The Kalmykia republic covers an area of 76,100 square kilometres (29,400 square miles), with a small population of about 275,000 residents.[11] The republic of Kalmykia is home of theKalmyks, a people ofOirat Mongolian origin who are mainly ofTibetan Buddhist faith. The capital of the republic is the city ofElista.
The republic is located inSouthern Russia, lying north of the North Caucasus. A small stretch of theVolga River flows through eastern Kalmykia. Other major rivers include theYegorlyk, theKuma, and theManych.Lake Manych-Gudilo is the largest lake; other lakes of significance includeLakes Sarpa andTsagan-Khak. The highest point in Kalmykia is shared, with an elevation of 222 metres (728 ft); it is located in theYergeni hills.[12]
The average January temperature is −5 °C (23 °F) and the average July temperature is 24 °C (75 °F). Average annualprecipitation ranges from 170 millimeters (6.7 in) in the east of the republic to 400 millimeters (16 in) in the west. The small town of Utta is the hottest place in Russia. On 12 July 2010, during a significant heatwave affecting all of Russia, an all-time record-high temperature was observed at 45.4 °C (113.7 °F).
Some of the first recorded peoples to move into this territory were theScythians andSarmatians from the central Eurasian steppe, bringingtheir respective religious systems with them. Later on, all three major Abrahamic religions also took root, with theKhazar conversion toJudaism being a notable (if historically contested) episode in the religion's history. TheAlans were a major Muslim people group, who faced the invadingMongols and theirTengrist practices, with some of the latter settling permanently. The laterNogais wereMuslims, but were replaced by the contemporaneousOiratKalmyks, who practiceMongolian Buddhism. With the annexation of the region by theRussian Empire, there was an influx of theEast Slavic-speakingRussian Orthodox settlers. Many religious institutions were suppressed in the wake of theRussian Revolution.
The ancestors of theKalmyks, theOirat Mongols, migrated from the steppes ofsouthern Siberia on the banks of theIrtysh River, reaching the LowerVolga region ofEastern Europe by the early 17th century. Historians have given various explanations for the move, but generally recognise that the Kalmyks sought abundant pastures for their herds. Another motivation may have involved escaping the growing dominance of the neighbouringDzungar Mongol tribe.[13]They reached the lower Volga region in or about 1630. That land, however, was not uncontested pastures, but rather the homeland of theNogai Horde, a confederation ofTurkic-speaking nomadic tribes. The Kalmyks expelled the Nogais, who fled to the Caucasian plains and to theCrimean Khanate, areas (at least theoretically) under the control of theOttoman Empire. Some Nogai groups sought the protection of the Russian garrison atAstrakhan. The remaining nomadic Mongol Oirat tribes became vassals of theKalmyk Khan.
The Kalmyks settled in the wide-open steppes – fromSaratov in the north to Astrakhan on the Volga delta in the south and to theTerek River in the southwest. They also encamped on both sides of the Volga River, from theDon River in the west to theUral River in the east. Although these territories had been recently annexed by theTsardom of Russia, Moscow was in no position to settle the area with Russian colonists. This area under Kalmyk control would eventually be called theKalmyk Khanate.
Within twenty-five years of settling in the Lower Volga region, the Kalmyks became subjects of theTsar of Russia. In exchange for protecting Russia's southern border, the Kalmyks were promised an annual allowance and access to the markets of Russian border settlements. The open access to Russian markets was supposed to discourage mutual raiding on the part of the Kalmyks and of theRussians andBashkirs, a Russian-dominated Turkic people, but this was not often the practice. In addition, Kalmyk allegiance was often nominal, as the Kalmyk Khans practised self-government, based on a set of laws they called the Great Code of the Nomads (Iki Tsaadzhin Bichig).
The Kalmyk Khanate reached its peak of military and political power underAyuka Khan (ruled 1672–1724, khan 1690–1724). During his era, the Kalmyk Khanate fulfilled its responsibility to protect the southern borders of Russia and conducted many military expeditions against its Turkic-speaking neighbours. Successful military expeditions were also conducted in the Caucasus. The Khanate experienced economic prosperity from free trade with Russian border towns, with China, with Tibet and with Muslim neighbours. During this era, the Kalmyks also kept close contacts with their Oirat kinsmen inDzungaria, as well as with theDalai Lama inTibet.
