Residents of the Nogai region of Dagestan voiced an appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the people's congress.
Appeal of the delegates of the Congress of the Nogai people to the President of the Russian Federation Putin V.V. (text of appeal):
Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!
We, representatives of the Nogai people living in various regions of Russia, are concerned about the current situation in the Nogai region of Dagestan.
On June 14, the All-Russian Congress of the Nogai people was held in the Nogai region of Dagestan in connection with the aggravated land issue related to the plans of the government of Dagestan to seize territories compact living Nogais, as well as ecological problem on pasture lands. More than 6 thousand representatives of the Nogai people from Dagestan, Stavropol, Chechnya, Karachay-Cherkessia, Astrakhan Region, Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs took part in the congress
May 11, 2017 in Makhachkala under the leadership of the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Republic of Dagestan Omarov B.Z. a meeting was held on the implementation of land reform. According to the protocol, in three districts of the republic, including Nogai, new settlements should appear, formed on the lands of transhumant animal husbandry (HLS), which are in the use of farms in a number of districts of Nagorno-Dagestan.
With this decision, the authorities of Dagestan deprive the Nogai, Russian, Kumyk peoples of guarantees for the preservation of their territories of compact residence. The authorities forcibly alienate the lands of these peoples and transfer them to the inhabitants of unauthorized settlements that illegally emerged on the lands of distant pastures.
The Nogai people express their concern about the aggravation of the land issue in the Nogai region of the Republic of Dagestan and believe that land reform is being carried out in socially dangerous and illegal forms.
The Nogai region of Dagestan is the center of Nogai culture and an "oasis" of the native Nogai language. The events taking place on its territory excite not only local residents, but affect the interests of the Nogais throughout Russia. All complex and problematic issues must be resolved, first of all, in the interests of preserving the traditional heritage and socio-cultural potential of the local population.
The Nogais have repeatedly applied to all authorities of the republican region, but apart from complete disregard for their legitimate demands, they received nothing in response. The last straw that overflowed the patience of the Nogai people was an attempt to seize the lands of the Nogai region without agreement with representatives of the municipality of the Nogai people.
How is the mobilization of the Nogais. On the congress and the division of the people.
The fate of the Nogai people is unique and dramatic in its own way. People with a once-wide area of residence today scattered into small enclaves from Turkey to the Russian North. Such a fate made him vulnerable , because the Nogais are almost nowhere represented as a titular people, and where they are formally represented, noticeably inferior to neighboring peoples in protecting their interests.
This was also shown by the last All-Russian Congress of the Nogai people, which brought together representatives from different regions of Dagestan and regions of Russia. The geography of the congress is really amazing, and these are not some diasporas (although they were also present, for example, from Moscow), but representatives of villages and entire regions in which Nogais mainly live. How did it happen that the Nogais today are scattered across different regions of Russia, and why is there such a zealous defense of the Nogai region in Dagestan?
From Istanbul to Kazakhstan
The formation of the Nogai people began as part of the Golden Horde at the end of the 14th century under Ulubi Edigei, the ruler of the Mangyt yurt, who made a great contribution to the independence of the Mangyt yurt, from which the Nogai Horde was formed after the collapse of the Golden Horde. The process of separating the Nogais from the Golden Horde, and then from the khanates, was complicated by the fact that the representatives of the dynasty of Nogai biys (princes) were not descendants of Genghis Khan, and therefore could not have a khan title (such a system operated throughout the former Mongol Empire, for example, Tamerlane could not to receive the title of khan and therefore was called emir), which always made them lower in rank than any khan. For this reason, the Nogai Horde, starting from the middle of the 15th century, was forced to adhere to vassal (at least formally) relations with khan dynasties, between which the Nogai biys maneuvered.
In the 16th century, the Nogai Horde became more independent, its relations with the Astrakhan and Crimean Khanates can hardly be called relations of vassal and suzerain, but more like allied ones. In the same period, fragmentation within the Nogai Horde escalated, the descendants of Edigey tried to pursue an independent policy from each other, the gradual disintegration of the Horde began, and the struggle for the title of biy of the Nogai Horde became more and more aggravated.
In the middle of the 16th century, the Nogai Horde finally split into three parts - the Great and Small Nogai Hordes, as well as the Altyul Horde.
