For Circassians, the 21st of May is marked as the Circassian Mourning Day. In this day, Circassians around the world revive the memory of the genocide and the exile of this Muslim nation that resulted in a reduced population that scatters all around the world in diaspora.
Back to how the story began.
The Circassians are a nation that descends from the Northern area of the Caucasus mountains. A nation with a set of values, customs and traditions, that resulted in a whole unique culture. Circassians were basically a pagan culture. They converted to Christianity at some point, part of them chose to remain Christians (which are now in Ossetia) and the rest went back to their pagan life. However, and due to the closeness between them and the Ottoman borders, they started to get to know the Islamic belief. Gradually, more and more people started converting to Islam. Eventually, "Circassians" became a Muslim nation.
Before becoming Muslims, and since the Russian empire understood the importance of this strategic land which is FULL of resources, it has been trying to subjugate the people of this land and claim it as a part of Russia. The war between the Russian empire and Circassians (and other Caucasian nations, like Chechens, for example) lasted for alittle more than a hundred years. By the year 1864, the land of Circassia was in the heart of the conflict between the Russian Empire on one side, and the Ottoman and British Empires on one side. The people of that land refused to be used by any parties as a proxy front. They just did not want to play other people's games. The only solution was to remove them from their land. This way, Russia would take over the land, and the Ottomans would benefit from the population (which was, basically, made of warriors, VERY skillful and feared warriors) as strong army members. Missionaries after missionaries were sent there to convince them that their life in their land is HARAM since it is a land of Kufr, and that they should come to the land of the Sultan, the Khalifah of Allah on earth, in order to be good Muslims. Some of them chose to ignore this and stay since the whole earth is Allah's earth. But the majority of Circassians decided that they prefer to go after their Akhira, so they decided to migrate to the land of the Sultan. They were sent in ships.
My heart aches as I write these parts.
Waves and waves of immigrants were sent to Sochi, in order to be loaded in ships and sent to the Ottoman land. Huge amounts were loaded in boats that are not fit to take these amounts of humans. Some were loaded in cargo boats. Some of the ships were burnt in the middle of the sea, and never made it to the Ottoman shores. Some boats were received on the Ottoman shores with half of the population dead out of diseases and starving. Families arrived with half of them alive and half of them as dead bodies. They were all poor, hungry, infected with smallpox, measles, typhoid and many other illnesses. They were some of the last waves of refugees received by the Ottoman empire -which was already exhausted with loads of other refugees- and were isolated in ghettos. Alot of times they had to chose between starving to death and stealing their food from neighboring villages. Some of them gave their children away to wealthier families for adoption so that they can starve to death in peace, without having to think of their children starving to death as well.
Russian records show a discrepancy between the numbers of boats that sailed from the Caucasian shores and the numbers of boats received at the Ottoman shores, but no one has ever been allowed to do an investigation. Some boats were burnt in the middle of the sea. Some were sent to slaver in locations no one knew about. Some faced mysterious destinies that only Allah knows about today.
And from Turkey, they moved around the world.
Today, they exist in the Middle East (Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt), they exist in small groups in several countries in Europe, waves of immigrants have relocated to the USA and Canada, and I know of individual cases who relocated to Australia. A part of the Circassian population reside today in the three Circassian republics: Adigheya, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia and in Krasnodar. The irony is, however, they are a minority even in their homeland!
I leave you with a short movie about the memory of the Circassian Genocide...
May Allah rest the souls of our ancestors in peace, and consider them as martyrs... Ameen...
Hope you all go home some day!
ReplyDeleteAmeen to that, Kanumommy!
DeleteOh gosh, I just think its so sad how so many nations stories are written out of history. I would like to think of myself as well rounded and willing enough to learn about other people and cultures SO its a SHOCK to hear what happened ...and i LIVE in Europe so you would think the would teach us of event in lands not so far away from us!!!
ReplyDeleteWell, yes. Some nations' stories were ommitted from history. In a way or another, it is not in the best interest of great powers to spread such stories. It is our duty to tell our stories to the world. That's why I was happy to know from Kanumommy that she knew about us from the 'No Sochi 2014' protests :-)
DeleteDo you folks go to the UN indigenous peoples forums?
Deletemmm... not as far as I know!
DeleteI guess we lack the awareness regarding our existence in the international context.
There is an activist group working in Europe, though.They have recently started issuing "Circassian Passports" from Brussels. Although -politically- the idea is kind of meaningless, but it has a cultural importance.
Your people count as indigenous peoples, right?
Of course. My relatives got back a few weeks ago from the most recent session. Just was wondering where Circassians have representation and an outlet for their issues. Other European ,etcetera, indigenous folks, like the Samis, are there ,as well as indigenous from around the world,especially those affected by settler states.
DeleteHmmmm! Really interesting!
DeleteThe problem is that our people do not have the awareness needed to go after their cause. Only few peopke know what does the term 'indigenous peoples' mean!
I once was working on a research paper about the status of the rights of Circassians as an ethnic minority in Jordan. I sent a questionnaire describing the issue and asked random people to fill it and send it back. I got an e-mail from a Circassian guy -my same age- blaming me harshly for using the word 'minority' to describe us and stating that we are a 'Jordanian Tribe' ! (now days went on and several years after I married his best friend - it's a small world! lol)
So before we move outside our communities we need to decide what exactly we want: to integrate ourselves in the countries we live in and melt in? Or to go back to our homeland? Or to remain in diaspora for the time being but demabd our rights to legally and institutionally protect our cultural heritage?
Well, you are a rather large group, so it's normal to have differences of opinions. And peoples have the right to self-identify and figure out how best to go forward with their cultures; however, at first glance, considering the UN definition of indigenous peoples and the archaeological evidence, your people appear to qualify. At any rate, of course you have the right to preserve your traditions and languages. That doesn't mean you can't be productive citizens of the countries you reside in,temporarily or not. And not everyone has to agree on everything. Just my opinion.
DeleteTrue. I totally agree with you.
DeleteI looked up the forum's page on the internet and is reading it, by the way :-)
The victors may write the history. But the downtrodden tell the truth.
ReplyDeleteIndeed! Thats why we should insist to tell our version of history.
DeleteAnd I guess this is a good place to praise the impartiality of some one like Justin McCarthy who digged into history to reveal the untold stories in his book 'Death and Exile'.
Thank you sister for this enlightening post. When you mentioned earlier that you were Circassian, I had no idea who Circassians are and where your lands were. Now I know!
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome!
DeleteWe are an ethnicity of very small numbers. We, also, are scattered around the world. These are some of the reasons why we do not have a voice in the international community.
I am glad something I wrote in my blog made my nation's cause known to more people! :-)