According to preliminary data, Bibilov, who won the presidential elections in South Ossetia, announced the desire of the people to return to the Russian Federation.
According to preliminary data, the Speaker of the Parliament of South Ossetia Anatoly Bibilov wins the first round of the presidential elections. According to the head of the CEC of the republic, Bella Plieva, referring to the preliminary results of the CEC, according to preliminary data, Bibilov is gaining 57.98%, the current president Leonid Tibilov 30%, Alan Gagloev 11.01%. A total of 77 polling stations were opened, five of them in Russia. The overall turnout was 81%. To win, a candidate must receive more than 50% of the votes.
In addition to the election of the head of the republic, a referendum on the renaming of the republic was also held. According to Bella Plieva, giving South Ossetia the equivalent name "State of Alania" was supported by 78% of voters. The final results of the referendum will be summed up within five days.
Despite the fact that between the leaders of the presidential race, the Speaker of the Parliament of South Ossetia Anatoly Bibilov and the current head of the republic Leonid Tibilov there was no fundamental political difference, but some intrigue still remained, the president of the Foundation for the Unity of the Russian and Georgian Peoples is sure Vladimir Khomeriki. According to the interlocutor of Kolokol Rossii, over the short history of independence, leaders have changed quite often in the republic, all this suggests that the majority of its inhabitants are dissatisfied with the isolation of the international situation.
“If you do not compare status, temperament and character, as well as a slight difference in political views, there is practically no fundamental difference between Bibilov and Tibilov. Moreover, Ossetian society is for the most part united and fully oriented towards integration with Russia. Therefore, the Ossetian people will continue to choose their leader, who will be fully focused on the Russian Federation,” the expert explained.
New President Anatoly Bibilov assured that relations with the Russian Federation could not undergo any changes for the worse. On the contrary, we will increase them. According to him, "the agreement that we signed with the Russian Federation, of course, will be implemented and integration into the Russian Federation will go on."
The only thing that can change in the republic after the elections is
renewal of the personnel of the country's leadership, believes the coordinator of the working group of the Center for the Study of Central Asia and the Caucasus of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Skakov. According to the expert, those personnel that were under Tibilov were largely inherited from the former president Eduard Kokoity, apparently, will be replaced, and this is only good, because one cannot be in power for too long.
“The political leadership of the republic has very close relations with Moscow, where there are no fundamental contradictions. At the same time, today in the republic there is no longer such a thing as clans, which a few years ago were actively fighting among themselves. The past elections and referendum betrayed a more distinct structure of statehood. Earlier, there was tension between the Russian Federation and the republic related to the misuse of subsidized funds allocated by the Russian Federation to South Ossetia, but today the corruption component has been minimized as much as possible,” the expert noted.
“The referendum on renaming South Ossetia into the Republic of Alania is a more significant political event in the history of the republic than the presidential elections. The renaming will be another step towards rapprochement in order to prepare a motivational platform for reunification with the Russian Federation and further away from Georgia. Today, the ground is being gradually prepared for the unification of the same-root brothers - the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania and the Republic of South Ossetia-Alania, so we can finally put an end to the issue of returning the republic to Georgia. The renaming will only strengthen the motivational part of the population for joining the Russian Federation, ”the interlocutor of the publication explained.
In turn, as RIA Novosti was told by Anatoly Bibilov, the leader in the presidential elections in the republic, Tskhinval will continue to discuss with Moscow the prospects for holding a referendum on South Ossetia's accession to Russia.
Bibilov spoke about this referendum earlier in his capacity as speaker of parliament. According to him, "there is a certain agreement between him and President Tibilov, which requires careful consultation with Russian colleagues, because this directly concerns Russia." Bibilov noted that Russian law allows this, but it still depends on the current international situation.
As for the position of the Georgian society, there is also complete unity regarding the territorial integrity of the country, and all elections and referendums held will never be recognized even with the slightest reservations. In the opinion of David Purtskhvanidze, the Georgian side will try to spread information into the international community. by Geneva or some other format. However, this will not move the territorial conflict off the dead center because of the principled position of Tbilisi, which does not want to conduct a direct dialogue with the authorities of the republics it has not recognized, but only limits itself to protest statements.