With the collapse of the Nogai Horde into three parts, the further fate Nogais as a divided people. The Nogais of the Altyul Horde, who lived on the territory of modern Western Kazakhstan (the Younger Zhuz), in the 17th century fell under the rule of the Kalmyks, and then the Kazakhs, which predetermined their assimilation into the Kazakh environment.
The Great Nogai Horde roamed in the interfluve of the Volga and the Urals, their rulers occupied a pro-Russian policy and passed into citizenship Russian state. Like the Altyul Horde, the Great Nogai Horde ceased to exist under the onslaught of the Kalmyks, and the Russian lands were also attacked by the Kalmyks. Due to the lack of proper assistance from the Russians to the Big Nogai, the remnants of the Great Nogai Horde went into the possession of the Crimean Khanate.
Map of the Crimean Khanate
The Lesser Nogai Horde came under the control of the Crimean Khan and settled in the Kuban, the biys of the Lesser Nogais take an active part in the politics of the Crimean khans, including in the struggle for succession to the throne. Small Nogai become the main force of the Crimean khans in the Western Caucasus. After the defeat of the Big Nogai Horde by the Kalmyks, the remnants of the Big Nogai go to the Small Nogai and merge into their composition. The Crimean Kuban of the Small Nogays was conquered by Russia together with the Crimea in 1783. The Kuban Nogai did not accept the annexation of the Crimea and started an uprising in 1783, but in the autumn of that year the uprising was brutally suppressed, the remnants of the Nogai hordes were resettled in the Eastern Caspian region, where the Nogais still live to this day.
In 2014, the Nogai people of Russia were replenished with Crimean Tatar Nogais, whose history largely predetermined the further area of the people.
In the Crimean Khanate, the Nogais lived in the Kuban and in southern Ukraine, thus constituting the main military stronghold of the state. It was from among the Nogai that the army of the Khanate consisted in campaigns in the Transcaucasus and the Balkans, and it was with the loss of the continental possessions in which the Nogai lived that the decline of the Crimean Khanate began.
After the Crimean Khanate lost its continental possessions, the Nogai, who lived from the Kuban to Moldova, began to move to the foothills of the Caucasus and to the Ottoman Empire, and after the fall of the Crimea, the Kuban Nogai were resettled to the Caspian Sea.
At first, the Nogai lived in Ottoman Empire was in the Balkans, where they settled mainly in Romania and Bulgaria. However, after Russian-Turkish wars, when Russia achieved the independence of Romania, Bulgaria and other Balkan countries, the Nogais continued their migration south until they moved to Anatolia. Only a small part of the Nogais still live in Romania in the Dobruja region, while the majority of the former Ottoman Nogais today live in the Turkish provinces of Eskisehir, Ankara, Gazientep and other provinces. Both in Romania and Turkey, the Nogais remain under the threat of assimilation, but in our time, the Nogays of Turkey are actively establishing contacts with Russian Nogais and Crimean Tatars, and their separation from the Turkish masses is becoming more and more distinct.
The Nogais also remained in the Crimea; So, the Nogais settled in the steppe (northern) part of the Crimea. Usually, people who are little acquainted with the Crimean Tatar people mistakenly perceive Crimean Tatars as a single ethnic group, everything is much more complicated. The Crimean Tatar people is a nation formed of three ethnic groups- Nogai (steppe) Tatars, mountain (central) Tatars-Tats and seaside (yalyboylu). Despite the common self-name, dialects of each ethnic group are preserved among the Crimean Tatars.
But if the coastal and mountain Tatars do not have significant isolation in identity, then the Crimean Nogai establish contacts with their North Caucasian tribesmen, who are interested in restoring the Nogai identity of the Crimean Nogai.
On the territory of Kazakhstan, the inhabitants of the Nogai Horde became part of the Kazakh people, but even today the sub-ethnos of the Nogai-Kazakhs stands out, whose identity for the Nogai-Kazakhs themselves is ambiguous. To be considered a Kazakh family or part of the Nogai people - now this issue is increasingly being raised among the Nogai-Kazakhs and more and more attention is paid to the history of the Kazakh Nogai. Today, Russian Nogais are establishing contacts with them, who recognize them as their fellow tribesmen, this contributes to the isolation of the Nogai-Kazakhs, and the relatively close languages of the Kazakhs and Nogais only simplifies the consolidation of the Nogai identity. Nogai-Kazakhs live mainly in Western Kazakhstan.
