclear what the culturally sovereign Kumyk national state should look like, considering that the Kumyk form such a tiny proportion of the population in their traditional territories. According to Tenglik, the Kumyk are under-represented in the state structures and economically underprivileged. The organization is opposed to what it consideres Avar over- representation in leading functions. It became the favourite target of the Avar national movement, Shamil. In November 1990, the Congress of People's Deputies of the Dagestan Autonomous Republic voted to create a Kumyk republic within Dagestan, but the Kumyk representatives considered the level of autonomy envisaged insufficient. In October 1991, Tenglik mobilized virtually the whole of the Kumyk population in protest against the dominant political position of the Avars in regions with important Kumyk presence, as well as to express dissatisfaction with the ongoing resettlement of mountain people in traditional Kumyk territories. The movement subsided when the Government of Dagestan nominated an ethnic Kumyk as Minister of Justice. Tenglik has not displayed much activity since. In 1994, the Kumyk National Congress was formed. It is less radical than Tenglik, and is believed to be an initiative of the Government of Dagestan meant to counterbalance the radicals within Tenglik. LezginsThe Lezgins are predominantly Sunni Muslims living in the south-east of Dagestan and the north-west of Azerbaijan. 376,000 ethnic Lezgins were officially registered in 1989, 205,000 in Dagestan and 171,000 in Azerbaijan. The disintegration of the USSR has transformed internal administrative boundariess into international borders, threatening the unity of the Lezgins. The Lezgins live mainly in rural areas. Their national organizations estimate their actual number in Azerbaijan between 600,000 and 700,000, instead of the official 171,000. They explain the disparity by saying that the majority of Lezgins had registered themselves as Azeris during the Soviet period, due to social and political pressure. The Lezgin national movement Sadval (Unity) was founded in July 1990 in the town of Derbent in Azerbaijan. It is led by General Kochimanov and Ruslan Ashuraliev. Sadval is aiming at the unification of the Lezgin people. In December 1991 the All-national Congress of Lezgins even called for the creation of a "national-state formation Lezgistan". In 1991, a rival Lezgin national organization, Samur, was established in Azerbaijan. This organization opposes any revision of state borders and advocates integration of Lezgins in Azerbaijan. In July 1992, this was followed by the establishment of the Lezgin Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, which holds similar views. Both organizations are sponsored by the Government of Azerbaijan to counter the percieved threat posed by Sadval. In April 1995, a new political party, Alpan, was founded in Dagestan, which has as its main objective the unification of the Lezgin territories in Azerbaijan with Russia. The secretary of Alpan, Amiran Babaev, stated in an interview that Azerbaijan continues to suppress the rights of the Lezgins and other minorities living there. Observers believe that Russia is using the dissatisfaction of the Lezgin minority to increase pressure on Azerbaijan. Russians
The Russians in Dagestan consist of two groups. Cossacks, who settled on the left bank of the Terek river from the 16th century, and 19th and 20th century immigrants, who mainly settled in the cities. The latter group is by far the largest as a result of the severe repression that the Cossacks suffered in 1919-1920 and because of the 20th century immigration of Russians. The traditional Cossack territories on the left bank of the Terek river roughly coincide with the present Kizlar region. In the 1960s, non-Russians still formed a small minority of less than 15 per cent in this region. Because of their higher birth rate and the migration of mountain peoples to the plains, non-Russians now make up an estimated 50 per cent of the population in the Kizlar region. Russians are under-represented in the local administration, e.g. constitute less than 10 per cent of the region's police corps. At least 40,000 people in Stavropol and Dagestan claim to be Terek Cossacks. In 1990, the Cossacks formed the Low-Terek Cossack Association, led by Ataman Alexandr Elson, which strives for the unification of all Terek Cossacks and the recovery of traditional Cossack territories. The Association is a member of the Vladikavkaz based Terek-Cossack Host. Russian-speakers were also organized in the Slav Movement of Russia, led by Sergei Sinitsin. In July 1994, a new organization, Russian Community (Russkaia Obshchina), was registered in Makhachkala. It claims to represent 200,000 Russian speakers and its main declared task is the "protection of the rights of the Russian-speaking population of Dagestan". Its establishment is seen by some observers as an attempt by the Federal Government to increase its influence over Dagestan internal politics. The Cossacks and Russians are politically under-represented in the higher echelons of the state and believe that they therefore profit relatively little from the economic reforms and privatization, in which patronage by powerful politicians is often a prerequisite for success. Cossack organizations are trying to revive the tradition whereby a Cossack line of defence in the northern Caucasus protected southern Russia. The emigration since 1989 of hundreds of thousands of Russian speakers from North Caucasian republics, notably Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan, served as a catalyst for the formation of Cossack defence units, while the establishment of these armed forces created unrest among the other ethnic groups. The Cossacks do not push their claims in Dagestan, however, and links with the more radical Vladikavkaz based mother-organization are often strained. ChechensIn February 1944, within a period of two weeks, the entire Chechen population of the Caucasus was deported to the deserts of Kazakstan. An estimated quarter of the deportees died during the first five years of exile. Among the deportees were approximately 30,000 Chechens from Dagestan. Subsequently, about 15,000 Laks, who lived in a high mountain region in the centre of Dagestan, were forced to resettle in traditional Chechen territories, mainly in the Auskovsky district, which was renamed Novolaksky district. In 1957, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Nikita Kruchev denounced a number of policies of his predecessor, Joseph Stalin, and rehabilitated most deported peoples, including the Chechens. About 25,000 Chechens returned to Dagestan during 1957-1958, only to find that they had been dispossessed and were forced to resettle in the Khasav Yurt district, on the border with the newly formed Chechen-Ingushetia Republic. As a result, most of Dagestan's 62,000-plus Chechens currently live in the Khazbekov and Khasav Yurt districts. In 1991 conflict arose with the Laks and Avars, when the Chechen National Council of the Republic of Dagestan demanded the recovery of their former territories and the re- establishment of the pre-1944 Auskhovsky district. The Avars were opposed to the Chechen demands. They did not accept that a number of mixed Chechen-Avar villages in Khazbekov district would join the Novolaksky/Auskovsky district. The Chechens in Dagestan have refrained from active involvement in the Chechen war. After a December 1994 appeal to all Caucasian peoples from President Dzokhar Dudayev to start military action against Russian federal forces in Dagestan, the Chechen National Council of the Republic of Dagestan adopted a decision to suspend contacts with him. They stressed that it would be unacceptable for the conflict to flare up in Dagestan. The separatist Chechen Government failed to obtain any public support from Chechen organizations in Dagestan. LakThe Lak traditionally live in the mountainous Koshu region and use lands in the northern steppe and north of Makhachkala as winter pastures. They are well represented in the urban centres and there is a considerable Lak diaspora in Moscow The Lak possess greater cohesion than the other nationalities in Dagestan, which partially explains their relative importance in society. Being the most educated and cosmopolitan of the people of Dagestan and speaking Russian