“The chances of resolving the territorial dispute through various forms were quite real a few years ago, in particular, using the confederation scheme, but the Ossetians and Abkhazians lost faith in international negotiation platforms, which turned into a common farce, with considerable financial costs. For several years, about 40 meetings were held in the Geneva format, for which about 5 million dollars were spent, while the result from such meetings is zero,” the expert explained.
Integration between Russia and South Ossetia is in full swing. Thus, the majority of residents of South Ossetia are Russian citizens, they have the appropriate rights, there are programs to raise wages and pensions to the level of the Russian Federation. Former President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin instructed the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, after reaching an agreement with South Ossetia, to sign an agreement on the entry of individual units of the country's armed forces into the RF Armed Forces.
But whether the idea of joining the republic to the Russian Federation is relevant for the Russian leadership remains a big question.
Anatoly Molchanov
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Firstly, these are the presidential elections in the republic, scheduled for April 2017, secondly, a referendum on joining Russia, and thirdly, a referendum on renaming the state. While there is no certainty about when the last two events will be held. Speaker of Parliament Anatoly Bibilov and president Leonid Tibilov after a series of discussions, they came to the conclusion that the plebiscite on joining the Russian Federation should take place after the election of the head of the partially recognized state.
Fruits of Georgian influence
But even less is known about the renaming of South Ossetia. This project was announced by Leonid Tibilov almost a year ago. During a conversation with journalists, he said that the renaming would point out to the world the problem of a divided people, that is, the problem of Ossetians forced to live in two different states. “I will instruct the relevant services and make an offer to parliamentarians to consider this issue. The whole world should know that there is a problem of a divided people,” the President said in December last year. Everyone liked the idea, and they began to talk about it in both Ossetias. Almost no one had any doubts that the people would unanimously vote “yes” as a result of such a referendum.
What is the reason for such confidence? The point is historical and linguistic aspects. The word "Ossetia" came into Russian from Georgian, in which the territory where the Alans lived ( Ossetian ancestors — Auth.) in the period after the Mongol conquests, was called "Oseti". “The name arose in certain circumstances due to the fact that Alania in Georgian is called “Oseti”, and the Alans are called “axes”, both today and two thousand years ago - exactly the same. And this Georgian tradition was transferred into the Russian official practice by Georgian emigrants in Russia, who worked in the Russian administration as translators, civilian and military officials, ”says the Ossetian scientist, Doctor of Historical Sciences Ruslan Bzarov. Once in the Russian language, this name has spread throughout the world. Among the Ossetian intelligentsia, there have long been disputes over the “restoration of historical justice”, that is, the introduction of the word “Alania” into wide use as a name for Ossetia. In Soviet times, no serious attempts were made in this direction. Such a practice did not exist at all.
However, tensions often arose on the ground related to the policy of the leadership of the Georgian SSR, which included South Ossetia. Tbilisi adhered to aggressive methods of introducing the Georgian component into the life of the Ossetians. So talk about Alania at that time could be perceived as anti-government.
But times have changed, and as a result of the geopolitical shock caused by the collapse of the USSR, South Ossetia gained de facto independence, although at that time, however, no one recognized it. Sovereignty had to be repaid at a terrible price - the republic became truly independent from Georgia only after the war of 1991-1992.
Unsuccessful efforts
In the wake of the rise in self-consciousness as a result of a decisive break with Georgia, talk began about renaming the state. Under the first head of independent South Ossetia Thorese Kulumbegove the idea did not become particularly popular, because although hostilities ceased to be intense, they continued sluggishly, and any minor incident could start another mass bloodshed. But after some time the situation returned to normal, and now the leadership of the republic began to think not only about the defense capability of their country, but also about other vital things.