To the north of them live the Russian Astrakhan Nogai, who in many ways today have become Astrakhan Tatars. Their history goes back to the Astrakhan Khanate, like the history of the Crimean Khanate, the legs were the main military force and in the Astrakhan Khanate. The Astrakhan Khanate had active contacts with the Kazan and Crimean Khanates, and in all cases the Nogai princes played a leading role in this. After the conquest of the Astrakhan Khanate, the decline of the Nogays began in the lower Volga region, there was a partial assimilation and emigration of the Astrakhan Nogays. The tsarist policy assigned the name Tatars to the Nogai, it should be understood that not only the Astrakhan Nogai, but the Nogai as a whole were almost always mentioned in Russian censuses as Tatars (or Nogai Tatars), only in the Soviet era of the Nogai North Caucasus and Siberia began to recognize the Nogais.
The policy of "Tatarization" of the Astrakhan Nogais continued in the Soviet period, until the 1989 census, when the Nogays were first recorded as a people independent from the Astrakhan Tatars. Today, the number of Nogais in the Astrakhan region is approximately 8 thousand people, and Astrakhan Tatars - 60 thousand people. It should be taken into account that the dialect of the Astrakhan Tatars is quite different from the Tatars of Tatarstan, in terms of dialect it is closer to the Nogai language, which only emphasizes their Nogai origin.
On North
The largest area of residence of the Nogais is the North Caucasus, it is here that the majority of Russian Nogais live. The main residence of the Nogais in the Caucasus is in the republics of Dagestan, Chechnya, Karachay-Cherkessia and in the Stavropol Territory. But it is in the main zone of their residence that the Nogais experience biggest problems, to which Nogais from other regions of Russia react. The main problem arose in the Nogai region of Dagestan, most of the region was allocated for distant pasture (lease) to other regions of Dagestan, and according to the decree of the government of Dagestan on land reform, the leased lands of distant pasture should be transferred to the full economy of farmers from mountainous regions. Such a policy of legal theft of land stirred up the Nogai community, which is why the All-Russian Congress of the Nogai people was held on June 14, 2017, condemning the initiative of the republican government.
In the neighborhood of the Nogai district is the Neftekumsk district of the Stavropol Territory, where the Nogais also live compactly, making up 20 percent of the population of the district. The economic life of the Nogais in both areas is traditionally animal husbandry and agriculture, and the Nogais of the village of Sulak in the Republic of Dagestan mainly earn money by fishing, and Nogai villages are also located in Tarumovsky, Kizlyarsky and Babayurtovsky districts. But the very life of the Nogais of Dagestan and the Stavropol Territory remains economically difficult. Living on the outskirts of the republic, young people go to work. Unlike the inhabitants of the mountainous regions and the Kumyk plane, the Dagestan Nogais do not seek to develop Makhachkala, but leave for the northern regions of Russia, for higher education Nogais also mainly go to other regions of Russia than to Makhachkala, and the almost complete absence of Nogais in the Dagestan elite leaves no chance for economic development Nogai region.
Such a socio-economic situation created the prerequisites for the isolation of the Nogais in Dagestan, but at the same time, political life made the Nogais the most vulnerable to the initiatives of the Dagestan elite. The confrontation between the Nogai people and the republican authorities became a catalyst for the idea of secession of the Nogai region from Dagestan, such an idea was voiced at the last congress of the Nogais.
A positive trend developed for the Nogais of Karachay-Cherkessia in 2006, where a referendum was held in 5 Nogai villages on the creation of the Nogai region, and in 2007 the Nogai region was officially created on their territory. Nevertheless general position in the North Caucasus is forcing the Nogais to move to the Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets autonomous regions Tyumen region to industrial, oil-producing regions ( New Urengoy, Fedorovsky village).
Coat of arms of the Nogai region of the KChR
Colonization and border redrawing
The desire of the government of Dagestan to give the lands of distant pastures (HLS) to the natives of mountainous regions in full ownership, probably to create new municipalities and possibly redraw the map of the Nogai region - this is what can blow up the situation in the north of the republic.
