What is Chechnya? Who are the Chechens? How many Russian-Chechen wars were there? Who fought and is fighting for what? History of the Chechens. From the history of the Chechen people, the origin of the Chechens

RIA Novosti columnist Tatyana Sinitsyna.

Chechens are confident that their deepest roots historically stretch back to the Sumerian kingdom (30th century BC). They also consider themselves descendants of the ancient Urartians (9-6 centuries BC). In any case, the deciphered cuneiform of these two civilizations indicates that many authentic words have been preserved in the Chechen language.

It so happened that throughout history the Chechens did not have their own state. The only attempt to create the kingdom of Sinsir in the 14th century came at the wrong time - this barely born idea was crushed by Tamerlane’s cavalry. Having lost two-thirds of their people in battles with the eastern conquerors, the Chechens left the fertile plains and went to the mountains - from there it was more convenient to continue the fight. For Chechens, the mountains have forever become a haven, a refuge, a native, and even a holy place.

In addition to foreign conquerors, there were also plenty of local enemies - warlike detachments of other Caucasian ethnic groups attacked each other every now and then, this was the way of life. I had to be armed at all times. In order to more effectively protect their home, the mountaineers united into militia units and built defensive lines. To this day, hundreds of ancient fortress towers made of crushed stone are scattered across the Caucasian peaks. From here they watched the enemy, and, having noticed him, they lit fires, the smoke from which was a signal of danger. The constant expectation of raids, the need to always be in full combat readiness, of course, militarized the consciousness, but also cultivated courage and contempt for death.

In battles, even one saber played a big role, so every boy from the cradle was brought up harshly and harshly, like a future warrior. According to ethnologist Galina Zaurbekova, a mother of four children, to this day Chechen ethics prohibits caressing, pampering children, and indulging their whims. And today, ancient songs are traditionally sung at the cradles, praising military valor, courage, a good horse, and good weapons.

The highest peak of the Eastern Caucasus is Mount Tebolus-Mta, which rises to 4512 meters. The ascent of the Chechen people to this mountain, heroic battles with the pursuing enemy is the theme of many ancient beliefs. The mountainous nature of the Caucasian landscape “fragmented” the Chechen people - they settled autonomously, along gorges, differentiated not according to territorial, but according to the clan-clan principle. This is how Chechen teips arose, which are united groups of families, each of which is headed by an elected elder. The most revered and respected are the root, ancient teips; others, having a short pedigree, formed as a result of migration processes, are called “younger”. Today there are 63 teips in Chechnya. A Chechen proverb says: “Teip is the fortress of adat,” that is, the traditional rules and regulations of the life of Chechen society (adat). But the teip protects not only the customs established over centuries, but also each of its members.

Life in the mountains determined the entire range of social relations. The Chechens switched from agriculture to cattle breeding; the principle of flax farming was excluded, when workers could be hired, and this forced everyone to work. The prerequisites for the development of a feudal state and the need for hierarchy disappeared. The so-called mountain democracy, where everyone was equal, but whose laws cannot be questioned. And if “birds of a different plumage” suddenly appeared, they were simply squeezed out of the communities - leave if you don’t like it! Leaving their clan, the “outcasts” found themselves within the borders of other nations and assimilated.

The spirit of mountain freedom and democracy turned a sense of personal dignity into a cult. The Chechen mentality was formed on this basis. The words with which Chechens have greeted each other since ancient times reflect the spirit of personal independence - “Come free!”

Another stable expression is “It’s hard to be a Chechen.” It's probably not easy. If only because the proud, freedom-loving essence of the Chechen personality is literally chained in the “iron armor” of adat - norms of law elevated to custom. For those who do not observe adat - shame, contempt, death.

There are many customs, but in the center is the code of male honor, which unites the rules of behavior for men, aimed at encouraging courage, nobility, honor, and composure. According to the code, a Chechen must be compliant - mountain roads are narrow. He must be able to build relationships with people, without in any way demonstrating his superiority - a way to avoid unnecessary conflict. If a person on horseback meets someone on foot, he must greet first. If the person you meet is an old man, then the rider must get off the horse and only then greet him. A man is forbidden to “lose” in any life situation, to find himself in an unworthy, ridiculous position.

Chechens are morally afraid of insult. Moreover, not only personal, but also insulting one’s family, teip, and non-compliance with the rules of adat. If a member of the teip seriously disgraces himself, then he will have no life, the community will turn away from him. “I’m afraid of shame, and that’s why I’m always careful,” says the mountaineer, a fellow traveler of the poet Alexander Pushkin on his journey to Arzrum. And in our time, internal and external guardians of behavior force the Chechen to be extremely collected, restrained, silent, and polite in society.

There are wonderful, worthy rules in hell. For example, kunachestvo, (twinning), readiness for mutual assistance - the whole world builds a house for someone who does not have one. Or - hospitality: even an enemy who crosses the threshold of the house will receive shelter, bread, protection. And what can we say about friends!

But there are also destructive customs, for example, blood feud. Modern Chechen society is fighting against this archaism; procedures have been created for the reconciliation of bloodlines. However, these procedures require mutual goodwill; an obstacle on this path is the fear of being “unmanly” and being ridiculed.

A Chechen will never let a woman go ahead of him - she must be protected, there are many dangers on a mountain road - a landslide or a wild animal. Besides, they don't shoot from the back. Women play a special role in mountain etiquette. They are, first of all, the keepers of the hearth. In ancient times, this metaphor had a direct meaning: women were responsible for ensuring that the fire was always burning in the hearth, on which food was cooked. Now, of course, this expression has a figurative, but still very deep, meaning. Until now, the most terrible curse among the Chechens is the words “May the fire go out in your hearth!”

Chechen families are very strong, adat contributes to this. The format and lifestyle are stable and predetermined. The husband never gets involved in household chores; this is a woman’s undivided sphere. To treat a woman with disrespect, especially to humiliate or beat her, is unacceptable and impossible. But if the wife has failed with her character and behavior, the husband can very easily divorce him by saying three times: “You are no longer my wife.” Divorce is inevitable even if the wife treats her husband’s relatives with disrespect. Chechen women had no choice but to master the subtle art of getting along with their husband’s relatives.

Adat prohibits Chechens from any “beautiful madness,” but they still dare, for example, to kidnap brides. In the old days, according to Galina Zaurbekova, girls were stolen, most often because the family refused the groom, thus insulting his personal dignity. Then he himself restored honor - he kidnapped the girl and made her his wife. In another case, the reason for thefts of girls was the lack of money for the dowry (ransom), which is paid to the parents. But it happened, of course, that the passion of the heart simply leapt up. Be that as it may, the “full stop” in such a case was put in two ways: either the kidnapper was forgiven and the wedding was celebrated, or he was pursued by blood feud for the rest of his life. Today, the custom of “kidnapping the bride” has rather a romantic connotation. As a rule, it is performed by mutual agreement, being part of the wedding ritual.

A wedding is one of the biggest holidays among Chechens. Her procedure hasn't changed much. The celebration lasts three days and always ends with dancing in the evenings. Chechen dance is unusually temperamental and graceful. In the 20th century, this small nation had a happy opportunity to show the beauty of its national dance to the whole world: the great dancer and “Chechen knight” Makhmud Esambaev was applauded in all countries. The plasticity and meaning of Chechen dance are based on the main ethical and aesthetic values: men are brave and proud, women are modest and beautiful.

Of all the peoples living in the CIS, it was the Chechens who “distinguished themselves” more than others in helping the United States and NATO, who were chosen by the devilish world government to become an insidious sharp double-edged sword for the mass destruction of the Slavs according to the plan of the international mafia in the present pre-war period and in the future, throughout throughout the 3rd World War.
I often ask myself questions:
- Why did Peres, the former head of the secret government, and Rasmussen, the chief military strategist and mafia leader responsible for implementing the military and terrorist part of the 3rd World War, focus on the Chechen people?

What are the roots of the Chechen people and who is the ancestor of this people?

And why did the Chechens turn out to be so cruel, two-faced and corrupt #NotPeople, who betrayed and sold all of Russia and the countries of the Commonwealth to the devilish servants of the secret government, exposing them to a crushing blow. 300 million people?!

Many Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian and other military personnel and ordinary local residents simply hate the Chechens for their cruelty, violence and arrogance. Yes, and how can you respect those who so insidiously set up their own for the sake of getting quick money and personal privileges? Or do Chechens not consider Russians to be people at all?

I don’t know about you, but when I think about the Chechen people and how they behave towards the inhabitants of our region, delve into their history, I clearly realize that there is something very dark, devilish in the roots of the Chechen people , as if some very terrible person seriously influenced the creation and formation of this people, which today is expressed in such a terrible attitude of the Chechens to life, in their worldview, some traditions and culture, as well as in their relationships with other peoples!

Well, let’s say the Chechens have a long-term conflict with the Russians and they didn’t share something among themselves, harbored a grudge against each other and are trying to take revenge on each other (although I have my own opinion on this matter), but the Belarusians don’t do anything to the Chechens did, and they are preparing a terrible bloody war against my people, a whole series of terrorist attacks throughout the country, a massive multimillion-dollar extermination of our military and civilian population during unrest and war, as well as large robberies, looting, seizure of the personal property of our citizens, real estate and even entire districts in the capital of Belarus!

Many Chechens, apparently, are proud of the fact that it is the so-called. the ancient civilization of the Aryans is the progenitor of the Chechen people, as many sources on the Internet say, some of which I will give below. However, from the point of view of Christianity, these Aryans, described in the Bible as the “sons of Anak” or “sons of God,” are representatives of demonic spirits, fallen angels and messengers of the devil on Earth, although some “philosophers” try to present them as positive demigods. These are demons in the flesh who crossed with beautiful earthling women, who gave birth to a stronger generation of half-demons/half-humans, stronger, tougher and taller than ordinary people, more cunning and strong in military affairs!

This explains a lot to me, for example, why among the Chechens there are especially many demons in the flesh, born in our generation, of whom even fairly strong military personnel around the world are afraid, although there are demons in human form in every nation, but not so many. And also why exactly the wolf is the image of the Chechens, although highly spiritual people of God always associate the wolf with werewolf demons, and the Chechens are proud of their image and even set it as an example to other peoples. Why exactly did this people become a breeding ground for terrorism and was especially chosen by the world satanic government for this role in our region and why are the Chechens trying to seize power over the entire terrorist world of the globe, where Chechens stand out especially and are valued among militants from other countries, and subjugate it to themselves , being controlled by Kadyrov-Avvadnon himself, etc.

I know that Stalin (although I do not have a positive attitude towards him), being from the same region as the Chechens, somehow especially hated this people and therefore at one time deported quite a large part of them to other regions of our planet . And sometimes I catch myself thinking that he understood and knew something very well about the Chechens, but what exactly?

Unfortunately, I still haven't found the answer to this question...

Why Stalin deported the Chechens and Ingush.
http://holeclub.ru/news/stalin_i_chechency/2012-03-06-1408

Article: "Chechens"

Theories of the origin of the Chechens

The problem of the origin and earliest stage of the history of the Chechens remains completely unclear and debatable, although their deep autochthony in the North-Eastern Caucasus and a wider area of ​​settlement in ancient times seem quite obvious. A massive movement of proto-Vainakh tribes from Transcaucasia to the north of the Caucasus is not excluded, but the time, reasons and circumstances of this migration, recognized by a number of scientists, remain at the level of assumptions and hypotheses.

Version of Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Giorgi Anchabadze about the origin of the Chechens and Ingush:

• The Chechens are the oldest indigenous people of the Caucasus, their ruler bore the name “Caucasus”, from which the name of the area came. In the Georgian historiographical tradition, it is also believed that Caucasus and his brother Lek, the ancestor of the Dagestanis, settled the then uninhabited territories of the North Caucasus from the mountains to the mouth of the Volga River.

There are several other versions:

• Descendants of the Hurrian tribes (cf. division into teips) who went to the north (Georgia, North Caucasus). This is confirmed both by the similarity of the Chechen and Hurrian languages, and by similar legends, and an almost completely identical pantheon of gods.


• Descendants of the Tigrid population, an autochthonous people who lived in the Sumer region (Tigris River). Chechen teptars call Shemaar (Shemara) the point of departure of the Chechen tribes, then Nakhchuvan, Kagyzman, North and North-East Georgia and finally the North Caucasus. However, most likely, this applies only to part of the Chechen Tukkhums, since the settlement route of other tribes is somewhat different, for example, Sharoi cultural figures point to the Leninakan (Sharoi) region, the same can be said about some of the Cheberloy clans, such as Khoy (“kh’o” - guard, watch) (Khoy city in Iran)

Part 7. Who are the ancestors of the Chechens and where are they from?

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge after the Great Flood, and in this world Roman (inverted) law and rulers were established, who were constantly destroying any mention ofAryan civilization and their special popular government, instead of which the dominance of new newcomers with an aggressive mentality, with a lower culture and an ugly form of minority power with a whole arsenal of suppression and subordination was established.

Only the Vainakhs, apparently thanks to the military system and strict adherence to the laws of their ancestors, were able to preserve until the 19th centurymoral norms and beliefs of the Aryans and the form of social structure inherited from their ancestors with popular government .

In his previous works, the author was the first to point out that the essence of the Chechen conflict lies in the clash of two different ideologies of public administration and in the special siliconity of the Chechens, who do not completely submit to any losses.

In this unequal and cruel battle that the Chechen people suffered, the Chechens themselves have changed and lost a lot over the last three centuries of what their ancestors had cherished for thousands of years.

The Sasens left their marknot only in the North Caucasus . The Sasinid dynasty in Iran, removing the “new newcomers” from power, restored Aryan moral standards and the religion of Zoroastrianism (Zero - zero, the origin of reference, aster - star, i.e. the stellar origin). In Greater Armenia, the descendants of David of Sasso bravely fought against the troops of the caliphate in the 8th-9th centuries, and the regular Turkish army and bands of Kurds in the 19th-20th centuries. As part of the Russian corps, the Chechen detachments of Taimiev (1829) and Chermoevs (1877 and 1914) stormed the Armenian city of Erzurum three times, liberating it from the Turks.

One of the modified names of the Chechens is Shasheny,in the Karabakh dialect of the Armenian language sounds like “special to the point of madness and brave to the point of madness.” And the name Tsatsane clearly indicates the peculiarity of the Chechens.

Chechen Nokhchi believe (apparently at the call of blood)Nakhchevannamed by their ancestors as the settlement of Nokhchi, although the Armenians understand this name as a beautiful village. The slender, white, blue-eyed warriors on horses among the dark-skinned and short peasants were truly beautiful.

There are traces of Nokhchi in southeastern Armenia in the region of Khoy (in Iran) and Akki in western Armenia in the area between the Greater and Lesser Zab rivers south of Erzurum. It should be noted that the Chechen people and the Vainakh communities that make them up are heterogeneous and include a dozen separate branches with different dialects.