The supreme power in the country passed to Ludwig Chibirov, under him, the story began with the renaming, which to this day has not ended. The first persons of the unrecognized country began to pay more and more attention to the fact that the state should be rid of the name of Georgian origin. The North Ossetian colleagues took the first steps in this direction - they added the word "Alania" to the former name of their republic. One of the first to speak at the parliamentary level about the need to follow the “brotherly example” was a politician Kazbek Chelekhsaty, at that time part of the highest legislative body. In the 90s, this idea was supported by another prominent politician Vyacheslav Gobozov, who currently holds the post of Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Republic of South Ossetia. “I am one of those people who have been pushing for this renaming since the presidency of Ludwig Chibirov,” says Gobozov. He succeeded and, apparently, continues to achieve. But until recently, all these efforts had no effect - the idea "died" and began to slowly become covered with dust in the minds of those in power. A couple of times, some forces tried to resurrect the project. Even the local clergy got involved in 2003: they delivered a message to the people. But the priests were powerless. Ten years later, a well-known journalist in Ossetia Robert Kulumbegov publishes a material in which he calls for calling Ossetia Alania as soon as possible. The article is sharply critical and ends with an argument substantiating the entire authority of his appeal: “After all, the name of our country must have historical roots, and we must carry a self-name, and not be a tracing paper from a document written by some embassy clerk from the words of a Georgian emigrant.” The priests and the press were powerless. Who is destined to move all this off the ground? The answer is simple - to Leonid Tibilov.
delayed action readiness
His announcement on December 28 last year inspired many to reactivate this key toponymic issue. Later, Tibilov, speaking on February 19, 2016 with a message to the people and parliament, confirmed his intentions to initiate the process of renaming the state. Thus, having duplicated his message, the president finally convinced everyone of the reality of the project.
The aforementioned Gobozov spoke again, who, like everyone else, connects the renaming with the restoration of historical justice. But then one question arose - how exactly to name the republic? Leonid Tibilov proposed a variant, which was compiled by analogy with the name of the North Ossetian republic - South Ossetia-Alania. Other politicians began to propose alternative names. Someone cited the State of Israel as an example and insisted on the correctness of the wording "State of Alania". Others even want to do without the addition of "Alania", instead, in their opinion, the self-name "Iryston" is best suited.
Local journalists, realizing that there are disagreements, organized a social survey, offering three options: the Republic of Alania, the Republic of South Alania and the Republic of South Ossetia-Alania. Out of almost three thousand respondents, the absolute majority chose the first option - 61%, the second place went to the last option - 24.6%, the rest preferred the second name.
In general, the people were ready to vote for real. But after such loud statements, the president suddenly stopped demonstrating his participation in the project. He said that the event should take place in the near future, that is, in 2016, but it did not work out. Leonid Tibilov, apparently, went headlong into other things. He stopped talking about it, and gave evasive answers to relevant questions, devoid of any specifics. So in early August, he visited the camp for schoolchildren and university students "Alania-2016". During a meeting with students, he was asked the question - when are we going to rename the country? Leonid Kharitonovich replied that work is underway, we are getting ready. And that's all.
Many people are not satisfied with this slowness. Vyacheslav Gobozov argues that there is no way to postpone the procedure - historical justice and the "emotional impulse" that the population should receive will be very useful for the country.
The expectations of the patriots are easily explained, however, it is necessary to treat the arguments of President Tibilov with understanding. Renaming is not an exclusively domestic political issue. This procedure will also affect North Ossetia. If a partially recognized state chooses for itself a name that will completely lack "Georgian influence", then this will raise the issue of renaming before the North Ossetian legislators. Since there is no South Ossetia, then there should be no North. The problem of a divided people will no longer appear so clearly on the political map. But at one time in Vladikavkaz, the first persons of the republic for this very reason retained the phrase "North Ossetia" before the new name "Alania". Leonid Tibilov understands all this, which is why he proposed the option "South Ossetia-Alania" - in this case, there will be no controversial issues, and Vladikavkaz colleagues will not be forced to rack their brains over how to rectify the situation.
But preliminary polls show that the population prefers to call their country the Republic of Alania. What remains for Tibilov? Look for political solutions, that's why he pulls. However, there is information that the relevant referendum may be held in parallel with the upcoming presidential elections, but the question that will be put to the population has not yet been formulated.
