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already started to demonstrate its. The existence of this kind of nationalist threat 
caused solidarity among the peoples of the North Caucasus. While each group has 
been establishing their own national organizations on one hand, the necessity for an 
over-arching organization encompassing all the peoples of the North Caucasus 
started to sound overtly and loudly, on the other. 
Within this context, some of the leading figures of the national movements, 
in order to defend the rights and interests of the peoples of the North Caucasus in a 
more efficient way, started to discuss the viability of forming an umbrella 
organization to be called whether ‘pan-Caucasian movement,’ ‘Caucasian Home,’ 
‘union’ or ‘confederation’. A stimulus to this idea was the belief that, despite the 
existence of religious and linguistic divergence, the peoples of the North Caucasus 
were one with the same customs, way of life and common interests. Therefore, this 
movement of establishing comprehensive organization for the peoples of the 
Caucasus developed hand in hand with the spread of ethnically based homogenous 
organizations in the region. 
It is important to note that despite differences in motivation and in the 
milieu, at the outset there was a striking similarity between events of 1917 and 
1989. In both cases, the leaders of the movements were aware that in order to solve 
the problems and to defend the rights of the Mountaineers the only option was the 
establishment of a unified front. This reality was revealed itself as a logical 
consequence of the diffused structure of the region and the strength of the rival 
force, whether Russian, Georgian or another one. 
 
 

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The first concrete step to establish a unified organization of the peoples of 
the North Caucasus was taken by the Abkhaz. They managed to convene the First 
Congress of the Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus on 25-26 August 1989 in 
Sukhum. In that Congress, after the long period, the first all-embracing 
organization of the Mountaineers, the Assembly of the Mountain Peoples of the 
Caucasus was established. This new Assembly was defined as a socio-political 
organization of all Mountaineers of the Caucasus and proclaimed aim to be the 
regeneration of the community of the Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus. 
Nevertheless, in spite of its comprehensive title, the Assembly, initially only 
attracted the Chechens, the Ingush and the Circassian peoples, including the 
Abkhaz and thus had an image of restricted organization. 
The Russian declaration of independence in June 1990 and President 
Yeltsin’s invitation ‘to take as much sovereignty as you can swallow’, however 
changed the course of events for the leaders of the Assembly. For the first time, 
after the establishment of the Soviet Union they had a chance to establish a unified 
structure encompassing entire North Caucasus. Thus the leaders of the Assembly 
decided to revise the Assembly’s policies. Accordingly, with the participation of 
the representatives of the 13 peoples of the North Caucasus, the Assembly 
organized the Third Congress of the National Democratic Movements and the 
Parties of the North Caucasus on 1-2 November 1991, in Sukhum. In this 
Congress, the Assembly took a vital step andevolved into the Confederation of the 
Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus declaring itself to be the legitimate heir of the 
North Caucasian (Mountain) Republic established on 11 May 1918. This was,  
 

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according to the Treaty, the start of the process of restoring sovereign statehood to 
the Mountain peoples of the Caucasus. 
Nevertheless, the Confederation had some critical problems even from its 
initial phase. First of all not all the Mountain peoples of the North Caucasus joined. 
Turkic groups; the Balkars, Karachays, Nogays, and Kumuks did not respond to the 
invitation to join the Assembly. Moreover, Nogays and Kumuks withdrew from the 
Assembly as well. Dargin and Lezgin also did not take part. The Ingush, even 
though they had named delegates, did not participate Moreover, its members were 
peoples or rather their ‘representatives’ not republics. This gave the Confederation 
the image of opposition. The existing regional governments and their leaders 
assumed negative, even hostile attitudes to the Confederation. At last, internal 
ethnic and personal quarrels made the Confederation a more complex body. Due to 
different policy preferences of members the Confederation’s raison d’etre was 
never clarified properly. While Chechens were accepting this body as an initial 
phase of independent North Caucasian State, the Abkhaz evaluated it as solidarity 
organization with their struggle with Georgia. Russians intended to use it as a 
leverage against Georgia and the Circassians a accepted it as the means of helping 
their close kinsmen, the Abkhaz. This was the most critical handicap for its future 
The second half of 1992 was also another year of transformation for the 
Confederation. Existing disagreements in the North Caucasus began to escalate and 
turn into the military clashes. Thus, in addition to its socio-political character, the 
Confederation immediately gained the status of a military power. This 
transformation, however, resulted in open discord and a split within the 
Confederation. In the 4
th
 Extraordinary Congress of the Peoples of the Caucasus 

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