Congress of the Nogais on June 14th. From the Horde to unification: what the congress of the Nogai people revealed

On June 14, 2017, an extraordinary congress was held in the regional center of the Nogai district of Dagestan in the village of Terekli-Mekteb.

The Nogais are an indigenous people in Dagestan, among the other 14 officially recognized in the republic.

Reference:

Mostly Nogais live in the North Caucasus and the South Volga region. In Dagestan, they live in the Nogai, Tarumovsky, Kizlyarsky and Babayurtovsky districts. There are slightly more than 40 thousand of them in the republic. More than 22 thousand Nogais live in the Stavropol Territory, primarily in the Neftekumsky District, a little more than 15 thousand people live in the Nogai District of Karachay-Cherkessia, a little over 3 thousand people live in the north of the Shelkovsky District in Chechnya, and about 7 thousand people live in the Astrakhan Region. . human.

According to the results of the All-Russian census of 2010, there were more than 103 thousand Nogais throughout the country. Thus, the largest part of this ethnic group lives in Dagestan.

The congress was attended by representatives of almost all villages where the Nogais live compactly. Its holding was a response to the decree of the government of Dagestan dated May 11, 2017. The republican authorities decided to create new settlements from the settlements of the inhabitants of mountainous Dagestan, who use the lands of the Nogais for transhumance.

According to a government document, out of 900,000 hectares of local farmland, about 600,000 hectares fall on the lands of transhumance. Regional legislation prohibits the privatization of these lands, and only the government of Dagestan has the right to lease them.

In a conversation with Kavkaz.Realii, Rustam Adilgereev, one of the organizers of the congress in Terekli-Mekteb, noted that the decision of the Dagestan government to legalize distant pastures for settlements forced all Nogais to unite. According to the activist, the situation in the Nogai region of Dagestan always causes a huge response among all Nogais wherever they live, as they perceive these lands as their small homeland. According to Adilgereev, the problem arose after the collapse of the USSR, when the republican government adopted a law on the status of pasture lands in Dagestan.

The Nogai activist believes that "the official Makhachkala wants to create the impression that we Nogais are against those who have been living here for decades. This is completely untrue, since we have long considered those who live here as our brothers. There is no basis here for interethnic conflicts. We have known each other for a long time, we respect and help, we share what we have with each other. They, from there from Makhachkala, cannot understand how we live here."

In his opinion, the problem lies in the fact that people living in the Nogai district, for some reason, pay taxes not to the district budget. The Nogais demand that this be changed so that all residents of the district, without exception, pay taxes to the budget of the Nogai district.

A well-known expert Akhmet Yarlykapov, in an interview with Kavkaz.Realii, noted that the convening of the congress was caused by the anxiety of the Nogais that it was decided to transfer two-thirds of their lands to the legalization of settlements illegally created by migrants from the mountainous regions of the republic.

The Nogais are worried about the possible mass migration from the mountains to the flat lands after the legalization of settlements. Under the migration pressure of the highlanders, the Nogais may become a minority in their historical lands, Nogai activists say.

In his circulation addressed to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, the participants of the congress pointed out that the Nogais demanded compliance with the law and respect for their rights. The appeal says that the Nogai people are not against other peoples, on the contrary, they lived in full harmony, live and will live with everyone, and welcomes natural migration, but they want to preserve their historical homeland for posterity.

How the Tatars were called for help in distant Dagestan

Today, the Congress of the Nogai people will be held in Dagestan. And this kurultai is going on an emergency basis. Activists of the people who do not have their own autonomy are trying to involve the Tatars in their problems, a group from Kazan also went to the congress in Dagestan. The fact is that representatives of this Turkic people, related to the Tatars, are afraid of the consequences of the decision of the regional government to legalize the settlements located in the three districts of the republic where the Nogais live. The well-known historian and ethnographer Akhmet Yarlykapov, who is one of the brightest representatives of the Nogais, explains in his column written for Realnoe Vremya what such an initiative threatens the whole nation.

Controversial document, strange decision

Nogais all over Russia were stirred up by a document that spread like lightning across all social networks and instant messengers at the end of May. This document stated that on May 11, 2017, at a meeting on the implementation of land reform in Dagestan under the leadership of the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Republic of Dagestan B.Z. Omarov, it was decided to start measures to legalize the settlements that arose on the former lands of distant pastures used by farms in mountainous regions.

Despite the fact that this problem concerns the whole of Dagestan, the protocol dealt with only three districts in which Russians and Nogais live compactly: Nogai, Tarumovsky and Kizlyarsky. In the last two areas, due to the uncontrolled migration of the mountain population, the Nogais and Russians have long become a minority. And only in the Nogai region, the Nogais still form a formal majority.

The ill-conceived policy of the Dagestan authorities leads to the fact that the Nogai steppe is gradually turning into a desert. Photo dagmo.ru

In order to understand the scale of what they are going to do with the land, for example, in the Nogai region, let's look at the numbers. The former lands of distant pastures, which have been transferred to the category of state lands, make up 600 thousand hectares out of 887 thousand hectares in the Nogai region, which is no less than 2/3 of the region's land. The Nogais understand that the legalization of illegal settlements on these lands with the transfer of land to them will deprive the indigenous people themselves of the opportunity to dispose of their lands. That is why the Nogais demand to stop the so-called "reform" and listen to their opinion.