Historical competition between the peoples of the Caucasus for the Alanian heritage reaches a new level
At the beginning of this year, a long-term discussion about which peoples in the North Caucasus can claim the status of direct descendants of the Alans and the Alanian kingdom received a new impetus.
Tibilov's initiative
This impulse is due to the fact that the President of South Ossetia, Leonid Tibilov, signed a decree on holding a referendum on renaming the Republic of South Ossetia into the Republic of South Ossetia - the State of Alania. The referendum will be held on April 9 - simultaneously with the presidential elections.
Historians of South Ossetia have repeatedly stressed the need for such a renaming. Because in South and North Ossetia they are convinced of the inevitability of the unification of the two Ossetian republics. And the renaming of Alania is seen in Tskhivanl and Vladikavkaz as an important step towards this goal.
However, we previously wrote in detail that this initiative is not unambiguously perceived by everyone in South Ossetia itself. Because some residents believe that in this way Leonid Tibilov gains political points before the elections and distracts the population from the more real and difficult problems of the republic.
In addition, such initiatives of the Ossetians meet with a dull rejection from other peoples of the Caucasus. We already wrote earlier about the course of a long-standing discussion between the three peoples of the North Caucasus about who owns the Alanian heritage - the Ossetians, the Ingush or the Karachay-Balkarians.
Historical competition
Recall that the medieval kingdom of Alania existed in the Caucasus from the beginning of the 1st millennium to the middle of the 14th century, until it fell under the invasion of the Mongols. The history of its emergence and flourishing occupies the minds of not only scientists, but also a huge number of public figures, bloggers and activists in the Caucasus.
Since many want to be considered the heirs of one of the most ancient and powerful states of the Caucasus. That is why, three peoples of the Caucasus at once - Ossetians, Karachay-Balkarians and Ingush claim to be considered the descendants of the legendary kingdom.
It so happened that the Ossetians in this dispute managed to achieve more politically. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was the Ossetians who in 1995 added the word Alania to the name of their republic of North Ossetia.
Having staked out the Alanian brand in other cultural and political niches, the Ossetians managed to ensure that the majority of Russians began to steadily associate with the heritage of the ancient Alans precisely modern Ossetians, as descendants of the ancient Iranian-speaking people.
Alanian relay race of the Caucasus
However, other peoples of the Caucasus claiming the Alanian heritage have succeeded a lot. So, in 1998, the Ingush authorities managed to assign the name Magas to the new capital of Ingushetia, founded four years earlier.
This decision was with a distant historical and political sight. Since Magas is the name of the capital of the ancient Alanian kingdom. So, according to the medieval author al-Masudi, “the capital of the kingdom of the Alans is called Ma’as, which means piety.”
However, the Karachay-Balkarians living in two neighboring republics of the Caucasus, Karachay-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria, still had their say in this dispute.
Due to the multinational nature of the republics of their residence, the Karachays and Balkars could not, like the Ossetians and Ingush living in mono-ethnic republics, secure the Alanian heritage for themselves by political decisions.
However, throughout this period, the Karachays and Balkars called their native language Alan among themselves, and called themselves Alans. However, this did not in any way fix the Alanian heritage of the Karachay-Balkarians in the minds of the other peoples of the Caucasus.
Karachay protest
However, in November 2014, a very representative International Scientific Conference "Ethnogenesis, History, Language and Culture of the Karachay-Balkarian people" was held in Moscow on the basis of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
As a result of the conference, many articles, interviews, programs and stories were published. The main purpose for which this Conference was convened was to confirm the thesis of 1959 by the linguist Umar Aliyev about the Alanian origin of the Karachay-Balkarians.
In North Ossetia, the reaction to these claims of the Ingush and Karachay-Balkarians to the Alanian heritage is ambiguous: some believe that the neighbors of the Ossetian people are making attempts to rewrite history, while others see nothing shameful in the fact that the neighbors want to identify themselves with the ancestors of the Ossetians.