After theOctober Revolution in 1917, many Don Kalmyks joined theWhite Russian army and fought under the command of GeneralsDenikin andWrangel during theRussian Civil War. Before theRed Army broke through to theCrimean Peninsula towards the end of 1920, a large group of Kalmyks fled from Russia with the remnants of the defeated White Army to the Black Sea ports of Turkey.
The majority of the refugees chose to resettle inBelgrade,Yugoslavia. Other, much smaller, groups choseSofia (Bulgaria),Prague (Czechoslovakia) and Paris andLyon (France). The Kalmyk refugees in Belgrade built a Buddhist temple there in 1929.
In July 1919, Bolshevik leaderVladimir Lenin issued an appeal[14] to the Kalmyk people, calling for them to revolt and to aid the Red Army. Lenin promised to provide the Kalmyks, among other things, a sufficient quantity of land for their own use. The promise came to fruition on 4 November 1920, when a resolution was passed by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee proclaiming the formation of theKalmyk Autonomous Oblast. Fifteen years later, on 22 October 1935, the Oblast was elevated to republic status,Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
In line with the policy ofKorenizatsiya based on the concept oftitular nations, the government of the Soviet Union adopted a strategy ofnational delimitation, while at the same time enforcing theLeninist principle ofdemocratic centralism. According to Dorzha Arbakov, decentralized governing bodies were a tool the Bolsheviks used to control the Kalmyk people:
... the Soviet authorities were greatly interested in Sovietizing Kalmykia as quickly as possible and with the least amount of bloodshed. Although the Kalmyks alone were not a significant force, the Soviet authorities wished to win popularity in the Asian and Buddhist worlds by demonstrating their evident concern for the Buddhists in Russia.[15]
After establishing control, the Soviet authorities did not overtly enforce an anti-religion policy, other than through passive means, because it sought to bring Mongolia[16] and Tibet[17] into its sphere of influence. The government also was compelled to respond to domestic disturbances resulting from the economic policies ofWar Communism and the1921 famine.The passive measures that were taken by Soviet authorities to control the people included the imposition of a harsh tax to close places of worship and religious schools. The Cyrillic script replacedTodo Bichig, the traditional Kalmyk vertical script.
On 22 January 1922,Mongolia proposed to migrate the Kalmyks during the famine in Kalmykia. Russia refused help; 71–72,000 Kalmyks died during the famine.[18][dubious –discuss] Revolts erupted among the Kalmyks in 1926 and 1930 (on 1942–1943, see the next section). In March 1927, Soviet deported 20,000 Kalmyks to thetundras ofSiberia andKarelia.[18]
The Kalmyks of theDon Voisko Oblast were subject to the policies ofde-cossackization where villages were destroyed,khuruls (temples) and monasteries were burned down and executions were indiscriminate. At the same time, grain, livestock and other foodstuffs were seized.[citation needed] In December 1927 the Fifteenth Party Congress of the Soviet Union passed a resolution calling for the "voluntary"collectivization of agriculture. The change in policy was accompanied by a new campaign of repression, directed initially against the small farming class. The objective of this campaign was to suppress the resistance of farming peasants to the full-scale collectivization of agriculture.
On 22 June 1941, the German army invaded the Soviet Union. By 12 August 1942, the GermanArmy Group South capturedElista, the capital of the Kalmyk ASSR. After capturing the Kalmyk territory, German army officials established a propaganda campaign with the assistance of anti-communist Kalmyk nationalists, includingwhite emigre, Kalmyk exiles. The total Jewish dead numbered between 100[19] and upwards of 700, according to documents held in the Kalmyk State Archives.[20] The campaign was focused primarily on recruiting and organizing Kalmyk men into anti-Soviet militia units.
The Kalmyk units were extremely successful in flushing out and killingSoviet partisans. But by December 1942, the Soviet Red Army retook the Kalmyk ASSR, forcing the Kalmyks assigned to those units to flee, in some cases with their wives and children in hand.
