Circassians Totally Explained

Everything about Circassians totally explained

Circassians is a term derived from the ancient names of two groups of Caucasian peoples, "Kir" and "Kas" who were called "Kir-Kas" together. By time it evolved from "Kirkas" to "Kerkas," "Cherkas," "Cherkes," and "Kas" as in "Kafkas." Turkic nationals who arrived in the lands later spelled it as "Cerkes/Cerkez," "Cherkess," or "Çerkes." The term isn't the self-designation of any people. It has sometimes been applied indiscriminately to all the peoples of the North Caucasus, including the "Adygas," "Ubykhs," and "Abkhazians." Most specifically, the term can apply only to the Adyghe people. (An old Adyge expression said, "Every Adyge is a Cherkess, but any Cherkess isn't an Adyge.") Today a significant number of "Circassians" live in diaspora, primarily due to the Muhajirism, an exodus of the Muslim population from the Caucasus since 1864, after the successful Russian invasion of the Caucasus.
More commonly it has referred to all the peoples of the northwest Caucasus:

Adyghe ("Circassians" in the narrowest sense, inhabitants of Circassia, including Kabardin)
Abkhaz (including Abazins)
Ubykh (linguistically vanished) to the exclusion of the eastern Chechens and the peoples of Dagestan.

The term's vagueness stems largely from the fact that the northern Caucasus was a remote and relatively unknown area for Westerners and Turks, who often didn't distinguish carefully among similar groups living there.

Circassian diaspora

From 1763 to 1864 the Circassians fought against the Russians in the Russian-Circassian War only succumbing to a scorched earth campaign initiated in 1862 under General Yevdokimov. Afterwards, large numbers of Circassians fled and were deported to the Ottoman Empire, others were resettled in Russia far from their home territories. These two villages were a part of a greater group of Circassian villages around the Golan Heights. The Circassians in Israel enjoy, like Druzes, a status aparte. Circassian men are mandated for military service, while women are not.

The Balkans

A small minority of Circassians lived since the late 1880's in Kosovo Polje, which was given mention by Noel Malcolm in his seminal work about that province, but they were repatriated to the Republic of Adygea, in Southern Russia in the late 1990's(External Link

).
Around 1600, several emigrants from the Caucasus region, of somewhat privileged descent, settled in the then Principality of Moldavia, and became under the name "Cerchez" (pronounced [Cherkez] in Romanian) one of its 72 boyar families. In time they were assimilated into the general population. However one of the last descendants of this family, Mihail Christodulo Cerchez, was a Romanian national hero in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 (Osman Paşa, "Gazi Osman Pasha" the Turkish commander of the Pleven garrison, who was an Adyge himself, surrendered his sword to him at the end of the siege). One of the main halls of the Cotroceni palace in Bucharest is named "Sala Cerchez" ("Cerchez Hall") in memory of General Cerchez.

Notable Circassians

Inal

Kyzbech Tuguzhoko

Yuri Kalmykov

Yuri Temirkanov

Sinemis Candemir - actress

Yasar Dogu - wrestler, 1948 Olympic Gold medalist

Gazanfer Bilge - wrestler, 1948 Olympic Gold medalist

Hamit Kaplan - wrestler, 1956 Olympic Gold medalist

Mahmut Atalay - wrestler, 1968 Olympic Gold medalist

Yusuf Izzet Met - Famous Turkish soldier officially known as brother-in-arms of Atatürk

Hadise - Famous Turkish singer in Belgium

Türkan Şoray - actress

Bibras Natkho - captain, Israel national olympic soccer team

Deniz Baykal - PoliticianFurther Information

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