rather than Lak at home, many of them fear the disappearance of their ethnic identity. The Lak national movement, Tsubars (New Star), was established in 1990. It mainly focuses on the development of Lak culture and national identity. Its chairman is Hirytdin Khadziev, at present Minister of Agriculture. Another important leader of the Lak national movement is Magomed Khachilaev. The Laks are well integrated in Dagestan's political elite and are staunch supporters of an undivided Dagestan. Beside Tsubars, the Novolak Popular Front was established in August 1991 in reaction to the activities of the Chechen organization Vainakh. It has been dormant ever since the 1992 agreement on the resettlement of the Laks from Novolaksky district. President of the Novolak Popular Front is Ismailov Dalgat. NogaiThe Nogai descend from the Golden Horde. Their historical territory, the once huge Nogai steppe, includes the northern part of Dagestan and the eastern part of Stavropol Territory. Most Nogai live in dispersed communities on the steppes that form the Nogai, Babaurt, Tarum, and Kizlar districts of Dagestan, the adjoining Neftekumsky district of Stavropol Province, and Sholkovsky district in Karachay-Cherkessia. There are also several Nogai settlements in the north-east of Chechnya. Living mainly in the rural areas and forming small minorities in all these three republics, ethnic Nogai occupied hardly any leading positions during the Soviet era and their cultural development has been stunted. In Chechnya and Kabardino-Balkaria, the Nogai have lost much of their ethnic cohesion while in Dagestan the Nogai live more compactly and have greater cultural and political autonomy. They form a 75 percent majority in the Nogai region of Dagestan, the only place where Nogai language education is offered in secondary education. Other peoples have settled on the Nogai steppe over the past thirty years, notably Avars, Laks and Darghins. The state supports these settlements with cheap credit and the distribution of land ownership rights. The newcomers build villages and compete with the Nogai for good pasture. Only 20 per cent of the Nogai steppe is still in use by the Nogai themselves. They rate this development as a kind of annexation. Their grievances are aggravated by the fact that the newcomers live in permanent houses while the Nogai consider the steppe collective property and traditionally live in movable houses, called cutan. It is expected that the Nogai will be a minority on the steppe by the end of this century, but they lack the power to counter this process. The Nogai national movement Birlik (Unity), led by K. Balbek and B. Kildasov, has existed as a cultural organization since 1957 and was transformed into a political movement in December 1989, when it spoke out in favour of an autonomous Nogai republic separate from Dagestan and which would include include parts of Chechnya. Its main goal was to undo the breaking up of their territories between three different administrative entities in which they form insignificant minorities. They considered a concentration of the remaining Nogai essential for the preservation of the Nogai people and hoped that such a republic would attract other Nogai from the North Caucasus. Birlik never acquired much political muscle. Being dispersed and traditionally nomadic, the Nogai cannot claim any region as their historic homeland. Furthermore, the Nogai are lagging behind in education attainment and lack a powerful elite that would be capable of organizing its people. It is questionable whether a large proportion of the Nogai is aware of the programme of Birlik |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
| 21 Eylül 2007, 22:01:32 |
|
|
|
« Yanıtla #3 :» |
|
Ethnıc conflıcts
By Egbert Wesselink Laks and ChechensAfter the deportation of Chechens from Auskhovsky district in 1944, the then Soviet Government forced 15,000 Laks to move into what was renamed Novolaksky district. They came from traditional high mountain villages, which the Soviet administration wanted to clear and found the Chechen villages fully intact. They have lived in Novolaksky district since and their present prosperity is mostly the fruit of their own labour. Laks and Chechens generally agree that their quarrels are a result of Soviet divide-and-rule policies and that they have nothing to blame each other for. Chechens are determined to return to their ancestral lands. In 1992, radicals placed signs along Novolaksky's border, saying "Auskovsky district". Encouraged by their local committee, thousands of Chechens moved into Novolaksky district and threatened not only to oust the Laks, but also to move into two Avar villages. In September 1992, groups of Chechens clashed with Laks and Avars, martial law was imposed, and special armoured police units of the Russian OMON (Otriady Militsyy Osobogo Naznacheniya, attached to the Interior Ministry) were brought into the region. The authorities of the Chechen Republic expressed their strong support for the Chechen demands, creating fear of a widening of the conflict. However, the crisis was quickly averted. The Government of Dagestan made a series of concessions to the Chechens, including the abolition of legislation hampering the registration of Chechens in Novolaksky district, payment for property that was lost in 1944, and promises that funds would be made available for the resettlement of Laks. The Laks agreed to leave Novolaksky district, provided they were resettled on equally attractive land and fully compensated. They accepted resettlement on Kumyk territory in Khazav-Yurt and north of Makhachkala on condition that significant investment was made to compensate for what they had to leave behind in Novolaksky district. The Government promised to make these investments, but only token amounts were actually spent on the resettlement. No more than a dozen families left Novolaksky district. All parties are trying to profit as much as possible from the agreement. The Chechens claim their ancestral homes, while keeping their present property in Kasav Yurt. The Laks want spacious houses and an infrastructure at least as good as that in Novolaksky district. They demand that their villages are moved as a whole. Individual Laks have until now refused all houses offered to them on the grounds that they are inferior to the ones they would leave behind. Laks and KumyksThe difficulties between Laks and Kumyks are a direct result of the allocation in 1992 of Kumyk territory to the Laks from Novolaksky district. Kumyk irritation is intensified because the Laks require large lots of land, larger than the Kumyks themselves generally dispose of. In July 1992, when a small group of Laks from Novolaksky district was relocated in Kumyk territory north of Makhachkala, Kumyks plead armed guards around the area. The situation was defused after Lak and Kumyk elders and religious leaders agreed that the first group of Laks would return to Novolaksky district. The number of Laks that have left for Kumyk land is negligible because the Government of Dagestan Government has so far failed to invest in the Lak resettlement. As long as the implementation of the 1992 agreement is not seriously pursued, there is no risk of conflict between Laks and Kumyks. Russians and AvarsRelations between Cossacks and Avars are often tense, and were especially so in 1990-1991, when Cossacks vehemently opposed proposals for the loosening of Dagestan's ties with the Russian Federation, an idea that the Avars in general supported. Instead, Cossacks wanted recognition as a military caste inside the Russian Federation. They threatened to transfer their settlements to the Russian Republic in the event that Dagestan should declare full sovereignty. The establishment of an unofficial Terek Cossack Army in 1990 in Vladikavkaz worried their neighbours. The Terek Cossack Army, heavily engaged in the war in North Ossetia in 1991, remained essentially an affair of more western Cossack communities, and never obtained the support from the Federal Government of Russia it had hoped for. Relations with the Chechens in Dagestan also took a turn for the worse during this period. Like so many North Caucasians, Chechens tend to confirm that Cossacks belong to the region's indigenous peoples when speaking in public, but privately often regard them as intruders. Not unlike in Chechnya and Ingushetia, Cossack cemeteries