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Towers on the Wolf’s Bones, or Peculiarities of National Heraldry

Timur Aliyev

The new state symbols of Chechnya, endorsed earlier this year by the republic’s State Council, have not met the approval of either professional heraldists or many of the locals.

Accepting that the appearance of the new Chechen coat of arms was dictated by unavoidable political and ideological circumstances, heraldists nevertheless believe that in contrast to the Ichkerian “borz” (wolf), it does not conform to generally accepted heraldic norms, but is made up of the best (and true to say, the worst) traditions of so-called “Soviet heraldry”.

Two Strongholds

Kadyrov has been planning to change the Chechen coat of arms for some time. Already in 2001 he announced a design competition for the Chechen state symbol; immediately after the Moscow-staged Chechen presidential elections in October 2003, a special committee was established by his decree, charged with coming up with a new state flag, a coat of arms and a national anthem.

At the end of February 2004 the committee’s designs for a flag and a coat of arms were approved by the Chechen State Council. The colours of the new flag remain the same: green, white and red, with the addition of an ornamental design in gold. But the coat of arms has undergone a radical change. The wolf is gone, replaced by a rising sun, mountains, a Chechen tower and an oil derrick. The Press secretary of the Chechen State Council, Said Dibiyev, explained that the committee had chosen such symbols because of their peaceable and constructive nature.

“Old Soviet” coat of arms

Representatives of the public organisation Russian National Heraldry, Anton Moskalenkov (also a member of the European Academy of Heraldists) and Mikhail Chachba (co-ordinator of the projects “Coats of Arms of the North Caucasus” and “Coats of Arms of Abkhazia”) believe the new Chechen coat of arms smacks openly of “Old Sovietness”.

“From the 60s to the 80s such coats of arms (with plenty of oil rigs, factory stacks, aircraft turbines, propellers, cogs, nuts and bolts, hammers and tongs, agricultural and other industrial symbols) were stereotypically designed across the whole of the USSR, making them barely distinguishable from each other,” they said.

Dmitri Ivanov, independent heraldry expert and chief editor of the website Heraldry Today, says that the creation of Soviet-style coats of arms, a relapse of which has occurred in Chechnya, was generally characterised by the use of realistic objects piled together as major and minor and even comical symbols.

“This is not acceptable in heraldry: a good coat of arms should be structured and laconic; it can reflect geographical, economic and historical-political features that are representative of a federation, but this should be done with the help of symbols, conventional emblems and signs, not by reproducing literal or conventional scenery,” Ivanov said.

The use of realistic historical monuments, of buildings, tools, machinery and contemporary constructions (such as the oil derrick) is not generally welcomed in heraldry. Neither do designers consider the composition of the new Chechen coat of arms successful. Professional designer Andrei Logvin thinks “the oil derrick and the tower evoke strong associations with border towers or (even worse!) concentration camp watchtowers”.

Imitation

“Strictly speaking, the new symbol of Chechnya could be called an emblem or a sign but not a coat of arms in the precise meaning of the word. The granting of official status to the image does not in itself turn a sign or an emblem into a coat of arms,” said Dmitry Ivanov.

In his opinion, the lack of originality and derivative nature of the new Chechen coat of arms are particularly obvious when it is compared to the coat of arms of neighbouring Ingushetia where the very same mountain and tower occupy central place.

Ivanov does not rule out the possibility that the creators of the new coat of arms, even if they failed to realise it fully, at least sensed the imperfection of their composition. “Maybe that’s why they considered it necessary to add weight to the insignia and embellished the coat of arms with the name of the republic around the edge. In fact, the study of heraldry does not permit the owner’s name to be included in the coat of arms (the coat of arms is a graphic name, to embellish it with a written name is an unwarranted tautology and creates a foolish impression)” Ivanov said.

Moreover, with regard to practical considerations, Ivanov says that, in contrast to the new coat of arms, the Ichkerian coat of arms does not lose its distinctive features even when it is greatly reduced which means it is easy to read and recognise (on forms, stamps, documents and so on). The details though of the new Chechen coat of arms become unrecognisable when greatly reduced,” Ivanov said.

“Glorious” History

Moskalenkov and Chachba think that the new Chechen coat of arms is an unsuccessful reworking of the city of Grozny’s coat of arms (adopted in 1969) which was made up of an oil derrick, an oil refinery, a retort, a cog, a mountain peak and an ethnic design.

Moskalenkov and Chachba believe it is not worth relinquishing the symbols of Chechnya’s recent history (i.e. the wolf), because this symbol is much older than all of the separatist or other movements in the republic and dates back to ancient and medieval Ichkerian history. “The wolf (or she-wolf) flew on the banners of Imam Shamil and other leaders of the műrid [Sufi brotherhood] movement. Indeed the claim of the republic’s current president that “the wolf contradicts the canon of traditional Islam” sounds strange at the very least and gives away the fact that Mr Kadyrov is not too diligent a scholar of the Koran and the holy Hadis of the Sunni,” they said.

In light of all of this, Moskalenkov and Chachba conclude that the coat of arms proposed by the Chechen State Council is indeed a completely tasteless and historically groundless imitation of a coat of arms. “To please some sort of current political state of affairs, the republic’s leadership is trying to completely disassociate itself from its own glorious yet tragic history, and to propose a symbol that is politically and historically completely emasculated and ignorant of heraldry,” they said.

On the Trail of the Wolf

Moskalenkov and Chachba also believe that the Ichkerian symbolism is superior to the new coat of arms and flag, both from an aesthetic and a formal heraldic point of view.

“For all the shortcomings of the wolf, the Ichkerian coat of arms was, in terms of heraldry, very correct, individual and graphically well designed. Those who believe today that the wolf has compromised itself as a symbol are just very stupid and short-sighted. According to such logic, even the eagle on the Russian state coat of arms should be thought of solely as a symbol of centuries of serfdom and national and religious oppression.

We think the wolf is a very interesting symbol. To reject it is totally unwarranted. The wolf is a symbol of independence and national pride of the Chechen people, a symbol of their historical and moral strength, a symbol of the continuity of the traditions of the mountain peoples,” said Moskalenkov and Chachba.

According to Dmitri Ivanov, even with all its heraldic and artistic idiosyncrasies (such as the reclining pose of the animal and the annoying lack of officially established colours and so on) the Ichkerian coat of arms meets all the formal heraldic demands usually made of a coat of arms.

Indeed the wolf image has long belonged to the Chechen people and is reflected in their folklore, legends and proverbs. “I am sure that, in spite of the tragedy of being led forcibly into war for ten years, the image of the Chechen wolf, rooted as it is in the myths, poetry and folklore of the Chechen people, is open for new interpretations,” said Ivanov.

“We Need a Referendum”

Even without going into the details of professional research, residents of the republic are interested above all in the procedure for adopting a new Chechen state symbol. “The previous coat of arms was not Ichkerian in the full sense of the word. It was adopted already in 1991, before the Ichkerian constitution and parliamentary elections,” say many Chechens.

Many residents of Chechnya believe that the new coat of arms will not take root, a situation that could be avoided by holding a referendum – in which the people would decide: to keep the old coat of arms or adopt a new one.

(U/T)

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