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KARACHAYEVO-CHERKESS REPUBLIC
Land area: 14,100 km² (North Caucasus)
Population: 435,000 (1995) (31 per cent Karachai, 9 per cent Cherkess, 42 per cent Russian)
Overview:
Previously the Karachayevo-Cherkess Autonomous Region within the RSFSR's Stavropol Territory, it was formed in January 1922 with its capital as Cherkessk.
Under Stalin's `divide and rule' policy, the Cherkess were favoured at the expense of the Karachai. In 1943, the entire Karachai nation was deported beyond the Urals by Stalin for alleged collaboration with the Nazis. They were not allowed to return home until the 1950s.
Despite pressure from the All-National Council of the Karachai People for the creation of a separate Karachai Republic, a referendum in March 1992 showed 78 per cent support for preserving Karachayevo-Cherkessia as a united republic within the Russian Federation. The large number of Russians has encouraged the maintenance of the status quo. However, defeated republican presidential candidate Stanislav Derev, has pledged to campaign for a redivision of the republic, following his overwhelming defeat at the hands of Vladimir Semenov, former Russian ground forces commander and an ethnic Karachai.