The Nogais understand that with their population of less than 19 thousand in the Nogai region, the resettlement of the Ando-Tsez peoples, Avars and Dargins from the mountains, can easily shake the ethnic balance in the region, and then in 10-20 years the name of the region "Nogai" will become a props, and the Nogai the affiliation of the head of the district will already be disputed.
In the city of Yuzhno-Sukhokumsk, around which the Nogai district is located, there is a separate administrative unit with a population of more than 10 thousand and at the same time there is no significant presence of Nogais in it. Among the Nogai activists, they are considering the option that the republican government wants to create new area at the expense of the lands of the Nogai region. According to activists, this will be a lesser evil, since the settlement of the newly formed (conditionally called "South-Sukhokumsky district") of the region will preserve the ethnic balance of the remnants of the Nogai region. But the Nogais do not intend to agree to any of the options; at the congress, they unequivocally stated from the rostrum that the Nogais should be the masters of the Nogai steppe.
Popular mobilization
The policy of the head of Dagestan Ramazan Abdulatipov and the government of Dagestan on the issue of distant pasture lands, pursued with enviable persistence, is increasingly exacerbating the idea of autonomizing the Nogai region and separating it from Dagestan. Given the prevailing socio-economic realities, the Nogais themselves will not feel the negative from the separation of Dagestan, but they will have their own budget, which will not depend on Makhachkala, and the lease of space for transhumance will cease to be an innocent formulation for the colonization of the Nogai region. This means that the inhabitants of kutans (winter camps of shepherds) and illegal settlements will feel the difference.
The fact that Nogai representatives from outside the region came to the congress speaks of the potential that a divided people has and which is increasingly beginning to work for the benefit of its people.
It is necessary to understand the essence of the congress - this event is only to attract attention, popular mobilization, and the main work begins after the congress. Their main task is to rebuff the decision in court, enlist public and political support and promote information war against their opponents.
The regional center Terekli-Mekteb has become a social, cultural and even informally political center of the Nogai people, so it has already gathered around itself the most active Nogai patriots.
Despite the difficult fate, the Nogai people are fighting to preserve themselves and defend their interests. The total number of Nogais in Russia is estimated at just over 100 thousand people, however, taking into account the peoples close to the North Caucasian Nogais, such as the Astrakhan Tatars and the Crimean Nogais, the actual number of Nogais may be twice as large.
The work of Nogai social activists in this direction can bear fruit not only in Russia, there is a potential to revive the Nogai identity among the Kazakh Nogais, another problem is the preservation mother tongue and identity to avoid assimilation. Only two subjects Russian Federation the Nogai language is among the official ones - these are Dagestan and Karachay-Cherkessia, but even here there is a problem of preserving the identity of the people. However, now the main concern of the Nogai social activists is the events in the Nogai region of Dagestan, on which the further fate of the people themselves in Dagestan depends.
The scatteredness of the Nogais across Eurasia, it would seem, is like a curse for the people, but right now the Nogais have a chance to make a trump card out of this.
Participants of the Congress of the Nogai people asked Putin to solve the land problem
As a result of the All-Russian Congress of the Nogai people, which was held on June 14 in the village of Terekli-Mekteb, a resolution and an appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin were adopted. The delegates of the congress declared the unwillingness of the authorities of Dagestan to solve the land problem in the Nogai region and the need for federal authorities to intervene in the current situation.
The "Caucasian Knot" informed that on June 14, the all-Russian congress of the Nogai people was held in the village of Terekli-Mekteb, in which about six thousand delegates from different regions of Russia took part. The congress was organized by an initiative group that announced the aggravation of the land issue associated with the plans of the government of Dagestan to assign the status of settlements to settlements located on the lands of transhumance. According to the residents of the Nogai district of Dagestan, in this way an offensive is being carried out on the territory densely populated by the Nogais.
“We demand to invalidate (cancel) the Law of the Republic of Dagestan dated 09.10.1996 No. 18 “On the status of distant pasture lands in the Republic of Dagestan”, as not complying with federal legislation. We demand that the land of the Nogai region be transferred to local governments in accordance with federal legislation,” the final resolution of the congress says.
The congress delegates demand an inventory and audit of the lands of distant pastures on the territory of the Nogai region and all settlements that have illegally arisen there.
On May 11, 2017, in Makhachkala, the government of Dagestan held a meeting on the implementation of land reform, during which it was decided that in three districts of the republic, including Nogai, new settlements should appear, formed on the lands of transhumance, which are in the use of farms. farms of a number of regions of Nagorno-Dagestan.
