Kumykia

Kumykia (Kumyk: Къумукъ), officially known as the Republic of Kumykia (Kumyk: Къумукъ Жумгьурият) is a country located in the Caucasus. It borders Russia and is the traditional homeland of the Turkic-speaking Kumyk people.

History
In late 2018, Kumyk rebels stormed the People's Assembly of Dagestan while a meeting was happening. Their ultimate goal was to get Kumyk independence from Russia. After the attack, violent protests arose in Makhackala, both pro-Kumyk and anti-Kumyk. The rebels were able to establish a coup, and thus Kumykia became an independent state.

The Avar population was not happy about this new independent state, so more rebels came into Kumykia only one week after independence. The Avars were all arrested by the police. Despite instability, the Kumyk government has tried their best to get rid of the Avaric rebels.

Despite all this hard work for independence, multiple rebel groups want to annex Kumykia, specifically the Avaric rebels and various militant Islamist groups. Russia is also very unhappy about the independence, so much to the point where many Russian peacekeeping soldiers surround the borders of Kumykia.

Languages
The official language of Kumykia is Kumyk, a Turkic language written in the Cyrillic script. Kumyk is spoken by about 86% of the population and it is primarily spoken by ethnic Kumyks and Kumykified Avars. Russian is de facto official, which is given the government status as a lingua franca. Russian is spoken by the majority of the population, at a whopping 98% of the population. Ethnic Kumyks do not speak Russian among themselves but rather Kumyk, they only speak Russian to other ethnic groups. The recognized minority languages spoken in Kumykia include Arabic, Avar, Azerbaijani, Dargin, Lezgi, Lak, and Turkish. Other non-recognized languages spoken there include Georgian, Rutul, Chechen, Ingush, and many others.

Ethnic groups
Ethnic Kumyks take about 61% of the total population and take more then half of the entire country. Avars, the second largest ethnic group in the country, take 22% of the population, or a little below one-fourth of the population. There are minorities of Lezgins, Laks, Rutuls, Turks, Azerbaijanis, Chechens, Ingush, and Russians.

Kumyks are spread across all over the country while Avars are primarily situated in urban areas (in fact, there are more Avars in Makhachkala than Kumyks).

Religion
Islam takes up the religion of 98% of the population. However, there is a significant minority of Christians, and a smaller minority of Jews, Buddhists, and Tengrists. There is no official religion, as it is a secular republic.

Human rights
Human rights are guaranteed by the Kumykian Constitution. However, many groups, including the UN, have condemned Kumykia for the mistreatment of ethnic Avars, who are also native to the region. There have been reports of the raiding of Avaric homes, deportation of Avar families, anti-Avar propaganda within the government, and unfair arrests of random Avars. Besides Avars, Christians and Jews are often mistreated as well, facing the same things as the Avars do. Even Shi'a Muslims are victims to the same things. Discrimination isn't uncommon in Kumykia.