Circassians


The Circassians, also known as the Cherkess or the Adyghe, are a Northwest Caucasian ethnic group native to Circassia, a region and former country in the North Caucasus.
As a consequence of the Circassian genocide, which was perpetrated by the Russian Empire during the 19th-century Russo-Circassian War, most of Circassians were exiled from their homeland and consequently began living in what was then the Ottoman Empire, i.e., modern-day Turkey, Southeastern Europe and the Middle East. In the early 1990s, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization estimated that there are as many as 3.7 million Circassians in diaspora in over 50 countries.
The two Circassian languages—western Adyghe and eastern Kabardian—are natively spoken by the Circassian people. After the Russian Empire's war crimes and forced deportation, Ubykh branch of Circassian fell out of use and went extinct in Turkey with the death of its last speaker, Tevfik Esenç.
Circassian paganism is their ethnic religion, which was historically practiced in Circassia since ancient times, but Sunni Islam became the dominant religion among them around the 17th century, following a long period of Islamisation. Circassia has been repeatedly invaded since ancient times; its isolated terrain coupled with the strategic value external societies have placed on the region have greatly shaped the Circassian national identity as a whole.
The Circassian flag consists of a green field charged with 12 gold stars and, in the centre, three crossed arrows. The stars represent the 12 Circassian tribes: the Abzakh, the Besleney, the Bzhedugh, the Hatuqay, the Kabardians, the Mamkhegh, the Natukhaj, the Shapsugh, the Chemirgoy, the Ubykh, the Yegeruqway, and the Zhaney.
Circassians have played major roles in areas where they settled: in Turkey, those of Circassian origin have had massive influence, being instrumental in the Turkish War of Independence and among the elites of Turkey's intelligence agency. In Jordan, they founded the capital city Amman, and continue to play a major role in the country. In Syria, they served as the volunteer guards of the Allies upon their entry into the country and still occupy high positions. In Libya, they serve in high military positions. In Egypt, they were part of the ruling class. The largest Circassian clan in the country also contributed to Egyptian and Arabic cultural literary, intellectual, and political life starting with the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha in Egypt and continuing to the modern day: the Abaza family. In Israel, Bibras Natcho is the captain of the Israeli national soccer team.
In the Soviet Union, historical Circassia was divided into the republics of Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Krasnodar Krai, and southwestern parts of Stavropol Krai.
Accordingly, Circassians have been designated as Adygeans in Adygea, Kabardians in Kabardino-Balkaria, Cherkess in Karachay-Cherkessia, and Shapsug in Krasnodar Krai; all four are essentially the same people. Today, approximately 800,000 Circassians remain in historical Circassia, while 4,500,000 live elsewhere, mostly in Turkey.

Ethnonyms

Adyghe

The Circassians refer to themselves as Adyghe. According to one view, the name derives from Atyghe meaning "high " to signify a mountaineer, as the Circassian people have lived in and near the mountains for thousands of years.
The medieval Circassian people known as Zygii were called "Adzakha" in the Bosporus inscriptions, leading to a theory that their endonym was originally Adzigha, which eventually evolved into Adyghe''.

Circassian, Cherkess

The word Circassian is an exonym, Latinized from Russian Cherkess, which is of debated origin. The term, in Russian, was traditionally applied to all Circassians before Soviet times, but it has since usually referred only to Circassians living in northern Karachay-Cherkessia, a federal subject of Russia, where they are indigenous and were about 12% of the population in 2010. In English, it still refers to all Circassians.
The origin of the term "Circassian" is disputed. One view is that its root stems from Turkic languages, and means "head choppers" or "warrior killers", because of the Circassians' battle practices. Other sources argue that the term comes from Mongolian Jerkes, meaning "one who blocks a path". Some believe it comes from the ancient Greek name of the region, Siraces. According to another view, its origin is Persian and combines two parts, kar and kās, meaning "mountainous region". The spelling Cherkess may be an abbreviation of Persian Chahār-kas, denoting four tribes. Ali ibn al-Athir and Ibn Khaldun used the term Jahārkas, but the Persian hypothesis remains uncertain.
In early Russian sources, Circassians are called Kasogi, but one view holds that the modern term "Cherkes" derives from Kerket, the name of one of the ancient Circassian tribes.
In languages spoken geographically close to the Caucasus, the native people originally had other names for the Circassians, but with Russian influence, the name has been settled as Cherkess. It is the same or similar in many world languages that cite these languages.
The Encyclopaedia Islamica adds: "The Cherkess: the Kabardians and the western Adyghe people share a common language, which is spoken by the north-western Caucasian people, and belongs to the family known as Abkhazian-Adyghe".
In Medieval Oriental and European texts, the Adyghe people were known by the name Cherkess/Circassians. In Persian sources, Charkas/Cherkes is used to refer to the "actual" Circassians of the northwest Caucasus, and in some occasions as a general designation for Caucasians who live beyond Derbent.

