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The Caucasus Emirate and Its Significance for Security in the Caucasus

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The Caucasus Emirate and Its Significance for Security in the Caucasus REPORT CO‐FINANCED BY THE EUROPEAN REFUGEE FUND PROJECT “EXTENSION OF THE ACCESS TO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION”, THE CAUCASUS EMIRATE AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE FOR SECURITY IN THE CAUCASUS MACIEJ FALKOWSKI JÓZEF LANG Country of Origin Information Unit, Office for Foreigners, Poland JUNE 2015 M. Falkowski, .Lang - The Caucasus Emirate and its Significance for Security in Caucasus COI Unit, Office for Foreigners, Poland, June 2015 DISCLAIMER The present report is a public document, and it has been developed as part of the “Extension of the Access to the Country of Origin Information” project no. 6/12/EFU, co-financed by the European Refugee Fund. Under the above mentioned project, the Country of Origin Information Unit of the Office for Foreigners commissions external experts to prepare studies presenting detailed analyses of selected problems and issues arising during the refugee/asylum procedure. The information presented in such thematic reports is based mostly on commonly available sources, such as: studies developed by international organizations, both governmental and non-governmental, press articles and/or online sources. At times they also include own observations, experience and field studies conducted by the authors. All the information included in this report has been collected and evaluated with utmost care. However, it cannot be excluded that some data, or even the overall picture of the situation presented in the report, are out-of-date, incomplete or inaccurate. Therefore, this report must not be treated as the exclusive and indisputable reference in relation to decisions on granting or refusing the refugee status or other forms of international protection. This report is also not any political declaration of the authors or Polish authorities and should not be regarded as such. The responsibility for the contents of this report lies exclusively with its author. The European Commission shall not bear any responsibility for the way the information made available is used. 2 M. Falkowski, .Lang - The Caucasus Emirate and its Significance for Security in Caucasus COI Unit, Office for Foreigners, Poland, June 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I ............................................................................................................. 5 The origin of the Caucasus Emirate ................................................................... 5 Chapter 2 .......................................................................................................... 22 The ideology of the Caucasus Emirate ............................................................. 22 Chapter 3 .......................................................................................................... 32 The structure of the Caucasus Emirate ............................................................. 32 Chapter 4 .......................................................................................................... 51 Methods of action of the Caucasus Emirate ..................................................... 51 Chapter 5 .......................................................................................................... 57 Most significant leaders of the Caucasian militants and people connected with radical Islam in the North Caucasus ................................................................. 57 Chapter 6 .......................................................................................................... 77 The role of Chechens in the Caucasus Emirate ................................................ 77 Chapter 7 .......................................................................................................... 81 Participation of militants from the North Caucasus in the conflict in Syria and other hotspots in the world ............................................................................... 81 Chapter 8 .......................................................................................................... 91 Emirate's activity versus security of civilians in Caucasus .............................. 91 Chapter 9 ........................................................................................................ 103 Media in Caucasus ......................................................................................... 103 Conclusions .................................................................................................... 109 3 M. Falkowski, .Lang - The Caucasus Emirate and its Significance for Security in Caucasus COI Unit, Office for Foreigners, Poland, June 2015 4 M. Falkowski, .Lang - The Caucasus Emirate and its Significance for Security in Caucasus COI Unit, Office for Foreigners, Poland, June 2015 Chapter I The origin of the Caucasus Emirate Proclaimed in 2007 by the President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Dokka Umarov, the Caucasus Emirate (CE) did not emerge from an ideological void. Despite a mental, cultural and socio-political chasm between modern Caucasus and Caucasus from the turn of the 19th century (caused mainly by strong Sovietisation of the region), the source and inspiration for proclaiming the Emirate came from history. The archetype of an Islamic state in Caucasus was the Caucasian Imamate, which existed on the territory of Dagestan and later on also in the mountainous region of Chechnya in the years 1828-1859. In the first years of its existence, in the reign of two imams, Ghazi Muhammad (in Russia known as Kazi-Mulla) and Gamzat-bek, it was hard to talk of a state per se. It was rather a religious and military movement, striving towards intensification of the islamisation of the region, introduction of sharia law in Dagestan (and eliminating the conflicting local adat), abolishment of the local aristocracy and prevention of the subjugation of this part of Caucasus by Russia. In the reign of Shamil (1834-1859), the Imamate became an actual state, controlling quite a vast territory (mountainous Dagestan and mountainous Chechnya), having executive power, judiciary, an army, administration, legal and tax systems, maintaining foreign relations and conducting effective islamisation of the occupied areas, as well as engaging in a long-term war with Russia and its ally, the central government of Dagestan. The Imamate failed in 1859, along with the capitulation of Shamil and his imprisonment by Russia.1 Paradoxically, the core of the ideology and the military muscle of the Imamate was Sufism, at the time known as Muridism (the founder of the movement was a mystic and Sufi master, Muhammad al-Jaragi from southern Dagestan, and all the subsequent leaders were Sufi SheCEhs of the Naqshbandi order), the basis 1 Based on: Moshe Gammer, Шамиль. Мусульмаское сопротивление Царизму. Завоевание Чечни и Дагестана, Moscow 1998, pp. 305-359. 5 M. Falkowski, .Lang - The Caucasus Emirate and its Significance for Security in Caucasus COI Unit, Office for Foreigners, Poland, June 2015 for the holy war, back then known as ghazwa rather than jihad. Presently, the ideology of the Caucasus Emirate, deeply rooted in the Salafist movement, is extremely anti-Sufi and the leaders and militants consider Sufism a heresy, conflicting with one of the pillars of Islam: monotheism. This, however, does not prevent militants from referring to the heritage of the 19th century imams (in the area of armed battle for the establishment of sharia law), although they dismiss the Sufi elements.2 The North Caucasian Emirate, existing between 1919 and 1920, was also a source of ideological inspiration for creating the modern Caucasus Emirate. This formation, covering an area similar to the Imamate (with its capital in the village of Vedeno, Chechnya), also led by a Sufi Sheikh, Uzun Haji, was established in the climate of political chaos which had become prevalent in Russia after the fall of tsarist autocracy. It was a response of Caucasian Muslims to the policy of General Anton Denikin's army, which was discriminatory against non-Russian people and which occupied a greater part of the North Caucasus in 1919. The Emirate was proclaimed as an independent Islamic state (monarchy with emirate at its forefront), which was a protectorate of the caliph, the sultan of Turkey). Although it existed only several months (from September 1919 to March 1920), similarly to Shamil's state, it had its own territory, army, central government, judiciary and even its own currency. The official language of the Emirate was Arabic, and the legal system was sharia law. Considering white men his main enemies, Uzun Haji allied himself with the Bolsheviks, which led to Denikin's failure in Caucasus. The seizure of power by the Bolsheviks brought an end to the existence of the North Caucasian Emirate. The Dagestan ASSR was created in western Caucasus and the Mountain ASSR in middle Caucasus (divided into smaller republics: Chechen-Ingush, North Ossetian etc.) and the Soviet authorities made a promise to keep sharia law as the legal system of the region. However, sharia was gradually removed after the Soviet authorities had grown stronger, and the region underwent a wave of unusually brutal repressions targeted at Islam (Uzun Haji himself died in March 1920).3 2 E.g. http://www.kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2007/04/30/50767.shtml 3 The North Caucasian Emirate also appears in some writings of the contemporary Caucasian Islamists who fight in the Caucasus Emirate, see e.g. http://kavkazcenter.com/russ/content/2006/01/14/41024.shtml 6 M. Falkowski, .Lang - The Caucasus Emirate and its Significance for Security in Caucasus
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