Abrek

{{Short description|North Caucasian term for a lone warrior who fights for a righteous cause}}

file:Zelimxan.jpg, the most famous Chechen abrek]]

File:Ingush abrek Sulumbek.jpg, one of the most famous Caucasian abreks.{{Cite journal|last1=Греков|first1=Б. Д.|author2=Институт Истории СССР|year=2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kt9oAAAAMAAJ&q=%D0%90%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BA+%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%BA|title=Исторические записки|trans-title=Historical notes|language=ru|journal=Istoricheskie Zapiski|location=Москва|publisher=Наука|issue=122|page=183}}{{Cite book|editor-last1=Burbank|editor-first1=Jane|editor-last2=Hagen|editor-first2=Mark von|editor-last3=Anatolyi|editor-first3=Remnev|year=2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NmzT3q0k5XMC&q=Salambek+Garavodzhev&pg=PA259|title=Russian Empire: Space, People, Power, 1700-1930|location=Bloomington|publisher=Indiana University Press|page=258|isbn=9780253219114}}]]

Abrek{{efn|{{Langx|ady|Абрэдж|Abredzh}}; {{Langx|ce|Обарг|Obarg}}; {{Langx|inh|Эба́рг|Ebarg}}; {{Langx|os|Абырæг|Abyräg}}; {{langx|ru|Абрек}}}} is a Caucasian term used for a lone Caucasian warrior living a partisan lifestyle outside power and law and fighting for a just cause. Abreks were irregular soldiers who abandoned all material life, including their family and friends, in order to fight for a just cause, to worship, and to meditate. The term was mostly used by people who struggled against Russian colonialism, mostly a guerrilla struggle during Russian expansion in the Caucasus in the 19th century. An abrek would renounce any contact with friends and relatives, and then dedicate his life to praying and fighting for justice. Some abreks stole from the rich to give to the poor while others protected Caucasian villages from foreign attacks. The abrek lifestyle included a lonely life in the unexplored wilderness. Later, the majority of abreks became devoted Sufi Muslims.

During the Caucasian War, which is divided into the Russo-Circassian War and the Murid War, there were constant raids between Russian and Caucasian settlements.

In Circassian, the word "Abrek" means "brave warrior", and in Chechen, Ingush and Avar it means "avenger". In Russian and in the Ossetian the word abrek (абрек) has the derogatory meaning of "bandit", as the Russians have historically been enemies of the abrek lifestyle.

The word abrek was used in propaganda{{citation needed | reason = whose propaganda?|date=May 2022}} to label the anti-Russian guerrillas of the North Caucasus after the Caucasian War of 1817-1864, as well as for all illegals. Abreks were popularized as the defenders of the fatherland and as paupers.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} In their old age, the abreks of the West Caucasus usually devoted themselves to beekeeping. The majority of the East Caucasus abreks were killed in non-stop warfare against the federal army.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

Before and even after the establishment of Soviet power in the Caucasus in the 1920s, abreks continued to resist, for the most part in Ingushetia and Chechnya, many of them also in Georgia after the Soviet conquest of the country. Abreks provoked the rebellions{{citation needed|date=May 2022}} of 1920-21, 1924, 1929–31, 1931-1939, and the last in 1940-44. During the Deportation of the Chechens and Ingush in 1944 several local guerilla groups were formed against Stalinist repression. The most prominent abrek during this period was the Ingush guerilla fighter Akhmed Khuchbarov. The last anti-Soviet Chechen abrek Khasukha Magomadov was killed on 28 March 1956 at the age of 70.{{in lang|ru}} (Link flagged by anti-virus protection, 8/19/2021) [http://www.chechen.org/content.php?catID=7&content=335 Khasukha Magomadov bio] {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070928013636/http://www.chechen.org/content.php?catID=7&content=335 |date= September 28, 2007 }}