List of Circassians

This is an incomplete list of world-famous or notable Circassians, including both full Circassians and people of at least 50% Circassian descent. Figures who belong in two categories have only been placed in one of the categories. In previous usage, the term Circassian also included the Abkhazians.

Cultural

Cultural figures

Tevfik Esenç – Last known fully competent speaker of the Ubykh language.

Historians and writers

Hayriye-Melech Xhundj – One of the first woman Circassian writers
Nâzım Hikmet** – Poet, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director and memoirist.
Ömer Seyfettin – considered to be one of the greatest turkish writers.
Amirkhan Kamizovich Shomakhov – lyrics, prose, and play writer, primarily known as one of the founders of the Kabardian children's literature
Ahmed Shawqi – Egyptian poet-Laureate
Fekry Pasha Abaza - Egyptian writer and political activist.
Kuba Shaaban – writer, poet, musician and historian.
Tharwat Abaza -Egyptian novelist and journalist.
Hasan Cemal** – Turkish journalist, historian and writer
Nadine Jolie Courtney – American journalist and author of Beauty Confidential and All-American Muslim Girl
Mohydeen Izzat Quandour – Writer, intellectual, film producer and director, and musician
Amjad Jaimoukha – One of the most influential Circassian writers and publicists
Aziz Pasha Abaza - a significant figure in modern Arabic poetry.
Costa Chekrezi, also known as Constantin Anastas Chekrezi was an Albanian patriot, historian, and publicist. He is Circassian by origin through his father's family.
Čerkez Ilija was a rebel leader active in Kriva Palanka. He was a teacher by profession.
Orhan Pamuk – Nobel Laureate

Architects

Ali Maher – Jordanian architect

Military officers

Ancient

Hekataios of Sindike – king of the Sindians throughout the reign of both Satyros I and Leukon I, rulers of the Bosporan Kingdom.
Oktamasades of Sindike – king of the Sindians. He usurped the throne from his father some time in 383 BC after his failed war against Oktamasades's mother, Tirgatao.

1st–17th century

Kings of Circassia

Inal the Great – Supreme Prince of Circassia from 1427 to 1453 who unified all Circassians into one state.

Kings of Kabardia

Idar of Kabardia – Supreme Prince of Kabardia. He was the son of Prince Inarmaz, and the grandson of Prince Tabula. Prince Inarmaz himself was the eldest of the three grandsons of Prince Inal. His rule spanned over the period of 1525 to 1540.
Temryuk of Kabardia – Supreme Prince of Kabardia. When Temryuk came to power, he put down the revolts of the disputing princes, and helped Circassia become a military power within the North Caucasus.
Kurgoqo Atajuq – Supreme Prince of Kabardia who won the Battle of Kanzhal.
Jankhot Qushuq – Last Supreme Prince of Kabardia.

Safavid people

Yusuf Agha – Safavid gholam and courtier who wielded great influence and power during the reign of king Abbas I.
Qazaq Khan Cherkes – Safavid military commander who also served as the governor of Shirvan and Astarabad
Farhad Beg Cherkes – Safavid military commander
Behbud Khan Cherkes – Safavid military commander
Fereydun Khan Cherkes – Safavid military commander who served as the governor of Astarabad
Najafqoli Khan Cherkes – Safavid military commander who served as the governor of Shirvan and Erivan

18th–19th century

Russo-Circassian War participants

Qalebatuqo Hatuqay Shupago – politician and military commander who served as the 1st leader of the Circassian Confederation from 1807 to 1827.
Ismail Berzeg – military commander and politician who served as the 2nd leader of the Circassian Confederation from 1827 to 1839. He was also the princely leader of the Ubykh tribe.
Seferbiy Zaneqo – military commander and diplomat who served as the 5th leader of the Circassian Confederation from 1859 to 1860.
Qerandiqo Berzeg – military commander who served as the 6th and last leader of the Circassian Confederation from 1860 to 1864. After the Circassian genocide, he was exiled to the Ottoman Empire, volunteered in the Ottoman army against Russia, and died there of old age.
Kizbech Tughuzhuqo – military commander who took part in the Russo-Circassian War. Personally witnessing all of his family get killed by the Russian army, he received multiple offers from the Russian Empire to switch sides and join its Imperial ranks but he refused all offers and closed negotiations.
Jembulat Boletoqo – military commander, politician, nobleman and leader of the Chemguy region. He was famous for his courage and tough will. He had great influence among all Circassians, including the Abadzekhs, with whom he was associated with.
Qerzech Shirikhuqo – military commander and the leader of the Natukhaj region.
Pshiquy Akhezhaqo – politician, military commander and the leader prince of the Bzhedug region.
Ale Khirtsizhiqo – military commander from the Abdzakh region.