When studying Chechen society it seems that you are dealing with the descendants of the last defenders of the fortress, who gathered in the citadel from different places. Moving for various reasons, the great-ancestors of the Chechens did not go further than a thousand km from Mount Ararat, i.e. they practically remained within the region.

And the great-ancestors of the Vainakhs came from different places - some quickly and with great losses, while others gradually and more safely, for example, like the Nokhchi fromMitanni. Even if in those times (more than three thousand years ago) it was long and lasted for tens and hundreds of years. Along the way, they left the settlements they founded, and some of them moved on, moving north for a reason that is now inexplicable to us, and those who remained merged with the local population.

It is difficult to find traces of the ancestors of the Chechens because they really did not come from one place. There were no searches in the past,the Chechens themselves were content with an oral retelling of the path of their ancestors , but with Islamization there were no Vainakh storytellers left.

Nowadays, the search for traces of the great-ancestors of the Vainakhs and archaeological excavations must be carried out on the territory of as many as 8 states during the period of the end of the second millennium BC.

The arrival of former Aryan guards in separate detachments with families and households in the Galanchozh region marked the beginningChechen tukhums and taips (tai - share). The main taipas still distinguish their sections (shares) on the land of Galanchozh, since it was then first divided by the great-ancestors thousands of years ago.

For many peoples, Gala means to come, i.e. Galanchozh can mean a place of arrival or resettlement from it, which corresponds to reality in both ways.

Both the name of the great-ancestors of the Chechens (Sasens) and the current name of their descendants (Chechens), and their whole history are special.Development of Chechen society differed in many features and in many ways has no analogues.

The Chechens turned out to be very refractory and difficult to change from their ancestors, and for many centuries they retained their language and way of life, and the social structure of theirfree communities governed by councils, without the assumption of hereditary power . Legendary Turpal Nokhcho, having mastered the bull, harnessed it and taught the Nokhchi to plow, overcame evil and bequeathed to keep the lake, from which the Nokhchi settled, clean, i.e. keep the foundations, language, laws and beliefs received from ancestors pure (without polluting them with alien morals). As long as Turpal's commandments were observed, the Chechens were lucky in history.

The question of the origin of the Chechen people still causes debate. According to one version, the Chechens are an autochthonous people of the Caucasus; a more exotic version connects the emergence of the Chechen ethnic group with the Khazars.

Difficulties of etymology

The emergence of the ethnonym “Chechens” has many explanations. Some scholars suggest that this word is a transliteration of the name of the Chechen people among the Kabardians - “Shashan”, which may have come from the name of the village of Bolshoi Chechen. Presumably, it was there that the Russians first met the Chechens in the 17th century. According to another hypothesis, the word “Chechen” has Nogai roots and is translated as “robber, dashing, thieving person.”

The Chechens themselves call themselves “Nokhchi”. This word has an equally complex etymological nature. Caucasus scholar of the late 19th – early 20th centuries Bashir Dalgat wrote that the name “Nokhchi” can be used as a common tribal name among both the Ingush and the Chechens. However, in modern Caucasian studies, it is customary to use the term “Vainakhs” (“our people”) to refer to the Ingush and Chechens.

Recently, scientists have been paying attention to another version of the ethnonym “Nokhchi” - “Nakhchmatyan”. The term first appears in the “Armenian Geography” of the 7th century. According to the Armenian orientalist Kerope Patkanov, the ethnonym “Nakhchmatyan” is compared with the medieval ancestors of the Chechens.

Ethnic diversity

The oral traditions of the Vainakhs say that their ancestors came from beyond the mountains. Many scientists agree that the ancestors of the Caucasian peoples formed in Western Asia approximately 5 thousand years BC and over the next several thousand years actively migrated towards the Caucasian Isthmus, settling on the shores of the Black and Caspian Seas. Some of the settlers penetrated beyond the Caucasus Range along the Argun Gorge and settled in the mountainous part of modern Chechnya.

According to most modern Caucasian scholars, all subsequent time there was a complex process of ethnic consolidation of the Vainakh ethnos, in which neighboring peoples periodically intervened. Doctor of Philology Katy Chokaev notes that discussions about the ethnic “purity” of Chechens and Ingush are erroneous. According to the scientist, in their development, both peoples have come a long way, as a result of which they both absorbed the features of other ethnic groups and lost some of their features.

Among modern Chechens and Ingush, ethnographers find a significant proportion of representatives of the Turkic, Dagestan, Ossetian, Georgian, Mongolian, and Russian peoples. This is evidenced, in particular, by the Chechen and Ingush languages, in which there is a noticeable percentage of borrowed words and grammatical forms. But we can also safely talk about the influence of the Vainakh ethnic group on neighboring peoples. For example, the orientalist Nikolai Marr wrote: “I will not hide that in the highlanders of Georgia, along with them in the Khevsurs and Pshavas, I see Georgianized Chechen tribes.”

The most ancient Caucasians

Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Georgy Anchabadze is sure that the Chechens are the oldest of the indigenous peoples of the Caucasus. He adheres to the Georgian historiographical tradition, according to which the brothers Kavkaz and Lek laid the foundation for two peoples: the first - Chechen-Ingush, the second - Dagestan. The descendants of the brothers subsequently settled the uninhabited territories of the North Caucasus from the mountains to the mouth of the Volga. This opinion is largely consistent with the statement of the German scientist Friedrich Blubenbach, who wrote that the Chechens have a Caucasian anthropological type, reflecting the appearance of the very first Caucasian Cro-Magnons. Archaeological data also indicate that ancient tribes lived in the mountains of the North Caucasus back in the Bronze Age.

British historian Charles Rekherton in one of his works moves away from the autochthony of the Chechens and makes a bold statement that the origins of Chechen culture include the Hurrian and Urartian civilizations. In particular, the Russian linguist Sergei Starostin points out related, albeit distant, connections between the Hurrian and modern Vainakh languages.

Ethnographer Konstantin Tumanov in his book “On the Prehistoric Language of Transcaucasia” suggested that the famous “Van inscriptions” - Urartian cuneiform texts - were made by the ancestors of the Vainakhs. To prove the antiquity of the Chechen people, Tumanov cited a huge number of toponyms. In particular, the ethnographer noticed that in the language of Urartu, a protected fortified area or fortress was called “khoy”. In the same meaning, this word is found in Chechen-Ingush toponymy: Khoy is a village in Cheberloy, which really had strategic importance, blocking the path to the Cheberloy basin from Dagestan.

Noah's people

Let’s return to the self-name of the Chechens “Nokhchi”. Some researchers see in it a direct reference to the name of the Old Testament patriarch Noah (in the Koran - Nuh, in the Bible - Noah). They divide the word “nokhchi” into two parts: if the first - “nokh” - means Noah, then the second - “chi” - should be translated as “people” or “people”. This was, in particular, pointed out by the German linguist Adolf Dirr, who said that the element “chi” in any word means “person”. You don't need to look far for examples. In order to designate residents of a city in Russian, in many cases it is enough for us to add the ending “chi” - Muscovites, Omsk.

Are Chechens descendants of the Khazars?

The version that Chechens are descendants of the biblical Noah continues. A number of researchers claim that the Jews of the Khazar Khaganate, whom many call the 13th tribe of Israel, did not disappear without a trace. Defeated by the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Igorevich in 964, they went to the Caucasus mountains and there laid the foundations of the Chechen ethnic group. In particular, some of the refugees after Svyatoslav’s victorious campaign were met in Georgia by the Arab traveler Ibn Haukal.

A copy of an interesting NKVD instruction from 1936 has been preserved in the Soviet archives. The document explained that up to 30% of Chechens secretly profess the religion of their ancestors, Judaism, and consider the rest of the Chechens to be low-born strangers.

It is noteworthy that Khazaria has a translation in the Chechen language - “Beautiful Country”. The head of the Archive Department under the President and Government of the Chechen Republic, Magomed Muzaev, notes on this matter: “It is quite possible that the capital of Khazaria was located on our territory. We must know that Khazaria, which existed on the map for 600 years, was the most powerful state in eastern Europe.”

“Many ancient sources indicate that the Terek valley was inhabited by the Khazars. In the V-VI centuries. this country was called Barsilia, and, according to the Byzantine chroniclers Theophanes and Nikephoros, the homeland of the Khazars was located here,” wrote the famous orientalist Lev Gumilyov.

Some Chechens are still convinced that they are descendants of Khazar Jews. Thus, eyewitnesses say that during the Chechen war, one of the militant leaders Shamil Basayev said: “This war is revenge for the defeat of the Khazars.”

The modern Russian writer - Chechen by nationality - German Sadulayev also believes that some Chechen teips are descendants of the Khazars.

Another curious fact: in the oldest image of a Chechen warrior that has survived to this day, two six-pointed stars of the Israeli king David are clearly visible.

At the end of the 12th or beginning of the 13th centuries, Christianity began to spread among the Chechens. Traces of it are still visible in the ruins of temples, in holidays: the Kists and Ingush celebrate the New Year, the day of the Prophet Elijah and Trinity Day. In many places they sacrifice rams in honor of the Holy Virgin, St. George and St. Marina.

At the beginning of the 18th century, Chechens converted to Sunni Islam. In their religious customs, in addition to Christian and Mohammedan elements, the Chechens retained many elements of primitive paganism, among other things, and the phallic cult. Small bronze naked priapic figurines, often found in the country, are worshiped by men as guardians of flocks, and by women who embrace them, begging for male children.

Among the Kists and Galgai we find an even more interesting custom. A childless woman goes to a hut with two exits, in which a priest, a representative of the matsel (Mother of God), sits in one shirt and asks him for the gift of children, after which she leaves through the other exit, always facing the priest.

During their independence, the Chechens, in contrast, did not know the feudal structure and class divisions. In their independent communities, governed by popular assemblies, everyone was absolutely equal.

We are all “uzdeni” (that is, free, equal), the Chechens say. Only a few tribes had khans, whose hereditary power dates back to the era of the Mohammedan invasion. This social organization (the absence of aristocracy and equality) explains the unparalleled resilience of the Chechens in the long struggle with the Russians, which glorified their heroic death.

The only unequal element among the Chechens were prisoners of war, who were in the position of personal slaves. They were divided into laevi yasirs; the latter could be ransomed and returned to their homeland. The legal system represents the usual features of tribal life. Until recently, blood feud was in full force.

Men's clothing is the usual clothing of the Caucasian mountaineers: chekmen made of yellow or gray homemade cloth, beshmets or arkhaluks of different colors, mostly white in summer, cloth leggings and chiriki (a type of shoe without soles). An elegant dress is trimmed with braid. The weapons are the same as those of the Circassians; special attention is paid to their decoration. Women's costume is no different from the picturesque costume of Tatar women.

Chechens live in villages - auls. The houses are made of stone, neat and bright inside, while the mountain Chechens have stone houses and are less tidy. The windows are without frames, but with shutters to protect against cold and wind. On the entrance side there is a canopy for protection from rain and heat. For heating - fireplaces. In each house, the kunakskaya consists of several rooms, where the owner spends the whole day and only returns to his family in the evening. There is a courtyard next to the house, surrounded by fences.

Chechens are moderate in food, content with urek, wheat soup, shish kebab and corn porridge. Bread is baked in specially built round ovens in the yard.

The main occupations of the Chechens are cattle breeding, beekeeping, hunting and arable farming. Women, whose position is better than that of the Lezgins, bear all the household chores: they weave cloth, prepare carpets, felts, burkas, sew dresses and shoes.

Appearance

Chechens are tall and well built. Women are beautiful. Anthropologically, Chechens are a mixed type. Eye color, for example, varies (in equal proportions) from black to more or less dark brown and from blue to more or less light green. In hair color, transitions from black to more or less dark brown are also noticeable. The nose is often upturned and concave. The facial index is 76.72 (Ingush) and 75.26 (Chechens).

In comparison with other Caucasian peoples, the Chechen group is distinguished by the greatest dolichocephaly. Among the Chechens themselves, however, there are not only many subrachycephals, but also many pure brachycephals with a cephalic index from 84 and even up to 87.62.

Character

Chechens are considered cheerful, witty, impressionable people, but they enjoy less sympathy than the Circassians, due to their suspicion, tendency to treachery and severity, probably developed during centuries of struggle. Indomitability, courage, agility, endurance, calmness in the fight - these are the traits of the Chechens that have long been recognized by everyone, even their enemies.

Until recently, the ideal of the Chechens was robbery. Stealing cattle, taking away women and children, even if it meant crawling dozens of miles underground and risking your life during an attack, is a Chechen’s favorite thing. The most terrible reproach a girl can make to a young man is to tell him: “Get out, you’re not even capable of driving away a sheep!”

Chechens never beat their children, but not out of special sentimentality, but out of fear of turning them into cowards. The deep attachment of Chechens to their homeland is touching. Their songs of exile (“Oh birds, fly to Little Chechnya, bring greetings to its inhabitants and say: when you hear a cry in the forest, think of us, wandering among strangers without hope of an outcome!” and so on) are full of tragic poetry.

The Chechens are a Caucasian people of the Eastern Mountain group, who before the war occupied the territory between the Aksai, Sunzha and Caucasus rivers. Nowadays they live mixed with Russians in the Terek region, east of, between the Terek and the southern border of the region, from Daryal to the source of the Aktash River.
The Sunzha River divides the extremely fertile country of the Chechens into two parts: Greater Chechnya (upland) and Lesser Chechnya (lowland). In addition to the Chechens themselves (in the Grozny district), divided into several different tribes, they include:

• Cysts;
• Galgai;
• Karabulaki;
• The most hostile tribe to us, who moved entirely to ) and the Ichkerins.

All Chechens, not counting the Ingush, numbered 195 thousand people in 1887. The name “Chechens” originates from the name of the village of Bolshoy Chechen (on Argun), which once served as the central point for all meetings at which military plans against Russia were discussed. The Chechens themselves call themselves “nakhcha,” which translates as “people” or “people.” The closest neighbors of the Chechens call them “misdzhegs” (and kumuki) and “kists” ().

There is no information about the ancient destinies of the Chechen tribe, except for fantastic legends about foreigners (Arabs), the founders of this people. Starting from the 16th century, the Chechens consistently fought against the Kumuks and, finally, against the Russians (from the beginning of the 17th century). In our historical acts, the name of the Chechens appears for the first time in the agreement between the Kalmyk Khan Ayuki and the Astrakhan governor Apraksin (1708).

Until 1840, the attitude of the Chechens towards Russia was more or less peaceful, but this year they betrayed their neutrality and, embittered by the Russian demand for weapons, went over to the side of the famous Shamil, under whose leadership for almost 20 years they waged a desperate struggle against Russia, which cost the latter enormous sacrifices. The struggle ended with the mass emigration of one part of the Chechens to Turkey and the relocation of the rest from the mountains to the plain. Despite the terrible disasters that befell the first immigrants, emigration did not stop.