The Nogais demand that the state authorities take comprehensive measures to forcibly terminate the rights to use land plots from the lands provided for transhumance, used in violation of their intended purpose. Also, the congress delegates demanded to ensure strict control over compliance with the norms and seasonality of keeping livestock on the lands of transhumance.
“We consider it necessary for the federal authorities to intervene in the current situation, since the conflict is not resolved at the regional level and has reached a dead end; We ask the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin to take the situation under personal control, to accept the leaders of the Nogai people, ”the resolution of the congress says.
Rustam Adilgereev: hope only for the federal government
“A lot of people gathered at the congress, the opinion of so many people should not be ignored. We hope that the authorities will pay attention to our problems, since we do not demand anything illegal, we demand the observance of law and justice,” the chairman of the organizing committee for holding the congress told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. Rustam Adilgereev.
“Our people have no confidence in the republican government, now their only hope is in the federal government, they themselves have recommended themselves that way. Delegate Enali Kapiev spoke here, he is 80 years old. So he said that many times with other representatives of the people they went to the officials of Dagestan. They were even pushed out of the doors, they were not received anywhere. Even if they did, they did not decide anything,” Adilgereev said.
Temirkhan Orazbaev: up to 70% of land in the Nogai district does not belong to the municipality
When the Nogais talk about the Nogai district, they talk about their homeland - the Nogai steppe, said a delegate from Moscow, a lawyer and public figure, during the congress Temirkhan Orazbaev.
“The Nogai steppe and the Nogais are inseparable concepts. The law of the Republic of Dagestan on the status of distant pasture lands establishes the right of ownership of the republic over these lands. That is, the Government of the Republic of Dagestan manages and disposes of these lands, and not the administration of the Nogai region,” Orazbaev explained.
According to him, up to 70% of the land in the Nogai region does not belong to this region.
“Since the Republic of Dagestan is the owner of the lands of distant pastures, land tax is not paid, the Nogai district is deprived of this income ... Uncontrolled round-the-clock grazing, lack of control over tenants of lands of distant pastures leads to an environmental disaster in the Nogai district. Desertification is going on, soil erosion is taking place,” Orazbaev stated.
Nogais are forced to leave the region in search of work, a teacher told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent primary school high school aul Kalinin Nogai district of Dagestan Agaruv Kulunchakova .
“This is our area. We must use our land. There is no work, there is no land, the Nogais leave the region in search of work. They mainly work in the north, they are forced to leave, even if they have a profession and diplomas. My daughter has three diplomas, but she cannot find a job,” said Agaruv Kulunchakova.
Murat Avezov: the authorities of Dagestan do not hear the Nogais
The Nogais have previously raised the land problem in the Nogai district of Dagestan at congresses, a member of the Union of Writers of the Russian Federation, a public figure from the village of Terekli-Mekteb told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent Murat Avezov.
“This congress differs from the previous ones in that representatives of the power structures of the district, deputies of districts and auls, heads of rural administrations participate here. There was no such unity among the Nogais. This suggests that the Nogai understood the deplorable state they were in in the Nogai steppe,” Avezov said.
He added that the authorities of Dagestan do not hear the Nogais. “Therefore, at this congress, we decided to turn to federal center. In our opinion, legislative acts that relate to remote lands are contrary to federal law. Until the land becomes the property of the municipality, everything will continue and worsen,” Avezov added.
“We are indigenous people, and we want to live and work here. If the land problem had been solved, the Nogais would not have left their native lands in search of work, they would have taken up farming, animal husbandry, and vegetable growing. We feel discrimination against our people,” Murat Avezov concluded.
First of all, the Nogais of Dagestan and other regions of Russia raise the land issue, the head of the village of Karagas in the Nogai district of Dagestan told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. Koshmanbet Mamaev.
“The Nogai lands belong to the Nogais from time immemorial. They want to transfer our distant lands to the inhabitants of Nagorno-Dagestan. From the use of these lands, we do not receive taxes in our budget. We are talking about the use of about 600 thousand hectares of land. We demand that our lands be left behind the region,” Mamaev said.
Information about the reaction of the authorities of Dagestan to the statements of the congress participants has not yet been received.
