Circassians in Turkey

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Ethem the Circassian and his Circassian men the Kuvayı Milliye and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in front of the main building of the train station, who were on the way to the Yozgat uprising, June 1920

The Circassians in Turkey ( Kabardian and Adyghe Адыгэхэр Тырку / Adyghexer Tyrku , Turkish Türkiye Çerkezleri ) With about 2 million people (2.8 percent of the Turkish population) one of the largest ethnic minorities in Turkey is. The Circassians are in the Turkey also counted the closely related ethnic groups Abasins (10,000), Chechens (100,000) and Abkhazians (39,000). The Circassians are descendants of a Caucasian people who were expelled, fled or immigrated. The vast majority of them were assimilated and only about half still speak one of the Circassian languages , predominantly Kabardian (550,000 speakers) and, secondly, Adygean (275,000 speakers). The Circassians in Turkey are almost exclusively Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi direction.

history

Abkhazians related to the Circassians , either refugees in 1864, or rather participants in an uprising in 1866/67, which was followed by another wave of refugees into the Ottoman Empire.

In 1770, the Russians first entered the Caucasian region. For almost 100 years, the Circassian tribes resisted the Russian colonization of the Caucasus. After the Caucasus War , the war of subjugation of the Caucasus entered its decisive phase, in which the Circassians finally succumbed to the superior strength of the Imperial Russian Army . On May 21, Jul. / June 2, 1864 greg. the war was declared over by Tsar Alexander II . After Circassians had fled the area during the war, many of those who remained were deported to the Ottoman Empire . Many were killed during flight and deportation across the Black Sea in open barges and small boats, and then famine and disease further reduced their numbers.

After the Russo-Turkish War 1877–1878, more Circassian refugees came to the Ottoman Empire. Between 1855 and 1880, a total of around 600,000 Circassian refugees arrived in the Ottoman Empire, most of whom were settled in the western and central Anatolian vilayets as well as in the vilayet Aleppo , in the sanjak Deir ez-Zor , vilayet Mosul and vilayet Syria . Around 150,000 Circassians were resettled by the Russians in other regions of the Russian Empire ; in the north-western Caucasus, the settlement area of ​​the Circassians, mostly Christian Russian farmers and Cossacks from the interior of the Russian Empire were settled. In 1864 the northwestern Caucasus was almost completely Russified . The number of Circassians who perished in the expulsions between 1855 and 1880 is around 1.5 million.

The Circassian refugees were mostly on their arrival in the port of Istanbul , Samsun and Trabzon received

In the history of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey , the Circassians have always been loyal to the ruling parties, politicians and sultans. The Circassians played an important role in the organizational phase of the Turkish War of Liberation 1919–1922; they joined the Kuvayı Milliye troops under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's leadership . After the successful end of the war of liberation and Ataturk's declaration of independence in 1923, however, the Circassians were banned from any cultural activity. Cultural associations were closed, their Circassian-language publications burned, and members were imprisoned. In the 1930s, the Circassian language was banned along with the other minority languages.

Since the 1960s, the situation of the Circassians in Turkey has improved and throughout the country the Circassians founded cultural associations such as the Caucasian Association (Turkish Kafkas Derneği ) or the Federation of Caucasian Associations (Turkish Kafkas Dernekleri Federasyonu ).

The Circassians living in Turkey can often be found in democratic and liberal-oriented parties. The Circassians and their cultural associations hope that Turkey's current, Europe-oriented policy since the accession negotiations and the resulting minority-friendly policy will achieve more liberal and effective action against the progress of assimilation and the death of languages ​​among the Circassians in Turkey. Among the Circassians in Turkey and in the Diaspora there is an event every year on May 21st to commemorate the approximately 1.5 million people who died in forced deportations.

Settlement area

The settlement area of ​​the Circassians (green) as well as Abkhazians and Abasins (red) in Turkey.

Circassians live scattered throughout Turkey and mainly in villages in the provinces of Adana , Amasya , Balıkesir , Bolu , Bursa , Bilecik , Çanakkale , Çorum , Düzce , Eskişehir , Kahramanmaraş , Kayseri , Kocaeli , Samsun , Sivas , Tokat and Yozgat . In addition, there is the diaspora community in the metropolis of Istanbul and other major cities such as Adana , Ankara , Bursa and Izmir .

Known Circassians

(* = Circassian descent on paternal side)
(** = Circassian descent on maternal side)

From the Ottoman Empire

From the Republic of Turkey

From other states

See also

literature

  • Çetin Öner, Cornelius Bischoff : The last Circassian . Literaturca Verlag , Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 978-3935535083 .
  • Monika Höhlig: Contact-related language change in the Adygeic colloquial language in the Caucasus and Turkey . LINCOM Europe, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-89586-083-2 .
  • Yalçın Karadaş: Çerkes kimliği - Türkiye'nin sorunları . Sorun Yayınları, Istanbul 2009, ISBN 978-9754311761 . (Turkish)
  • Nihat Berzeg: Çerkezler - Kafkas sürgünü: Vatansız bırakılan bir halk . Chiviyazıları Yayınevi, Istanbul 2006, ISBN 975-9187-06-X . (Turkish)
  • Arsen Avagyan: Çerkesler - Osmanlı İmparatorluğu ve Kemalist Türkiye'nin devlet-iktidar sisteminde . Belge Yayınları, Istanbul 2006, ISBN 978-9753443012 . (Turkish)
  • Siyami Akyel: Türkiye'deki ünlü Çerkesler . Kutup Yıldızı Yayınları, Istanbul 2007, ISBN 975-6462-68-X . (Turkish)
  • Kai Merten: Among each other, not next to each other: The coexistence of religious and cultural groups in the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century . tape 6 of Marburg's contributions to the history of religion. LIT Verlag , Münster 2014, ISBN 978-3-643-12359-6 , 5th Circassian in the Ottoman Empire, p. 181–203 ( limited preview in Google Book search).

Web links

Commons : Circassians in Turkey  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ UNPO : Cherkessia (English)
  2. ↑ Ülkü Bilgin: Azınlık hakları ve Türkiye . Kitap Yayınevi, Istanbul 2007; P. 85. ISBN 9756051809 (Turkish)
  3. ↑ Ethnologue: Abasinen (English)
  4. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Turkish) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.circassian.us
  5. ↑ http://www.orsam.org.tr/tr/trUploads/Yazilar/Dosyalar/20121116_134turing.pdf (Turkish)
  6. ↑ Ethnologue: Abkhazians (English)
  7. ^ Justin A. McCarthy : Death and Exile - The Ethnic Cleansing of Ottoman Muslims, 1821-1922 . Darwin Press, Princeton 1996; Pp. 37-38. ISBN 0878500944 (English)
  8. ↑ WED Allen, Paul Muratoff: Caucasian Battlefields - A History of the Wars on the Turco-Caucasian Border 1828-1921 . Battery Press, Nashville 1966; P. 104. ISBN 0898392969 (English)
  9. ↑ Nihat Berzeg: Çerkezler: Kafka Sürgünü - Vatansız bırakılan bir halk . Chiviyazıları Yayınevi, Istanbul 2006; S. 193. ISBN 975-9187-06-X (Turkish)
  10. ^ Society for Threatened Peoples (STP): 145 Years of Genocide: Circassians Commemorate in Berlin , accessed on May 26, 2009