Nureddin Akhriev

Nurēddin Gabertovich Akhriev (born Musost; 17 September 1904 – 14 October 1987) was a Soviet orientalist who specialized in Arabic studies, and a docent of Moscow State University, where he used to teach for 40 years, being also the first Ingush to do so. One of the founders of Ingush Arabic studies.

Born on 17 September 1904, Nureddin first studied at the Vladikavkaz Cadet Corps and then at the 2nd practical school of Vladikavkaz. During the Russian Civil War, he was a reserve lieutenant colonel. After the war, he studied philology and orientalism, successfully graduating with honors from the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies in 1940. His dissertation on the topic of "Crusades on the development of military affairs in Europe" never came to he published due to him being drafted to Soviet Army.

Nureddin was recruited as a career officer and worked at the headquarters of the Transcaucasian Military District. In the World War II, Nureddin participated on the Transcaucasian, Crimean and 4th Ukrainian fronts. In 1941–1942, Nureddin often was in Iran due to his military missions, in 1943, even becoming a part of a Soviet working group that prepared the Tehran Conference.

Because of Nureddin's public statements about the illegality and erroneousness of the deportation of the Chechens and Ingush and the liquidation of their autonomy, he was arrested on 8 March 1951 and spent almost 4 years in prison. On 10 January 1955 he was released. After his release, Nureddin continued working at the Moscow State University, where he worked up until his death on 14 October 1987.

Background
Born as an ethnic Ingush under the name Musost (possibly in honor of his great-grandfather Musost Akhriev) on 17 September 1904 in Vladikavkaz, Vladikavkazsky okrug to a family of Gabert Akhriev, a colonel of Russian cavalry who also bore the title of a 'military foreman'. Nureddin's mother was Zabi Kurieva, who died when he was just over 3 years old. Like his father, Nureddin's grandfather Temurko Akhriev was also a colonel of Russian Cavalry and foreman of Dzherakh Society. He died in 1878 in the Bulgarian city of Pleven during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Nureddin was the cousin of Rashid-bek Akhriev, aviator of the Soviet Air Forces.

During the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1918, Nureddin's father Gabert sided with the Red Army and voluntarily joined it, thus subsequently fighting in the Russian Civil War. Later, after the end of the war, he became a teacher in Novy Dzheyrakh. There he worked up until his death in 1933.

Early years
Nureddin first studied a at the Vladikavkaz Cadet Corps, but soon after the Russian Revolution, it was closed, therefore he began attending the 2nd practical school of Vladikavkaz.

During the Russian Civil War Nureddin Akhriev participated on the side of Bolsheviks and fought against the Whites. By rank, he was a reserve lieutenant colonel. In his autobiography, Nureddin Akhriev even claimed he was a liaison of Sergei Kirov and Sergo Ordzhonikidze.

After the end of the war, Nureddin studied at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Mountainous Institute of Public Education in Vladikavkaz, from which he graduated in 1926, later teaching at a local school. He also became a member of the CPSU in the same year.

Nureddin later became a member of Ingush Literature Society and then an assistant platoon commander of the Vladikavkaz battalion of special forces. In 1927 he was moved to Rostov-on-Don, so he began working at the North Caucasian Regional Gorsky Research Institute as a researcher, while at the North Caucasian National Publishing House he helped produce textbooks for Ingush and Chechen schools.

In 1928, due to his appointment as the Executive Secretary of the Permanent Mission of the Ingush Autonomous Oblast under the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee Nureddin moved to Moscow. For a short period, he held this office until he became a teacher at the Far East University in the same year, where he worked until 1937. This study ended when because of another business trip, he moved to the Arabist department of the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies, carried out according to a special recruitment of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

In 1940, he graduated with honors from this institute, and was awarded by the decision of the State Examination Commission the qualification of a referent-translator for Arab countries. As noted by the commission, Nureddin Akhriev had an excellent knowledge of Arabic, French and English languages. He was preparing an dissertation on the topic of "Crusades on the development of military affairs in Europe", when all of sudden, he was drafted to Soviet Army, which prevented him from doing so. He was recruited as a career officer and worked at the headquarters of the Transcaucasian Military District. According to family traditions, he also participated in the Winter War, though there's no documentary evidence of his participation.

World War II
During the World War II, Nureddin participated on the Transcaucasian, Crimean and 4th Ukrainian fronts, leading the 7th department of the political administration of the Transcaucasian Military District and the Transcaucasus Front, later successively commander of the division of cadets. In the Tbilisi Higher Artillery Command School, he was a senior teacher as the deputy commander of the 16th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division.

In the period of 1941 to 1942, Nureddin often was in Iran due to his military missions. In 1943, he was part of a Soviet working group that prepared the Tehran Conference. During his visit of Iran, he even wrote a short enquiry named "Brief historical information about Azerbaijan" (Краткая историческая справка об Азербайджане) describing the Iranian Azerbaijan, its borders, history, as well as an assessment of its current state.

Arrest
After the end of the war in 1945, Nureddin resumed teaching Arabic at the Diplomatic School of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR in Moscow. At the same time he was teaching at the philological and historical faculties of Moscow State University.

On 30 March 1951, the Ministry of State Security filed a case against him, and on 22 August, Nureddin was sentenced to eight years in prison under the article 58-10 of RSFSR, subsequently being removed from the Communist Party. The reason for the arrest was Nureddin's public statements about the illegality and erroneousness of the deportation of the Chechens and Ingush and the liquidation of their autonomy in 1944. During his arrest, part of his personal library was confiscated by the NKVD employees.

Later years
On 10 January 1955 he was released as his sentence was canceled and the criminal case dismissed by a decree of the Procurator General of the Soviet Union. Nureddin was reinstated in the Communist Party.

From 1956 to 1984, Nureddin continued teaching Arabic at the Institute of Asian and African Countries and lectured at the Higher Diplomatic School of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Frunze Military Academy. Nureddin also studied the life and activities of Imam Shamil.

The Russian-Soviet historian and archeologist, doctor of historical sciences Evgeny Krupnov thanked Nureddin Akhriev for his help in the foreword of the work Srednevokavaya Ingushetia (published in 1971): "'With special gratitude, I must also mention the help of N. G. Akhriev, an expert on the Ingush language and way of life, who reviewed my manuscript and made a number of valuable comments in it.'"

Family and friends
Nureddin was married to an Ossetian woman named Reynat (Ekaterina) Ramonovna; her brother was Nikolai Ramonov. Nureddin's cousin was Rashid-bek Akhriev, the first Caucasian pilot.

Nureddin personally knew historians like Abdurakhman Avtorkhanov, Evgeny Krupnov; the writers like Khalid Oshaev.

Death
On 14 October 1987, Nureddin passed away at the age of 83 in Moscow. He was buried in the ancestral village of his family, Furtoug.

Russian sources