Slogan "Bachi-Yurt is force!" reveals hidden protest against Kadyrov's cult

The chanting "Bachi-Yurt is force!" has become a hidden protest against the cult of the first president (Akhmat Kadyrov) imposed by Chechen authorities and the slogan "Akhmat is force!", Ruslan Kutaev, the head of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations, has suggested. By publicly scolding young people for their first chant, law enforcers are involuntarily demonstrating that the cult of Akhmat Kadyrov has opponents, said Akhmet Yarlykapov, a senior researcher at the Centre for Caucasus Problems and Regional Security at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (known as MGIMO).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Chechen law enforcers rebuked young people who chanted “Bachi-Yurt is force!” at the New Year holiday.

A cult of the Kadyrov family is being formed in the republic – not only of Akhmat Kadyrov, but also of his son Ramzan, the incumbent head of the republic, Mr Yarlykapov has stated.

He has noted that the Chechen tradition doesn't know such cults. "The only authorities in Chechnya were Sufi Sheikhs. Their authority rested on spiritual principles, not coercion," Mr Yarlykapov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. He believes that the situation in modern Chechnya is different from the cults of Soviet leaders. "In the Soviet Union, they didn't organize such 'public rebukes', but preferred to quietly send a person to a mental hospital, as Communists understood very well that public (protest) actions demonstrate that the cult has real opponents," the scientist has concluded.

The chanting "Bachi-Yurt is force!" is a form of resistance to the imposition of Akhmat Kadyrov's cult, Ruslan Kutaev believes. "People are afraid to openly state that this is nonsense, but try to declare it in such an indirect way," Mr Kutaev has noted.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 3, 2020 at 11:59 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.