And then, against the backdrop of Tskhinval's preparations for a historic referendum for South Ossetia on renaming the republic to Alania, Karachai public figures protested against such an initiative and sent a letter of warning to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The leadership of the Congress of the Karachay People emphasizes that the very renaming of South Ossetia into Alania contradicts historical facts, threatens that this initiative will cause tension in the Caucasus in interethnic relations and even in the international sphere, as happened in the case of the Republic of Macedonia.
At the same time, it is also clear why the letter of protest was sent to Moscow, and not to Tskhinval. Since all political processes in South Ossetia are closely supervised by the Kremlin and the Russian White House. This fact was emphasized once again by the recent visit of Vladislav Surkov, aide to the President of Russia, to Tskhinval.
Boris Semenov
The authorities of South Ossetia are trying to rename it Alania, playing on pro-Russian sentiments, although the territory of the republic was not included in the historical borders of Alania, Caucasian experts told the "Caucasian Knot". They believe that Ossetians are the direct descendants of the Alans, and Ingush and Chechen researchers called the claims to the Alanian heritage unfounded.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 28, 2015, President of South Ossetia Leonid Tibilov proposed to rename it Alania. In November 2016, Tibilov's administration announced numerous appeals from local residents in support of this idea. The referendum on renaming South Ossetia into the State of Alania is scheduled for April 9 and will be held on the same day as the presidential elections.
About the borders of ancient Alanya
Caucasian scholars and historians interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent agreed that the historical borders of Alania passed through the modern territories of southern Russia, without affecting South Ossetia.
The historical area of the Alans' settlement was in the Central Caucasus, modern Karachay-Cherkessia and North Ossetia, where "ancient temples and other evidence of the presence of the Alans have been preserved," a senior researcher at the Center for Caucasian Problems at MGIMO told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent Akhmet Yarlykapov .
Associate Professor at the Higher School of Economics Andrey Vinogradov in turn, he described the borders of historical Alania as follows: "they passed through the south of the Krasnodar Territory, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, the south of Stavropol, North Ossetia and, probably, part of Ingushetia."
However, it is impossible to accurately depict the real borders of historical Alania, says the head of the Department of the Peoples of the Caucasus at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, professor at Moscow State University Sergey Arutyunov .
"In the work of" Ossetians "(B. Kaloev, Nauka, 2004) there are more or less reliable maps of historical Alania. Nobody drew a real map that would have been created at the time when Alania existed, and the borders are drawn according to archaeological data. Some the northern border is drawn along the river Don, and there are reasons for this.During the periods of greatest distribution, the Alans partially controlled the territory in the basin of the river Don. "Don" is the word for a river in the modern Ossetian language and, of course, in both Scythian and in the Alanian languages, the river generally sounded like "don," Arutyunov explained to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
According to Akhmet Yarlykapov, the initiative to rename South Ossetia into Alania is connected with the hopes of the leaders of the republic to become part of Russia.
"I think that I want to unify the name of the two Ossetian republics and thus once again emphasize that this is actually one republic, one people, and they should be part of Russia. I'm not sure that Russia is delighted with this idea, and I'm not sure that there are direct instructions from Moscow. Rather, these are internal hopes, and the moods are known: the majority of the population would like to be part of the Russian Federation, "the scientist stated.
Andrei Vinogradov, in turn, linked this initiative with an attempt to reformat the boundaries of historical Alanya.
“I don’t delve into South Ossetian politics, but the obvious goal seems to me to be the desire to identify this territory as anciently belonging to the Alans, which is not confirmed by sources. Moreover, South Ossetian researchers who worked on this issue, for example, Togoshvili, directly say that Ossetians appear on territory of modern South Ossetia not earlier than the 13th century," Vinogradov said.
March 5 Vladikavkaz youth took to the rally against the initiative to rename Ingushetia . This happened after the A petition from St. Petersburg resident Alikhan Tsoroev was published on the Change.org platform calling for "Rename the current Republic of Ingushetia into the Republic of Alania", which has so far collected 2,018 signatures. The authorities of Ingushetia and North Ossetia have stated that there is no talk of renaming. The head of North Ossetia, Vyacheslav Bitarov, demanded to find the organizers of the rally, while he himself was present at the rally - according to the official version, in order to prevent an escalation.
