Caucasus

The name of the region has its origin in the high mountains that cover the region from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea. The Caucasus Mountains divides the region in two: South Caucasus (also called Trans Caucasus) and North Caucasus. North Caucasus consists of: Karatchaevo-Tcherkessia, Kabardino – Balkaria, North Ossetia, Inguschetia, Chechnya, and Dagestan. South Caucasus consists of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan.

Nagorno-Karabakh

Nagorno-Karabakh is a region in the South Caucasus. It encompasses the Nagorno-KarabakhRepublic, a de facto independent republic, and is officially part of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The issue of Nagorno-Karabakh first came to surface in 1918. Аfter the collapse of the Russian empire Armenia and Azerbaijan faced the problem of border delimitation. In July 1918 the congress of the Karabakh Armenians declared Nagorno-Karabakh as an administrative andpolitical unit. Reacting to Azerbaijan’s territorial claims the League of Nations recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as a disputed territory.
After the establishment of the Soviet rule in the South Caucasus, Soviet Azerbaijan declared its refusal of any claims over Nagorno-Karabakh. In July 1921 the Nagorno-Karabakh issue was discussed at the Caucasus Plenum and Nagorno-Karabakh had then to be included in the territory of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia (ArmSSR). The following day the decision was revised, resulting in the annexion of Nagorno-Karabakh to the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialistic Republic (AzSSR).

In August 1991 Azerbaijan declared the restoration of the state independence of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic of 1918-1920. In September of the same year the ‘Declaration of the proclamation of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’ based on the right of the nations to self-determination was adopted. The declaration was followed by a referendum in December, where 99.89% of the population voted for the independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The referendum was boycotted by local Azerbaijanis, and a full-scale war erupted. By the end of 1993 the conflict had caused thousands of casualties and hundreds of thousands on refugees on both sides. At that stage and for the first time, Nagorno-Karabakh was recognised as a third party in the conflict. A cease-fire was subsequently reached in May 1994.

Over the years the OSCE Minsk Group – created to encourage a peaceful resolution to the conflict – has suggested different solution packages to the parties, but all of them have been rejected. At the moment the proposed solution consists of the combination of the international principle of self-determination, the preservation of territorial integratity and avoidance of the use of force.

Chechnya

The conflict in Chechnya originated from a dispute between the former Chechnyan Autonomous Republic and Russia when the latter refused to acknowledge the self-proclaimed Chechnyan independence in 1993. In the first war against Russia (1994-1996), almost every Chechnyan group was involved. In the second war (1999 – onwards), it is the groups from Southern Chechnya who fought Russia. Whereas the first war was a war of independence, the second has the characteristics of a religious war.

For more than 250 years, Chechnya’s relations to Russia have been characterised by resistance and revolt. The Caucasian wars in the 18th century and Stalin’s deportations of Chechnyans in 1994 caused strong anti-Russian sentiments among most Chechnyans. In the early 1980s, Moscow’s Glasnost and Perestroika policies reinforced already existing nationalist feelings in Chechnya, and popular nationalist movements were created here as well as in the other Caucasian republics.

The conflict in Chechnya is the most important of the conflicts in the Caucasus, with nationalist as well as religious aspects, and it is also the deadliest. Since 1994, at least 150,000 people have died as a result of the conflict and another 300,000 has left the republic. Before the war, Chechnya had 1.1 million inhabitants, but today it is estimated that only 715,000 remain in the republic. Although Russia’s President Putin has claimed for years that the war is over and supports a pro-Russian government in Chechnya, there are clashes occurring daily and the conflict is far from over. It remains one of the major destabilizing factors in the Caucasus

Dagestan

Dagestan is a republic with many potentially destabilizing factors. In the early 1990s, Dagestan witnessed an “Islamic Renaissance” in which hundreds of mosques were constructed with support from abroad.

Although there are more than 20 ethnic groups in the country and no single group form a majority, the turmoil in Dagestan has been of a religious nature. Since 1992, the Saudi Wahhabist ideology has become very popular in many parts of the country. Tensions between groups adhering to the traditional Muslim Sufi tradition and the fundamentalist Islamic movement “Wahhabi” escalated in 1998 and turned into an armed conflict between local and Russian forces against the Wahhabis. As we have seen above, this conflict created the background for the Second Chechnyan war in 1999. Since 2002, the number of terrorist guerrilla actions has risen in Dagestan. The situation is very tense, and many fear that Dagestan could become a new Chechnya.

Ingushetia

The Republic of Ingushetia, the western neighbour of Chechnya, has also witnessed an increase in terror and guerrilla attacks. When Ingushetia lost control of Prigorodnyj to North Ossetia, many Ingush felt betrayed by Moscow and some joined the rebellion against Russian forces in Chechnya. The presence of the Ingush refugees from Prigorodnyj and Chechnyan refugees fleeing the conflict in their country has affected the economy of Ingushetia and the rates of unemployment are high. As in Dagestan, the situation remains tense.

Georgia

Observers have often labelled Georgia a failed state because of the central government’s difficulties with its provinces. The Georgian economy has struggled with high rates of unemployment and poverty ever since the country gained independence. The mass demonstrations of 2003 developed into a revolution that forced President Shevardnadze to step down. The young and charismatic Sakashvili was elected President in 2004.

The expectations for the new President were high, and many Georgians hoped that their situation would improve. The long awaited finalization of the strategically and economically important oil pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, in September 2005 has further increased the optimism. But Georgia is still facing serious challenges. The main areas of problems are: South Ossetia/Tsjikanvili, Abkhazia, Ajara, Javakheti, The Kvemo Kartli Region, The Pankisi Valley.