Khazaria is easily translated into Nakh. This in Chechen and Ingush can be translated as “Beautiful country (beautiful field)” (“khaz are”, lit. “beautiful field”).

Let us remember the words of Shamil Basayev (I myself heard them in one of his interviews) that the Chechen war is revenge for the defeat of the Khazars. Basayev did not deny the origin of the Chechens from the Khazars.

Chechen writer German Sadulayev also believes that some Chechen teips are descendants of the Khazars

Some Chechens also talk about “Jewish Chechens who later occupied the highest positions in Khazaria” and that in general the Khazars are Nokhchi (Chechens)

“The wide valley of the Terek, according to all historical sources, was inhabited by the Khazars. In the 5th - 6th centuries, this country was called Barsilia and, according to the Byzantine chroniclers Theophanes and Nikephoros, the homeland of the Khazars was located here,” wrote L. Gumilyov

V.A. Kuznetsov in his “Essay on the History of the Alans” writes: “We can definitely only say that the steppes of the Ciscaucasia to the north-northeast of the middle reaches of the Terek River (from the turn of the Terek to the east and to the confluence of the Sunzha) belonged to the Khazars from the 7th century "

"In the 2nd-3rd centuries, the Khazars were still a small tribe and occupied the shore of the Caspian Sea between the Terek and Sulak rivers."

Lev Gumilyov believes that Jews moved to the territory of Khazaria after the suppression of the Mazdakite uprising in Iran: “The surviving Jews settled north of Derbent on a wide plain between Terek and Sulak.”

“Part of the steppe regions of modern Chechnya was also part of the Khazar Kaganate” (Chechens. History and modernity. M, 1996, p. 140).

The Khazars also lived in the regions of Dagestan adjacent to Chechnya, see for example. Here

According to “Toponymics of Chechnya” by A. Suleymanov, it is in Chechnya in the place of the so-called. The “Shamilev” fortress contains the ruins of the Khazar capital Semender. Some people really push Semender to Khasav-Yurt in Dagestan, but previously it was mostly Chechens who lived there.

According to Gumilyov, the capital of the Khazars was located on the site of the village of Shelkovskaya, on the way from Grozny to Kizlyar.

But Gumilev was not the only one who assumed that Semender Khazarsky was near Shelkovsky; A. Kazam-Bek also spoke about this.

The famous Dagestan archaeologist Murad Magomedov shares the same opinion: “Therefore, the Khazars arose a new city - the second Semender, on the Terek. Archaeologists call it the Shelkovskoye settlement - now it is the territory of Chechnya, on the banks of the Terek...”

And Chechen scientists themselves believe that the capital of Khazaria, before it was transferred to the Volga to Itil, was located on the territory of Chechnya: thus, the head of the Archive Department under the President and Government of the Chechen Republic, Magomed Muzaev: “It is quite possible that the capital of Khazaria was located on our territory. We must know that Khazaria, which existed on the map for 600 years, was the most powerful state in eastern Europe. Some of our researchers are inclined to believe that the word Khazaria arose from the Chechen word “Khaza are.”

“Since in our area, if we rely on some historical data, the city of Semender was located - the first capital of Khazaria, and there are no other similar fortresses in the Terek Valley, then we can say with confidence that this is the citadel of Semender,” the head of the administration told a group of scientists and journalists Shelkozavodskaya station Ruslan Kokanaev."
see also
"... this area contains enormous historical material, but no one has seriously studied the historical objects of our republic, according to Ruslan Khanakayev, a historian by education and head of the administration of the Shelkozavodskaya village, at all times historians and archaeologists have been looking for the city of Semender, but the owner of the historical city is the Chechen Republic ( Chechnya)..."

Thus, leading Khazar scholars not only claim that the Khazars lived in the territory inhabited by Chechens, but also that it was on the territory of present-day Chechnya that the first capital of Khazaria was located.

(As for the Khazars, they were not Turks, as is often believed; ethnologist L. Gumilyov classified them as peoples of the Dagestan type; contemporaries of the Khazars noted that the Khazars’ language was not similar to Turkic).

In general, few Khazar words are known (Chichak, Idal, etc.), they all resemble Chechen words.

The fact that the Khazar and Vainakh languages ​​are similar and related is known from Armenian historians. In ancient times, the Vainakhs were called “Gargarei”, and according to Movses Khorenatsi, Mesrop Mashtots creates an alphabet for the Gargar language: “Stegts nshanagirs kokordakhos aghkhazur hjakan khetsbekazunin aynorik gargaratsvots lezun” (“created writing for the wild language of the white Khazars, rich in guttural sounds [“agh” – “ white”, “khazur” – “Khazar”] similar to the barbaric Gargarian”)

From this it is clear that Armenian historians, contemporaries of the Khazars, noted that the language of the Khazars is similar to the language of the Vainakhs.

The English-language Wikipedia says: “Some scholars in the former USSR believed that the Khazars were the indigenous inhabitants of the North Caucasus, mainly Nakh peoples. The argument is that the name “Khazar” from the Chechen language translates “beautiful valley”" ("Some scholars in the former USSR considered the Khazars to be an indigenous people of the North Caucasus mostly Nakh peoples. Argument is, that name "khazar" from Chechen language translates "beautiful valley."), see

Sheshan is the name of one of the descendants of Israel (1 Chronicles chapter 2, article 31) and the ethnonym of the Chechens in Kabarda (sheshan), among the Lezgins (Chachan), among the Ossetians (Sasan and Sasanait) and among the Arabs (Shashani), this also includes the name of the once largest society in Chechnya is Chechen. Sheshan is the son of Iishei, the father of Ahlai, from the clan of Jerahmeel (I Chron., 2, 31-41), from the descendants of Judah, the son of Jacob / Israel.

The ethnonym Chechen also resembles Achin and Ashin - the names of the Khazar clan.

It is characteristic that the Chechens considered the Zhugti/Jews to be their teip, which indicates kinship. In addition, there is a legend that the ancestors of the Chechens left Sham (Syria?) from the Jews.

Chechen ethnographer and linguist Arbi Vagapov revealed the similarity of the Hebrew-Phoenician alphabet (the Hebrew and Phoenician alphabet are one and the same, since Phoenicians is one of the Greek names for Jews) with the Chechen language.

The Chechens call the Volga "Idal", just like the Khazars.

The Ingush word kinesis / “church”, according to D. Malsagov, is borrowed from the Jewish-Khazar knes “prayer meeting, cathedral”, and according to A. Genko and G.-R. Huseynov from kanis "synagogue".

Nahor is the name of Abraham's ancestor and resembles the word "Nah", i.e. "people" in Chechen.

Halakha - G1illakh - custom, tradition, law in Chechnya and Israel (Albert Machigov drew attention to these and other similarities between the Jewish and Chechen languages, see for example: halla - bread in Hebrew and khallar in Chechen; "shin" - i.e. “double” in Hebrew as in Chechen shi’-shin.).

And on my own behalf I can add to A. Machigov similar words in Jewish and Chechen, for example “bart” - union, agreement (Chechen), cf. Hebrew "takes, brit" - alliance, agreement. Or: MARSH - I authorize, Hebrew, MARSHOT - freedom, Chechen.

The Ingush, according to some teptars (legends), are descendants of Jadite Jews (Jews from Iran). There are many stories from Jordanian Ingush that the Ingush are Jadis who fled Iran.

Interestingly, the Ingush have up to 40% of the J2 genotype, which is from the Middle East.

The closeness of the Ingush and Chechens to the Jews is also confirmed by geneticists. Chechens and Ingush have the most [Y] chromosome in the Caucasus, which is common among Jews 26% and 32%, respectively. See, Look Table 3 for the Caucasus. See around the world.

The genetic relationship of Jews with Chechens is indicated, for example, by dermatoglyphics data - the so-called. Th index, which is approximately the same among Chechens, Ashkenazi Jews and Tuaregs (people in North Africa who professed Judaism before Islam)

Chechens and Ashkenazi Jews have the same genes 14-13-30-23-10-11-12-13.16. The Ingush have the same thing for the same gene

Same with the Armenians. Genetics have revealed the relationship and coincidence of genes of Chechens, Ingush, Armenians and Jews. According to genetic comparison, the Ingush have the purity of blood closest to the Jews.

Leonti Mroveli calls the son of the Khazar - Uobos / Vobos, which is considered the personified name of the Nakh tribe - “vvepiy”, “fappii” (vappii / fapppiy) (akkhii).

The Khazars called Togarma, a descendant of Noah, their ancestor, and the Ingush have a surname Targimkhoy, reminiscent of Togarma. Wikipedia says: “In medieval genealogical legends, the Khazars were traced back to Noah’s descendant Togarma.”

Even words similar to Canaan (Israel) can be found in the Chechen and Ingush languages. In the Ingush language, Canaan is the Mother of time\Ha-time, Naan-mother.\

Canaan (Israel) - Kinakhi\country of the Nakhs\.

The Nakhs called the tower builders “jelti,” apparently from “dzhugti.”

The Vainakhs consider themselves descendants of Noah, like the Jews (from Noah's son, Shem), which indicates biblical influence. The self-name of the Chechens “Vainakh” is comparable to the Jewish expression “Bnei Noah”.

Many toponyms in Chechnya are associated with the Khazars

For example, Khazar-duk (Khazar duk) “Khazar ridge” - in the south-east. side of KhIyilakh, areas in the vicinity of the same KhIyilakh Khazarcho and Khazar Baso. There is Olkhazaran irzo (Olkhazaran irzo) “Olkhazara (l.) glade.”

GIazar-GIala (Gazar-Gala) “Khazar fortress” (“Khazar fortification”) - was located on the right bank of the Ivgii, on the. from Booni-Yurt.

There was a village Khazar-Roshni, located on the southwestern side of Urus-Martan.

In the vicinity of Khiyilakh there are places Khazarchoi, Khazar Baso.

GIazar-GialiytIa (Gazar-Galiyta) “Khazar fortification” - within the boundaries of the village of GIachalka. Perhaps Ialkhan-Evl, GIazar-GIala are the oldest parts (settlements) of the village of GIachalka.

“the village of GIachalka should have arisen from five small settlements, with the Khazar fortification in the center: Barchoin kup, Zandakoin kup, Ialkhan-Evl, Okhchoin kup and the Khazar fortification,” - A. Suleymanov.

Under the Khazars, on the site of the current Upper Chiryurt there was the city of Endri, which controlled the entire North-Eastern Caucasus

The Mulkya society (malk - god, king and proper name among the ancient Jews) has the ruins of Pezir-khelli (Gezir-khelli, - “Khazar settlement”) - next to B;ovt;archa on b. Mulkoin Erk River, towards the village. from Hurik. In Mulka's society there was the village of GIezar-Khelli - a Khazar settlement until 1940.

In the Nashkh society there is a river Khazar-khi.

Mozharskaya Balka is a tract in the northeast of the village of Kalinovskaya, where the Cossacks went for salt. The name goes back to “Majars” - a medieval Khazar settlement, where there were many gunsmiths. From here, firearms “Majar” spread, mentioned in the heroic songs of the Chechens: “mazhar top” - a Madjar flintlock gun. Or: “barkhI sonar mazhar top” - an octagonal Madjar (flintlock) gun.

There is a village called Alkhazurovo - a village in the Urus-Martan district.

The name of the village of Braguny in Chechnya is derived from Bersilia/Barsalia, from where, according to Michael the Syrian, the Khazars came.

Bersilia/Barsalia, from where, according to legend preserved in the 12th century. Mikhail of Syria, the famous Khazars came out, who are also one of the ancestors of the Kumyks.

From the Khazar-Jewish language the name Bayan / Bayant came to the Chechens (as well as to the Russians). These names come from the Khazar-Jewish name Vaan/Baan (the Armenians of the Van region in Turkey considered themselves descendants of Jews).

You can find Hebrew words in the Chechen language. For example, Chech. kad "bowl, glass". On the other hand, for example, “Pison” in Hebrew means “abundance of water”, this was the name of the river mentioned in the Bible, originally called “chison” (the changes between “x” and “f” are typical for the Vainakh languages), which reminds Vainakh "hi" - "water", "river".

In Chechen, the name of Saturday clearly came from the Jews - shoatta - that is, Shabbat. It is characteristic that, as they say, the Ingush, like the Jews, call the evening, Friday night, Saturday night, and, as it were, prepare for each next day, in the evening.

I note that the designation of a mummer who makes rain (they pour water on him) in the Vedeno region of Chechnya and among the Akkin Chechens is Z1emmur, which goes back to Hebrew - in the dialect of the Tat language there is a religious term zemiro "religious chant". The same basis is presented in the Karaite zemer “religious chant, religious poem”, zemer “verse from psalms”.

Moscow entrepreneur of Chechen origin and amateur historian Vakha Mokhmadovich Bekhchoev, in his work “The Caucasus and the Jews,” M., 2007, proved that the Chechens are the missing Israeli tribe of Dan. In connection with this, he developed a political program for the reconciliation of Semitic brothers: Jews, Arabs and Chechens, according to which Jews accept Islam and create with the Arabs and Chechens a single Islamic Semitic state, the Islamic Republic of Israel-Ichkeria.

On the other hand, on the Internet there is an Ingush author Yusupov M. (“Saul”), who proves the family ties of the Ingush and Jews.

The origin from the tribe of Dan is also indicated by the fact that previously one of the names of the Ingush and Vainakhs in general was G1aldini, where Dani, Denis is obviously the name.

Ermolov built the city of Grozny on the site of the Jewish village of Dzhukhur-Yurt.

In the Grozny region there is even such a toponym as Zhugtiy bayinchu borze (Zhyugtiy bayinchu borze) “To the mound where the Jews died.”

Chechens have parables, sayings, and legends about Jews, for example, a story condemning a Jew who beat his son for no reason. Once a Chechen was walking along the bank of the Sunzha River. There the Jews tanned animal skins. He sees that the Jew, for no apparent reason, grabbed his son and began to beat him. The Chechen was surprised: “Why are you beating the boy, because he didn’t do anything?” - “Do you want me to beat him up after he ruins his skin?” Since then, in Chechen conversations one has heard: “Like that Jew of his son.”

The Chechen chronicle of Nokhchi talks about Jews led by princes Surakat and Kagar and their war with Dagestan and Arab Muslims. Akhmad Suleymanov in his work “Toponymy of Chechnya” wrote that “after the collapse of the kingdom of Simsim, King Surrokat and his entourage retreated to the west with a large caravan loaded with weapons, treasury, with the remnants of troops, stopping at times along the way of their movement, they reached the Chanty River - Argun and on its left bank, on a high cape, they laid a powerful tower fortification. The remains of this fortification have survived to this day under the name "KIirda bIavnash". The descendants of the king tried to establish themselves here, appointing their nobles Biirig Bicchu and Eldi Talat as princes, who immediately began internecine war. King Surrokat and his son Bayra were unable to gain a foothold here."