The Kalmyk units retreated westward into unfamiliar territory with the retreating German army and were reorganized into the Kalmuck Legion, although the Kalmyks themselves preferred the name Kalmuck Cavalry Corps. The casualty rate also increased substantially during the retreat, especially among the Kalmyk officers. To replace those killed, the German army imposed forced conscription, taking in teenagers and middle-aged men. As a result, the overall effectiveness of the Kalmyk units declined.
By the end of the war, the remnants of the Kalmuck Cavalry Corps had made their way to Austria where the Kalmyk soldiers and their family members became post-war refugees.
Those who did not want to leave formed militia units that chose to stay behind and harass the oncoming Soviet Red Army.
Although a number of Kalmyks chose to fight against the Soviet Union, the majority by and large did not, fighting the German army in regular Soviet Red army units and in partisan resistance units behind the battlelines throughout the Soviet Union. Before their removal from the Soviet Red Army and from partisan resistance units after December 1943, approximately 8,000 Kalmyks were awarded various orders and medals, including 21 Kalmyk men who were recognized as aHero of the Soviet Union.[21]
On 27 December 1943, Soviet authorities declared that "many Kalmyks" were guilty of cooperation with the German Army[22] and cited that as a justification to orderthe deportation of the entire Kalmyk population, including those who had served with the Soviet Army, to various locations in Central Asia and Siberia. In conjunction with the deportation, the Kalmyk ASSR was abolished and its territory was split between adjacentAstrakhan,Rostov andStalingrad Oblasts andStavropol Krai. To completely obliterate any traces of the Kalmyk people, the Soviet authorities renamed the former republic's towns and villages.[23]
Due to their widespread dispersal in Siberia, their language and culture suffered a possibly irreversible decline.Khrushchev finally allowed their return in 1957, when they found their homes, jobs, and land occupied by importedRussians andUkrainians, who remained.[citation needed] On 9 January 1957, Kalmykia again became an autonomous oblast, and on 29 July 1958, an autonomous republic within theRussian SFSR.
In the following years, bad planning of agricultural and irrigation projects resulted in widespreaddesertification. On orders from Moscow, sheep production increased beyond levels that the fragile steppe could sustain, resulting in 1.4 million acres (5666 km2) of the artificial desert.[24] To ramp up output, economically nonviable industrial plants were constructed.
After the dissolution of the USSR, Kalmykia kept the status of an autonomous republic within the newly formedRussian Federation (effective 31 March 1992).
The head of the government in Kalmykia is called "The Head of the Republic". After a reform in 2006 that made the governors of the federal subjects appointable by the President, thePresident of Russia selected a candidate for the Head of the Republic position and presented it to the Parliament of Kalmyk Republic, thePeople's Khural, for approval. If a candidate was not approved, the President of the Russian Federation could dissolve the Parliament and set up new elections. Since the reform was revoked in 2011, the Head of the Republic has been elected by a direct vote, the first such election happening in 2014.
Flag of Kalmykia in 1992–1993
From 1993 to 2010, the Head of the Republic wasKirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov. He also was the president of the world chess organizationFIDE until 2018. He has spent much of his fortune on promoting chess in Kalmykia—where chess is compulsory in all primary schools—and also overseas, with Elista, the capital of Kalmykia, hosting many international tournaments.
In the late 1990s, the Ilyumzhinov government was alleged to be spending too much government money on chess-related projects. The allegations were published in Sovietskaya Kalmykia, the opposition newspaper in Elista.Larisa Yudina, the journalist who investigated these accusations, was kidnapped and murdered in 1998. Two men, Sergei Vaskin and Tyurbi Boskomdzhiv, who worked in the local civil service, were charged with her murder, one of them having been a former presidential bodyguard. After prolonged investigations by the Russian authorities, both men were found guilty and jailed, but no evidence was discovered that Ilyumzhinov himself was in any way responsible.[25][26][27]
On 24 October 2010, Ilyumzhinov was replaced byAlexey Orlov as the new Head of Kalmykia. Since September 2019 the acting President of Kalmykia isBatu Khasikov.[28]
^12,370 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.[37]
According to a 2012 survey,[40] 47.6% of the population of Kalmykia adhere to Buddhism, 18% to theRussian Orthodox Church, 4.8% toIslam, 3% toTengrism or Kalmykshamanism, 1% areunaffiliatedChristians, 1% are either Orthodox Christian believers who do not belong to a church or are members of non-Russian Orthodox churches, 0.4% adhere to forms ofHinduism, and 9.0% follow other religions or did not give an answer to the survey. In addition, 8.2% of the population declared themselves to be "spiritual but not religious" and another 8% to beatheist.[40][unreliable source?]