The main evidence of the belonging of the ethnic group to the Alans is the language
Historical science as a whole quite unambiguously refers the Ossetians to the descendants of the Alans, Caucasian scholars believe.
"Assumptions that the Ossetians are the descendants of the Alans are based on the language. This is the Eastern Iranian language, and the Alans were Iranian-speaking. Therefore, the Ossetians are their direct descendants," Akhmet Yarlykapov said.
At the same time, according to him, there is still a lot of controversy around this issue, and "there are a lot of other assumptions."
Andrey Vinogradov classified the South Ossetians as "immigrants from the North Caucasus to the territory of Georgia", where they arrived "at the invitation of the Georgian kings in the 13th century, after the Mongol invasion".
"As for the North Ossetians, they are closer to the Alans primarily in terms of language, because they have preserved the Iranian language of the Alans," he confirmed.
This can be judged, in particular, by the Zelenchukskaya Inscription (X century) and by marks in one manuscript, which is kept in St. Petersburg.
"As for religion, some of the Ossetians retained Christianity, and some converted to Islam, like other Caucasian peoples. As for anthropology and genetics, the Ossetians are the same descendants of the Alans as the Balkars and Karachais," he told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. Vinogradov.
The question of the language spoken by the Alans remains debatable, Sergei Arutyunov stressed.
"Of course, it is indisputable that the largest part of the Alans spoke the language of the East Iranian group, although this is not the east, but rather the northwest in relation to Iran, and these languages are related to the current Ossetian. They are common in the east of the Iranian area, in this language is spoken by the Pamir peoples, the Yaghnobis in Tajikistan, it is also the ancient Scythian language, spoken by the Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans and modern Ossetians. absolutely identical, because over time, languages changed, broke up into dialects," Arutyunov explained.
The scientist also admits that part of the Alans spoke the Turkic language.
"Some argue that the Scythians mostly spoke Turkic, but this is an exaggeration, but some could speak, it is quite possible. Very often the significance of this is exaggerated. Turkic scientists who themselves speak Turkic, especially Balkar, Karachai scientists in the Caucasus, tend to attribute the Alans mainly to the Turks," the researcher noted.
After the publication of a petition to rename Ingushetia to Alaniaon the Change.org platform, another petition - with a demand to rename the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania into the Republic of Alania. "It's time to throw off this alien name - "Ossetians" and find our true name -" Alans ". Attempts to rename Ossetia into Alania have been made since 1992, but we must become the generation that will complete this sacred work and put an end to historical misunderstandings," wrote the author petitions , which has collected 6,337 signatures so far.
The Ingush became one of the numerous heirs of the Alanian culture
In cultural terms, the Ingush undoubtedly inherited the customs of the Alans, Sergei Arutyunov believes.
"The cultural heritage of the Alans is preserved to some extent by the Ingush today. Yes, culturally, all the peoples of the North Caucasus somehow inherited something from the Alans," he said.
At the same time, according to him, the peoples of Western Europe inherited no less.
"In France, 30 cities have the root "Alan" in their name, the largest is Alencon. The word "Catalonia" contains the name of the Goths and Alans. There was an Alanian presence in North Africa. There are scientists who see the Alanian heritage along with the Celtic in the legend of the knights of the round table and King Arthur, and these are not fantasies, these are serious scientific research. The Alans left their mark not only in the Caucasus, where Ossetians are their direct descendants," the researcher emphasized.
According to Arutyunov, the name "Republic of North Ossetia-Alania" is "not a speculation, but a real reflection of a historical fact." After the defeat of Great Alania by the Mongols, the only surviving fragment of it was preserved in North Ossetia, he explained.
"In addition, the Alans were also known under the name "Assy" or "Yassy". In ancient Russian sources you will find only the word "Yassy, Yasyn", meaning, of course, the Alans. And "Yashshag" is an area inhabited by the Alans, is still available in Hungary, although no one remembers the language there," he said.