According to the chronicles of the Russians, in eastern Alania (Chechnya), not far from the present city of Grozny, “beyond the Terek River, on the Sevenets (Sunzha) River there is a Yassy (Alanian) city, the glorious Dedyakov (Tetyakov).” Its name can be understood as Tat (Mountain Jew) - Yakov? I'M WITH. Vagapov saw in this Dedyakov the historically attested Chechen village of Dadi-Kov // Dadi-Yurt.

Gumilev considered the Khazar Jews to be immigrants from Iran, Mazdakite rebels who settled in the mountains of Dagestan and on the banks of the Terek.

The primary center of Khazaria was, according to the Khazar king Joseph, the country of Serir, located on the site of present-day Chechnya and adjacent parts of Dagestan.

M.I. Artamonov (“History of the Khazars”), speaking about toponymy in Khazar-Jewish correspondence, noted: “The name of Mount Seir begs for identification with the ancient name of Dagestan - Serir. The Tizul Valley closely resembles the country of T-d-lu, at the end of which, according to Joseph, was Semender, and likewise the Greek Zuar, Arabic Chul, Armenian Chora, which meant the same thing, namely, the Caspian passage, the Caspian valley, and, together with the fortress of Derbent blocking it. Mount Varsan involuntarily brings to mind the city of Varachan, the capital of the Dagestan Huns, and Barshalia or Varsalia, the ancient homeland of the Khazars. If this is so, then the place where the Khazars adopted Judaism should be considered Dagestan, the country where the original center of Khazaria was located.”

Archaeological work of 1965–80 established that the Khazars lived on the northern bank of the Terek and on the shores of the Caspian Sea between the mouths of the Terek and Sulak.

The tribal custom of the highlanders - adat - is similar to ancient Jewish law, such as blood feud, drinking wine, kidnapping brides, etc.

So, for example, the elders taught the young men of the tribe of Benjamin: “Every year there is a holiday in Shiloh. Go there and sit in the vineyard, and when you see that the city girls come out to dance in round dances, then come out of the ambush, each grab any of them and return to your land.” Bishop Israel, describing the funeral rites of the hons, i.e. the Khazars, notes that they beat drums over the corpses, inflicted wounds on their faces, arms, and legs; naked men fought with swords at the grave, competed in horse riding, and then indulged in debauchery. These customs are reminiscent of the customs of the Phoenicians and ancient Jews. The sages wrote that the Torah was given to the Jews because they are “azei panim” (cf. “Ezdel” - the spiritual and moral code of honor among the Vainakhs). This term includes both courage and arrogance at the same time.

The ancient Jews also had blood feuds: for example, the Talmud decrees: “The Day of Atonement forgives sins against God, and not against man, until the injured party receives retribution” (Mishna, Yoma, 8:9).

The term ADAT itself is surprisingly consonant with Jewish law - B "DAT Moshe ve Israel" according to the law of Moses and Israel.

B. Malachikhanov notes that the term “utsmiy” could have arisen from the Hebrew word “otsuma” - strong, powerful.

We can say the other way around: Mountain Jews live according to the customs of the mountain people: belief in spirits, hospitality, kunachism, polygamy, etc. Mountain-Jewish. surnames are formed by the grandfather’s name, like among the Dagestanis (Ilizar - Ilizarovs, Nisim - Anisimovs). At the same time, large families united into clan quarters (taipe, less commonly dash: from the Karachay-Balkar tiyre - quarter), retained the name of a common ancestor, such as the Bogatyrevs, Myrzakhanovs (in Karachay). In Azerbaijan, the surnames of Mountain Jews were often written in a Turkicized form - Nissim-oglu, for example. It should also be noted that, living in Kabardino-Balkaria, mountain Jews retained, unlike their fellow tribesmen Karachay, the Dagestan form of education of tukhums named after their grandfather: Isup - Isupovs, Shamil - Shamilovs, Ikhil - Ikhilovs, Gurshum - Gurshumovs, etc. .

At the same time, there is no contradiction that these peoples do not now profess Judaism, because... Among the Khazars themselves, paganism, Christianity and Islam were widespread. Movses Kagankatvatsi writes that the bishop “Israel converted many countries of the Khazars and Huns to Christianity,” especially in the capital of the Huns - the city of Varachan (Maritime Dagestan). Similar information is given in the history of Movses Khorenatsi.

Near the village of Chir-Yurt on the river. In Sulak, the ruins of the ancient capital of Khazaria, Belenzhera, were found. The settlement encloses the entire Sulak valley at the exit of the river from the foothills to the plain. On the steppe side, the city was fortified with a moat and a wall. The second city of Khazaria, Semender, was located not far from Derbent. Its advantageous position near the sea harbor elevated it and for some time it became the capital of the Kaganate. Powerful fortress cities are also known outside the Sulak basin - on Aktash and Terek.

Some villages in Dagestan in local chronicles and among the people are called Dzhugut (Jewish) - Zubutl, Mekegi, Arakani, Muni, etc., and in a number of villages in the mountainous part of Dagestan there are so-called. Jewish quarters. The memory of Judaism binds many settlements in Dagestan. The most revered names among the Dagestan peoples - Ibrahim, Musa, Isa, Shamil, Yusup, Yusuf, Salman, Suleiman and Davud - are also derived from Jewish ones. Many famous families in the Caucasus connect their ancestry with the House of David. The genetic anomaly “Ji-6 F-D” is found 10 times more often among Jews than among other peoples. Scientists find the same percentage among some tribes inhabiting the Caucasus. Lezginka is a Jewish dance. Dzhigit resembles Juhud (Jew). Jewish origin is attributed not only to individual villages, but also to entire peoples, for example, Andians, Tabasarans, Kaitags.

Why did the drunken rowdy anti-Semite Stalin destroy sources on the history of the Chechens (eyewitnesses said that in the central square of Grozny in 1944 a huge mountain of books smoldered, burning out, for more than a month)? Did he thereby want to make the Chechens forget their roots? But this did not happen - Chechens were allowed to be Chechens in Central Asia. It was at that time that the campaign against the Jews began, incl. and in terms of history, for example, the Khazar scholar Artamonov was defeated. Maybe there was a Jewish trace in the history of the Chechens that irritated Stalin? Note that Putin brought down repression on those oligarchs who were involved in business with the Chechens - Berezovsky, Gusinsky, Khodorkovsky.

According to Mas "udi (10th century), Semender (Tarki = Makhachkala) was the original capital of Khazaria, and only after the capture of this city by the Arabs (in the 8th century) the capital was moved to the city of Itil on the Volga. This proves that Dagestan was the original Khazaria Moreover, Mas'udi says that in his time Semender was inhabited by Khazars. According to Ibn-Haukal (10th century), the ruler of Semender, like the Khazar rulers, professed Judaism and was related to the kagan. Despite Mas'udi's report about the conquest of Semender by the Arabs, other sources of the 10th century (Ibn-Haukal, Al-Muqaddasi, the author of "Hudud al-Alem", King Joseph) unanimously consider it to be part of the Khazar state. Prince Svyatoslav took Semender as Khazar city.

The same Derbent, according to Brutskus, was called by the Armenians and Greeks Uroparakh, “Jewish fortress.” I can add that another early medieval name of Derbent - Chor - is derived from “dzhuur” (“Jews”). And the Arabs called Derbent - Darband-i Khazaran - “Khazar fortress”. Already in the Jerusalem Talmud a rabbi from Derbent is mentioned.

The Arab historian and geographer Ibn Iyas wrote about the Khazars: “they are a people of the Turks on a huge mountain, beyond Bab al-abwab (Derbent),” that is, the Khazars are mountaineers.

The Khazars (correspondence between the diplomat Hasdai ibn Shaprut and the Khazar king Joseph), speaking about their homeland, claimed that “our ancestors told us that the place where they (Khazar Jews) lived was formerly called “Mount Seir”. The homeland of the Khazars is the country of Seir / Serir (now Chechnya and the Avar part of Dagestan), about which Masudi writes that it “forms a branch of the Caucasus. ... it is in the mountains,” that is, the Khazars are the mountaineers of the Caucasus.

Assa is a river, the right tributary of the Sunzha River. According to scientists, its name takes its name from the sect of ancient Jews of the early Christian period, which was brought to the North Caucasus, probably by the Khazars. In the Ingush concept, 1аса means “apostate,” but in the literal sense it means “paganism” or “pagans.”

Relations between the Mountain Jews and the Lezgins of the Andi (Andi) were friendly. These Andi, whose Jewish origin is spoken of by native legends, live in Dagestan and Chechnya. They were Jews before the invasion of Andia by Tamerlane’s troops, his destruction of the ruling house of Khan Yoluk in Gagatla and the establishment of Islam. Shamil finally turned the entire Andean gorge into it. The people have legends about the inhabitants of Gumbet, many of whom preferred death to accepting Islam. The fact that the Andis are related by origin to the Jews and Khazars is also confirmed by the fact that one of the capitals of Khazaria was called Anji (Anzhi/Inzhi). In “Darband-Nama” they write the following about him: “The city of Semend is the Tarhu fortress. And Anji, which is now destroyed, was located on the seashore 3 farsakhs from Tarhu; it was a great city." Only a huge army of Arabs, after several days of stubborn fighting, managed to “conquer the inhabitants of Anji and convert them to Islam.” The chronicle “Derbent-name” by Muhammad Avabi Aktashi testifies that “2 thousand carts were connected and the warriors of Islam, moving them in front of them, used them to take the city by storm.” These events were reflected in the literature of the Kumyks, for example. in "Anji-name" (1780) by Kadir Murza from Amirkhan-gent (Kyakhulaya). A city called Inzhi-kend, destroyed by that time, in the 12th century. Mahmud of Kashgar also notes. The oikonym andi often sounds in Kumyk (Khazar) toponyms: Anzhi-Arka (Anzhi Hill), Anzhi-Bet (Anzhi-city), Anzhi-Slope, Anzhi-tau (Anzhi-mountain).

The Avar chronicle “History of Irkhan” states that the Sultan of Irkhan (Avaria) is the brother of the Khakan of Khazaria. The Jewish princes Surakat and Kagar (Kagan?) settled in Avar: “Then the Kabatian princes Surakat and Kagar, the Jewish princes, came to Avar.” The Avar khans, who were finally exterminated by Shamil, were, according to legend, of Jewish origin.

The name of a tribe closely related to the Kumyks - Okochan/Okochir - Akkins, who come from the Vainakh society of Akki (sources of the late 18th–19th centuries localize them in the upper reaches of the Gekhi and Fortanga rivers, on the right tributaries of the Sunzha), known by their Kumyk name - "auq" (ooh). Among the subjects of the “Hunnic sovereign” in the North Caucasus there are 14 Turkic tribes, in Armenian history (5th century) along with “Hun”, “Maskut”, “Pukur” (Bulgar), “Kuz”, “Dzhemakh”, “Kutar”, “Juch”, “Guan”, “Masgut”, “Toma” is also called the tribe “Akuk”. The basic forms of the ethnonym “Okuki” and “Okochan” are considered to be the forms Akuk and Akachir, recorded in sources as early as the 6th–7th centuries. It is derived from the earlier name of the Khazars - Akatsir (from the Turkic aq + kasir qazar aq qazar).

Akatsirs are Khazars. About okuki (okochira, okochana) of the 18th century. there is information confirming their Kumyk-Khazar origin. And Gildenstedt, who left a description of Kizlyar in the 70s. XVIII century, calls the "Okochira quarter", residents of the Kumyk village, "moved to Kizlyar and settled there." In Kumyk sources (letter from Adil-Gerei Tarkovsky to Peter I) they are known both as “the people called Okhok-Circassians” and as Akochans. Peter Henry Brus (1722) identified them with the Tatars and wrote about the Circassians of Terki ("the capital of Circassian Tatars") that "... their language is common with other neighboring Tatars."

The Russians originally called the Chechens "Okochans"

The above-mentioned Okochans (Okokhs, Akintsy) is the Dagestan name for the local Chechens - Akintsy (Aukhovtsy). Akkin troops led by Aguki Shagin took part in the Khazar-Arab wars. In 735–36, the Arab commander Mervan managed to capture and destroy 2 Khazar fortresses inhabited by Aukhars - Keshne (Kishen-Aukh) and Khasni-Khisnumma. There is a well-known Akin from Dagestan who wanted to conclude an agreement with Ivan the Terrible - his name Shubut, on the one hand, resembles “Shabbat”, on the other, frequent elements of Khazar names “S.b.t.”

The Chechens also have a connection with the Khazars, hence the surname Bogatyrev, the Khazar element of the Chechen names and surnames “edel” (from the Khazar name of the Volga and/or the Khazar capital located on it - Itil, idil - river) is Khazar: Edelkhanov, Idalov.

The surnames Dudayev, Dadashev, Tataev, Tatashev are formed from “tat” (tats = mountain Jews). The names Ibragimov, Izrayilov, Israpilov, Itskhakov, Daudov, Musaev, Musoev, Nukhaev, Suleymanov, Yakubov speak for themselves. Among the names of Chechen gunsmiths, Olkhazur (Alkhazur), born in 1875, is mentioned; another Olkhazur (Alhazur) - son of Mahma, 2nd floor. XIX century made gunpowder. The surname Gaziev, Kazy-, Kadyrov, Khazarov come from the ethnonym Khazar.

Chechen terrorist Khamzat Khazarov was detained in Odessa. The surname clearly indicates Khazar ancestors, as does the surname and first name of the Alkhazurs, Alkhazur (but folk etymology connects the name Alkhazur with the word “bird”). Hence the old name Khasi.

It is interesting that there are many Israilovs among the Chechens: the uprising against Soviet power was launched by Khasan Israilov, Kadyrov’s opponent Umar Israilov, journalist Asya Israilova, General Khunkar Israpilov, head of the Chechen presidential administration Abdulkahar Israilov and many others.

A Chechen named Aslan Khazarov was one of the architects of the famous “Chechen advice notes” scam.

The field commander Dzhambul Khazarov operating in Georgia is known.

Popular names like Salman and Shamil also indicate a connection with Jews, as well as a scarf or headband used by Chechens.

The Muslims, as scientists believe, professed a mixture of paganism and Judaism before Islam.

S.A. Dauev: “One of the first to try to reveal the etymology of the word “Ichkeria” was U. Laudaev back in 1872. He wrote: “Ichkeria is a Kumyk word; 'ichi-eri' means 'earth inside'..." Here it is noteworthy that in the etymological analysis of the word "ichker" ("achkar", "ichkir") U. Laudaev drops out the guttural sound "k", which in this case should not fall out.

