ISTANBUL NOT CONSTANTINOPLE:
Chechnya’s capital city began as a Cossack outpost during Russia’s conquest of the Caucasus in the 1820’s. The Cossacks called the place Grozny, or Terrible. When Chechens finally wrested control of the city from the Russians in 1996, they re-named the city Djohar-gala, after Chechen rebel leader Djohar Dudaev, then changed the name back to Grozny in 1997. Now the Chechen parliament has officially re-named the city Djohar, and the country the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. The legal political relationship of Chechnya and the Russian Federation remains undefined.