• am
  • ru
  • en
print version
07.07.2011

THE MODERN ISSUES OF THE CIRCASSIANS IN TURKEY

   

Ruben Melkonyan

The Ottoman Empire was multi-national and multi-ethnic state where, however, non-Turk nations were obliged to renounce their identity and to Turkishize. And the policy of Turkishizing regarded not only to Christians; various methods were applied in respect of Muslim ethnic groups and nations. The Turkish Republic not only inherited but also attached new scope to this policy which in the 20th century has also acquired new judicial formulations. Thus, in 1923, in accordance with the Lausanne Treaty the Turkish Republic recognized only three communities – Armenian, Greek and Jewish, meanwhile other ethnic and ethno-religious groups such as Assyrians, Laz people, Kurds, Circassians and others, which number was somewhere about 40, did not acquire any rights.

Turkish policy of Turkishizing was implemented in regard to all the Muslim peoples living on its territory, though in case with Kurds it faced counteraction, which from time to time had been turning into armed conflicts, like the Kurdish rebellions and disturbances in the first half of the 20th century. It is known that official Turkey at first did not recognize the existence of separate Kurdish ethnos and identified them as “mountainous Turks”. Today the Kurdish issue has reached the level when Turkish state not only recognizes the existence of the Kurd people but also grants them different rights and some Kurdish regions more openly speak about autonomy.

After Turks, the biggest Muslim ethnic group in Turkey is the Circassians. It is known that in the middle of the 19th century peoples from the North Caucasus moved to the Ottoman Empire from Russia, and they are called in Turkey Circassians. Accepting Muslim Circassians the Ottoman authorities at once used them as a means in their demographic policy and in repressions against the Christian population. The Circassians were allocated territories mainly populated by the Christians in order to change the demographic picture in favour of the Muslim population. The Circassians played important role in the military system of Turkey and one should not also forget that the Circassians took active part in the perpetration of the Armenian Genocide.

Today, according to different sources, the number of the Circassians in Turkey varies from 3 to 5 million but according to the specialists the most realistic number is 3 million. In the Republican Turkey the Circassians are also involved in military and political spheres. There are high-ranking militaries and state officials among them.

The issue of the identity, which is on the agenda in Turkey today, has also touched the Circassians and there are some developments in this direction. Thus, recently “The Circassian Initiative for Democracy” NGO arranged a protest action in Ankara to voice the various problems bothering the Circassians, among which the issue of preservation of the Circassian identity was the topical. As an essential condition for the preservation of their identity the Circassians mention the issue of their mother tongue – the Circassian language, and there are definite proposals made on it. Today only 10% of the Circassians, mostly the older generation, speak Circassian. The slogans at the protest action were: “We demand education in Circassian language”, “The one who loses his language will lose everything”, and the main slogan of the protest action was “Hail to our struggle to stay Circassians”. Among the demands of the Circassians the issue of the TV channel and radio in Circassian, which in their opinion will promote the preservation of their language, is also distinguished.

The member of the administrative board of “The Circassian Initiative for Democracy” Kenan Kaplan stated: “We have been long waiting for the days when in Turkey our history, culture, language will find place in books, we will read books in our mother tongue”. It is remarkable that the Circassians, voicing their problems, clearly hint to the attention of the Turkish government to the Kurdish issue, thus mentioning: “In this country not only the rights of those who make much noise but also the rights of other peoples must be taken into consideration”.

As it was expected, in Turkey opposition was formed in regard to this new issue put forward now by the Muslim national minority and a number of figures deprecated “The Circassian Initiative for Democracy”. In particular, rather harsh statements were made by a well-known Turkish publicist and researcher Murad Bardakci, who, by the way, is also of Circassian decent: “Now the Circussian initiative is the least we needed”. While speaking about the migration of the Circassians from Russia he mentioned that it happened in order “to escape Russian sword” and unlike the Russians, Turks received them with open arms. While enumerating the Circassians who took high-ranking posts in different times, Bardakci called the attempts of the Circassians directed to the preservation of their mother tongue “ingratitude towards Turkey”. According to Bardakci, the Circassians are to blame themselves for the loss of the Circassian language, as they have not managed to pass the language from generation to generation. It is remarkable that Bardakci called discontented Circassians to claim their rights from Russia. “The elder generation has a lot of memories about “bloody tsar”, “betrayer Moscow” and “wild Siberia”. So if you have guts go and claim your rights from Russia”.

It is remarkable that this issue has already caused contradictions and discussion among the Circassians and during this discussion rather interesting facts are revealed. Particularly, Circassian publicists Yasar Goven and Fuat Ugur replied to Bardakci’s statements. Speaking about the Circassians who occupied high-ranking positions in the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey they said that those people took the positions not as the Circassians but as Turks, i.e. the Circassian identity was not taken into consideration at all, and the Circassians had no rights with their real identity. “When we struggled for the creation of this country, when we gave our blood and lives we did not even spoke Turkish and now we forgot out mother tongue”, – said Fuat Ugur.

The president of “The Federation of the Caucasian Unions” Cihan Candemir interfered in the mutual recriminations of the Circassians, accepting that the migration of the Circassians to the Ottoman Empire also was conditioned by anti-Christian demographic reasons. He said that in Turkish reality a policy of Turkishizing, which had an impact on Muslim national minorities either, has been implemented. In particular, in consequence of this impact many Circassians have been hiding their identity, stopped using Circassian names and speaking Circassian language.

It is interesting that while discussing the Circassian issue direct reference was made to the Armenian issues too; particularly to the role of the Circassians in the Armenian Genocide. The aforementioned Circussian intellectuals Fuat Ugur and Yasar Goven have joined “We apologize to the Armenians” initiative. Accepting the participation of the Circassians in the Armenian Genocide, they, at the same time, make general statements and try to find “softening” circumstances in the deeds of their forefathers: “Among the Circassians there are also those who saved the Armenians from the massacres. In Cesaria and surrounding villages Armenians who survived the Genocide in 1915, found shelter and continued to live in the Circassian villages and adopted Circassian identity”. Of course this assertion is very weak as here we speak mainly about those Armenian women who were captured and forcedly Islamized by the Circassians and after that they were obliged to live as Circassians, i.e. “the Armenians who adopted Circassian identity” in reality were those Armenian women captured by the Circassians during the Genocide.

Summarizing, we have to mention that process which has been initiated among the Circassians and which still continues is remarkable in the context of the development of the issue of the identity in Turkey and it comes to prove that the idea of “homogeneous” Turkey created by force, in its essence, has not fully succeeded. At the same time, it can be supposed that the Turkish authorities have a concern that in case of fulfilling the demands of the Circassians similar claims may be put forward by the Laz people, Islamized Georgians (Gurji) and other minorities.


Return
Another materials of author