The fact is that the second part of “geri” (“keri”) denotes gers (hers or subbotniks) - Judaizing foreigners who appeared in the region since the time of the Khazar Kaganate. Gers were called foreigners who completed the rite of passage to the Judaic religion - conversion (from which the word “giaur” comes)... In the Khazar kingdom, the dominant religion was Judaism; at various times, Jews, who in the Caucasus are called mountain Jews, penetrated into the North Caucasus along with the Persians, Traces of Judaism are found not only in the south of Dagestan, but also in the north and even in Chechnya. If we look closely at the geographical location of Ichkeria, we will see that it borders on Andia (Dagestan), and many people consider the Andians to be a Jewish ethnic group. From the southwest, Ichkeria comes into contact with the Tat-butri (Charbali) society, whose name (Tats - Mountain Jews) speaks for itself. From the west it is bordered by the Chechen society Vedeno, in the vicinity of which we have living traces of Judaism, and next to Vedeno is the former Persian farm of Khinzhoy Kotar, from the north we come across the Kumyk society, in which the religious and political elite of the Khazar Kaganate once took refuge, and from the east - the Salavat society, dotted with Persians and Mountain Jews. Therefore, the approach of explaining the word “Ichkeria” with the help of the Persian language - the language of communication of the social, political and religious elite of Khazaria is completely justified... Imam Shamil, who introduced the concept of “Ichkeria” into circulation to designate an administrative unit - naibstvo - could not help but know this...”

So the name Ichkeria itself is derived from the concept of Gera (who converted to Judaism).

And further: “”...Even today it is difficult to accurately determine the ethnic origin of Shamil himself, who claimed in the last years of his life that he was a Kumyk, however, it is obvious, as we will see below, that he was mainly surrounded by people who adhered to endogamy in marriage relationships - the custom of marriage between close relatives, characteristic of mountain Jews... The tombstone of his murid, shown on October 2, 1998 in the Vremya program from the native village of Imam Shamil, on which adorned the Arabic script and the Star of David, looked very symbolic... The Jewish elite of Khazaria dissolved mainly among Kumyks. The religious elite of Khazaria and the period of Islamization, having undoubtedly adopted Islam, found themselves, again, among the religious elite. Apparently, this explains the fact that almost all religious figures who appeared in Chechnya from the middle of the 18th century presented themselves as Kumyks, and the presence among the Kumyks, like the Mountain Jews, of endogamy - marital relations between close relatives up to cousins... Imam Shamil was one of the executors of the Gazavat ideology (the ideology of Khazar revanchism - according to S.A. Dauev). He, according to his biographers, ‘was born in the Avar village, aul of Gimry in 1797’.” It should be noted that the author, calling the village of Gimry “Avar,” gives incorrect information, although it came from the already captured Shamil and his entourage during his stay in Kaluga. Gimry is a village of the Koysublinsky society. Shamil’s father, “Dengau-Magomed,” wrote M.N. Chichatova, “was an Avar uzden (free citizen). Gimry resident, son of Ali; his ancestor was the Kumyk Amir Khan...” In this case, we see a skillful disguise of Shamil’s ethnic roots. If his ancestor was a “Kumyk,” then he could not possibly have been an “uzden” in Avaria, where only a native inhabitant was recognized as an uzden, as in Chechen society... Shamil’s real name was Ali. The new name was given to him according to the custom of “hiding the name” from evil spirits and enemies. N. Krovyakov writes: “Later Shamil discovered in books that his real name was Shamuel.” The fact that the name Shamil is Jewish is evidenced by the following observations among the Jewish subbotniks of I. Slivitsky in the late 50s of the 19th century: “they (i.e. subbotniks, gers - A.Z.) of their children, recorded according to According to the office description, Ivans, Mikhails and other Orthodox, Russian names, were nicknamed Yankels, Shmuls.” (Z. and above, see S.A. Dauev, op. cit., pp. 8-10, 43, 113).

Dauev also considers “descendants of the Khazars” to be all those who have ever resisted Russia’s aggressive policy in the North Caucasus, including such national heroes of the Chechen people as Sheikh Mansur, Kazi-Mulla, Shamil - Dauev excommunicates all of them from the Chechen people and accuses him of trying to restore Khazaria (Dauev 1999, pp. 65-135).

Dauev believes that it was the “descendants of the Khazars,” who illegally undertook to speak on behalf of the Chechen people, who signed documents on the sovereignty of Chechnya. Thus, “the reanimated relict ethnic layer of the heirs of the Khazar Kaganate, as we see, was not slow to manifest itself in ethnopolitical processes in the region... Then, in the person of the rulers of the Meuse, we could easily recognize the Jewish government of Khazaria, and in Chechnya, under the emblem of the wolf, their faithful hired army from the country of Gurgan." He concludes: “Thus, we see the revival of Maasia-Khazaria-Ghazaria-Galgaria no longer in Persia, in its historical homeland, but on Chechen land, which the Khazars prudently called Ichkeria” (Dauev 1999, p. 47).

He did not ignore the Dauevs and the Ingush, who, in his opinion, are Khazars, and they are building the city of Magas\Maas, allegedly according to a Jewish conspiracy. Dauev warns the Russian leadership that the Ingush are carrying out an operation to restore the Jewish Khazaria, the eternal enemy of Russia. He calls the Ingush VEINAH, Tavlin and to them he adds part of the mountain Chechens, “Ichkerians”, eastern Chechens, proving that they were an army in the service of the Ingush-Khazar Jews.

There was a medieval historian from the Vainakhs, Azdin Vazar (died in 1460), he says that he tried to preach Islam among the Vainakhs, but he failed, because at that time the Vainakhs professed two religions: one part was Christian, and the second was “magos tsIera” ding." din in Chechen - religion (faith), "tsIera" - in this case, the designation of the area "Magos". Magos - Maas/Musa. That is, the religion of Moses.

Sokov Skopetskaya wrote “On the finds of ceramics from the territory of the Gudermes settlement of the Khazar period (Chechnya)” in the book. "Materials and research on the archeology of the North Caucasus (MIASK). Issue 5."

Journalist Leontyev claims that according to the instructions of the Grozny NKVD on working with agents (1936), up to 30% of Chechens at that time secretly professed Judaism, see.

This news surprisingly coincides with the old Chechen folk joke, which says that when 3 people gather, 1 of them will be a Jew

Ruslan Khasbulatov echoes him, saying that about 30% of Chechens have Jewish roots and, moreover, secretly perform Jewish rituals. Dudayev was also a Chechen of Jewish origin, but from a very decent family, according to the same Khasbulatov.

Dudayev called on the people to pray three times a day, which corresponds to Jewish custom, not Muslim. Some Myalkhas say that the Dudayevs are “tati neki”.

In the newspaper “Arguments and Facts” (N 3 for 1996) in the article “Chechens and teips” it was reported that Dzhokhar Dudayev “on his father’s side came from a little-known teip - Yalkharoi, in which there is a clan Tatyyneren, descended from mountain Jews, and on his mother’s side the Dudayev line - from the noble Nashkhoi teip, which consisted only of Chechens."

The so-called Suli (Chechens of Dagestan origin) are sometimes spoken of on the Internet as Jews. So an anonymous forum member wrote: “Does adat allow Avars to marry their cousin? Shicha yalor zhugti iedal du. Back in the seventies, as a student at CHIGPI, I was interested in the old people in Shatoi, Vedeno, Urus-Martan, Nozhai-Yurt, who were the suili "Suli are Jews who came to the country (Chechnya) from Iran through Dagestan."

Speaking about these suli, I must say the following. Mas "udi reports that "sabir" is the Turkic name for the Khazars. Referring to the ethnonym Khazars, Mas "udi writes that in Turkic they are called Sabir, in Persian - Khazaran. Chechens call Avars "suli", Ingush - "sila", Ossetians - "solu". The name of the river comes from this word. Sulak: Sulakh – i.e. among the Sul-Avars (хъ – among the Avars there is a suffix of place). The root “sul” or “sil” is also accompanied by the suffix “-vi” or “-bi” – plural. h. To the name of the people was added -r (-ri), a suffix of place, here adopted to designate the country inhabited by the Savirs. Thus, Savir (Suvar) is the name of the country of the Silvas - Savirs. The Salatians are also Savirs.

Name of the river Sulak resembles the place where, according to Rabbi Hanina, the 10 tribes of Israel were taken by the Assyrians - Mount Salug (Sang. 94a).

They even said that the Chechens are descendants of the tribe of Benjamin, cf. the belonging of part of the Khazars to it, as well as the fact that, according to the book of Genesis (49, 27), a wolf was drawn on the flag of the tribe of Benjamin.

In the book The Chechens. Amjad M. Jaimoukh states that "The Khazars built many fortresses in the northeastern steppes of Chechnya."

The first who accepted Judaism among the Khazars, Jewish-Khazar correspondence names the commander or king Bulan, whose name was considered Turkic, however, the Chechens have a similar name Buola, and similar-sounding words Bulan, Bilan, Balin (a), etc.

The Khazar origin of the Vainakhs is indicated by Masudi’s message about the Alans, that their kingdom borders on Serir (Dagestan), that their kings bear the title Kerkandaj, that the capital of their country is called Maas and that the Alan king became related to the king of Serir. Kerkandaj is a Khazar name, akin to Ishak Kundadzhik (Arab commander of Khazar origin), Ishak Kundishkan (Jew, owner of the village of Akhty in Dagestan), Maas is clearly derived from Musa / Moses.

The name of the village of Asinovskaya goes back to the name of the Khazar Khagans (Ashina = wolf). The wolf is revered by the Chechens, which is also a vestige of the Khazars; they considered the wolf their ancestor.

In Chechnya there are toponyms “Army of Jews”, “Mound where the Jews died”

One of the oldest Vainakh villages is Kiy (its name resembles Kyiv, Kai, and other words related to the Khazar god), from whose name, according to A.I. Shavkhelishvili, the ethnonym Kists comes from.

On the flat part of Chechnya and Ingushetia, settlements have been found in which Khazar cities are seen. In form and technology, medieval Vainakh ceramics find broad analogies with Khazar ceramics.

I also read on the Internet on a forum: “one Chechen woman said that Chechens are Mountain Jews.”

The opinion about the Jewish origin of the Chechens is widespread among various writers from Boris Akunin ("The Death of Achilles") to the participant in the First Chechen War Vyacheslav Mironov (the novel "Kapishche") and the journalist Vyacheslav Manyagin (the book "Operation White House": Khazars in Russian History) etc.

The method of political struggle is typical as accusations of Jewish origin: Khasbulatov accused Dudayev and Basayev, Maskhadov - the Wahhabis, those - Kadyrov, Kadyrov - Khattab and Basayev, etc.

They also said about Basayev that his tape was made from tats.

The Chechen people were joined by teips originating from peoples who once professed Judaism (Andians, Akhtinians, Kabardians, Kumyks, etc.).

The Chechens have preserved the memory of the Jewish holiday of Friday (Perasca de) - Shabbat. The name of the ancestor of the Chechens - Molk (Malkh) is derived from the Hebrew malk? The name of Molk's brother-in-law's father is interesting - MaIasha, which suggests identification with Moshe - cf. S. Dauev considers the name of the capital of Ingushetia Magas (Maas) to be derived from the name Moses (Musa). One Khazar king actually had this name.

Some teips and gars, as part of other taips, trace themselves to a Jewish ancestor - the taips Zila, Chartoy, Shuona and some others are of Jewish origin - see.

There is a Jewish teip - zhuktiy, they live in Sernovodsk, Assinovskaya and Nadterechny districts

Shota was the name given to their roots in the Khazar Kaganate; some of the Melkhi were Tata-Mountain Jews.

The Dashni (ch1anti) also had Jewish ancestors, or so they write on the Internet.

It is said that Gendargnoevci and Centoroy are also of Jewish origin.

Old people from the Ts1echoi (Tsiechoi) teip say that their ancestor was a Jewish prince! And after all, Ts1echoy is the basis of the Orstkhoys (Karabulaks) - see.

There are Jewish Nekyas in a number of teips.

One Chechen on a forum about the connection of his people with the Khazars wrote: “The other day I spoke with another elder from the Itumkalinsky region. He said that we are the Khazars, that Judeo-Jewish half, and the Turkic part (and there was one) of the Khazars is not us anymore."

On another site, one Chechen writes: “Benoy - there are a lot of representatives of Jewish blood among them. I personally descend from a mountaineer (on my father’s side) and from an equal (on my mother’s side). I know that the founder of my mother’s teip are Mountain Jews.”

Beno is indeed a Hebrew name - the name of a descendant of Aaron, brother and companion of Moses.

Malchiya is the name of a descendant of Aaron and the name of a taipa in Chechnya.

There is a teip of Judaloy (Gidatlin people), who lived in the society of Rigahoy (Rishniyal) of the Chebarloy tukhum. Now they live in the Grozny region.

Doctor historian Ibragim Yunusovich Aliroev was asked what he thought about the Jewish origin of part of the Chechen teips, this is what he answered:

“As for the merging of some types with the Jewish people, this is true. The fact is that after the defeat of the Khazar state (and it was Jewish) by the Russian prince Svyatoslav, whose army included Chechen regiments, Jews moved in streams to the densely populated areas of the North Caucasus. Some of them settled in Dagestan (there they formed their own separate ethnic group - the Tats), others settled in Azerbaijan, Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria, Cherkessk, where trade became their main activity. There are still Jewish streets in some cities of these republics. The issue of the merger of Jews with Chechen tribes is not new, but it cannot be considered outdated. Many plane tribes have Jewish roots. There is also an independent Jewish type in Chechnya (which is called that), the areas of compact settlement of which are located in the Nadterechny region and on the Terek. Members of this teip have long been assimilated and even deny their Jewish origin. Let's take a specific type that has Jewish roots. For example, dishni type. Yes, it is believed that this type is of Jewish origin, but at the same time it also has other roots."

Apparently the Sattoy/Sadoy teip originates from the Jews, since it is sometimes referred to as a foreign teip. Secondly, the very word “Sadoy” is clearly Hebrew for “righteous.”

The Teptar (historical record) compiled by Sheikh Ismail from the Merzhoev teip Khyosr (Khazar) has survived.

Tape Kajaroy is obviously also Khazar in origin. Teip Turkhoy may be of Khazar origin.

U. Laudaev argued that the teip varanda was “of alien origin.” They adopted female circumcision, which took place in ancient times among the Jews. The Khazar origin of this teip is possibly indicated by the name of the Khazar city - Vabandar (Vanandar).

Tape Gunai, for some reason, is attributed to Russian origin, in fact, judging by the name, it comes from the Huen - Khazars. The Khazar city of Endrei was called Guen-kala, i.e. Gouin Fortress; the Guens were considered to be from Chechnya. The ethnonym "Guen" itself is reminiscent of Hebrew. "Cohen".