Arutyunov clarified that in the late Middle Ages, a language close to Ossetian was still heard among part of the Hungarian population.
"And I would say that the entire European, knightly tradition of weapons and customs largely go back to the Alanian military traditions," he added.
As for the peoples inhabiting the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia, for example, the Abkhazians left such a particle of the Alanian heritage as the Nart epic.
"These are rather fairy tales than epic. But the fact that the Nart epic was one of the pillars of Alanian culture is undoubted. The Circassians, Kabardians have preserved it no less, partly even the Chechens have it. The North Caucasus is very the territory is motley in terms of languages, but the culture in general is national variations of a generally very common, powerful culture, largely continuing the Alanian path," Arutyunov explained.
The claim to the Alanian heritage for any region is a matter of involvement in the great history, Andrei Vinogradov believes.
"The Alans were one of the most powerful peoples in the North Caucasus in the Middle Ages, and their name is a sign of prestige, as they had a cultural impact on all the peoples of the North Caucasus, including through the Nart epic, assimilated not only by the Alan peoples of the North Caucasus" , the researcher noted.
In the course of their thousand-year dwelling in the North Caucasus, he continued, the Alans inevitably included a part of the Nakh tribes: Chechens, Ingush, Kists.
“They conquered them, and the Nakh component was present in them. We know that in the territory of Ingushetia there are burials attributed to the Alans, although material culture is far from always associated with ethnic identity,” Andrey Vinogradov noted.
He believes that the actions of the Ingush leadership are seen as a desire to claim the prestigious name of the Alans, as happened "with the construction of the new city of Magas, at a time when the location of the ancient Magas is unknown."
Modern Magas built from 1996 to 1998. By decision of the first President of the Republic Ruslana Aushev the city on the site of the capital of medieval Alanya was erected specifically in order to become instead of Nazran is the new capital of Ingushetia.
The language and architecture of the Ingush have no direct connection with the Alan
The Ingush, according to Sergei Arutyunov, can hardly lay claim to the heritage of the Alans in the North Caucasus.
"The Ingush speak one of the Nakh-Dagestan languages, and these languages are spoken by the indigenous peoples of Dagestan, in addition to the Kumyks and Nogais, Chechens and Ingush. Obviously, they are related to the Urartu-Khurik languages, and cuneiform inscriptions remained on it. Again, the degree The closeness of Chechen and Urartian is very often exaggerated for political purposes, but there is undoubtedly closeness, kinship. However, this is a completely different group of languages, with a different system, ideology, with a different system of thinking reflected in the language, "Arutyunov said.
The historian calls attempts to interpret the encountered Alanian inscriptions in one of the Nakh languages "near-scientific".
“There are some Chechen scholars who are trying to interpret the few inscriptions that have come down to us from the Alanian language as inscriptions in one of the Nakh languages or a language close to Nakh. However, there is no scientific basis for this,” he stressed.
Despite the fragmentary nature of these inscriptions, there is no doubt that they were written in a language close to modern Ossetian and thus belonging to the Eastern Iranian group of languages, Arutyunov is sure.
"Serious linguists do not do this. And here, rather, we are talking about pseudo-scientific authors trying to substantiate political speculations with linguistic data. So, let's say, with which languages the Sumerian language was not linked, but these are not scientific, but pseudo-scientific speculations," Sergey concluded Arutyunov.
Architectural evidence also speaks of a different, non-Alanian origin of the temples on the territory of modern Ingushetia, Andrei Vinogradov believes.
"The Alans absorbed part of the Nakh population, and Alanian burial grounds are found on the territory of Ingushetia. However, if we even look at Christianity in the territory of Ingushetia, it is not at all the same as that of the Alans, who adopted it from Byzantium through Abkhazia, but of a completely different type, which especially manifested in the architecture that came from the territory of Georgia," Vinogradov said.
Recall that the Georgian authorities have already opposed the renaming of South Ossetia, regarding the holding of a referendum in the republic as an attack on Georgia's state sovereignty.
