Caucasus (World of Imperial Russian Glory)

Governorate of the Caucasus
Кавказская губерния
*Kavkazskaya guberniya*
Governorate of the Caucasus; Кавказская губерния; Kavkazskaya guberniya
	Motto: ; "Хлебную корзину империи"; Khlebnuyu korzinu imperii; ("Breadbasket of the Empire")
Capital	Tskhinvali
Official languages	Russian
Local officials	Georgian, Azeri, Chechen, Avar, Ossetic, Abkhaz
Ethnic groups	Caucasians (60%); Russians (25%); Others (15%)
Leaders
Population

The Governorate of the Caucasus (Russian: Кавказская губерния, Kavkazskaya guberniya) is one of Russia's Grand Duchies. Bordering the Grand Principality of South Russia to the north and Armenia to the south, it is one of Russia's most culturally diverse and oil-rich regions.

History[]

Post-Civil War[]

The Mountainous Republic of the North Caucasus, an Islamic republic, was established in the aftermath of the Russian Civil War. However, this country was short-lived, first against the Red Army, and against the forces of South Russia led by Pyotr Krasnov.

Krasnov intentionally allowed the Bolsheviks to destroy and quash the Islamic rebels, before proceeding to to attack the Bolsheviks as he had hoped to gain access of the oil fields of the North Caucasus, specifically Chechnya.

Like in the past, the South Russians promoted Islam as part of public life, in order to get the Caucasians to support South Russian re-annexation. Therefore, the Autonomous North Caucasian Province of the Tsardom of South Russia was formed.

Interwar Period[]

As for the former Mountaineer Republic, the new Tsar allowed them to keep their flag, so long as they recognized the supremacy of the Russian flag. It became the Autonomous Mountaineer Province of the North Caucasus, where Islam played a large role in the local law. After the loss of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia, the North Caucasus soon turned in the oil production center of Russia, along with Rostov.

World War II[]

During the Second World War, the Caucasus was one of the prime targets of the Turkish Empire's invasion, and therefore, received the brunt of the invasion. Many Russian generals and marshals knew that the Turks would attempt to court with the peoples of the North Caucasus as the Germans adid with the Ukrainians, and if the Ukrainians would buy into it, so surely would the North Caucasians. However Generalissmo Boris Rezhukin refused to listen.

The Fascist Turkish movements influenced nearby Azerbaijan, as Italy with Fascism and Nazi Germany, and therefore, Azerbaijan partook in the invasion of Russia. The fighting was extremely bloody, and upon the beginning, and North Caucasian rebels were already beginning to mutiny and see the Turks and Azeris as their saviors. Therefore, General Vsevolod Starosselsky authorized for martial law in the North Caucasus, ended the autonomy for the time-being. In addition, ordered the destruction of oil rigs in the North Caucasus ever in case the Caucasian rebels caught up to them.

In 1942, after Generalissmo Boris Rezhuki nwas taken down by the Senate, and replaced with ??????, reinforcements were sent into the North Caucasus, from the Volga and the Urals, which had mountaineer units and reserves skilled in mountain-fighting. The Battle of the North Caucasus ended in a decisive Russian victory. From the North Caucausus Rostov, the larger Caucasus Offensive continued into Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, to which Azerbaijan was completely occupied by Russians with reinforcements from Central Asia. For siding with the Turks, Georgia was fully occupied too.

The Bagrationis, the most pro-Russian Georgian nobility were installed as the rulers of the Principality of Georgia.

Mosques in the region were required to perform their sermons in Russian, and not Chechen or Azeri, with the exception of Islamic prayers, done in Classical Arabic regardless of nationality. The majority of the Caucasian peoples cooperated with the Russian imperial government, in order to avoid anymore repressions.

Cold War[]

During the Cold War, the Caucasus recieved some harsh cultural repressions, stemming from complete distrust against the Caucasian natives. Baku in Azerbaijan was transformed into one of the oil-producing capital cities of Russia, native Azeris were for the most part, non-existent in the involvement. Baku in addition, received heavy Russian migration. It isn't until 1955 that Azeris were beginning to get hired, and by 1960s, many Azeris again, began to share in the wealth, but were subject to heavy surveillance by the Okhrana. once-more allowing mosques to conduct in the respective local languages, as well as the autonomous Georgian and Ukrainian churches to conduct sermons in their native languages.

However, interethnic relations between Russians and Caucasians were never recovered, with the Imperial government continuing to fund resettlement of Russians into the Caucasus, and giving the means of wealth to Russians, who lived in wealthy enclaves as opposed their poor Caucasian counterparts, who lived sub-par lives.

Russian authorities led harsh cultural persecutions of Azeris, and Azeri culture, and prohibited Azeris from serving in military, law enforcement and public services. Sergey II Belosselsky-Belozersky oversaw the forced military deportations of Azeris into isolated communities across Russia, emptying out entire communities. They would be replaced by ethnic Russians, wealthy oil magnates would exploit Baku oil resources, and by 1957, Azerbaijan was inhabited 40% by ethnic Russians, as well as those emigres who chose to repatriate to Russia, as opposed to only 15% before World War II.

When Franko Korkunov became Prime Minister of Russia, Azeri culture was once-more respected, with his Indigenous Rights policy. He finally allowed Islam to become a public holiday in Azerbaijan alongside the Russian Orthodox Church, and used public funds to improve schools for predominantly-Azeri communities, leading to a reapproachment of relations between ethnic Russians and Azeris.