The Arcela and Orsi teips are also allegedly of Russian origin, perhaps due to the element “rs”, i.e. as they were understood by “rus” (оьрс), - in fact, these names sound “Barsil” (Arsilia), - the name of the homeland of the Khazars, see above. Buri (cf. Chechen "borz") in Khazar "wolf", which is totemically associated with the Barsils-Khazars.

There is (was) a Jewish teip Zhugtiy. There are zhugti-nekys in Urusmartan, they live in Berdykel and Goyty

According to Akhmad Suleymanov, the name of the Shotoy (Shuotoy) society (tukuma) comes from the word “shot”, “shubut” - i.e. Shabbat. This is even more obvious if we recall their names in documents from Dagestan and in Russian sources of the 16th–17th centuries. ‘shibut’, ‘shibutians’, ‘shibutsky people’. In the Shatoevsky district proper, not only Shuyta is now considered, but also some other communities, for example Khildekhya (Chaldeans), Khyachara (Khazars), Mulka (Malkh).

Chechen Jews lived in the village of Shuani, I don’t know when they appeared there, we also used to accept Jewish iron craftsmen into our teip, they converted to Islam, and Chechen women were married to them

How the Chechens adopted Islam can be seen from the example of Tukkhum Vaghmaadul, “descendants of defeatists and former kafirs (non-Muslims),” one of whose clan leaders was defeated by Tamerlane’s troops and forcibly converted to Islam.

Muslims in the North Caucasus are characterized by one or another version of Islamic Sunnism. A rather strange exception is the Chechens, among whom Sufism is widespread and where the entire population is divided between 2 large Sufi orders (“tarikat”) - “Naqshbandiya” and “Qadiriya”. The esoteric side of Sufism is close to Jewish Kabbalah.

The Terloy teip seems to be of Iranian/Tat/Mountain Jewish origin, this is indicated, for example, by the fact that in ancient times Terloy was a hotbed of fire-worshipping Zoroastrians.

One of the sub-genses of the Shirdi ethnic society is called “Judin Nekye”.

Interestingly, the nickname of the Khazar Jew David is Alroy, reminiscent of the name of the teip Aleroy.

During the Caucasian War, the murids of Imam Shamil forcibly converted Jews living in Avar and Chechen areas to Islam. Their descendants until recently retained memories of their Jewish origins.

Chechens were known by a number of names, incl. - “Melchi”, “Khamekits”, “Sadiki”. Such names were preserved in family surnames: Sadoy, Melkhi (Malkhii), etc. These names are reminiscent of Jewish ones (sadik - “righteous”, melkh - “prince”, etc.).

Dzhambulat Suleymanov, in his book “Descendants of Noah,” has a fragment about one case when some words of Abraham were read to Arab and Chechen schoolchildren in Jordan, and the Arabs did not understand them, but the Chechens did.

Jordanian Chechens claim that Abraham spoke a purely Chechen language. This was unearthed and proven to many scientists of the world by the Chechen scientist (linguist) Abdul-Baki Al Shishani, during a quarrel with his father, Abraham said to his father Azar: “Toha latte and bala Azar!” Which translates: “Throw this grief on the ground, Azar.” He meant idols. Everyone knows that Abraham's father was an idolater.

From the Khazars, some Vainakhs have preserved the remains of the Turkic holiday Nevruz - this is the spring holiday of the (One) Heavenly God Tengri, revered by the Khazars. Celebrate by jumping over fire. According to another version, on the holiday of Navruz Bayram they do not jump over the fire, but guys (men) walked with a pole (with a flag) and sang religious chants, and girls went to the meeting and tied a scarf or ribbon to this pole.

The last capital of Khazaria was on the Volga, in the Astrakhan region. Interestingly, there is an old Chechen legend according to which the ancestors of the Chechens came from Astrakhan

In Ichkeria, during the reign of Dudayev-Maskhadov, there were debates about the Jewish identity of some of the teips and the Chechen people themselves.

I have already noted that the customs of the mountaineers are generally similar to the Hebrew ones, but the Chechens have a dance when men run in a circle - dhikr.

It is believed that dhikr is a rudiment of pagan sun worship, but it is similar to the Jewish ceremonial dance of people walking in a circle - hakkafot ('walking in a circle'). Hakkafot are mentioned in the celebration of the Hasmonean victory over the Greeks, etc.

Muslim orthodox believe this Sufi ritual is the heritage of Judaism: “The fact that worship with dancing, tambourine and singing is a Jewish innovation that penetrated to those professing Islam confirms what was said in one of the books of the Old Testament among the Jews: “Sing to the Lord a new song; praise be to Him.” in the assembly of the saints. Let Israel rejoice in their Creator; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King. Let them praise His name with joy, with tambourine and harp, let them sing to Him. For the Lord delights in His people... Praise Him with the psaltery and harp. Praise Him with tympanum and faces, praise Him with strings and organ...”

Regarding the closeness of Sufism to Judaism:

According to legend, the homeland of the Chechens is a certain country called Sham. The modern Ethiopian researcher Sergeu Hable-Selasi discovered in ancient manuscripts stored in the city of Aksum, news of the Jewish principality of Sham and its prince Zinovis.

Some Chechens apparently believe that the Khazars were Jewish Chechens and pagan Chechens: “The Chechens, coming from the Khazar elite (khazroin eliy), they were Jews. Other Chechens, pagans, were at the head of the troops, generals, in general occupied important military posts ( g1oy, t1emloy) (Avlur was one of them). These first ones, the descendants of the Chechen Judaic elite, are those very zhugti, so they are certain. Beno zhugti-neky, these are the Benoite Jews, the Khazar elite, Alroy zhugti-neky is the same thing , any person is a Chechen-Jew in the past"

On the territory of Chechnya and Dagestan there was the primary core of Khazaria - the kingdom of Serir, which, according to Nurdin Kodzoev, was the homeland of the Chechens: "Part of the Alans who lived on the territory of the state of Sarir, in the zone of contact with the Dagestan and Turkic tribes - the territory of the modern Vedeno and Nozhai-Yurt regions, which is considered the territory where the Chechen people and language (the Alan language modified under the influence of the Dagestan and Khazar languages) were born - gave rise to the modern Chechen nation." Let us remember that Serir, where the Khazar Jews come from, is, according to Arab writers, a Christian country ruled by Bagram Chubin. He was the leader of the Jewish party, and the appearance of Iranian-speaking Jews in the Caucasus is probably connected with him, and not with the Mazdakites, although his descendants themselves were baptized. Serir was located on the territory of modern Chechnya and Andean villages.

The connection between Chechens and Jews is further confirmed by the Chechen tribes of Khevsurs, Svans and Tushins living in Georgia, who consider themselves descendants of Jews and have preserved traditions associated with Judaism. The ancestor of the Khevsurs (Kevsurs, from “Kevsur”, where “kev”, “ky” is a Khazar deity) was a Jew, a companion of Queen Tamara. Celebrate Saturday. In one Svan village, an ancient Torah scroll is still kept as a relic, and until the mid-twentieth century. Svan elders, making important decisions for the community, swore on this scroll. According to legend, the family of Svan princes Dadeshkeliani (Otarsha) had Kumyk (Khazar) ethnogenetic roots. According to ethnogenetic information recorded by Caucasian specialist M.M. Kovalevsky and others, the founder of this ancient Svan family, Otar Dadeshkeliani (c. 1570) “was from the Tarkov Kumyks, and his descendants seized power into their own hands and gradually subjugated the entire society of princely Svaneti along the lower and upper reaches of the Inguri River.” The center of the princely family of Dadeshkeliani was the village. Barshi and Inguri. Representatives of the clan ruled in the Western part of Svaneti in 1570–1857. He calls this dynasty that dominated the Svans Kabardian and “migrated from the north.” Good connections existed between the Svan prince Otar Dadeshkeliani and the Kumyk prince Agalar Khan. In 1715, at the invitation of the Balkars, they both participated together in an all-Balkar gathering convened to consider particularly important matters - controversial land issues between Balkar societies. In princely Svaneti, as well as among the Kumyks, Balkars, and Karachais, there was a custom of atalism, levirate. The Dadeshkeliani princes gave their children to be raised in the “Circassian side”, the Balkars. So, in the 1850s, one of the branches of the princely family Dadeshkeliani - Otar Dadeshkeliani - converted to Islam. These princes entered into marriages with Balkar women. Marriages with Balkar women by order of the prince. Dadeshkelani was also concluded by their subject peasants. History shows that the descendants of the princes Dadeshkeliani in the 19th - early. XX century served in Dagestan and maintained close friendly ties with the Tarkovsky shamkhals. Thus, in 1914/16, the military governor of the Dagestan region was Colonel Prince Dzhansokh Tengizovich Dadeshkeliani. Svans were given to many celebrities (surname Svanidze), oligarch Tariel Oniani. From the self-name of the Svans, Son, Shon, Shuan (cf. Ashina - a family of Khazar Khagans) call the Chechen tribe Tsanar (Sanar - literally Sans; -ar plural, hence the actual “Chechen”) and Mount Kazbek (in the land of the Mokhevites) of the Ossetians also called Sana-khokh/Sanskaya mountain. From the Svans come the Dvals and Rachins. The presence of the Svans in the North Caucasus is evidenced by the hydronymy and architecture of ancient towers in Balkaria and the legends of the Svans themselves. To designate carcasses he uses the term “Mosoh”.

The ethnonym Mosoh in relation to this Nakh tribe is interesting because Ptahia of Regensburg, during his stay in Baghdad, saw with his own eyes the envoys of the kings of the “land of Meshech” who said that “the kings of Meshech and all their land became Jews” and that among the inhabitants Meshech there are teachers teaching “them and their children the Torah and the Talmud of Jerusalem.” What kind of Meshech is this? Nakhchi has similar names, for example. MaIasha, a relative of the Chechen ancestor Malka; Ingush surnames Mashigovs, Mashkhoi, come from the village of Mashkhe (Mashkhe) of the Dorian society of mountainous Ingushetia, Moshkhoevs (Mashkhoevs). The famous surname Maskhadov apparently also comes from here.

The parable that “the Vainakhs will return the lands to Idal” also directly points to the origin of the Chechens from the Khazars, for the latter actually owned the entire North Caucasus and the Volga (Itil). According to “Kartlis Tskhovreba” the Caucasians (Vainakhs) and Leki (Laki-Lezgins) live in the Caucasus and the plane north of it to the “Great River that flows into the Daruband Sea (Caspian)” - the Volga, also called the “Great Khazareti River” . The connections between the Chechens and the Khazars are still noticeable in Chechen ethnography. The modern ethnological memory of the Chechen ethnos preserves knowledge of lands far from Chechnya, adjacent to the Black Sea, the Don and the Volga.

The fact that the ancestors of the Vainakhs came from somewhere in the Middle East speaks in favor of Jewish origin.

Another confirmation of the commonality of the Khazars and Vainakhs is the ethnonym “Pechenegs”. These people fought with the Khazars. The name Pechenegs itself is clearly derived from the Chechen: the 1st part of this name is the genitive form of the Vainakh word bachcha (bachi) “leader, leader”, the 2nd part is the Nakh word nakj “son, child”; in plural form including the word nekyy (nakay) “children, clan”.

Let us remember again that according to Mas "udi "sabir" is the Turkic name for the Khazars. That is, the Savirs are the Khazars. According to S.T. Eremin, the Khons are a large tribal union, otherwise called the Savirs. The Khons are the Dagestan Huns. K. V. Trever localizes the Khons between the rivers Samur and Sulak and considers them the ancestors of the Dagestanis. Movses Kagankatvatsi identifies the Huns (Khons) with the Khazars (Khazirs). Hence the Nakhch name of the Dagestan river Koysu (Karakoysu, Kazikumukh Koysu, Avar Koysu, Andean Koysu) G1oi- hi (Khoi-khi, Khona-khi), i.e. the river Khonov. The ethnonym Savir/Sauir can be associated with the Nakhchi name of the Dagestanis Suvri/Suyli - “military people”, “people-army”. N.G. Volkova considers Khonov ancestors not only of the Dagestanis, but also of the Nakhchi (Volkova N.G. Ethnonyms and tribal names of the North Caucasus. M. 1973, p. 130). In Chechnya, on the plane there are also 2 “Khonsky” rivers G1oit1a and G1oi-yist, as well as high in the mountains there is the Khona River, with 2 Khona villages, now abandoned by the Nakhchis and inhabited by the Khevsurs (people of Jewish origin).In the center of the Chechen Plain is the mountain G1uyt1a-korta. Among the Nakhchi there are the “Khoy” and “Gunoy” types, i.e. Khon-Huns. In the Kazbekovsky district of Dagestan there is a village, inhabited by Nakhchi people at the beginning of the last century, with the same name as Nakhchi Gunna - the ancestral nest of the Guna taipa.

The national motto of the Chechens: “Ozhalla, I marcho (Freedom or death!)” is identical to the motto of the Zealot Jews during the Jewish War “freedom or death!”

The Ingush term a'la, ela, a'li ("prince") with the same meaning is present in the language of the Chechens, clearly coming from Semitic. alai, alaini, alu, ilu, el, al - “prince”, “lord”, “master”, “lord”. In its ancient meaning (“lord”, “god”) the word ela (alli) can be found in the theonyms of the Vainakh pagan pantheon - Dela, Sela, Tusholi, Raola, Magal. In his work “On the Origin of the Ethnonyms “Alan” and “GIalgIa” N.D. Kodzoev convincingly etymologizes the ethnonym “Alan” based on the Ingush word “A’la” using the affiliation suffix “n” and, thus, ala+n = Alan - God's, belonging to God. Also, the words “adam” - humanity, “adamash” - people, “ad-malla” - humanity can be considered Hebraisms (cf. Hebrew adam “man, the human race, the totality of people, humanity”, “ am" - people). The sun in Chechen is malkh, which indicates a Semitic rudiment, especially since, like the Semites, Malkh is also a god.

The Ingush were divided into 12 shakhars, cf. 12 tribe of Israel.

The Ingush have preserved the women's saying “So that the Nile swallows you up”!