20th–21st century

Ottoman military officers

Çerkes Ethem – guerilla leader, social bandit, efe and soldier. Nicknamed the "Rankless General" by his supporters and crowned as the "National Hero" by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, he initially gained fame for establishing the Kuva-yi Seyyare and putting down multiple great-scale rebellions and gaining key major victories against the Greek armies invading Anatolia during the Turkish War of Independence.
Yusuf Izzet Pasha – a general of the Ottoman Army and the Turkish Army.
Suleyman Askeri Pasha – Ottoman soldier and co founder of the Teşkilât-ı Mahsusa
Yakub Cemil – Ottoman revolutionary and soldier, who assassinated Nazım Pasha during the 1913 Ottoman coup d'état.
Mufid Bey Libohova was an Albanian economist, diplomat and politician and one of the delegates at the Assembly of Vlorë where the Albanian Declaration of Independence took place. He served as the first Minister of Interior of Albania, during the Provisional Government of Albania. His mother Behixhe Hamza was a Circassian from Tuapse. He served as an Ottoman official before the independence of Albania.
Zeki Pasha – WWI and Balkan Wars field marshal
Arslan Toğuz – police commissioner of the Ottoman Empire
Rüştü Sakarya – officer of Ottoman army

Turkish military officers

Cemil Cahit Toydemir – Officer of the Ottoman Army and a general of the Turkish Army.
Ismail Hakkı Berkok – General of Mountainous Republic, Turkish and Ottoman armies

Egyptian military officers

Salah Salem – an Egyptian Military officer and member in the Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council
Gamal Salem – an Egyptian Air Force officer and political figure
Hussein el-Shafei – an Egyptian Military officer and member in the Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council
Zakaria Mohieddin – an Egyptian Military officer and member in the Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council
General officer Aziz Almasri – an Egyptian Military officer

Libyan military officers

Umar Muhayshi – member of the Libyan Revolutionary Command Council that ruled Libya.

Syrian military officers

Bassam Abdel Majeed – Syrian military officer, politician and diplomat.

Insurgency in the North Caucasus participants

Anzor Astemirov – Kabardian Islamist militant

Athletes

UFC fighter

Azamat Murzakanov

Football and basketball

Emre Belözoğlu – football player and manager
Şamil Çinaz – footballer
Can Bartu – Former professional basketball and football player and pundit
Ayetullah Bey – footballer, founder and second president of the major Turkish multi–sport club Fenerbahçe SK
Süleyman Seba – Ex–President of Beşiktaş J.K.
Oğuz Çetin – football player and manager
Mesut Bakkal – football player and manager
Feras Esmaeel – footballer
Yanal Abaza – footballer
Tamer Haj Mohamad – footballer
Bibras Natcho – footballer
Izhak Nash – footballer
Nili Natkho – basketball player

Martial arts

Aslanbek Khushtov – wrestler, 2008 Summer Olympics winner.
Murat Kardanov is a wrestler of Circassian descent who won the gold medal in the 2000 summer Olympics
Yaşar Doğu – 1948 London Olympics middleweight wrestling champion
Gazanfer Bilge was a wrestler of Circassian descent who won the gold medal in the Featherweight class of Men's Freestyle Wrestling at the 1948 Olympics.
Hamit Kaplan was a World and Olympic champion sports wrestler of Circassian descent in the Heavyweight class.
Bilyal Makhov – Mixed Martial Artist and 2012 Olympic Bronze medalist in freestyle wrestling
Beslan Mudranov – Judo, 2016 Olympics gold medalist
Adil Candemir – Wrestler, 1948 London Olympics silver medalist

Theologians and philosophers

Islamic clergy

Caner Dagli – Islamic scholar and associate professor of Religious Studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Jawdat Said – Islamic scholar and nonviolence advocate.
Al-Kawthari – Islamic scholar and theologian of the Maturidi school and the adjunct to the last Shaykh al-Islam of the Ottoman Empire.

Christian clergy

Carlo de' Medici** – Italian priest, senior clergyman and collector, a member of the powerful Medici family

Philosophers

Jabagh Qazanoqo – philosopher, poet, military strategist, and diplomat who gained fame for reforming the Circassian justice system based on the Quran and Adyghe Xabze. He played a big role in the Battle of Kanzhal.

