After a week of headaches, the Boston Marathon bombers were identified yesterday as brothers Dzokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Tamerian was killed in a shootout with the Boston PD before being run over by his brother who was trying to escape. Dzokhar is still on the run.
The brothers have been in the U.S. since 2001, according to their uncle, but they are originally from Chechnya, Russia. The region is also known as the Chechen Republic, where people are referred to as Chechen.
Here are some quick facts you need to know about Checnya:
SIZE:
The republic of Chechnya is no bigger than the state of Connecticut, occupies just 0.1% of Russia’s total land mass. Its people represent just 0.77% percent of the country’s population. Yet Chechnya somehow manages to be the cause of a disproportionate amount of headaches.
REPUTATION:
Checnya is known as Russia’s most volatile region [“a mountainous thorn in Russia’s side” according to an old article].
PEOPLE:
The people of Checnya have been mainly Muslim since the 18th century.
FOOD:
The food Chechens eat is both extremely unusual and exotic – the most common dishes are djepelgesh [for breakfast and lunch] and galnish for dinner.
CONFLICT:
Chechnya has a longstanding conflict with basically the rest of Russia:
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Chechen-Ingush ASSR was split into two: the Republic of Ingushetia and the Chechen Republic. The latter proclaimed the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, which sought independence. Following the First Chechen War with Russia, Chechnya gained de facto independence as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Russian federal control was restored during the Second Chechen War. Since then there has been a systematic reconstruction and rebuilding process, though sporadic fighting continues in the mountains and southern regions of the republic. (wikipedia)
In March 2007, Ramzan Kadyrov became president and by March 2009, Russia said the situation in Chechnya had normalized/improved to such extent that it felt able to end its military operation against the rebels. Sporadic attacks by separatists continue, however, including a triple suicide bombing in Grozny that killed six people in August 2011.
For a more detailed account of the region’s conflicts with Russia, click here.