There were also old devils with stars of David in Chechen cemeteries

True, Chechens do not consider themselves descendants of the Khazars. Only a few, eg. Basayev, recognized the Khazar origin of their people (scientifically, the origin of the Chechens from the Chaldeans and Tats was proven by N. Pantyukhov; some Nakhchi researchers see Pravainakhs in the Arameans and Phoenicians; Dzhambuolat Suleymanera believes that “The facts of Nakhchi-Semitic lexical parallels are obvious and they are extensive”). But it is interesting that just as I consider the Khazars to be Jews evicted from Armenia, so many scientists deduce the ancestors of the Chechens from Urartu (hence the connection of the Nokhchi - the people of Noah, and Noah is connected with Ararat). This opinion was expressed, for example. Arayik Oganesovich Stepanyan. These linguists believe that the Nakh-Dagestan language was formed in the Armenian Highlands. The Vainakhs have much in common with the Urartians in vocabulary and morphology. Whole phrases and sentences Urartian. language coincide with the Nakh ones in content and structure: “Menua-se al-i-e” (Urart.) – “Menua - with ola” (Nakh.) (Cheb. “Ali”) – “Menua speaks”; “Iese ini drank agubi” (Urart.) – “As and apari agna” (nakh.) – “I dug this channel”; “Haldini uli tarai Sarduri - si alie” (Urart.) – “Halada taro (yolu) Sardure olu” (Nakh.) – “Khald speaks to the mighty Sarduri”; “Pili garu Ildaruniani agushi” (Urart.) – “Apari gar Ildaruani ogush do” (nakh.) – “The channel leads a branch (branch) to Ildaruani”, etc. The names of villages in Chechnya also resemble Armenian ones: the village of Khoy is known both there and in Armenia, the name of the Chechen village of Erzi is consonant with the Armenian cities of Alzi, Arzan, Arzni, Erznka and Erzurum. In Chechnya - Shatoi, in Armenia - Shatik, in Chechnya - Kharachoy, in Armenia - Korchay, in Chechnya - Armkhi Arme, in Armenia - Urma, Arkhi, in Chechnya - Targim, in Armenia - Torgom, and here and there there are Gekhi, in Chechnya - Assy, in Armenia - Azzi, etc. The most numerous Chechen teip, Benoy, originates from the “Hurrians,” i.e., apparently, the Armenians.

The very name of the Benoy teip, I think, is connected with the Jewish name Vaan, Baan, hence the region in Armenia Van (according to Orbeli, at the beginning of the 20th century the Van people considered themselves descendants of Jews). A Khazar Jew writes that the Khazars came out of Armenia.

In general, many Vainakh and Armenian words coincide, for example: “bun” - nest, “por” - pregnancy, “tur” - sword, “berd” - fortress, “khazna” - treasure, treasure, “kert” - building, “arch” " - bear, "gaz" - goose, "bud" - duck, "ball" - cherry, "mok" - dark brown, etc.

A number of Chechen historians (S. Dzhamirzaev, S. Umarov, etc.) call Urartu the place of initial residence of their Vainakh ancestors.

Georgian historian of the 9th century. Arsen Safareli talked about how Theodoros Rshtuni, pursuing the Armenian figure Ioan Mayravanetsi, expelled him from the country “he fled towards the Caucasus Mountains. He came to Kombechan and settled in Vayots Dzor (Armenian gorge), where he recruited students for himself and founded a school." According to Georgian sources, Patriarch of Georgia David Garadzheli was forced to speak Armenian in Kombechan. Academician Marr, in his work “Arkaun - the Mongolian name for Christians,” talks about Ishkhanik, the Armenian king of Kombechan. The long proximity of the Armenians of Kombechan with the Vainakhs left their traces in various fields of activity. Prof. Desheriev writes that the names found today in folklore and in echoes of the pagan beliefs of the Vainakhs, such as vishaps, kajis, ajakhs, erd, come from ancient Armenia. The name of the hero of Ingush folklore Kuryuko comes from the Armenian word “kurk” - idol.

The Armenian scientist-encyclopedist of the 6th century. Anania Shirakatsi in “Armenian Geography”, in which the self-name of the Chechens “Nokhchamatyan” - people who speak Chechen - is first mentioned. Where did the medieval scientist have such knowledge of the Vainakh vocabulary? We find the answer to this secret in Geography itself, where in Ch. XI: "The province of Armenia is Fovena, as well as Combisena and Orhisthena. They are on the border with the Caucasus Mountains." He further writes that these provinces, lying north of the river. Kura Between Iberia and Albania, along the river. Alazani to the Caucasus Mountains, ethnic Armenians live and geographically this region is called “Pokr Hayk” - Lesser Armenia. The fact that the southern part of the central Caucasus ridge was considered Armenia was testified by Apollonius of Rhodes, who lived in the 3rd century. BC: “The Phasis (Rioni River) flows from the mountains of Armenia and flows into the sea at Colchis.”

Chechens sometimes call their country Nokhchimokhk (“land of the Nakhs”) - cf. that in the south of Lake Van there was an Armenian principality of Mokk. Armenia is also indicated by the fact that the Dzurdzuks, the distant ancestors of modern Chechens, migrated to the Caucasus from Urartu. Urartian tribes lived on the shores of the lake. Urmia. The city of Durdukka was located there. The tribes that migrated to Transcaucasia were called “Durduks” (Dzurdzuks) after the name of the city. The language they spoke was related to the Vainakh language. Araks - in Chechen Eraskhya, "River of Erov", and eras - Chechen ethnic group.

On the wall of the Ingush tower-fortress Egikal there are signs of Armenian temple writing. In Ingushetia there are ruins of 3 churches. During excavations of one of them, archaeologists found tiles with Armenian letters. In mountainous Ingushetia there is Mount Gai, the Gai River, there are Armenian toponyms such as khacha-kort (cross-peak), khach-ara (cross clearing), the Arm-khi river (originating in Armenia), the Kombnevka river (i.e. flowing from Kombechan). In Ingush legend, the ancestor and founder of 3 powerful tower settlements - Egikal, Khamkhi, Torgim, which are among the most ancient, is considered to be of Armenian origin.

Researcher Gadzhiev, in his book “Down in the Mist,” wrote: “The closeness of the genotype of the Ingush living in the North Caucasus to the genotype of the Armenian people cannot be interpreted as a fact of random coincidence.”

Ossetian poet I. Tsiskarov writes that their family friend Arshak has papers stating that their family goes back to the Armenian kings Arshakids. In Ingushetia the so-called Phrygian cap "Kurkhars", which was the headdress of the free, i.e. unmarried women. Professor of Caucasus studies L.P. wrote about this. Semenov, who noted that kurkhars is not known among other peoples of the North Caucasus and does not mean anything in the Vainakh language. However, the word can be deciphered in Armenian. “Kur” means sister, “khars” means bride.

The Armenian myth about the Milky Way corresponds to a similar Vainakh one. The Vainakhs have a belief about an evil spirit chained in a cave. A similar motive is recorded among the Armenians. The plots of the Armenian legend about “Brave Nazar” and the Ingush “Brave Naznay” are similar.

Both the Khazars and the Armenians (as well as the Kurdish Jews) consider Togarm their ancestor. The ethnonym “Vainakh” is reminiscent of Van (Biaina) - a region of Ancient Armenia (for the Jewish origin of the Vans, see Armenians and Jews, the name itself comes from the Hebrew names Ba'ana or Nukh = Noah). In a document from the 19th century. the following definition is found: “Okochans (a synonym for both Khazars and Chechens. - A.Z.) were the Persian settlers and Armenians who left Persia who settled in the vicinity of the Holy Cross (the Holy Cross is Budyonnovsk, formerly the Khazar city of Madzhar. - A. Z.)". And indeed it, called Surb Khach, was founded by Armenians and Tats. According to Chechen legends, the path of their people came into contact with Armenia: “Said Ali was the ruler of the state of Shama, but Said Ali was violently overthrown. Said Ali with his relatives and followers moved to his cousin, who ruled in Nakhichevan. After a certain time, Said Ali died and was buried in Nakhichevan, and his family headed through the mountains to Abkhazia after the overthrow of the ruler of Nakhichevan. From Abkhazia they moved to Nashi where they settled down to live there. The great-grandson Said Ali had 7 children, the eldest was called Aki, the second was called Beni, and so on.” Shem or Shemara is Sumer, Mesopotamia. Thus, the ancestors of the Chechens first lived in Babylonia, and then moved to Armenia, from where to the North Caucasus. Let us remember, however, that 10 Israeli tribes disappeared in Babylonia, and Movses Khorenatsi writes that they were taken to Armenia. Leonti Mroveli, narrates that: “...the warlike tribes of the Gonni (Honni), expelled by the Chaldeans, came and, begging for land from the ruler of the Bunturks, settled in Zanavi and began to pay tribute to the Bunturks” (Bunturks are the indigenous people of the Caucasus), and because The Huns (Khons) are identified with the Khazars, then these latter came from Babylonia. The name Ashkenazi for Armenians first appears in connection with Jews in Jewish-Khazar correspondence. Finally, Armenian authors also wrote about the eviction of Jews from Armenia by the Persians. Shemeud-din-Dimeshki calls the Khazars Armenians. And the Khazar Jew writes that the ancestors of the Khazars came from Armenia.

Let’s dwell on the ethnonym Ashkenaz, because it unites Armenians and Khazars and Jews, but the word Ashkenaz “ishkuza” is Chechen and means: “they are here”: the first part of the word is ish- (they) Chech., -kuza- (here) Chech.

Still, the origin of the Chechens from Syria or Iraq seems doubtful; it is more plausible to consider Shami as Tarkov’s Shamkhality. That is, the Chechens used to live on the land of the Kumyks (Khazars), but then, perhaps due to the invasion of enemies, they moved to the west. Tarkov's good fellows (Tarkhoin zhima k1ant) are the heroes of the heroic-epic songs (illi) of the Chechens. The self-name of the Chechens “Nakhchoy” means “people of Noah” (the Kumyks, according to Jamalutdin Karabudakhkentli, like the Khazars, traced themselves to the son of Noah - Yaphet and his sons Kamar, Turk and Khazar). According to the “List of Income of Shamkhals” (XIV–XV or XV–XVI centuries), “Michikhich (Chechnya) is entirely the possession (mulk)” of Shamkhal Tarkovsky, the formation of whose possession dates back to 1442, more precisely, “Michikich... was his own inheritance shamkhala". No later than 1582, during the fragmentation of the Shamkhalate, the founder of the Zasulak Kumyk princes, Sultan-Mut, received as his inheritance “all the lands lying between Sudak and Terek, from the lower part of Michikich and the Salatav district to Mount Kerkhi (Kenkhi, Chechnya), which is on the border Gumbet." According to Chechen legends, he was paid tribute by the ancestor of the Chechens, Tinavin-Vis, son of Molkh, who lived in the western mountainous Chechen society Nashkhoi (Nashkha), the son of Molkh, under whom the Chechens settled in the foothills. The Kumyks are known in mountainous Chechnya, part of the Kane-Mokhk society, bordering in the south with the Miaista society, where the father of Tinavin-Visu Molkh or Molkhu lived and from where the Chechens moved to Nashikhe. The same name is repeated in the name of the Keilakh farmstead, now an Ingush village. Alkhasty, located on the left bank of the river. Assa. Their ancestor Honey is considered a descendant of the Shamkhals of Tarkov or someone close to them; he (or his father) came from the plane to the mountains, because did not get along with the Shamkhals. The name Meda is found among the surnames of 3 former Ingush villages: Medarov, Medoev (Medovy) in the village. Targim on the river Asse, Medarov and Medov are among the surnames considered incorporated into the Ingush environment. At the same time, the form Medar, according to the laws of the Vainakh languages, could have been adopted from Turkic. madyr, batyr (hero), and then the Med variant was formed from it. The Kumyk who fled from blood feud was the ancestor of the village residents. Bavloi (BIavla "towers"), who consider themselves a separate clan within the Tierloi teip. According to legend, Chainakh from the village. Gunoy kidnapped the daughter of Shamkhal Tarkovsky, Checha, who after his death moved to the plain and laid it between the rivers. Sunzha and Argun Chechen-Aul, from which the Russian name Nakhchi comes. Turkisms of the Chechen language of Kumyk-Khazar origin. Many Chechen teips are of Kumyk origin, for example Tarkhoi. The presence of the Tarkovites in Ichkeria is indicated by the name of the settlement of Bai-Tarki - Bai-Targu.

Doubts about the Arab origin of the Chechens are further strengthened if we pay attention to the fact that Azerbaijanis, Kabardians, Kumyks and some other peoples of the Caucasus have legends about Arab ancestors from among those close to Magomed, which is clearly related to the adoption of Islam.

The Ingush were called "Jews of the Caucasus".

Nashkh - “mother of Chechen cities.” It is interesting that its name resembles the name of the prince and judge of the Khazar Jews of the tribe of Isachar, according to Eldad ha-Dani - Nachshon (it is important that Nachshon is a judge, because they also went to Nashkh for judgment). In Nashkha almost until midday. XIX century a huge copper cauldron was kept, decorated with longitudinal plates on which the names of indigenous Chechen teips were engraved. The cauldron was sawn into plates on the orders of Imam Shamil, who sought to destroy everything connected with the ancient history of the Chechens, be it towers or ancient letters and manuscripts. In Nashkha, according to legend, the national chronicle was kept - kyoman teptar, telling about the origin of the indigenous Chechen teips, and the national seal - kyoman muhar. Why did Shamil fight against the history of the Chechens? Of course, this can be explained by the fight against the remnants of Christianity, Chechen nationalism (he tried to mix the Nakhchi and Avars into one people), but one can also assume anti-Judaism here - an inveterate anti-Semite, he, as we know, waged a war with the Mountain Jews.

12 tribe-societies come from Nashakh (3 in Ingushetia and 9 in Chechnya), cf. 12 tribes of Israel.

One must think that Mountain Jews in the old days knew about their kinship with the Chechens, for only Jews did not take part in the robbery of Chechen property during the Deportation of 1944. This opinion is confirmed by my correspondence with Mountain Jews from Chechnya, for example, V. Rabaev also hinted in it about what These are the views of Mountain Jews about their kinship with the Chechens and those with the Khazars.

Apparently this is why the Spaniard in Russian service Van Galen, a participant in the Caucasian War, mentions that the Jews, the inhabitants of this village, also fought against the Russians in Enderi.

The ethnonym Ingush (g1alg1ay) comes from the toponym Onguch, vulgarly understood as “a place from which the horizon is visible” (“an” - horizon, “guch” - visible - suffix). But in fact, the name of this toponym is derived from okochir/akachir/akatsir - Khazars. The Ingush have many surnames, the first part of which, Dzhuga, can be understood as “Jew” (Dzhogustovs, Dzhugustovs, Dzhukolaevs, Dzhugutgireevs, Dzhogustievs, Dzhugutkhanovs, etc.). There are also Isupovs, Israilovs, etc., the surname Khanakievs - Khankievs from the name of the holiday Hanukkah? The Medarov family comes from the Alkhazarkov farm (Alkhazurovo/Olkhazur), Urus-Martan district; the surnames Gutseriev, Kozyrev, Khasriev, Khacharoev, Khidirov are derived from “Khazars”, and from “Tata” (Tatas are mountain Jews) - Dadiev, Tatiev, Tataev, Tutaev. The surname Aushev resembles the surname of the royal family of the Khazars - Ashina (“Wolf”).

Among the Ingush, the priest, just like the high priest among the Jews, must be outwardly beautiful, with excellent health, since he serves as a mediator between G-d and people.

On the Ossetian website they write that the Ingush are a people of Chechen-Jewish origin.