Politicians

Jordanian politicians

Sa'id Mufti – Jordanian independent politician, serving in several governments as interior minister. He was Minister of Finance in 1945. He served as the President of the Senate of Jordan from December 1956 to July 1963 and from November 1965 to November 1974.
Ismael Babouk – The first Mayor of Jordan's capital, Amman
Toujan al-Faisal – Human rights activist, member of Jordanian Parliament 1993–1997, first woman ever elected to the parliament

German politicians

Cem Özdemir* – German politician, co-chairman of the German Green Party

Syrian politicians

Ali Mamlouk – Director of general security of Syria
Bassam Abdel Majeed – former Syrian interior minister and director of the military police

Prime ministers of Tunisia

Khaireddin al Tunusy – Prime Minister of Tunisia 1873–1877

Egyptian politicians

Aziz Ali al-Misri – Egyptian chief of staff and politician
Khaled Mohieddin – Egyptian politician
Aziz Pasha Abaza - Egyptian poet and governor

Prime ministers of Egypt

Ali Mahir Pasha – Prime Minister of Egypt
Mahmoud Fawzi – Prime Minister of Egypt
Ahmad Mahir Pasha – Prime Minister of Egypt
Riyad Pasha – Prime Minister of Egypt

Turkish politicians

Abdüllatif Şener – Former Finance Minister in the 54th cabinet of the Turkish Government
Ali Kemal** – journalist-politician who was killed during the Turkish War of Independence.
Deniz Baykal – politician who was a long–time leader of the Republican People's Party in Turkey.
Önder Sav – Turkish lawyer and politician

Economists

Ungku Abdul Aziz* – Malaysian economist and lecturer
Zeti Akhtar Aziz* – Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, Malaysia's Central Bank

Presidents and prime ministers of Turkey

Ahmet Necdet Sezer – 10th president of Turkey
Necmettin Erbakan** – politician, engineer and academic who was the Prime Minister of Turkey from 1996 to 1997 as mandated by the constitution.

Grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire

Cenaze Hasan Pasha – Short–term Ottoman grand vizier in 1789. His epithet Cenaze means "corpse" because he was ill when appointed to the post.
Koca Dervish Mehmed Pasha – Ottoman military officer and statesman from Circassia. He was made Kapudan Pasha in 1652 and promoted to Grand Vizier on 21 March 1653. He held the position until 28 October 1654.
Çerkes Mehmed Pasha – Served as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1624 to 1625.
Salih Hulusi Pasha – was one of the last Grand Viziers of the Ottoman Empire, under the reign of the last Ottoman Sultan Mehmed VI, between 8 March 1920 and 2 April 1920.

Ottoman governors

Abdullah Pasha – the Ottoman governor of Sidon Eyalet. During his reign, all of Palestine and the Syrian coastline came under his jurisdiction.
Çerkes Osman Pasha – served as the wali of the Sidon and Damascus eyalets in the early 18th century.
Farrukh Pasha – Ottoman governor of Nablus and Jerusalem in the early 17th century, and founder of the Farrukh dynasty, which held the governorship of Nablus and other posts for much of the 17th century.
Rıza Tevfik Bey was an Ottoman and later Turkish philosopher, poet, politician of liberal signature. His father was an Albanian, while his mother was a Circassian.

Heads of the federal subjects of Russia

Presidents of Adygea

Aslan Dzharimov – The 1st President of the Republic of Adygea
Hazret Sovmen – The 2nd President of the Adygea
Aslan Tkhakushinov – The 3rd President Adygea
Murat Kumpilov – The 4th President Adygea

Presidents of Kabardino–Balkaria

Valery Kokov – The 1st President of Kabardino-Balkaria
Arsen Kanokov – The 2nd President of Kabardino-Balkaria

Krasnodar Krai

Murat Akhedzhak – Deputy Head of Administration of Krasnodar Krai in the 2002–2010.

Nobility

Sultans of the Ottoman Empire with Circassian mothers

Abdul Hamid II** – reigned as the 34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire – the last Sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state
Mehmed V** – reigned as the 35th and penultimate Ottoman Sultan
Mehmed VI** – the 36th and last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire

Shahs of the Safavid Empire with Circassian mothers

Shah Suleiman I ** – the eight Shah of Safavid Persia
Shah Abbas II ** – the seventh Shah of Safavid Persia

Other nobility

Maria Temryukovna – Wife of the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible
Bidar Kadın – fourth wife of Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire.
Ecaterina Cercheza second wife of Moldavian prince Vasile Lupu
Sultana Melek Tourhan was the wife of Sultan Hussein Kamel of Egypt.
Princess Sana Asem – Jordanian princess
Dina bint 'Abdu'l-Hamid** – former Queen of Jordan as the first wife of King Hussein
Nakihat Khanum – Safavid noble
Anna Khanum – Safavid noble
Bedrifelek Kadın – second wife and chief consort of Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire
Abaza family - Egypt's largest aristocratic family of maternal Abazin Circassian origin.
Tariq bin Taimur Al Said - was a member of the Omani royal family
Hussein bin Ali, King of Hejaz

Scholars

Şevket Pamuk – chair of Contemporary Turkish Studies at the European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science.