The Nogais unanimously opposed the plunder of their native steppe. They want to be heard

Nogai steppe is dying

At the round table held in Moscow on June 9, 2017, the experts present there unanimously expressed the idea that such actions of the republican authorities contradict federal laws and are an attempt to legitimize the consequences of illegal actions that were carried out with the full connivance of the regional authorities. Experts drew attention to the fact that manipulations with the land on which the Nogais have lived since ancient times are carried out without the knowledge of the local population.

In addition, the ill-conceived policy of the Dagestan authorities leads to the fact that the Nogai steppe is gradually turning into a desert. The fact is that with the collapse of the collective farms in the mountains, distant-pasture animal husbandry also ceased, but the lands allotted for distant-pasture animal husbandry, for some reason, remained in the use of mountainous regions. If in the 1950s the share of degraded lands in the Nogai region was about 7-8%, then in the 1990s their share increased 10 times - up to 70%!

This is due to the fact that the pastures in the Nogai steppe are under enormous pressure, when cattle graze there in numbers several times higher than all norms. And with the collapse of the USSR, transhumant animal husbandry stopped - only this does not mean that livestock was driven back to the mountains, it is simply grazed in the steppe all year round, because of which the steppe no longer has the opportunity to recover and deserts at an appalling rate.

Hear the nogais!

On June 14, 2017, in the center of the Nogai district of the Republic of Dagestan, the village of Terekli-Mekteb, the All-Russian Congress of the Nogai people will be held, which will be attended by Nogais from all regions in which they live.

On June 14, in the center of the Nogai region of the Republic of Dagestan, the village of Terekli-Mekteb, the All-Russian Congress of the Nogai people will be held. Photo dgom.ru

It so happened that the Nogais do not have autonomy, and they are settled quite widely. This is a legacy of their nomadic past, tragic history and modern economic problems, which have led to the fact that over the past 20 years, a third of the people found themselves outside their native places, mainly in large cities of Russia and in the Russian North. They do not have any resources, in all the subjects in which the Nogais live, they are a minority.

In this sense, they are the most vulnerable people, who have only one opportunity to convey their opinion about what is happening, to gather and express themselves. The Nogais unanimously opposed the plunder of their native steppe. The Nogais today want to be heard.

Akhmet Yarlykapov

Reference

Akhmet Aminovich Yarlykapov- Russian historian, ethnographer, Islamic scholar. Candidate of Historical Sciences. Senior Research Fellow at MGIMO University.

Born in 1970 in with. Terekli-Mekteb of the Dagestan ASSR.
In 1995 he graduated from the history department of the Rostov State University.
In 1999 he defended his PhD thesis

Congress will be held

which will discuss the plans of the government of Dagestan to wean territories densely populated by Nogais, as well as the environmental problem on the lands of distant pastures. The organizer of the congress is an initiative group of representatives of the Nogai community of the region.

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 decisions taken by the republican authorities fundamentally contradict the Strategy of the state national policy in the Russian Federation, approved by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin No. 1666 of December 19, 2012. economic catastrophe in the Nogai region of the republic.

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 the socio-cultural potential of the local population.

The Nogai people demand that the authorities of Dagestan abandon their plans for an illegal land reform, since it is aimed at seizing the lands of the traditional residence of the Nogais. In connection with the current situation in the Nogai region of Dagestan, the All-Russian Congress of the Nogai people is planned. It will be attended by Nogais from different parts of the country, political and public figures, media representatives, residents of the region. These days, in all regions where the Nogais live, meetings are being held to prepare for the All-Russian Congress of the Nogai people.

Congress will be held June 14 at 10.00 at the stadium in the village of Terekli-Mekteb, Nogai district of Dagestan.

Contact phone numbers:

For the organization of the congress - 89640139456, 89121665414, 8 9285236144, 89280337012

For media relations - 8 9285236144

KAVPOLIT Author of the article

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 take away territories densely populated by the Nogais, as well as the environmental problem on the lands of transhumance. 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

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 the 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 of the Nogais as a divided people is also formed. 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 between the Volga and the Urals, their rulers occupied a pro-Russian policy and became subject to the 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 Nogays lived in the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans, where they settled mainly in Romania and Bulgaria. However, after the 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, part of the Crimean-Khan Nogais were resettled on the Crimean peninsula, when it became clear to the Crimean khans that the continental part of the Khanate would be conquered by Russia. So, the Nogais settled in the steppe (northern) part of the Crimea. Usually, people who are not familiar with the Crimean Tatar people mistakenly perceive the Crimean Tatars as a single ethnic group, everything is much more complicated. The Crimean Tatar people is a nation that has developed from three ethnic groups - Nogai (steppe) Tatars, mountain (central) Tatars-Tats and seaside (yalyboilu). 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 Nogai were the main military force 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 the Nogais of the North Caucasus and Siberia began to be recognized as 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 the greatest problems, to which the 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 master Makhachkala, but leave for the northern regions of Russia, for higher education, the Nogais also mainly go to other regions of Russia than to Makhachkala, and the almost complete absence of Nogais in the Dagestan elite does not leave chances for the economic development of the 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, the general situation in the North Caucasus is forcing the Nogais to move to the Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs of the Tyumen Region in industrial, oil-producing areas (New Urengoy, the village of Fedorovsky).

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, it is a separate administrative unit with a population of more than 10 thousand and at the same time there is no significant Nogai presence in it. Among the Nogai activists, they are considering the option that the republican authorities will want to create a new district at the expense of the lands of the Nogai district. 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 unleash an 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 Nogai, another problem is the preservation of the native language and identity in order to avoid assimilation. Only in two constituent entities of the Russian Federation is the Nogai language 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.