Tapa Tchermoeff

Abdul "Tapa" Medjid Bey Ortsa Tchermoeff (1882 – August 28, 1937) (Chechen: Тапа Абдул Миджит Бей Орца Цармойев) was the only Prime Minister of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus. He was in office from May 11, 1918 until the entire government was forced into exile by the advancing Bolsheviks in 1921. His official title was General Tchermoeff, Prime Minister of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus.

Born in Grozny, Chechnya, in 1882, Tapa was the eldest son of the well-known General Ortsou Tchermoeff. He was educated at the Vladikavkaz secondary school and at the Nicolayevsky Cavalry College in St. Petersburg. He graduated in 1901 and joined an elite military unit, His Majesty Tsar Nicholas II's Own Life Guard Convoy.

Tapa Tchermoeff married Princess Khavarsultan Khanim Ibrahimbeyova of Persia in 1906. Although still a young man he was obliged to leave the army in 1908 when his father died. During this time he threw himself into economic and industrial activities. His family owned important parcels of oil-bearing land in the Grozny area. Tapa automatically became one of the most active and energetic pioneers of the Grozny oil industry.

World War I interrupted Tapa's economic activity. He joined the famous native Savage Division of the Imperial Russian Army with the rank of Captain. In the war he proved himself a brilliant military leader and a fearless soldier. After the October Revolution Tapa returned to his native land intent to stem the rise of Bolshevism in Chechnya.

Leaders of the MRNC with Tapa Tchermoeff front row centre.

Tapa believed the unifying of all Caucasian highlanders to be the only way of saving the Northern Caucasus from the Bolsheviks. On his initiative and thanks to his unrelenting energy a convention of Caucasian highlanders took place in March 1917. This meeting resolved to form an independent highland state. On 11 May 1918 The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus was officially established. Tapa was first the prime minister and then the minister for foreign affairs.

Early in March 1919, Tapa headed a delegation to Paris in an attempt to take part in the Treaty of Versailles. The object of the delegation was to secure the recognition of the independence of the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus. A year later the North Caucasus were in the hands of the Bolsheviks and in January 1921 the Soviet Mountain Republic of the Russian SFSR was established.