Artists

Film, TV, and stage

Asuman Krause – actress, singer, model and TV presenter who was crowned Miss Turkey in 1998
Rushdy Abaza – Egyptian actor. He was a member of the Abazin Abaza family, Egypt's largest Circassian clan. He was considered one of the most charming actors in the Egyptian film industry. He died of brain cancer at the age of 53.
Ali İhsan Varol – TV show presenter, producer and actor
Mert Fırat – actor and screenwriter
Hussein Fahmy – Egyptian actor
Mervat Amin – Egyptian actress
Najdat Anzour – Syrian television and film director.
Ludmilla Tchérina – internationally famous ballet dancer, actress, artist and sculptor who is a member of a royal family.
Mehmet Aslantuğ – actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He has received a Golden Boll Award, a Golden Objective Award, three Golden Orange Awards, and four Golden Butterfly Awards.
Seda Alkor – actress, beauty pageant titleholder, painter and singer
Mimi Chakib–an Egyptian actress who appeared in some 15 films mostly in the 1940s and 1950s
Sinem Ünsal – Turkish actress
Mehmet Oz** – American surgeon who hosts the TV program "The Dr.Oz show"
Damla Sönmez – Theatre, cinema and TV actress
Elçin Sangu – actress known for her role in "Kiralık Aşk".
Natalia Azoqa – Contestant on "Survivor: David vs. Goliath."
Vladimir Baragun – opera singer, composer, and cultural icon of Circassian music.
Filiz Akın* – actress, writer and TV presenter. Known as Yeşilçam Turkish cinema's "noble, modern, urban and elegant face", Filiz Akın won a huge fan base in Turkey.
Neslihan Atagül – actress best known for her role in Kara Sevda, one of the most successful Turkish series, sold to more than 110 countries and the only winner of the International Emmy Award in 2017.
İrem Sak – actress and singer
Ezel Akay – film actor, film director and film producer
Sezgi Sena Akay – actress, former professional volleyball player, presenter, and model who was crowned Best Model of the World 2012.
Deniz Akkaya – top model, presenter, fashion editor and disc jockey, entrepreneur, businesswoman, and actress who won Best Model of Turkey 1997. As the top–earning model in Turkey in the early 2000s, Deniz Akkaya is considered to be one of the most leading models in Turkish fashion history, and one of the most beautiful women of the country.
Kanbolat Görkem Arslan – actor
Günseli Başar – beauty contestant and columnist who was crowned Miss Turkey 1951 and Miss Europe 1952.
Orhan Boran – radio/TV host and actor. He was also widely known for his laudable usage of the Turkish language.
Begüm Birgören – actress.
Sanem Çelik – actress, artist and dancer.
Sadi Celil Cengiz – actor.
Meltem Cumbul – actress.
Keriman Halis Ece – beauty pageant titleholder, pianist, and fashion model who won the Miss Turkey 1932 title. She was also crowned Miss Universe 1932 in Spa, Belgium and thus became Turkey's first Miss Universe.
Türkan Şoray – actress
Ayta Sözeri – Turkish transgender actress and LGBT activist
Dolunay Soysert – Turkish actress
Çağla Şıkel – is a Turkish ballet, model, actress and TV presenter.
Nevra Serezli – Turkish actress
Leyla Sayar** – Turkish actress
Tan Sağtürk – Turkish actor
Liya Akhedzhakova* – Russian actress

Musicians and painters

Astemir Apanasov – singer
Aleyna Tilki - Turkish singer and songwriter
Yuri Temirkanov – Russian music director and chief conductor of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic since 1988
Zamudin Guchev – craftsman and musician
Aslan Tlebzu – Russian folk musician
Sati Kazanova – Russian singer
Emanne Beasha- Jordanian/American singer
Hadise – singer
Zaur Tutov – singer
Mihail Chemiakin – Famous painter, stage designer, sculptor and publisher
Avni Arbaş – painter
Aydilge – writer, poet and singer–songwriter who is famous for her beauty and voice
Nuri Bilge Ceylan – photographer, cinematographer, screenwriter and actor and film director