Kalmykia has a developed agricultural sector. Other developed industries include thefood processing and oil and gas industries.
As most of Kalmykia is arid, irrigation is necessary for agriculture. The Cherney Zemli Irrigation Scheme (Черноземельская оросительная система) in southern Kalmykia receives water from theCaucasian riversTerek andKuma via a chain of canals: water flows from the Terek to the Kuma via theTerek-Kuma Canal, then to theChogray Reservoir on theEast Manych River via theKuma–Manych Canal, and finally into Kalmykia's steppes over the Cherney Zemli Main Canal, constructed in the 1970s.[41]
The government of Kalmykia spends about $100 million annually. Its annual oil production is about 1,270,000 barrels.
The Kalmyks ofKyrgyzstan live primarily in theKarakol region of eastern Kyrgyzstan. They are referred to asSart Kalmyks. The origin of this name is unknown. Likewise, it is not known when, why and from where this small group of Kalmyks migrated to eastern Kyrgyzstan. Due to their minority status, the Sart Kalmyks have adopted theKyrgyz language and culture of the majority Kyrgyz population.
Although many Sart Kalmyks areMuslims, Kalmyks elsewhere, by and large, remain faithful to theGelugpa Order ofTibetan Buddhism. In Kalmykia, for example, the Gelugpa Order with the assistance of the government has constructed numerous Buddhist temples. In addition, the Kalmyk people recognizeTenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama as their spiritual leader andErdne Ombadykow, aKalmyk American, as the supreme lama of the Kalmyk people. The Dalai Lama has visited Elista on a number of occasions.
The Kalmyks have also establishedcommunities in the United States, primarily inPennsylvania andNew Jersey. The majority are descended from those Kalmyks who fled from Russia in late 1920 to France,Yugoslavia,Bulgaria, and, later, Germany. Many of those Kalmyks living in Germany at the end of World War II were eventually granted passage to the United States.
As a consequence of their decades-long migration through Europe, many older Kalmyks are fluent in German, French, andSerbo-Croatian, in addition to Russian and their nativeKalmyk language. There are several Kalmyk Buddhist temples inMonmouth County, New Jersey, where the vast majority of American Kalmyks reside, as well as a Tibetan BuddhistLearning Center and monastery inWashington Township, New Jersey. At one point during the 20th century, there was a Kalmyk Buddhist temple inBelgrade,Serbia.
The wordKalmyk means 'those who remained'. Its origin is unknown but this name was known centuries before a large part of the Kalmyks moved back from the Volga River toDzhungaria in the 18th century.
There are three cultural subgroups within the Kalmyk nation:Turguts,Durbets (Durwets), andBuzavs (Oirats, who joined the RussianCossacks), as well as some villages of Hoshouts and Zungars. The Durbets subgroup includes theChonos tribe (literally meaning "a tribe of the wolf", also called "Shonos", "Chinos", "A-Shino", or "A-Chino").
^Steppe Code (Constitution) of the Republic of Kalmykia, Article 19
^Steppe Code (Constitution) of the Republic of Kalmykia, Article 17:Государственными языками в Республике Калмыкия являются калмыцкий и русский языки. [The official languages of the Republic of Kalmykia are the Kalmyk and Russian languages.]
^Official throughout the Russian Federation according to Article 68.1 of theConstitution of Russia.
^Steppe Code (Constitution) of the Republic of Kalmykia, Article 33
^Dorzha Arbakov, 'The Kalmyks' in Nikolai Dekker and Andrei Lebed, (Eds)Genocide in the USSR, Chapter II, Complete Destruction of National Groups as Groups, Series I, No. 40, (Institute for the Study of the USSR, 1958), p. 90.
