Circassians
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Circassians is a term derived from the Turkic Cherkess (Çerkes), and is not the self-designation of any people. It has sometimes been applied indiscriminately to all the peoples of the North Caucasus. Most specifically, the term can apply only to the Adyghe people. Today a significant number of "Circassians" live in diaspora, primarily due to the Muhajirism, an exodus of Muslim population from Caucasus since 1863 after the successful Russian invasion of the Caucasus.
More commonly it has referred to all the peoples of the Northwest Caucasus:[1]
- Adyghe ("Circassians" in the narrowest sense, inhabitants of Circassia, including Kabardin),
- Abkhaz (including Abazins),
- Ubykh (linguistically vanished),
to the exclusion of the eastern Chechens and the peoples of Dagestan.
The term's vagueness stems largely from the fact that the northern Caucasus was a remote and relatively unknown area for Westerners and Turks, who often did not distinguish carefully between similar groups living there.
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Circassian diaspora
Origin
Prior to Russian expansion into Circassian territory there were approximately two million Circassians living in an area from the Don and the lowlands east of the Sea of Azov south through the mountains and along the coast of the Black Sea, past the western borders of Ossetia and Chechnya, across the Kuban River, down through the present-day Abkhazia.[2]
From 1763 to 1864 the Circassians fought against the Russians in the Russian-Circassian War only succumbing to a scorched earth campaign initiated in 1862 under General Yevdokimov.[3][4] Afterwards, large numbers of Circassians fled and were deported to the Ottoman Empire, others were resettled in Russia far from their home territories.[5][1]
Middle East
Various communities of Caucasian origin living in the Middle East, notably Jordan and Syria, are known as Circassians, and a suburb of Damascus settled by these people is called Al-Tcharkassiyya. Modern Amman was reborn after Circassians settled there in 1878. Other important Jordanian towns re-established by Circassians in 1878 were Jerash and Wadi Seer.
During the French Mandate period in Syria, in the 1930s, some Circassians in the mostly Circassian town of Al-Quneitra tried to convince the French authorities to create a Circassian national home for them in the Golan Heights, but failed in their attempt. The objective was to group there large numbers of Circassians already living in Turkey and in various Middle Eastern countries.
In Israel, there are also a few thousand Circassians, living mostly in Kfar Kama (2,000) and Reyhaniye (1,000).[6] These two villages were a part of a greater group of Circassian villages around the Golan Heights. The Circassians in Israel enjoy, like Druzes, a status aparte. Male Circassians (at their leader's request) are mandated for military service, while females are not.
The Balkans
Circassians (черкези) were introduced to the territory of modern Bulgaria during the Ottoman rule of the country, mostly in 1864–1865 [1] to serve as bashi-bazouks. They are known to have pillaged many villages in the 19th century and to have taken an active part in the suppression of the Bulgarian uprisings. After 1878, when Bulgaria became a separate state, most Circassians fled from the country to Turkey fearing a Bulgarian retribution. Today only some 1,300 people identify as Circassians in Bulgaria.
Another small minority of Circassians lived since the late 1880's in Kosovo Polje, which was given mention by Noel Malcolm in his seminal work about that province, but they were repatriated to the Republic of Adygea, in Southern Russia in the late 1990's[2].
Around 1600, several emigrants from the Caucasus region, of somewhat privileged descent, settled in the then Principality of Moldavia, and became under the name "Cerchez" (pronounced [Cherkez] in Romanian) one of its 72 boyar families. In time they were assimilated into the general population. However one of the last descendants of this family, Mihail Christodulo Cerchez, was a Romanian national hero in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 (Osman Paşa, the Turkish commander of the Pleven garrison, surrendered his sword to him at the end of the siege). One of the main halls of the Cotroceni palace in Bucharest is named "Sala Cerchez" ("Cerchez Hall") in memory of General Cerchez.
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Shenfield, Stephen D. (1999) "The Circassians - A Forgotten Genocide?" in Levene, Mark and Roberts, Penny (eds.) (1999) The Massacre in History Berghahn Books, New York, ISBN 1571819347
- ^ Trakho, R. (1905) Cherkesy: Cherkesy Severnogo Kavkaza (Circassians: Circassians Northern Caucasians) Poligrafkomb. im. Revoliutsii, Nal´chik, OCLC 28944703 in Russian, reprinted (1956) in Munich, with a summary in English OCLC 7078547
- ^ Allen, W.E.D. and Muratoff, Paul (1953) Caucasian Battlefields: History of the Wars on the Turco-Caucasian Border 1828-1921 Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 107-8 OCLC 1102813
- ^ Mufti, Shawkat (1972) Heroes and emperors in Circassian history Librairie du Liban, Beirut, OCLC 628135
- ^ Brooks, Willis (I995) "Russia’s conquest and pacification of the Caucasus: relocation becomes a pogrom on the post-Crimean period" Nationalities Papers 23(4): pp. 675-86
- ^ Circassians in Israel. Circassian World.
References
- Shtendel, Uri , The Circassians in Israel, Am Hasefer Tel Aviv, 1973