On the forums they say that “Ingush and Lamroi are Jews. If you look at the Ingush, they wear hats like Jews.”

The songs of the famous bard Timur Mutsuraev are interesting, saying that 12 thousand (12, that is, the number of tribes of Israel!) Chechens will liberate Jerusalem. I’m not sure, but perhaps the Chechens have preserved some Zionist legends-dreams about Jerusalem (maybe at the subconscious level), which resulted in these songs. In the book “Peoples of Russia. Picturesque Album” (1877) it is written: “The Chechens consider themselves a people chosen by God.” Apparently Jewish influence can also explain the idea of ​​purity of blood among the Chechens.

Many old toponyms in Chechnya and Dagestan are of Jewish-Khazar origin (Aldy-Gelen-Goyty, Alkhazurovo, Dadi Yurt, Dzhuvudag, Dzhugyut-aul, Dzhugyut-bulak, Dzhugyut-kuche, Dzhufut-katta, Gelen-Goyta, Goyskoye, Goyty, Goitl , Goytkh, Kasyr-yurt, Katyr yurt, Kosyr-yurt, Musa, Tatai, Temirgoy, Hazarkala, Hazaryurt, Khazarmaidan, Khozrek, Chizhnakhoy-Goyty, Chuzhnokhoy-Goyty, Malka fortress, Goyta river, Mount Semender, height on the outskirts of Grozny Goiten -court, etc.), for example, – Khazar, the farm was located between the river. Khulkhulua (Khuli) and Dzhalka (Zhalka), the inhabitants were resettled by the Russians to the villages of Greater Chechnya. Roshni-chu, a village 7 km south of the regional center of Urus-Martan, is named based on the Khazar language; in its toponymy there are frequent references to the Khazars.

There are legends about Jews in connection with place names. So about the village of Vasar-khelli (Faranz-khelli) “Faranza settlement” - the ruins of an ancient village in the society of M;aist, next to Puog; and they said that it was attacked by a large army, consisting only of Jews.

“a huge number of places in Chechnya, as well as in Karachay and Balkaria (“Zarashki”, “Zhygyshki” - there is apparently no need to list), have a Jewish component in their names”

The name of the ruins is Meshtaroy (Meshtaroy) “Meshtaroy”, which is on the. Gemara, on l. b. Key-erk, comes from the Hebrew Meshiach (Messiah).

There is Izraili mokhk (Izraili mokhk) “Israel’s possession” - arable land on the southern outskirts of the village of Shircha-Yurta, Izraili khast (Izraili hast) “Israel’s source”, and Izraili p’halgIa (Izrael’s phalga) “Izrael’s forge” - was located within the boundaries of the village of Keshana.

There is a river in Chechnya called Meshi-khi, the name comes from the Hebrew “meshiach”, here “sacred river”.

There is a "Musa's clearing" in Chechnya - Musin kIazha (Musin kazha).

There is an aul called Dzhugurty, whose name is reminiscent of the ethnonym of Mountain Jews “Dzhugur”.

There is also Musin gu (Musin gu) “Mushi Kurgan”.

There are other Judaic toponyms, for example Isrepil togIe Isrepil toge - “Israpila valley”, Israilan khyer (Israilan kher) - “Israilan mill”, Israpalan pyalgIa (Israpalan phalga) “Israpila forge”, Israilan beriyin k;otar (Israilan beriyin kotar ) “Israila children (descendants) farm,” was located in the southeast of Urus-Martan, Israilan kha (Israilan kha) “Israila arable land.”

The village of Ustarkhan (a settlement on the G1oity river, in 1848–49 the inhabitants were evicted from their places and resettled in G1oity and Urus-Martan) is clearly named from Tarkhan - Khazar feudal lord. The name of Derbent in Arabic sources is characteristic - Darband-i Khazaran - “Khazar fortress”, and this name appears at a time when this fortress already belonged to the Arabs.

The gunsmith Bazalay was famous in Chechnya, whose name comes from the name of the Khazar family - b.zl.

And for an outside observer, the similarity is obvious - on the Internet, none of the jingoists doubt the origin of the Chechens from the Khazars. The uprisings of the mountaineers against Russia are reminiscent of the Jewish ones against Rome. And it’s interesting: once upon a time the Arabs, who had fought unsuccessfully against the Khazars for centuries, named one Khazar outpost - Dzharvab - from Arab. dzharys - evil, ferocious - literally “formidable”, and a thousand years later the Russians built a fortress in Chechnya with the same (but of course Russian) name.

Researcher Sergei Blagovolin also counts the modern Vainakhs among the direct descendants of the Khazars.

Based on the above, I concluded that the Chechens are the descendants of the Khazars.

There is another objection - Leontiy Mroveli says that the Dzurdzuks fought with the Khazars. The Vainakhs are considered Dzurdzuks. All this would be wonderful, but alas, there is no evidence that the Dzurdzuks are Vainakhs. Rather, the ethnonym goes back to the Ossetian dudzyk - “stone pit”, “gorge”, from which “durdzuks” were interpreted as “inhabitants of the gorge”. Even if we accept the version that the Dzurdzuks are Vainakhs, then since the chronicle speaks of their conquest by the Khazars, mixing with the conquerors was inevitable.

They can also object to me: “The Chechens say that their forefathers were Kerestans” (Umalat Laudaev), from this others conclude that the Chechens used to profess Christianity. However, the same Laudaev emphasizes that the Chechens “simply call Christians and Jews “kerestan,” that is, “believers in one God, but do not recognize the Prophet Muhammad.” That. the term “Kerestan” also refers to Jews, which means that the statement that the ancestors of the Chechens were “Kerestan” can also be applied to Jews.

Most of the Khazar Jews converted to Islam after the defeat of Khazaria.

Al-Muqaddisi (before 988/9) wrote: “The inhabitants of the city of the Khazars... returned and are no longer Jews, but Muslims.” Islamization occurred due to the fight against the Ghuz - the Khazars turned to Khorezm for help. The Khorezmians agreed to help, but only on the condition that the Khazars converted to Islam. According to the authors of the 13th–14th centuries, not only the people, but even the Kagan himself began to profess Islam. A number of sources preserve vague information about the rebellion of the Khazars and the occupation of their cities by Khorezm punitive detachments.

The Islamization of the Khazar Jews by the Khorezmians is confirmed by Ibn Haukal and Ibn Mishaveyh, whose authority allows us to consider the issue settled. However, other Arab historians, for example Ibn al-Athir, confirm this: “And in this (year) a tribe of Turks attacked the country of the Khazars, and the Khazars turned to the people of Khorezm, but they did not provide help and said: you are infidels, but "If you accept Islam, we will help you. They accepted Islam, excluding their king, and then the people of Khorezm helped them and forced the Turks to abandon them, and after that their king accepted Islam."

However, the forced coercion of mountain Jews to Islam was already practiced in the New Time by Fet-Ali Khan, Nadir Shah, Kazi-Mulla, Shamil and others, and in the Soviet era it was replaced by the inclusion of Jews in the Tats; the leader of the Chechen rebels during the Second World War, Hasan Israilov, called for clearing Chechnya of Jews.

Even according to the data of the first general population census in the Russian Empire in 1897, “Chechens professing Judaism: men - 3, women - 7, a total of 10,” that is, there were still Chechens professing Judaism.

"According to the 1922 census in Chechnya, there were several dozen families of Chechens professing Judaism, living in the northern regions of Chechnya"

However, some part of the Jews survived in the east of the Caucasus under the name of Mountain Jews.

see 830-1020 on this map. the modern territory of residence of the Vainakhs is listed as Empire of The Khazars

Even much earlier, Jews were mentioned in trade with the Chechens, and in the legends of the Chechens themselves, for example about the war of the Jews with Vasar-khelli (Faranz-khelli), about the Jewish princes Surakat and Kagara, etc.

It is difficult to say when Jews settled in Chechnya. In any case, from a letter from a certain Andean “shamkhal” to the Kizlyar commandant A.M. Kuroyedov (April 1782): “And further, [we] received a second letter from you. The mentioned letters contained more than before regarding the return of the serf (kul). However, do not think that the mentioned slave was sold to our people. It was sold by the michigizy (mychykysh) to a Jew (dzhukhudly). (Orazaev G.M.-R. Monuments of Turkic-language business correspondence in Dagestan in the 18th century (Experience in historical and philological research of documents from the Kizlyar Commandant Foundation). Makhachkala, 2002.). Thus, long before Berezovsky, Jews bought captive slaves from Chechens.

By the way, the father of the famous ethnographer, Mountain Jew I. Anisimov, was a subject of Imam Shamil.

There were also Jews around Shamil: Ismikhanov headed the mint and coordinated the economic course, and also acted as an ambassador, Sultan Gorichiev was Shamil’s doctor, and Ann Ulukhanova was his wife (according to another version, she was Armenian).

The Jewish community of Nalchik was founded more than 270 years ago by the ancestors of the Shamilovs, who came from Khasavyurt (formerly Chechen).

The fact that Mountain Jews lived in Chechnya even before the arrival of the Russians is absolutely known from archival sources:

“At the beginning of the 19th century. Uda-Mullah attacked with his gang of predators near Grozny, robbed the property of Jews, 20 people. killed and captured many. This forced the Jews to flee to Grozny, to the Russian fortress and served as the beginning of the founding of the Jewish community in Grozny” (Central Archive 1877).

“On the 11th of Shevat (January 22), 1848,” recalls Rabbi Shimon ben Ephraim, “Shamil and his gangs burst into the village in the dead of night. Many Jews were mercilessly killed right in their beds, others were beaten half to death with whips and sticks, everything was taken away, clothes and supplies that were in their houses were taken away. The children then died of hunger and cold. The boys and girls were taken captive, including my sister and I. They put shackles on us and drove us into the mountains. We were kept in a deep pit for three days and three nights, and then sold to a Muslim, for whom we worked as slaves for a bowl of stew a day” (From the notes of ethnographer I. Cherny).

“Next to the village there was a Jewish settlement. Although Mountain Jews, when they have weapons with them, are braver than their co-religionists in civilized countries, they are still a peaceful, trading people, not accustomed to resorting to weapons and never attack anyone. Therefore, it was easy for Naib Abakar Debir (assistant to the imam) to defeat them. He took away everything they had, burned their houses and took about 80 women and children captive” (From the memoirs of a Russian officer, January 25, 1884).

During the Caucasian War, the Chief Rabbi of the Caucasus, Eliyahu ben Mishael Mizrachi, in a special message called on Jews to assist with all the forces of the Russian army and was awarded by the commander of the Russian troops, Count M.S. Vorontsov medal for faithful service to Russia. Jews served as guides and translators. One of these guides was Aron from Grozny, whom the Chechens kidnapped and tortured for a long time, gradually cutting off his arms and legs.” (From the notes of I. Cherny).

Although there were also Jews who fought with the tsarist troops along with the Chechens, just as there were descendants of Jews who became Chechens who fought for the ChRI against the federals.

In general, many Jewish intellectuals, social activists and journalists supported the Chechen Republic and spoke out in defense of the Chechens, for example Yegor Gaidar, Viktor Shenerovich, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Boris Stomakhin, Nadezhda Banchik, Galina Starovoitova, Konstantin Borovoy, Oleg Mikhilevich and many others. etc.

During the 1st Chechen War, Mountain Jews also died from bombing in Grozny.

It is difficult to say whether Abramov (who at one time was the leader of Chechnya) was a Jew; Lev Rokhlin, who fought against the ChRI, was a Jew - however, he is not a mountain Jew, but a European Jew. Nikolai Pavlovich Koshman was the Chairman of the Government of the Chechen Republic under Zavgaev. At the same time (1996), in the same government, Efim Leonidovich Gelman was the Minister of Public Education.

It is curious that the former President of Chechnya Alu Alkhanov wanted to restore the synagogue

And Ramzan Kadyrov said: “Since the Jews arrived in Chechnya, then everything is in order.” In his response speech, Rabbi Zinovy ​​Kogan proposed reviving the community in Chechnya and building a synagogue. The President of Chechnya stated that he was ready to allocate funds for this mission. The mayor of Grozny also announced his desire to revive the community in a personal conversation with Rabbi Kogan

Thus, it is clear that Jews lived on the territory of Chechnya long before the arrival of the Russians, but due to radicalization they were forced to flee to territories subordinate to the Russians or convert to Islam.

Later, when the Caucasian War ended, many Mountain Jews returned to Chechnya.

The question arises, why do Mountain Jews speak the Tat language?

We know that after the defeat of the Khazars, in 1064, “more than 3 thousand families of kafir-komuks, Khazars penetrate through Derbent into Transcaucasia and settle in the Qakhtan region (in the current territory of Azerbaijan) under the patronage of the Seljuk Sultan.” (Turan O. History of the rule of the Turks. Istanbul, 1993. P. 72).

And later, before the Mongol invasion, at the invitation of Khorezmshah, 200 thousand North Caucasian Cumans (Khazars) moved to Transcaucasia.

In the second half of the 13th century. The Ilkhanids, the Mongol khans who ruled vast territories from the Caucasus to the Persian Gulf and from Afghanistan to the deserts of Syria, turned Azerbaijan into the central region of their empire.

The religious tolerance of the early Ilkhanid Buddhists attracted many Jews to Azerbaijan. The first minister of Arghun Khan (1284–91), the Jew Sa'd ad-Dawla, actually directed the entire internal and foreign policy of the Ilkhanid state. The Jew Muhazzim ad-Dawla was the head of the administration of Tabriz, and the Jew Labid ben Abi-r-Rabi' headed the administration system of the entire Azerbaijan. Later, the Jew Rashid ad-Din (a famous historian, author of the "Collected Chronicles", in Persian) became vizier in 1298 (executed in 1318).

Ibn-Haukal (976-977) says that when the Russians devastated the Khazar city of Samandar (Tarki-Makhachkala), the inhabitants of the latter fled along with the inhabitants of Atel (the new Khazar capital on the Volga), among whom there were many Jews, to Derbent."

Later, Mountain Jews fled from Dagestan to Azerbaijan (to Cuba, etc.).

So, in 1722, the ruler of the Guba Khanate Fat-Ali Khan generously allowed Jews who fled from Dagestan to settle on the western bank of the Gudial-chay river near the city of Guba, and thus the village of Krasnaya Sloboda was formed

So it was not from Azerbaijan that Mountain Jews initially came to the North Caucasus, but, on the contrary, to tolerant Azerbaijan. More precisely, such migrations in both directions happened more than once.

Previously, on the territory of Azerbaijan, and especially Absheron, the population was more Tato-speaking.

Therefore, we can put forward a hypothesis that Mountain Jews became Tato-speaking, so to speak, for the second time, as a result of settling in Iran and Azerbaijan.

Thus, in my opinion, Mountain Jews once upon a time, apparently from Iran or Central Asia, moved to Khazaria (that is, to Chechnya and the adjacent part of Dagestan).

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