in Kizlar region were frequently vandalized in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. The proportion of Russians in the total population of Dagestan is decreasing, both because of low birth rates and because of emigration. The latter, for which no reliable figures are available but which is believed to exceed 500 individuals each month from Kizlar region alone, can be explained by several factors. The Russians are overrepresented in industry, a sector currently in steep decline, and the Avars and Dargins that dominate the state structures allegedly favour their own ethnic groups when it comes to investment, privatization and the issuing of concessions and licenses. There are no complaints of discrimination against them as state policy. A decree of 9 August 1995 signed by Russian President Boris Yeltsin, ordering the incorporation of 20 Cossack units into the regular Russian Army and promising restitution of territory to the Cossacks, was not matched by concessions to peoples - Caucasian and Turkic - to whom the Cossacks show a hostile attitude. Lezgins and AzerisWhile the border between Azerbaijan and Dagestan was only a nominal one, when the two countries formed part first of the Russian Empire and later of the Soviet Union, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union it became a frontier separating two sovereign states. Lezgins herd sheep on both sides of the border and family and trade relations cut across borders. Border controls would greatly interfere with the Lezgins' way of life. The Lezgins have never complained about any cultural or other repression in Dagestan. On the other hand they accuse the Government of Azerbaijan of suppression of the Lezgin language and culture. They claim that they have been forced to lie about their ethnic identity for fear of job-discrimination or worse. The desire to secede from Azerbaijan was intensified when Lezgin men started to be forcibly recruited for military duty in Nagorno-Karabakh, a war that the Lezgins consider an Azeri-Armenian conflict that does not concern them. Another grievance is the resettlement in 1989 of Meskhetian Turks from Uzbekistan on Lezgin territory. Since 1990 the Azerbaijan authorities have been accusing Russia of stirring up the Lezgin question using it as a leverage against Azerbaijan. In 1992, a working group within the federal State Committee for Nationalities issued a report on conditions in the Caucasus. The report concluded that there is a "high probability" that an armed conflict would take place on the Russian-Azerbaijan border because of Lezgin activism. Such a situation, the report concluded, "could seriously destabilize not only Dagestan but the entire North Caucasus". In June 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued a decree on the establishment of an international frontier between Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation. The Lezhin national movement, Sadval, organized rallies in both Dagestan and Azerbaijan, which were attended by tens of thousands of Lezgins. In an effort to defuse the situation, the Russian Federation decided to introduce customs controls only. Pressure of Dagestan authorities led to special arrangements for residents of the border regions, which calmed down the situation. The Government of Azerbaijan Government has tried to resolve various Lezgin issues at the Consultative Council of Small Nations which is headed by a state counsellor to the President of Azerbaijan and which works closely with the Samur Cultural Centre in Baku. Samur is a more moderate Lezgin movement, often at odds with Sadval, and its foundation is generally believed to have been initiated by the Azerbaijan authorities to counter the separatism of Sadval. Samur, whose chairman is Ali Musaev, advocates integration with Azerbaijan. In October 1993, a group of Dagestan elders met with President Geidar Aliev of Azerbaijan. During the meeting, the President conceded that the border had only a conditional character because for centuries, Azeris, Avars, Lezgins, Kumyks and Dargins had mingled across it. He agreed to proposals to make the border a "zone of security, stability and cooperation", which de facto created transparent borders. Nevertheless the Federal Government decided in December 1993 to temporarily close the border between the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan. The official explanation was the rise in smuggling, but the closure happened against a background of deteriorating relations between Russia and Azerbaijan. During his visit to Dagestan in April 1994, the Russian Counterintelligence Service chief, Sergei Stepashin, signed a protocol setting up border and customs posts on the Azerbaijani-Russian border, thus definitively nullifying Baku's idea of a stability zone. He had apparently concluded that Russia could deal with the Lezgins without making any concessions to them. During his visit, violent clashes broke out in Derbent between Lezgins, local Azeris and the police, leaving a number of people dead. On 14-15 June 1994, Lezgins who protested against the drafting of Lezgins to fight in Nagorno-Karabagh, clashed with police in the Azerbaijan region of Gusar. Two people were killed. President Geidar Aliev decided to form another state commission to investigate relations with the Lezgins. The commission has not yet issued any public statements. In September 1995, several hundred young Lezgins crossed into Dagestan to evade service in the Azerbaijan army. Due to the war in Chechnya the border between Azerbaijan and Dagestan was sealed off in December 1994 to prevent the Chechens from receiving assistance from Azerbaijan. The closure has only been lifted temporarily since. Russia is Azerbaijan's main trading partner and it is assumed that the Russian Federation uses the closure of the border to pressure Azerbaijan to accept that the future pipeline for Caspian oil will run through Russia. The closure causes the Lezgins great inconvenience. Although the Russian Federation's attack on Chechnya has quieted the Lezgins for the time being, the closure of the border and the continuing problems concerning the draft in Azerbaijan have renewed radicalism among the Lezgins. Only an improvement in the relations between the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan could create the conditions for a settlement. Strategies for Conflict ResolutionThe traditional manner of conflict resolution in the Northern Caucasus requires that if a person has done damage to a member of another clan, the leaders of the their clans will meet and try to find a resolution by which the damaged party is compensated and the guilty party's honour is saved. In the negotiating process, the elders appeal to common values like hospitality, moderation, manly dignity and generosity. In tackling inter-ethnic rivalries, Government officials make use of these traditions. They invite the community leaders and facilitate the negotiating process. If necessary, they offer compensation to the parties that feel disadvantaged. This approach may be successful because the Government's ethnic policy is sufficiently balanced and no Dagestani ethnic group profoundly distrusts the Government. The authorities do not act as neutral peacemakers only, but take sides when convinced that one of the parties is wrong. The Government's first priority is to uphold the law and maintain public order. It tends to favour moderate groups over radical ones. Sometimes, weaker groups are forced to give in to stronger groups if this seems an effective way to overcome a crisis. However, these attempts by the ruling elite to defuse inter-ethnic tension in Dagestan can be successful only because the population at large feels the need to find peaceful rather than violent solutions. Informal leaders of the communities play a key role in the negotiation process. They use their personal authority to convince people under their influence of the necessity to accept compromise. Prospects for the future People have become more pragmatic. The re-emergence of trade and property ownership has made them less inclined to put their life or even their comfort at risk because of vague collective ideas, so the role of nationalism is declining in the political life of most of these new states [in the Caucasus]. All North Caucasian Republics are extremely dependent on the centre, and they are fearful of not