Soviet policy

Despite a common self-designation and a common Russian name, Soviet authorities divided the nation into four different peoples and applied four designations to Circassians remaining in the historic lands of Circassia:
  • Kabardian, Circassians of Kabardino-Balkaria
  • Cherkess, Circassians of Karachay-Cherkessia
  • Adyghe or Adygeans, the indigenous population of the Kuban including Adygea and Krasnodar Krai
  • Shapsug, the indigenous historical inhabitants of Shapsugia. They live in the Tuapse District and the Lazarevsky City District of Sochi, both in Krasnodar Krai and in Adygea.

    History

Origins

Genetically, the Adyghe have shared ancestry partially with neighboring peoples of the Caucasus, with some influence from other regions. The most prevalent SNP haplotype among all Circassian tribes is G2-YY1215 ; others are R1a-M198*, G2-YY9632, and J2-M172*, sharing a single common ancestor 3,000 years ago, with the largest demographic growth between 2,000 and 1,500 years ago. Prevalence of the G2-YY1215 haplogroup is higher in the Western Caucasus and decreases to the east, while G2-YY9632 has the opposite tendency. R1a-M198* is shared with Balkars, Karachays and Kuban Cossacks.
The Circassian language, also known as Cherkess, is in the Northwest Caucasian language family. Archaeological findings, mainly of dolmens in the northwest Caucasus region, indicate a megalithic culture.
The ancestors of present-day Circassians are known as the Sinti-Maeotian tribes. Archaeological research shows that these tribes were the indigenous people of the Caucasus. Some researchers have claimed there may be links between Circassians and Indo-European-speaking communities, and some have argued that there are connections between Circassians and Hatti, who are from ancient Anatolian peoples, but these theories are not widely accepted. According to genetic tests performed on Circassians, their closest relatives are Ingush, Chechens, Georgians and Abkhazians.

Pseudoscientific claims

groups and proponents of modern-day Pan-Turkism have claimed that the Circassians are of Turkic origin, but no scientific evidence supports this claim, and it has been strongly denied by ethnic Circassians, impartial research, linguists, and historians around the world. The Circassian language does not share notable similarities to the Turkish language, except for borrowed words. According to various historians, the Circassian origin of the Sind-Meot tribes refutes the claim that the Circassians are of Turkic ethnic origin.
German racial theorists, after comparing skull shapes, declared that Europeans, North Africans, and Caucasians were of a common race, termed "Caucasian" or later "Caucasoid". Scientific racism emphasized the so-called "superior beauty" of the Circassian people, referring to them as "how God intended the human race to be", leading to the 18th century stereotype of the Circassian beauty.

Medieval period

Feudalism began to emerge among Circassians by the 4th century. As a result of Armenian, Greek, and Byzantine influence, Christianity spread throughout the Caucasus between the 3rd and 5th centuries. During that period, Circassians began to accept Christianity as a national religion, but did not abandon all elements of their indigenous religious beliefs. Circassians established many states, but could not achieve political unity. From around 400, wave after wave of outsiders began to invade the lands of the Adyghe people, who were also known as the Kasogi at the time. They were conquered first by the Bulgars. Outsiders sometimes confused the Adyghe people with the similarly named Utigurs. After the Khazar state dissolved, the Adyghe people were integrated around the end of the 1st millennium AD into the Kingdom of Alania. Between the 10th and 13th centuries, Georgia had influence on the Adyghe Circassian peoples. In the medieval era, there was a Circassian kingdom called Zichia or Zekchia.
In 1382, Circassian slaves took the Mamluk throne, the Burji dynasty took over and the Mamluks became a Circassian state. The Mongols, who started invading the Caucasus in 1223, destroyed some of the Circassians and most of the Alans. The Circassians lost most of their lands during the ensuing Golden Horde attacks and had to retreat to the back of the Kuban River. In 1395, Circassians fought violent wars against Tamerlane, and although they won the wars, Tamerlane plundered Circassia.
Prince Inal, who owned land in the Taman peninsula during the 1400s, established an army and declared that his goal was to unite the Circassians under a single state. They were divided into many states at that time, but after declaring his own princedom, Inal conquered all of Circassia one by one. Circassian nobles and princes tried to prevent Inal's rise, but Inal and his supporters defeated 30 Circassian lords. After successfully uniting the Circassians, Inal still wanted to include the closely related Abkhazians. Inal, who won the war in Abkhazia, officially conquered Northern Abkhazia and the Abkhaz people recognized his rule. One of the stars on the flag of Abkhazia represents Inal. He divided his lands between his sons and grandchildren in 1453 and died in 1458. After that, Circassian tribal principalities were established, including Chemguy, founded by Temruk; Besleney, founded by Beslan; Kabardia, founded by Qabard; and Shapsug, founded by Zanoko.