However, Korkunov's policies only seemed to further hostilities between Orthodox Russians and Muslim Azeris, with heavy bouts of violence between Russian neo-fascist and ultranationalist groups against radical separatist Muslim Azeris leading to another round of martial law in Azerbaijan, and harsh criticisms against Korkunov.

Only in 1995, would Azerbaijan once-more, have an Azeri Muslim leader, via the election of Head Minister Abusalim Rzayev, who had connections to Korkunov. Still, Azerbaijan's Governor-General was a Russian. Rzayev called for both ethnic Russians and Azeris for a reapproachment of relations, and unlike past Governor-Generals, had no ties to separatist groups, and publicly denounced Azeri separatism. This led to a huge distrust among the Azeris against Rzayev, who suspected he was neither Azeri or Muslim.

Concurrently, another uprising occurred in Chechnya, however it failed for the same reason the Eastern Axis failed - due to factionalized in-fighting when the Ichkeria Army broke down in those wanting a secular Republic of Ichkeria, and an neo-Islamist Sultanate of Ichkeria.

In 1997, both the Chechen and Azeri separatists were quashed, leading a round of reforms in both regions. Azeri seperatists simply saw that the Kremlin was going to kill every single Azeri if had to, in which Heydar Aliyev, a former Russian officer in the military's Intelligence Group turned-separatist (now ex-separatist), called on Azeris to join hands with the Kremlin. As a result, Aliyev was spared execution, in exchange for a lifetime in Siberia, and culture persecutions against ethnic Azeris were lifted.

Beginning in 1998, with the lifting of anti-Azeri pogroms, Azeri communities now began to enjoy government-funded public schools in the same quality as the those in the ethnic Russian communities, mostly in the major cities and northern parts of the country. Public schools now enjoyed the right to require Azeri as curriculum, alongside Russian.

However, this led to a huge surge of ethnic Russians attending private All-Russian Schools in Azerbaijan, due to its private nature, was exempt from Korkunov's laws.

Under the leadership of Head Minister Suleyman Vakilov, saw a resurgence of society in Azerbaijan, with Azerbaijan being featured in sports and entertainment. In 2002, the Komanda Baku, Baku's football team represented in the National Football Association of Russia, began to be coached by an ethnic Azeri, Yusuf Latifov, and came under Azeri ownership in 2004 - when Vladimir Melnikov sold it to Kassim Salaev.

Demographics[]

Currently, Caucasian ethnic groups comprise the majority at 75%, namely Georgians, Ossetians, Abkhaz, Azeris and Chechens, ethnic Russians comprise 20%, others form the rest, namely Ukrainians, Belarusians, Greeks, Germans, Chinese and Mongolians.

Islam currently comprises 75% of the Caucasian population, and roughly split between Sunnis and Shiites, with Sunnis predominating the north and Shiites predominating Azerbaijan. Russian Orthodox form the next-largest. The Church of Georgia is an autonomous branch within the Russian Orthodox Church, which had lost its autocephaly in 1945, after its role in helping the Turkish invasion.

Education[]

Korolevskiy Velikiy Institut Baku (Королевский великий институт Баку; Royal Grand Institute of Baku) - Petrovich-Romanov owned prestigious private university, one of the most prestigious universities of the Caucasus
Baku State University (Russian: Бакинский Государственный Университет, Bakinskiy Gosudarstvennyy Universitet; Azeri: Бакы Дөвләт Университети, Bakı Dövlət Universiteti), flagship public university of Azerbaijan, one of the first public universities to teach in both Russian and Azeri
Azerbaijan Grand College of Technology and Sciences (Russian: Азербайджанский Большой Колледж Технологий и Наук, Azeri: Азәрбајҹан Бөјүк Технолоҝија вә Елмләр Коллеҹи) - private technology and sciences universities, one of the most prestigious in the Caucasus, first private university to offer in both Russian and Azeri
Baku All-Russian School (Бакинская Всероссийская Школа) - private university, specializing in arts and humanities
Tbilisi Grand School of the Arts (Russian: Тбилисская Великая Школа Искусств, Georgian: თბილისის ხელოვნე ბის დიდი სკოლა), prestigious arts and humanities private university in Tbilisi
Tbilisi Georgian School (Georgian: თბილისის ქართული სკოლა, Russian: Тбилисская грузинская школа) - private university, specifically catered to ethnic Georgians and Georgian culture
Azerbaijan Grand Madrasa (Russian: Большое медресе Азербайджана, Azeri: Азәрбајҹан Бөјүк Мәдрәсәси) one of the largest madrasahs in the Caucasus, located in Baku
Chechnya Grand Madrasa (Большое медресе Чечни) - one of the largest madrasahs of the Caucasus, located in Grozny
Abo of Tbilisi Grand School (Russian: Або Тифлисской Большой школы, Georgian: ტფილისის დიდი სკოლის აბო) - prestigious private Orthodox university in Tbilisi

Principalities and Governorates[]

Principality of Azerbaijan
Principality of Chechnya
Principality of Georgia
Governorate of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
Governorate of Dagestan

Human rights concerns[]

OT equivalent: Xinjiang re-education camps

There have been looming concerns over the secretive and alleged use of re-education camps by Russian military and police personnel against the ethnic Azeris of Azerbaijan, largely stemming to the local pro-Turkish and Armenian Genocide-denial attitudes prevalent among the elder Azeri population.

Liberal media has attempted to portray the re-education camps as being tortorous, anti-Islamic and anti-Azeri, however the reality is way different. While Russian authorities have admitted that Azeri youth are sent to special education camps, these camps are well-funded, the youth are well-fed and the camps are equipped with Islamic prayer rooms, Islamic imams and even Qur'an reading sessions, and is taught in both Russian and Azeri.