The speaker of parliament Anatoly Bibilov, the KGB officer Alan Gagloev and the incumbent head of the republic Leonid Tibilov are running for the presidency of South Ossetia. It was he who repeatedly initiated the referendum.
Therefore, voters will also have to answer yes or no to the question of whether they agree with the amendment to Part 1 of Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Ossetia as follows: “The Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania – is a sovereign democratic state created as a result of self-determination of the people of the Republic of South Ossetia . The names "Republic of South Ossetia" and "State of Alania" are equivalent.
- President of South Ossetia Leonid Tibilov
- RIA News
According to Leonid Tibilov, he made the decision to hold a referendum "guided by the desire of the people of the Republic of South Ossetia to restore the ancient name of their state as an integral part of the cultural and historical heritage and their identity."
On April 7, Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze and the US State Department condemned the holding of the referendum, calling it illegitimate.
Right to Alanya
Alans are Iranian-speaking nomadic tribes of Scythian-Sarmatian origin. The unification of the Alanian and Caucasian tribes led to the emergence of the kingdom of Alania, which existed in the 1st-14th centuries and fell under the invasion of the Tatar-Mongols. Historically, Alania was the name of the territory occupied today by Ingushetia, Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria, partly by Dagestan and North Ossetia.
So, in the fall of 1994, the Republic of North Ossetia added the word "Alania" to its name.
In 1998, the authorities of Ingushetia assigned the name Magas to the new capital, founded in 1994, the same as the capital of historical Alania. According to the Ingush, a new city was built in its place.
In 2015, at the initiative of the mayor of Magas, Beslan Tsechoev, the triumphal arch "Alan Gates" was erected. At its official opening, the head of the republic, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, noted: “Alan Gates” should serve as a reminder of the glorious history of the people, our ancestors.”
- Arch "Alan Gates" at the entrance to the city of Magas
- RIA News
At the end of February 2017, a petition was published on the Change.org website "Rename the current Republic of Ingushetia into the Republic of Alania."
The reaction from the Ossetian society was not long in coming. On March 5, in the capital of North Ossetia, Vladikavkaz, about 500 people protested against the renaming of Ingushetia. Yunus-Bek Yevkurov assured the Ossetians in response that there was no talk of renaming Ingushetia into Alania.
Claims to the Alanian inheritance and Karachay-Cherkessia. Here are the preserved monuments of the Alanian period - the complex of Zelenchuk temples near the village of Arkhyz. Karachays are convinced that the capital Magas was located there, and not on the lands of modern Ingushetia. In February 2017, the Karachays even turned to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a request to prevent the renaming of South Ossetia into Alania, as this "fundamentally contradicts the real facts of history."
History and political context
Interestingly, from a historical point of view, most likely, everyone is right: the ancestors of Ossetians, Ingush, and Karachay-Balkarians were part of the Alans tribal union, which became the basis for the formation of the influential Alanian kingdom. Both the republics within Russia and the partially recognized independent state of South Ossetia want to be the true heirs of Alania.
“Historically, it was believed that the legacy of the Alans is the only ancient state that existed in the North Caucasus, which has a certain powerful and warlike image. Of course, many peoples would like to adopt such a legacy of their ancestors, ”political scientist Evgeny Krutikov, a specialist in the problems of the Caucasus, emphasized in an interview with RT.
In his opinion, for South Ossetia, a change of name could really become a turning point in its history: “The question is not only in linguistics, but in the fact that the president who is elected could produce a new economic recovery program, relying on his own strength. All this can be presented as the creation of a new Alanian state.
There are many examples when countries renamed themselves for ideological reasons, the expert continues.
“Of course, the majority of people will vote for emotions on emotions, without going into the political component. People are annoyed by the very word "Ossetia", because it is of Georgian origin. And so they can already say: “We are building a new state - Alania,” said Evgeny Krutikov.
Political scientist, member of the expert council of the Ministry of Nationalities of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania Igor Dulaev adds that, most likely, this will be followed by the expansion of economic cooperation between Russia and South Ossetia, the deepening of partnership in the defense sector.