^Bawden, C.R.The Modern History of Mongolia, Frederick A. Praeger, Publishers, New York, (1968).
^Meyer, Karl E. and Brysac, Shareen Blair.Tournament of Shadows, Counterpoint, Washington, D.C., (1999)
Конституционное Собрание Республики Калмыкия. 5 апреля 1994 г. «Степное Уложение (Конституция) Республики Калмыкия», в ред. Закона №358-IV-З от 29 июня 2012 г. «О внесении изменений в отдельные законодательные акты Республики Калмыкия по вопросам проведения выборов Главы Республики Калмыкия». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования в газетах "Хальмг Унн" и "Известия Калмыкии". Опубликован: "Известия Калмыкии", №60, 7 апреля 1994 г. (Constitutional Assembly of the Republic of Kalmykia. April 5, 1994Steppe Code (Constitution) of the Republic of Kalmykia, as amended by the Law #358-IV-Z of June 29, 2012On Amending Various Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kalmykia on the Issues of Organization of the Elections of the Head of the Republic of Kalmykia. Effective as of the day of the official publications in the "Khalmg Unn" and "Izvestiya Kalmykii" newspapers.).
Народный Хурал (Парламент) Республики Калмыкия. Закон №44-I-З от 14 июня 1996 г. «О государственных символах Республики Калмыкия», в ред. Закона №152-IV-З от 18 ноября 2009 г. «О внесении изменения в Закон Республики Калмыкия "О государственных символах Республики Калмыкия"». Вступил в силу с момента опубликования. Опубликован: "Ведомости Народного Хурала (Парламента) Республики Калмыкия", №2, стр. 113, 1997 г. (People's Khural (Parliament) of the Republic of Kalmykia. Law #44-I-Z of 14 June 1996On the Symbols of State of the Republic of Kalmykia, as amended by the Law #152-IV-Z of 18 November 2009On Amending the Law of the Republic of Kalmykia "On the Symbols of State of the Republic of Kalmykia". Effective as of the moment of publication.).
Президиум Верховного Совета СССР. Указ от 29 июля 1958 г. «О преобразовании Калмыцкой автономной области в Калмыцкую Автономную Советскую Социалистическую Республику». (Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Decree of 29 July 1958On the Transformation of Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast into the Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. ).
Arbakov, Dorzha.Genocide in the USSR, Chapter II, "Complete Destruction of National Groups as Groups, The Kalmyks", Nikolai Dekker and Andrei Lebed, Editors, Series I, No. 40, Institute for the Study of the USSR, Munich, 1958.
Balinov, Shamba.Genocide in the USSR, Chapter V, "Attempted Destruction of Other Religious Groups, The Kalmyk Buddhists", Nikolai Dekker and Andrei Lebed, Editors, Series I, No. 40, Institute for the Study of the USSR, Munich, 1958.
Bethell, Nicholas.The Last Secret, Futura Publications Limited, Great Britain, 1974.
Corfield, Justin.The History of Kalmykia: From Ancient times to Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Aleksey Orlov, Australia, 2015. The first major history of Kalmykia in English, heavily illustrated, and drawing on interviews with Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Nicholas Ilyumzhinov and Aleksey Orlov amongst others.
Grousset, René.The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, Rutgers University Press, 1970.
Halkovic, Stephen A. Jr.The Mongols of the West, Indiana University Uralic and Altaic Series, Volume 148, Larry Moses, Editor, Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington, 1985.
Hoffmann, Joachim:Deutsche und Kalmyken 1942 bis 1945, Rombach Verlag, Friedberg, 1986.
Kalder, Daniel.Lost Cosmonaut: Observations of an Anti-tourist
Muñoz, Antonio J.The East Came West: Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist Volunteers in the German Armed Forces, 1941–1945, Chapter 8, "Followers of 'The Greater Way': Kalmück Volunteers in the German Army", Antonio J. Muñoz, Editor, Axis Europa Books, Bayside, New York, 2001.
Tolstoy, Nikolai.The Secret Betrayal, 1944–1947, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1977.
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