The Council of the Teips of Ingushetia said that statements by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov ignite interethnic discord.
The elders called Kadyrov’s recent speech uninspiring and unreasonable. Relations between the Ingush and Chechen peoples have recently been put to the test, and under such circumstances any provocations are inadmissible. The message to the two peoples, the Teip Council has published on its YouTube channel.
«The border agreement signed in 2018 by the heads of the two republics was a sensitive blow. This agreement grossly violated the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Ingushetia, as well as centuries-old Vainakh customs and traditions of resolving disputes through dialogue and on the basis of mutual respect for the interests of both sides,» the appeal reads.
Chechen officials have repeatedly stated that they are ready for dialogue with the Ingush side on the border problem, the elders stressed. According to them, they also stated that if the Ingush side provides evidence of the validity of their position, the Chechen side is ready to return the lands unreasonably transferred to them under the 2018 agreement.
«In this regard, at the World Congress of the Ingush people on October 30, 2018, a nationwide commission was established to consider issues related to the definition of the territory and borders of Ingushetia. On July 7, 2021, the said commission submitted its report,» the elders said.
The commission believes that Ingushetia, as the legal successor of the former ChIASSR, has the right to receive an additional part of the land in the Naursky and Shelkovsky districts, as it was given to resettle Chechens and Ingush returning from exile, they added.
«Alim and Imams of Ingushetia have concluded that the actions of the signatories of the 2018 border agreement on the part of Ingushetia are in flagrant violation of the basic principles and norms of Islam and Shariah,» they said.
The elders recalled that the report was sent to the Chechen side four months ago with a proposal to form a bilateral public commission to discuss and fairly resolve the issue of the border between the two regions. The Teip Council stressed that so far the Ingush people have not received any response or any intelligible response to their proposal.
«However, the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, in a rude and cynical manner made threats and insults against the Ingush people on Chechen television,» the elders said.
The Teypov council considers such behaviour unbecoming of a Muslim and a Caucasian man, much less the head of a subject.
«Any attempt to intimidate the Ingush and talk to us from a position of strength is doomed to fail. At the same time, such ill-considered actions can lead to a complication of the already difficult situation in the region, and the responsibility for such consequences lies with the leadership of the Chechen Republic.
The elders called on the residents of the two republics not to succumb to this kind of provocation and to refrain from actions and words that could lead to complications in the situation.
«In the current situation we declare that the people of Ingushetia intend to resolve the border issue on the basis of Sharia law after the Chechen side abandons its policy of threats and insults, and is ready for a fair resolution of the problem,» the teyp council concluded.
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov threatened during a field meeting in the Galanchozhsky district that he would take back the land given to Ingushetia by Dzhokhar Dudayev [former president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria] if the Ingush do not calm down. According to him, the agreement on setting the border between Ingushetia and Chechnya in 2018. — a fraternal favour.
Kadyrov’s speech came three days after Ingush residents held a spontaneous assembly in the village of Galashki, demanding an end to the situation. This is how they reacted to the Fortanga riverbed being changed by Chechen road builders, without consulting the local authorities.
Fortanga had earlier published a report with the main provisions on the boundaries and territory of Ingushetia prepared by the Nationwide Commission on the Boundaries and Territory of the Republic formed by the World Congress of the Ingush People on October 30, 2018. And in July 2021 the Teyp Council sent a document to the leaders of Chechnya and Ingushetia. In this work, cartographic materials and documents from the collections of the State Archive of the Republic of Ingushetia, from the Rosreestr and other state organizations and departments were used. According to the authors of the report, the document confirms that the territory of the Republic of Ingushetia transferred in 2018 under the agreement between the U-B. Yevkurov and R. Kadyrov of the Chechen Republic is an integral part of the Republic of Ingushetia.