getting anything from Moscow if they do not show loyalty. These two citations reflect the two main facets of the situation in Dagestan today. The ethnic conflicts that emerged in Dagestan in 1990-1991 have lost most of their political relevance by 1995. The national movements failed to develop programmes to deal with the economic crisis. Nor have they been successful in obtaining their goals or allowing radical leaders to penetrate Dagestan's political leadership. The decline of the national movements has been accelerated by the dramatic decline in economic security and living standards since 1990. This has made people concentrate on their individual well-being, rather than on ethnic or political issues. The war in Chechnya has had surprisingly little impact on Dagestan. The initial outburst of popular anger quickly gave way to prudence. Inter-Caucasian solidarity proved to be much weaker than fear of war and the dangers of internal instability. The Dagestan political landscape is remarkably stable. The Head of State, Magomedali Magomedov, a Dargin, has retained his position since the late 1970s. Only a radical change in the political power balance in Dagestan could bring ethnic issues to the foreground again. This could be brought about by radical changes within the leadership of the Russian Federation or by a collapse of the communist "partocracy" within Dagestan. Possibly, the significance of national movements was exagerrated from the start. In Dagestan, few people care passionately about their own nationality, and those who do might have gained excessive coverage because outspoken views generally attract more attention than moderate ones. Some observers even contest the view that the national movements in Dagestan reflect genuine national feelings. They regard the radicalism in the programmes of organizations like Sadval and Tenglik merely as a means in the hands of minorities and local politicians to obtain privileges and subsidies from the central authorities. Dagestan's dependence on federal subsidies is expected to decrease in the coming years. In August 1995, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets told the Association of the North Caucasian Republics that they must develop their economies without expecting much help from Moscow. Declining subsidies coincide with declining taxes paid to the central authorities. This process will lessen the importance of Dagestan's Government in the economy and increase the role of local leaders. To compensate for decreasing subsidies, the Federal Government is considering granting Dagestan the status of a free economic zone. Despite the relativily balanced inter-ethnic situation in Dagestan, outbursts of internal conflict are not to be excluded in the long run, as existing inter-ethnic and inter-clan feuds are contained rather than solved. Currently, the unresolved problem of the division of the Lezgins between Dagestan and Aerbaijan is the most precarious. Future developments in this question depend largely on the evolution of Russian-Azerbaijan relations. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
| 21 Eylül 2007, 22:03:36 |
|
|
|
« Yanıtla #4 :» |
|
Art Textile Art from Daghestan
By Robert Chenciner
Textile & Art Publications, 1993 Quatrefoil Medallion, 18th century,
111 x 66 cm, silk embroidery on cotton (detail) KAITAG ART Situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, Daghestan is an inaccessible and mountainous part of the Caucasus, an autonomous region first of the Soviet Union and now of Russia, flanked by the mighty Russian and Persian empires. Kaitag art, from a small region in the south of Daghestan, is the creation of a multi-ethnic people, incorporating Zoroastrian, Muslim, Christian, Jewish and pagan symbolism. This remarkably vibrant and beautiful tradition is found mostly in the rectangular panels embroidered with vividly coloured silks that are the subject of this book. Examples are attributed to the 16th through to the 19th centuries. The geography of the region and the self-contained and inward-looking pattern of living of the Kaitag people were major factors in the confinement of such a distinct art to such a small group of villages. THE DESIGNS The vast repertoire of designs is the legacy of the history of the region and the multi-religious society that produced them. Byzantine, Fatimid, Mongolian, Timurid, Mamluk, Chinese, Ottoman and Celtic forms, many of great antiquity, combined with local animist art in a glorious diversity: hieroglyphic motifs, sun signs, birds signs, sun bursts, octagons, cosmic columns, horns, crosses, fantastic crab-like beasts, elk, reindeer, fat swordfish, dragons, amoebae-like shapes, masks and even foetuses can be identified. Many ancient talismanic symbols occur, for these panels were used in rituals associated with birth, marriage and death - to wrap cradles or as dowry covers, for example. A number of the motifs can also be found on local tombstones. The design bravado of the embroideries, with their shimmering colour density and the assured juxtapositioning of colour and texture gives them a contemporary significance. The designs have a confidence and verve which evoke a sense of recognition and pleasure in an audience far removed in history and culture from their original owners, to whom they were evidently of powerful totemic significance. Indeed, the more abstract among the embroideries stand on a par with the work of 20th-century Western masters such as Klee, Miro and Matisse. THE BOOK In his text, Robert Chenciner has skilfully combined Kaitag history, philology, ethnography, material culture and textile technology to provide a context for their rich and exciting art. To accompany the text, forty-seven outstanding Kaitag panels, representing the extraordinary variety of designs, colours and techniques which combine to create these great masterpieces, are presented on full colour plates. These also form part of a comprehensive catalogue of 171 examples, each illustrated in black and white, with a full description and technical analysis. The embroidery stitches are fully explained with diagrams, and many of the dyes have been analysed. This catalogue will doubtless serve as the definitive reference work on Kaitag art. The Author Robert Chenciner is a Senior Associate Member of St. Antony's College, Oxford, and an Honorary Member of the Daghestan branch of the Academy of Sciences of Russia, and he has been studying textiles from a wide range of cultures for over fifteen years. He originally obtained permission to visit Daghestan in 1986, and during six years of ethnographic fieldwork with his collaborator Dr Magomedkhan Magomedkhanov visited hundreds of villages. He found that many traditional customs have survived, and the local people helped answer various questions about the embroideries and their usage.
REVIEWS
...a thoroughly researched and superbly illustrated catalogue raisonne. [Chenciner] provides the first thorough contextual survey of Kaitag and ethnography, as well as of all aspects of the embroideries themselves. Hali, The International Magazine of Carpet and Textile Art This is one of the most absorbing books on art published [recently]..., and the colour illustrations make the most of the staggering repertoire of patterns and colours in Kaitag art.
CornucopiaPublished by Textile & Art Publications Ltd, London, November 1993 First edition 2,000 copies - 315 x 245 mm - 208 pages, hardbound in linen with colour jacket - high quality colour reproduction on French art paper - 28,000-word text by Robert Chenciner, comprising an introductory essay and extensive captions, with a comprehensive catalogue including full technical analyses of 171 embroideries - 80 colour plates and photographs, over 180 black and white illustrations, as well as drawings and a map of the region ISBN: 1-898406-00-6 PRICE: UKPound 75.00 (including postage and packing) Available direct from: Textile & Art Publications Ltd 12 Queen Street Mayfair, London W1J 5PG, England TEL (44-20) 7499 7979 or (44-1749) 850 856 FAX (44-20) 7409 2596 or (44-1749) 850 857 |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
| 21 Eylül 2007, 22:04:19 |
|
|
|
« Yanıtla #5 :» |
|
