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Zelimkhan, the most famous Chechen abrek

Abrek^[a] is a North Caucasian term used for a lone North Caucasian warrior living a partisan lifestyle outside power and law and fighting for a just cause. Abreks were irregular soldiers who abandoned all material life, including their family and friends, in order to fight for a just cause, to worship, and to meditate. The term was mostly used by people who struggled against Russian colonialism, mostly a guerrilla struggle during Russian expansion in the North Caucasus in the 19th century. An abrek would renounce any contact with friends and relatives, and then dedicate his life to praying and fighting for justice. Some abreks stole from the rich to give to the poor while others protected Caucasian villages from foreign attacks. The abrek lifestyle included a lonely life in the unexplored wilderness. Later, the majority of abreks became devoted Sufi Muslims. During the Caucasian War, which is divided into the Russo-Circassian War and the Murid War, there was constant raids between Russian and Caucasian settlements.

In Circassian, the word "Abrek" means "brave warrior", and in Chechen, Ingush and Avar it means "avenger". In Russian and in the Ossetian the word abrek (абрек) has the derogatory meaning of "bandit", as the Russians have historically been enemies of the abrek lifestyle.

The word abrek was used in propaganda^{[citation needed]} to label the anti-Russian guerrillas of the North Caucasus after the Caucasian War of 1817-1864, as well as for all illegals. Abreks were popularized as the defenders of the fatherland and as paupers.^{[citation needed]} In their old age, the abreks of the West Caucasus usually devoted themselves to beekeeping. The majority of the East Caucasus abreks were killed in non-stop warfare against the federal army.^{[citation needed]}

Before and even after the establishment of Soviet power in the Caucasus in the 1920s, abreks continued to resist, for the most part in Ingushetia and Chechnya. Abreks provoked the rebellions^{[citation needed]} of 1920-21, 1929–31, 1931-1939, and the last in 1940-44. During the Deportation of the Chechens and Ingush in 1944 several local guerilla groups were formed against Stalinist repression. The most prominent abrek during this period was the Ingush guerilla fighter Akhmed Khuchbarov. The last anti-Soviet Chechen abrek Khasukha Magomadov was killed on 28 March 1956 at the age of 70.^[3]

History

A person who became an abrek was usually a Caucasian, having taken a vow of revenge due to grief, shame or resentment. The newly appeared abrek abandoned his native society and wandered on his own without any companions. From that moment on, there were no more laws for him, and even his own life was not valuable to him, he dedicated his entire existence to fighting for a specific purpose. Therefore, coming across an abrek was considered dangerous. In addition, abreks almost never surrendered, preferring to fight to the death or instead commit suicide if there were no other options left. The primary targets of abreks usually were Cossacks who occupied their lowlands, Russian trade, banking, and mail services, because of the proximity of the Georgian Military Road, a major artery connecting Russia and Georgia.

Russian caucasologist N. Yakovlev, described how the occupation of the native lands by Cossack colonisers and oppression of the Ingush, "turned kind and gentle people into the first abreks of the Caucasus, fighting for their place in the Sun".^[4]

The Russian view on the abreks is that they were simply mountain bandits and outlaws; however, they were depicted as men of honor by some Russian authors. The locals view is that they were heroes of valor, much like Robin Hood. As Moshe Gammer points out in his book Lone Wolf and Bear, Soviet ideology fell somewhere in between the two views―and notably, one such abrek, Zelimkhan, was made a Chechen hero.^[5]

Notes

^ Adyghe: Абрэдж, romanized: Abredzh; Chechen: Обарг, romanized: Obarg; Ingush: Эба́рг, romanized: Ebarg; Ossetian: Абырæг, romanized: Abyräg; Russian: Абрек

References

^ Греков, Б. Д.; Институт Истории СССР (2001). "Исторические записки" [Historical notes]. Istoricheskie Zapiski (in Russian) (122). Москва: Наука: 183.
^ Burbank, Jane; Hagen, Mark von; Anatolyi, Remnev, eds. (2007). Russian Empire: Space, People, Power, 1700-1930. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 258. ISBN 9780253219114.
^ (in Russian) (Link flagged by anti-virus protection, 8/19/2021) Khasukha Magomadov bio Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
^ Yakovlev 1925, pp. 6–7.
^ Gammer, Moshe. Lone Wolf and Bear. Page 117.