Akhmad Kadyrov

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Akhmad Kadyrov
Ахмат Кадыров
Къадири Ахьмад
President of the Chechen Republic
In office
5 October 2003 – 9 May 2004
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded bySergey Abramov (acting)
Alu Alkhanov
Head of the Administration of the Chechen Republic
Interim office, Interim Head of State and Government
In office
12 June 2000[1] – 4 October 2003
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Himself (as President)
Mufti of the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Chechen Republic
In office
1994/95–2000
Personal details
Born(1951-08-23)23 August 1951
Cleric
Awards
Military service
Allegiance
Battles/warsFirst Chechen War
Second Chechen War

Akhmat-Khadzhi Abdulkhamidovich Kadyrov

President of the Chechen Republic
from 5 October 2003, having acted as head of administration since July 2000.

On 9 May 2004, he was assassinated by Chechen Islamists in

President of the Chechen Republic
.

Early life

Akhmad Abdulkhamidovich Kadyrov was born in

Shalinsky District[3] of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR. In 1980, he started studying Islam at Mir-i Arab Madrasah in Bukhara, and followed by studying at Islamic University in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, from 1982 to 1986. In the early 1990s, he returned to Chechnya, and founded the Islamic Institute in the village of Kurchaloy.[4]

Following the Chechen declaration of independence, he became a supporter of the president Dzhokhar Dudayev. Kadyrov fought prominently in the First Chechen War on the Chechen side as a militia commander.[5] In 1995, he was appointed Chief Mufti of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and correspondingly Chairperson of the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of the Chechen Republic. Following the outbreak of violence between Moscow and Chechen separatists, Kadyrov declared that "There are a million Chechens, and 150 million Russians. If every Chechen kills 150 Russians, we will win."[6]

Second Chechen War

Kadyrov and Vladimir Putin at a meeting in 2002

While the first war was mainly fought for nationalism, after the de facto independence of Chechnya, much of the Chechen forces by 1999 were jihadists, such as the

Chechen Mujahideen. Kadyrov, as Chief Mufti, was critical of Wahhabism
, to which many of the foreign fighters adhered.

Early in 1999, Kadyrov gave a speech before the armed militia telling them that the nation was behind them, that the recent outbreak of violence was the fault of Christian and foreign involvement, and that they should continue on fighting with persistence and trust.[7]

But by the autumn of 1999, Kadyrov – a leading figure in the resistance movement – decided to abandon the insurgency and offered his support to the Russian federal forces in the Second Chechen War.[8] Aslan Maskhadov immediately fired him from the Chief Mufti chair, although this decree was never accepted by Kadyrov, who abdicated himself a few months later due to his civilian chairman career. According to James Hughes, Kadyrov's U-turn may have been motivated partly by personal ambition and partly by a concern with the desperate condition of the Chechen population, and was also driven by a fear of the growing sectarian Wahhabi influence on the insurgency.[9]

After the Russian forces seized control over Chechnya in June 2000, Kadyrov was appointed head of the administration of the Chechen Republic by the Russian president Vladimir Putin, an interim transitional office until a Constitution is applied, which was the predecessor office to the future office of the President of the Chechen Republic.[1] On 5 October 2003, he was elected the first President of the Chechen Republic. In this position, he remained mainly pro-Moscow. He also advocated numerous amnesty campaigns for former rebel fighters, who were allowed to join Chechen police and loyalist militia forces if they surrendered. His chief personal bodyguard was Movladi Baisarov. Reportedly, there were at least a dozen assassination attempts against him before the final one.

Personal life

Kadyrov had four children, two daughters (Zargan and Zulay) and two sons. His eldest son, Zelimkhan Kadyrov, died on 31 May 2004.[10] His younger son, Ramzan Kadyrov, led his father's militia and was appointed prime minister and president of Chechnya in March 2007.

Death and legacy

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Ramzan Kadyrov at the grave of Akhmad Kadyrov in June 2012

On 9 May 2004,

Colonel General Valery Baranov, the commander of Russian forces in Chechnya, who lost a leg in the explosion. The bomb was said to have been built into the concrete of a supporting column during recent repairs. The Islamist Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev later claimed that he had paid $50,000 for the attack.[13]

Both the Akhmad Kadyrov Mosque in Grozny, and the Akhmad Haji Kadyrov Mosque in the village of Abu Ghosh in Israel are named after him.[14]

On 7 June 2017, the football club Terek Grozny was renamed to Akhmat Grozny in Kadyrov's honour.[15]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Russian: Ахмат-Хаджи Абдулхамидович Кадыров, romanizedAkhmat-Khadzhi Abdulkhamidovich Kadyrov
    Chechen: Къадири Ӏабдулхьамидан кӀант Ахьмад-Хьажи, romanized: Q̇adiri Jabdulẋamidan khant Aẋmad-Ẋaƶi

References

  1. ^ a b Russia appoints Chechen leader, BBC News, 12 June 2000
  2. .
  3. ^ Traynor, Ian (10 May 2004). "Akhmad Kadyrov". The Guardian.
  4. ^ ""Любить народ, бояться Всевышнего": интересные факты о жизни Ахмата-Хаджи Кадырова". ИА Чечня Сегодня (in Russian).
  5. .
  6. ^ The High Cost of Job Security Archived 21 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine, The Moscow Times, 8 September 2006
  7. ^ Ahmad Kadyrov 1999 speech (with English translation, posted by Islamists, YouTube)
  8. (Google Books)
  9. .
  10. ^ Eldest Son Of Akhmad Kadyrov Dies, The Jamestown Foundation, 2 June 2004
  11. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  12. ^ Bodyguards foil assassination of Chechen leader: report Archived 5 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine, AFP, 29 July 2008
  13. ^ "$50,000 Bounty in Chechen Blood Feud". The New York Times. 17 June 2006.
  14. ^ The New Mosque of Abu Ghosh: 23 March 2014 Inauguration ceremony
  15. ^ Главная футбольная команда Чеченской Республики будет переименована в «АХМАТ» (in Russian). FC Akhmat Grozny. 7 June 2017. Archived from the original on 7 October 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2017.

External links

Political offices
New office President of the
Chechen Republic

2003–2004
Succeeded by