Dagestan - wild mountain villages, traditional people Dagestan is a multi-ethnic republic sandwiched between the Caucasus mountains and the Caspian Sea. It has for many years been run from Moscow, yet retains its distinct identity. The traditional village life, outside of the city, remains unaltered by the industrialisation and other reforms of the former Soviet Union. Bordering with Chechnya and Azerbaidzhan, it sits in a turbulent region on the fringes of Europe, yet has maintained its unity and has so far avoided modern conflict. In 1992, shortly after the demise of the Soviet Union, I persuaded some friends from Kiev to accompany me and a group from Britain to visit the remote and mysterious high mountains in the west of the country. Explored in 1892 but not visited by Westerners since, these had great allure to us and the Ukrainians alike. This illustrated narrative describes our adventures and impressions... After a two-day train journey from Kiev to the capital, Makhachkala, we hired a bus to take us across the foothills into the mountains. Only a few miles from the city the tarmac ended and we were plunged into the darkness of an unlined, dimly lit tunnel. We seemed to have entered an underground world as we weaved about to avoid rocks, floods, and oncoming vehicles. We emerged in the setting sun to a moonscape of rock debris. The road wound its way down a steep sided valley to the village of Gimri, birthplace of the nineteenth century fighting hero of Dagestan Imam Shamyl. The buildings were roughly built from the local shale, and terraced upon one another's flat roofs. We continued through most of the night along unmade roads with diversions and many hairpins to the junction of the Andiyskoe Koysu (river) and the Gakko river. Here too we were in a deep-cut, barren valley of crumbling rock. Some locals walked past us, their only luggage a petrol can filled with Georgian Vodka which, naturally, we were pursuaded to sample. We made our way up the track to the mountain village of Gakko. It stood on an isolated lump, high above a river junction and built in the primitive flat-roofed style we had come to expect. All the villages were perched precariously on hills - there was virtually no flat solid ground. As we pitched the tents we were watched by up to 30 people, as if in a zoo. From Gakko we continued on foot through green pastures to the base of Diklos, one of the mountains we hoped to climb. A lone shepherd, minding a huge flock of sheep, approached us. His greeting was immediately followed by, "Can I swap your boots?". We climbed Diklos by a long and nerve-shattering knife-edged ridge of crumbling shale. From the top we were careful, in the mist, to descent to Dagestan rather than to Chechnya or Georgia After the climb we descended, to find our supplies in Gakko had been raided. Chocolate was evidently a rare commodity here! Tension was high as we guarded our remaining possessions while the village ruffians prowled round, playing with their hunting guns. We escaped by making a desperate six-mile tramp with our heavy luggage. The next day we caught the bus up to the village of Tindi, on the opposite side of the main valley from Gakko. Tindi was also very primitive but seemed a much happier place than Gakko. We were greeted by old men wanting their photos taken, instead of crowds eyeing up our equipment. The picture looking along the main street was almost identical to that taken by Merzbacher in 1892. After much persuasion, and at a high price, we hired donkeys to take our overweight gear within reach of the mountains. Most of the donkeys (and the women) were fully occupied with collecting hay. Here one of the villagers, Magamet, is loading a donkey helped by Mikhail from Kiev. Walking separately, after a few miles we stopped at a farm to ask the way. We were invited in for food by a simple peasant woman. Even I could tell she spoke very poor Russian; this is the second language, after one of forty or so local languages in Dagestan. Her house was incredibly dingy, dirty and primitive. She didn't seem to know what a camera was, so the look of surprise on her face was to be expected. After climbing two more mountains, staying at a remote farm and at a weather station, it was time to make the week-long journey home. By donkey and lorry we made our way down to the small town of Agvali, also very primitive and as distinctive as the mountain villages. The picture shows the main street in the town centre. Travelling through the night again, and crossing a half-dismantled bridge, we returned through the Gimri tunnel, back to civilisation. Our adventures had been exhausting but the experience was unforgettable of this wild and untamed country with its wild yet hospitable people. In this brief narrative I have left many stories untold and many photos unshown, but I hope to have given a flavour of the real Dagestan. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
| 21 Eylül 2007, 22:05:19 |
|
|
|
« Yanıtla #6 :» |
|
History & Culture Manners and Customs
By Herman Rosenthal J. G. Lipman
ARTICLE HEADINGS:Russian province, situated on the eastern slopes of the Caucasus, and bounded by Circassia, Georgia, and the Caspian Sea. In Turkish the name means "mountainous country." According to the last census, that of 1897, the Jewish inhabitants numbered 12,000, or 1.85 per cent of the total population. The distribution of Jews in the various districts of Daghestan was as follows (1894): Avar, 11; Andi, 2; Gunid, 3; Dargi, 4; Kazikumukh, 3; Kaitago-Tabassaran, 2,853; Kyurin, 2,762; Temir-Khan-Shura: city, 1,950, and village of Sultan-Yangi-Yurt, 95; Derbent, 2,490; Petrovsk, 915; total, 11,088. Some other Caucasian tribes of Daghestan are supposed to be descendants of Jewish colonists who in the centuries before the common era migrated to Daghestan in great numbers (Erckert, "Der Kaukasus," p. 360). Among these may be mentioned the Andies, numbering 26,000, and the Kyurines, numbering 150,000. Manners and CustomsThe Jews of Daghestan greatly resemble the other warlike inhabitants of this mountainous region; and they have acquired the virtues as well as the faults of the latter. They differ from their Christian and Mohammedan neighbors in speech, using the Tat language, which is a combination of Persian and Hebrew. Their writing is a mixture of square characters and Rashi. They wear the Circassian dress, and always go heavily armed, even sleeping without having removed their weapons. Their houses, like those of the other inhabitants, are ill built and dirty, and on the walls one finds, together with brightly shining arms, smoked fish or mutton hung up to dry. The main occupation of the Daghestan Jews is agriculture; but little of the land is owned by them, it being usually rented of their Mohammedan neighbors, to whom they pay their rent in produce, usually tobacco. They raise in addition vegetables and grapes; and some of them are engaged in the tanning of hides; while a few are small traders. The rabbis and prominent Jews of Daghestan in the nineteenth century were:Rabbis: Shalom ben Melek Mizrahi, Temir-Khan-Shura; Elijah ben Mishall Mizraḥi, Derbent; Saadia ben Ezra, Tarku Ephraim ben Ḥaninah; Nissim ben Sharbiṭ, Derbent; Jacob ben Isaac Mizraḥi, chief rabbi of Daghestan (1866), Derbent; Isaac Mizraḥi, father of Jacob, Derbent. Other prominent men: Abraham ben Enoch, died 1861; David ben Shabbethai; Bisra ben Machir; Ephraim ben Koshi; Joseph ben Rabba; Ḥanukkah ben Jacob; Aaron ben Jeremiah; Pesaḥ ben Jonah; Osiyahu ben Elijah; Baba ben Machir; Mordekai ben Pereẓ; Joshua ben Ḥanukkah; Ḥaninah ben Mordekai; Ẓaddiḳ ben Nissim—all of Temir-Khan-Shura; Benjamin ben Issachar, president of Jewish community (1866), Derbent. WomenThe Jews of Daghestan are noted for their hospitality; and they still retain the old Hebrew custom of washing the feet of strangers who visit them, this duty being performed by the women. The latter, like all Eastern women, lead a rigorous life. They have their separate rooms, are not allowed to sit at the same table with the men, and on the very rare occasions when they show themselves to strangers they keep their faces covered. As in Biblical times, they may be seen every evening on their way to the well, rich and poor alike barefooted and carrying earthenware jars upon their heads. The gathering by the well seems to be a recreation for the women, who exchange news there and linger to gossip with their neighbors. Another occupation which the women appear to enjoy is the noisy lamentation for some departed friend. Gathered on the flat roof, they sit in a circle, and, swaying