(RIA Novosti) - Chechnya's president suggested Monday the North Caucasus republic could undergo a name change to help its residents look to the future and come to terms with its troubled history, reports Trend.
Alu Alkhanov said he had given instructions for proposals to be made because he said negative feelings were attached with the name Chechnya, which has experienced two military campaigns since separatist regimes - who called the republic Ichkeria - sought to breakaway from Moscow 1994.
"The residents of the republic regard the word 'Chechnya' as one that does not ring true," Alkhanov said in an interview with Echo of Moscow (Ekho Moskvy) radio station.
"We are not used to this name. The republic should have a different name," he said.
"I always said the name for Chechens is Nokhchi [in the Chechen language]. Let it be the Nokhchii Republic," the Chechen president said. "I've given our experts instructions and we will later consider what name the republic should have."
Although Russian is the official language in Chechnya, most residents speak Chechen at home. Linguistically, it is a member of the Nakh family, which also comprises the native language of the neighboring Republic of Ingushetia.
This is not the first name change to be proposed in the republic. At the end of last year, members of the regional legislature proposed renaming the capital, Grozny, in honor of Akhmad Kadyrov, the region's late president. He was assassinated in a bomb attack on May 9, 2004.
However, Kadyrov's powerful son, Ramzan, now prime minister of the republic, poured cold water on the idea. He said there was no reason to change the capital's name and the best way to remember his father would be to rebuild the largely ruined city.
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