their bodies, begin a mournful song. Gradually they all wail louder and louder, tearing their hair and biting their fingers until they find themselves compelled to stop from sheer exhaustion. When a funeral occurs the entire community takes part in the lamentations, which are kept up for a whole week. It is customary to break a silver coin over the open grave, and to scatter the fragments in different directions, presumably to drive away evil spirits. The Daghestan Jews are very ignorant and superstitious, and are made the more so by their life and surroundings. Their rabbis are illiterate, although they speak Hebrew rather fluently. The Mohammedans often attack and rob the homes of the Jews, destroy their burial-places, and molest their graves. The Jews, being compelled to rent the land of them, are completely at their mercy, and are obliged to pay very heavy taxes, which at times are almost unbearable. In some places the Jews are reduced to great poverty; they live in dugouts, are constantly abused and exploited, possess scarcely any property, and have not even the means to pay for the religious instruction of their children. The Mohammedan landowners require every able-bodied man and woman to work for them a certain number of days in each year, either in the fields, or tending cattle, threshing, repairing their houses, etc. In one village the inhabitants give to the landlords at least one hundred days each in the course of a year, and are obliged besides to furnish a certain number of eggs and chickens, as well as charcoal, sand, wood, salt, and shoes. They must also make many cash payments for various purposes. There is a tradition among the Jews of Daghestan that they are the descendants of the Lost Ten Tribes; but the history of their wanderings is now forgotten, the written documents which they once possessed having in the course of time been either lost or destroyed. The mountain Jews dwell in "auls" (villages), scattered among those of non-Jewish tribes; at times in separate communities, and at other times in mixed ones. The greater part of them live in the districts of Temir-Khan-Shura, Kaitago-Tabassaran, and Kyurin, and the remainder in the cities. There are (1902) five synagogues in the province, besides numerous houses of prayer, and twenty-six Hebrew schools with an aggregate of 520 pupils. Bibliography: Chorny, Sefer ha-massa'ot, St. Petersburg, 1884; Anisimov, Kavkazskie Gorizy-Yevrei, Moscow, 1888; Veidenbaum, Putevoditel po Kavkazu, Tiflis, 1888; Radde and König, Der Nordfuss des Daghestan, Gotha, 1895; Hahn, Aus dem Kaukasus, p. 179, Leipsie, 1892; Kozubski, Pamyatnaya Knizhka Dagestanskoi Oblasti na 1895.H. R. J. G. L. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
| 21 Eylül 2007, 22:05:48 |
|
|
|
« Yanıtla #7 :» |
|
Women Issues in Daghestan
November 19, 1997 I don't think I picked up something new to write about. Women issues... It's always in the air, I guess it started from the existence of the mankind. Women suffrage in US, France... Never heard of it in Russia, though, especially in southern part of it. Why? There are some reasons I can think of. Let's start from the beginning. Russia is mainly a Christian country, Slavic people are Christians. As for Daghestan, which is southern republic of Russia, it is Muslim. The main thing daghestani took out of it, I think, is that woman isn't worth a lot. I don't want to hurt someone so I'd like to tell that we have some truly believing in Muslim people while for the rest of them it's just a new popular movement. After 70 years of communistic type of government with the atheism propaganda it turned out that so many people are religious. Most of them are young people. The way I see it that it's just a new way of self-expression, something new everyone wish to try on. So, many young men has no clue of Islam religion, but already took advantage of not respecting women. You can always find them on the streets of Makhachkala, capital of Daghestan. Women in here are quite often just a husband's shadows, cheap powerful washer-cleaner-baby-sitters... It's not just Muslim, it goes back to the history of Daghestan. People in Daghestan were always poor. Now we're the poorest republic in Russia, it tight with Chechnya status, political instability and economical blockade. But Daghestan people always had problems. Daghestan doesn't have any land, people lived high in the mountains without land and water, they worked hard, women became a helper of man, didn't fight for their rights - they had many other problems to think about - kids, house, cattle. Man were solving all problems, woman was a silent coworker of man. Women didn't get any education while man did, man could go elsewhere for earning money while women stayed at home with kids, keeping house... Those time was long-long time ago, I don't know why it happened to come back when some people took democracy as a right to do whatever they want. Well, it goes every time when people don't see any barrier such as law, prison... Anyone with money in Daghestan can do everything. No wonder they brought back a tradition of women as a thing. Young girls go to university only for getting married - more chances to find a fiancée there. They don't have any wishes of carrier which is almost impossible in Daghestan, they don't want to get father education, nothing new: kids, husband, oh, well, it might be a TV... That's about women position - no rights but a lot of responsibilities... Man is like a little dictator at home - everything is goes like he wants - no personal life and entertainment. Unfortunately there are so many other problems to deal with, so quite often we don't pay any attention to women needs. As for our education it extremely fell down. Government doesn't pay any money for equipment, they don't even have enough money to provide miserable wages of teachers. Everyone who was able to find work somewhere else left universities, so an average teacher is and old sick poor man. University of Daghestan is some mixture of poverty and stupidity. Well, all departments are poor for some exceptions such as economic and judicial departments: those places are corrupted, so we don't have free education anymore. Deans collect money for getting into college, so everyone with money can get a diploma just paying to dean. Everyone knows it, but no one cares... That is quite scary because this graduates don't know anything... Here is an example - a surgeon who can kill you during the surgery because he didn't study and just paid for his diploma. Daghestan is a little republic with a lot of multiple ethnic backgrounds. Something happened in friendly Daghestan for past years when each nationality began a fight with others for lands, rights... Each one has a leader of its movement, organization, press - all this movements can't agree on anything, no compromises, only threats and insults .. Why? It's all tight with those changes in our country, more and more often we hear that scary word "nationalism" which means a war for Daghestan. People aren't sure what will happen tomorrow. What we see is uneducated youth who went into "religion", at least in what they think "religion" is. All young people divided into ethnic groups. Also our youth is quite criminal because our local government blended into criminal structure. In edition, this youth is unemployed. So what we see are some dangerous sights... Little Daghestan is raising a generation which won't ever make it prospering. Even worse, all this show a degrading of Daghestan culture, education, science... There is something to think about... What will be with Daghestan? No one knows, we can just guess about Daghestan future. It might happened that Daghestan society will accept a call for war from the people who don't value anything else... We can go back to middle centuries with their wild laws... There is a chance to straighten up present situation, very weak chance... When so many problems facing Daghestan, when we're ready to decide what way we're going no one cares for women problems, even themselves... There are many other troubles to deal with. Hope, it'll be time when we won't have anything else to discuss except for women issues in Daghestan. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
| 21 Eylül 2007, 22:06:13 |
|
|
|
« Yanıtla #8 :» |
|
History
Wikipedia The oldest records about the region refer to the state of Caucasian Albania in the south, with its capital at Derbent. The northern parts, known as Avary, were ruled by a confederation of pagan tribes. Caucasian Albania ruled over what is present day Azerbaijan and the area occupied by the present day Lezghians. It was fought over in classical times by Rome and Persia and was early converted to Christianity. Persia prevailed and, with its conquest by the Arabs, Islam was introduced. Later, in the middle ages, it was a battleground between Persia and Turkey. With the demise of the Ottoman empire, Russia invaded, against fierce resistance, particularly in Avary. The famous Muslim leader Imam Shamil was from Dagestan. He was an Avar. In November 1917, a Soviet was proclaimed and, after more than three years of fighting White reactionaries, the Dagestan ASSR was proclaimed on January 20th 1921. Dagestan became a republic of the modern Russian Federation in 1991. In 1999, a group of Muslim fundamentalists from Chechnya under Shamil Basayev, together with local converts, staged an unsuccessful insurrection in Dagestan. This helped prompt the Russian decision to invade Chechnya later that year. In 2005 Major General Magomed Omarov, the deputy interior minister, was assassinated in Makhachkala by armed gunmen. This came a month after authorities reportedly prevented an incident much like the Beslan school hostage crisis. On July 1, 2005, ten Russian troops were killed and seven wounded in the capital by a bombing. It was either linked to the radical Islam Chechnyan rebels in the neighboring province or due to ethnical tensions, as there are over 100 distinct ethnic groups in the region. On August 20, 2005, a remote-controlled bomb killed at least three police officers and wounded several more on a downtown street in the Dagestani capital. The bomb detonated as a four-man foot patrol walked past a grove of trees in Makhachkala. Caucasian Albania
Wikipedia This region should not be confused with modern Albania and Albanians (Shqiptarë), who are a separate people from the Balkans, and only share the name coincidentally. Caucasian Albania (or Aghbania) was an ancient state that covered what is now southern Dagestan and most of today's Azerbaijan of the Caucasus. For much of its history, the Caucasian Albania was a part of the Persian Empire. Ancient population of AghbaniaAran was a legendary ancestor and the eponym of the Albanians (Aghvan). Caucasian Albanians were one of the Ibero-Caucasian peoples, the ancient and indigenous population of modern southern Dagestan and Azerbaijan. The Mannaeans had one of the earliest states recorded as being established in the area as far as the Kura from ca. 800 BC, and they were rivals of Urartu and Assyria, but later fell under the rule of Urartu until their destruction and eventual assimilation by the Medes under Cyaxares in 616 BC. In ancient times, they were heavily mixed with the Persian people who settled in the area during the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sassanid periods; and beginning with Alexander's conquests, the region south of the Kura became known as Media Atropatene (after Atropates, one of his generals). Ancient tribes of the Caucasian Albania were: Abaris or Avars, Savir or Sabirs, Hers, Gargars, Gels, Caspians, Uties, Saks, and Sodes, who along with other tribes, constituted the Albanian tribal union. According to Strabo (1st C), the number of the Albanian tribes reached 26. Creation of the Caucasian Albanian kingdom and its regionsThe kingdom of Caucasian Albania (Aghbania) or (Aghvania) was founded in the late 4th - early 3rd century BC.The word "Aqva" and "Aqvanu" in modern Avar lannguage means "Life", and there is Valley named "Aqvanu" north of Kebel-oba in Zakatala rayon of Azerbaijan, were is singificant part of population is Avars. The Avars of Zakatala and Belokan rayon speak the dialekt of Avar language called "Thabelazul Matz" which means "The Language of Thabala". Thabala is akin to the name of the initial capital of the kingdom that pronounced in many different way Kabalaka, Shabala, Tabala, (present-day Gabala). And then later capital moved to the south to Partaw (present-day Barda). One of main regions of Caucasian Albania, Hereti, was a part of Georgia (Kakheti region of Eastern Georgia) since the end of the 7th century. For centuries, this region had been a part of Persia. Since 1921, the part of Hereti now in the districts of Kakhi, Belakani and Zakatala, has been a part of Azerbaijan. Another historical part of Albania, Artsakh (present-day Nagorno-Karabakh), is presently occupied by Armenian military forces. Armenian historians claim that Artsakh is and has been culturally a part of Armenia since ca. 100 BC. Caucasian Albania and Armenian conquestsParts of Caucasian Albania, including Artsakh and Uti on the right bank of the Kura river, were conquered by the Armenians. Armenia, according to Strabo, "a small country" on the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, was expanded at this time by the kings Artashes and Zariadrij. They created an empire, often called Greater Armenia by Armenian historians. Strabo, Ptolemy and Pliny all write that at this time, the border between Albania and the Greater Armenian empire was through the river Kura. In 66 BC, following the defeat of the Armenian king Tigranes II at the hand of the Romans, the Armenian empire lost most of its territory. At this time, the Albanians regained control over their right bank territories conquered by Armenians. According to the ancient historian, Moses Kalankaytuk, author of "History of Aghvank", at this time, the southern border of Caucasian Albania was along the Araks river. Thus, referring to the events in 1st c. AD, he mentions "…someone from the family of Sisakan, one of the descendants of Yafet-Aran who inherited the plains and mountains of Albania beginning from the river Yeraskh (Araks) up to the castle of Hunarakert." (II, 21). The Armenian historian Moses of Chorene, who is considered in Armenian historiography "the father of Armenian history", also confirmed that Caucasian Albania's border was along the Araxes in the 1st century A.D. Little is known about the history of Caucasian Albania during the 1st-4th centuries. During this time, part of Aghbania was conquered again by the Armenian kings, and they alternated control over the territory on the right bank of Kura (Artsakh and Uti provinces) several times until 387, when the Armenian kingdom was partitioned between the Persians and Romans. Aghbania, as an ally of Sassanid Persia, regained all the right bank of the river Kura up to river Araxes, including Artsakh. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
| 21 Eylül 2007, 22:06:41 |
|
|
|
« Yanıtla #9 :» |
|
Spreading of Christianity in Caucasian Albania
Wikipedia Caucasian Albania was one of the first countries where Christianity was adopted from the 4th century, when the Albanian Church was formed. In the 4th-5th centuries Christianity became established in Aghbania, and this led to a rapprochement with Byzantium, and a corresponding cooling-down in the relationship between Aghbania and Sassanid Persia. In a battle that took place in 451 AD in the Avarayr field, the allied forces of the Armenian, Albanian and Iberian kings, devoted to Christianity, suffered defeat at the hands of the Sassanid army. Many of the Albanian nobility ran to the mountainous regions of Albania, particularly to Artsakh, that became a center for resistance to Sassanid Iran. The religious center of the Albanian state also moved here. In 498 AD (in other sources, 488 AD) in the settlement named Aluen (Aguen) (present day Agdam region of Azerbaijan), an Albanian church assembly was held to adopt laws further strengthening the position of Christianity in Albania. Dissolution of the Albanian kingdomIn the 7th century AD, the kingdom was abolished by the Arabs and, like all Islamic conquests at the time, assimilated into the Caliphate. From the 8th century, Caucasian Albania existed as the principalities of Aranshahs and Khachin, along with various Iranian and Arabic principalities: the Principality of Shedadians, the Principality of Shirvan, the Principality of Derbent, etc. As a result of the expansion of Seljuks (Turks) into the territory of modern Azerbaijan in the 11th century, the indigenous Albanian population was assimilated. Albanians played a significant role in the ethnogenesis of today's Azeris.
Albanian Alphabet and LanguageAncient Armenian historian, Koriun, in his book "The Life of Mashtots", wrote: "Then there came and visited them an elderly man, an Albanian named Benjamin. And he [Mesrop] inquired and examined the barbaric diction of the Albanian language, and then through his usual God-given keenness of mind invented an alphabet, which he, through the grace of Christ, successfully organized and put in order." (see Koriun, Ch. 16). According to Moses Kalankaytuk, the Albanian alphabet was invented by Mesrob Mashdots, an Armenian monk, theologian and linguist (see Moses Kalankaytuk, The History of Aluank, I, 27 and III, 24). The Albanian alphabet was rediscovered by a Georgian scholar, Professor Ilia Abuladze in 1937. The alphabet was found in manuscript No. 7117, the Armenian language manual of the 15th century. This manual presents different alphabets for comparison: Armenian, Greek, Latin, Syrian, Georgian, Coptic, and Albanian among them. The Albanian alphabet was titled: "Aluanic girn e" (Albanic letters). Abuladze made an assumption that this alphabet was based on Georgian letters. The Udi language, spoken by 8000 people in mostly Azerbaijan, and also Georgia , is thought to be the last remnant of the language once spoken in Caucasian Albania. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
| 21 Eylül 2007, 22:07:23 |
|
|
|
« Yanıtla #10 :» |
|
History of Avars
Wikipedia Eurasian AvarsThe Caucasian Avars are a modern people of Caucasus, mainly of Dagestan. The Eurasian Avars were a nomadic people of Eurasia who migrated into central and eastern Europe in the 6th century. The Avar rule persisted over much of the Pannonian plain up to the early 9th century. The Avars originated in western Asia. They are considered to be a proto-Mongolian Turkic group. See more about their anthropological origins below. HistoryAvars were driven westward when the Gokturks defeated the Hephthalites in the 550s and the 560s. They entered Europe in the sixth century and, having been bought off by the Eastern Emperor Justinian I, pushed north into Germany (as Attila the Hun had done a century before). Finding the country unsuited to their nomadic lifestyle (and the Franks stern opponents), they turned their attention to the Pannonian plain, which was then being contested by two Germanic tribes, the Lombards and the Gepids. Siding with the Lombards, they destroyed the Gepids in 567 and established a state in the Danube River area. Their harassment soon (ca. 568) forced the Lombards into northern Italy, a migration that marked the last Germanic migration in the Migrations Period. The Avar leader from c. 565 to c. 600 was called Bayan. Under pressure from the Turks at the close of the 6th century, the new leadership in Byzantium began to distinguish the Pannonian Avars as pseudo-avars whose real designation should be Varchonites. Avars sought new allies and in 626, the Avars and the Persians besieged but failed to capture Constantinople. Avars turned against the Eastern Roman Empire which had employed Avar mercenaries to combat attacks from other steppe tribes. Following their defeat at Constantinople the Avars retreated to Pannonia. As the Hegemony of the Western Turkic Empire crumbled, the Onogur dynasty was founded by Kubrat around 630, a man of Avar-Bulgar heritage from the Bulgar clan Dulo. He united the Avars, the Bulgars and probably also the Uar (Hephthalites) in a powerful Khaganate that also ruled over areas of today's Ukraine. The Bulgar warlords broke off the alliance with the Avars soon after Kubrat's death. The Avar state persisted in Pannonia throughout the 7th and 8th century, and the Avars are presumed to have mostly controlled the Slavs who had lived in the area since a few decades before the Avar arrival. By the early 9th century, internal discord and the external pressure started to undermine the Avar state. The Avars were finally liquidated during the 810s by the Franks under Charlemagne and the Bulgars under Krum. Their presence in Pannonia is still certain in 871 but then that name is no longer used by chroniclers and in 881 the Kavars in the same areas with the same enemies appear. Like the Avars, Kavars are mentioned also as a branch in the East in Khazar lands, though they are noted as revulsing the Khazar yoke. In 896 they cease the Pannonian basin once and for all under the nominal leadership of the Magyars. The Avars are also likely to have merged with Slavs, who had formed new states in the region: the principality of Nitra in the north (later Great Moravia), and the Balaton Principality in the central parts of Pannonia. Indeed, Menumorut himself is thought by some to have been the nephew of a Moravian. It has almost become accepted in Hungary that the Szekley tribes in Bihor are descendants of Avars who in time adopted the Magyar language. Language
Wikipedia For a long time it was supposed that the Avars and their Kavar successors originally spoke Turkic languages, but were of Mongoloid appearance. The Avar name Bayan in Caucasian Avar language mean Victor "Behun" it also could be translated as "Bo"=Army-Country of Huns. The word "Hun" or "Khun" in Caucasian Avar language means "To Hold" "To Belong". The Hun word for leader or king "Kagan" in Caucasian Avar language pronounced "QuaKhun" means "To Whom The Power Belongs" or "The Power Holder". So saying that the Avar name Bayan only makes sense in Mongolian, has no grounds. Also the later Kavars are speculated to have spoken a Cuman dialect akin to that of the Pechenegs. However, evidence is mounting in favour of the theory that the Avars who settled in Transylvania (called pseudo-avars by early geographers) were only a branch acting under the auspicies of "true" Avars, who remained in the Khazar region of the Caucasus and who in turn had origins further east. The Kabar faction supposed to have remained in the Caucasus formed the powerful Khanate of Avaristan in the 10th century, contributing to the collapse of Khazaria from within that kingdom. This has led some to speculate a connection between the European Avars and the Caucasian Avars and the Kabard. Caucasian Avars
Wikipedia The Eurasian Avars were a nomadic people who established a state in the Volga River area in the early 6th century. Avars or Caucasian Avars are a modern people of Caucasus, mainly of Dagestan, in which they are the predominant group. The Capital City of Caucasian Avars is Khunzakh which means "At The Huns" or "The City of Huns". Their self designation is ma'arulal, or people of the mountains. The Caucasian Avar language is said to show some affinity with ancient Mesopotamian agglutinative languages like Hurrian, Sino-Tibetan and also Ket (Yenisey Ostyak) of which there are now less than 500 speakers left in Siberia. In the Caucasian Avar language the word "Avar" is always used any time Avars mention the names of Prophets Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus or Muhammad. For example; Ibrahim-Avarkov, Isa-Avarkov or Muhammad-Avarkov. Thus the word Avar seems to mean the descendants or followers of the Messiah, Prophet, an Angel or Archangel. One of the prominent figures in Avar history is Imam Shamil. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
| 21 Eylül 2007, 22:07:48 |
|
|
|
« Yanıtla #11 :» |
|
Tour Daghestan (East Caucasian) Tur Hunt
hunting.as Sportive hunt for an EXCELLENT ANIMAL living in picturesque mountains of southern Russia. Trophy of THIS WILD SHEEP has to be included IN YOUR COLLECTION The hunt is conducted at the altitude 1500 m-3000 m a.s.l. The way of hunt is following: a hunter accompanied by the guides is leaving the basic camp for 2-3 days on horseback, setting tent camp in mountains and stalks animal on foot. The group may return to the basic camp for one night to have rest and go back to the tent camp again for a hunt. BIG POPULATION of animals and using horses make it possible to get BIG TROPHIES to elder hunters and even those who are not very well physically fit. Trophies can be up to 45 inches (105 cm) big. Air temperature is from -5 C to + 15 C depending on the season. There are EXPERIENCED GUIDES, interpreter, cook and helpers in camp. Beautiful mountains leave you unforgettable impressions for the whole life. When you finish your Tur hunt you can change the area for plain land and HUNT OTHER GAME: Caucasus Deer, Sika Deer, Roe Deer, Wild Boar, Bison, Chamois, Bear. You will like traditional Caucasus hospitality and local cuisine. You have opportunity to visit folk museums, see interesting sights, learn local culture and traditions. When the hunt is over you can enjoy EXCELLENT CITY TOUR in Moscow: THE KREMLIN, RED SQUARE, THE BOLSHOY THEATER, etc. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
| 21 Eylül 2007, 22:10:22 |
|
|
|
« Yanıtla #12 :» |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
| 21 Eylül 2007, 22:11:34 |
|
|
|
« Yanıtla #13 :» |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
| 21 Eylül 2007, 22:12:42 |
|
|
|
« Yanıtla #14 :» |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
Dagistanlilar Forumu > İf you don't know Turkish you can write your messages in English > daghestan > Daghestan
