Introduction
Protests against the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi displayed banners of the phrase “Sochi, the land of genocide.”[i] This was in reference to the coinciding of the Olympics with the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of what the Pulitzer Center calls “the first modern genocide” of the “world’s most scattered ethnic diaspora” and the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous inhabitants of Sochi, the Circassians.[ii]
The Circassian genocide, also known as the Russian-Caucasian War, took place during the 19th century. Due to the systematic and intentional targeting of indigenous Circassians living in the North Caucasus region by the Russian empire as well as the silencing and deliberate erasure from regional history, only the nation of Georgia recognizes the Circassian case as genocide. Because this catastrophic event holds important parallels to other genocides in history while demonstrating the devastating repercussions of ethnic and cultural tensions, territorial disputes, and imperialistic ambitions, we must recognize and classify this event as genocide. Through an in-depth investigation of historical records and scholarly research, this essay will investigate why the Circassian genocide deserves recognition as such and explore its link to other episodes of genocide.
Brief History of the Circassians
Few people outside of Caucasus specialists know about the Circassians, their origins, or their history. They are a group of almost forgotten people: no current, widely accepted map includes Circassia. Even in linguistics, rather than using the Circassians’ own name for themselves, the Russians instead use the Turkish term, Cherkess.[iii] The use of this Turkish moniker presents them as “other” and is misleading because it refers to the Karachay-Cherkessia Autonomous Oblast in Southern Russia, where they were forcibly migrated to from historical Circassia. Today, Karachay-Cherkessia is a republic of Russia where the Circassians, numbering little more than 750,000 people, comprise roughly ten percent of the population.[iv] Referring to the people as Circassians is more akin to saying, ‘tribes who were exiled to Cherkassy’ rather than a reference to the individuality of the exiled tribes. However, for the sake of this paper, “the Circassian Genocide” is the accepted term to describes the incidents of deportation and extermination of the Circassian tribes by the Russian Empire in the late 1800s.[v]
Prior to the Circassians’ displacement from their homeland, maps of Russia from the early 18th and 19th centuries documented the territory of the Circassians. It is a territory in the Northwestern Caucasus that stretches from the lowlands of the Sea of Azov in Ukraine and down to the Black Sea until it reaches the modern borders of Georgia. On the eastern border, the Don and Kuban rivers marked Circassia, referenced today by the provinces of Ossetia and Chechnya.[vi] Circassia is also mentioned in 19th-century travel books by Westerners such as the French Consul Gamba (1826), James Bell (1841), Americans de Hell and George Leighton Ditson (1850), de Marigny (1837), a Dutch Consul (1887), and many others.[vii]
Religion plays an instrumental role in understanding Russia’s perceptions of Circassian people. The Circassians originally practiced a form of paganism called Khabzeism, which emphasized values such as honor, compassion, and helpfulness. This belief system had similarities to the “good thoughts, good words, good deeds” principles found in Zoroastrianism.[viii]
During the 3rd and 5th centuries, under Byzantine influence, the Circassians underwent Christian syncretization, however due to their inability to form an independent state, the Circassians relied heavily on religious connections for alliances with neighboring kingdoms. In the 16th century, Circassian tribes and Georgians allied under the Eastern Orthodox Church, seeking protection from the Crimean Tartars.[ix] Temryuk Idar, a leader from Eastern Circassia, proposed that his daughter marry Tsar Ivan, thus cementing this union. Though initially promising, relations between Circassians and Russians eventually began to decline. Maria Temryukovna, Tsar Ivan’s second wife and Temryuk Idar’s daughter faced discrimination and rumors portraying her as witch-like, vindictive, and foreign, reinforcing the common perception that Circassians were illiterate paganistic savages, a perception that had existed since the founding of the Russian Kingdom.[x] Maria’s death, followed closely by Temryuk Idar’s demise in battle against the Crimeans, signaled the end of this alliance. The relationship between Russia and the Circassian tribes became increasingly hostile over the next century.
In the 17th century, the Circassians converted to Islam under the influence of the Ottoman Empire, a major rival to the Russian Empire for competition in the Caucasus region. Converting to Islam not only provided protection from Russian expansion; it also served as a deterrent against Crimean raids.[xi]
The religious transformations experienced by the Circassian people played a significant role in Russia’s changing perception of them. Changes such as their shift from paganism to Christianity and later Islam affected the alliances and relationships the Circassians sought with neighboring powers. The evolving perception of Circassians as “other” and the subsequent withdrawal of Russian support and shift in perception from ally to enemy ultimately contributed to the tragic events of the Circassian Genocide.
Ethnic Cleansing and Forced Resettlement
Since Russia sought to create a buffer state between them and the Ottoman Empire, the Russians declared war on the Circassians. The Circassians fought the Russian conquest from 1763 until 1864 – longer than anyone else in the Caucasus.[xii] The violence between Russia and Circassians reached a climax after the 1856 Peace of Paris ended the Crimean War. Circassia was no longer an autonomous buffer state with the Ottomans but was annexed by the Russian empire, becoming an insurrectionist, non-Russian province that practiced its own autonomy in the face of Russian authority.[xiii] In 1861, General Yevdokimov’s task was to end the Circassian situation. General Yevdokimov led newly formed mobile columns of Cossack cavalry and riflemen into the still unconquered areas of Circassian territory. The Circassian tribes had gathered at their capital, Sache, the location of the modern Russian resort city of Sochi. In the capital, the tribes appealed to the British Empire and the Ottomans for assistance while searching for a peaceful solution to the hostilities.[xiv] With revolutionary activity in Europe and growing conflict in the Balkans, the European powers “didn’t take the Circassian dilemma seriously” as the far away, regional conflict was of little significance to the geopolitical desires of the British and Ottoman Empires, leaving the Circassians to face a war for survival, alone.[xv]
However, after ninety-seven years of conflict, the Russian government failed to subdue the Circassians. As a result, the Russian Emperor, Tsar Alexander II, received a Circassian delegation in Yekaterinodar on September 18, 1861, to establish talks for peace. The Circassian chiefs declared their willingness to accept Russian suzerainty on the condition that Russian troops retreated from beyond the Kuban River. However, the Russian Empire rejected the proposal and instead forced an unconditional surrender, demanding total capitulation of the Circassian tribes.[xvi]
In the spring of 1862, Russia renewed military operations against Circassia. The Russian soldiers entirely burned the villages of the Circassian Shapsegh tribe. Cossack conquerors salted the crops in the fields as a message to the other tribes, employing the same scorched earth tactics they had used to starve the armies of Napoleon, but this time on unarmed displaced civilians. The Shapsegh tribe numbered 300,000 before the assault, and the remaining 3,000 were then force-marched into Siberia.[xvii] Men, women, and children fled their burning villages, only to be swallowed by the vastness of Russia; most died of exposure and hunger. The Circassians’ unanswered pleas even reached Queen Victoria of England:
The Almighty visited us…many are the lives which have been lost in battle, from hunger in the mountains, from destitution on the seacoast, and want of skill at sea. We therefore invoke the mediation and precious assistance of the British Government and people – the guardian of humanity and center of justice – to repel the brutal attacks of the Russian Government on our country and save our country and our nation together. We beg, Your Excellency…our condition of helplessness and misery, and we have therefore ventured to present to Your Excellency our most humble petition.[xviii]
The Circassians who were not sent further into the Russian heartland were being marched to the coast where Russian soldiers herded those who survived the ordeal onto small Turkish and Greek barges to cross the treacherous Black Sea into Turkey. Because the ships were too small to hold that number of people, many such barges sank, and their passengers drowned. Those who reached Turkey were subject to horrendous conditions as the Turkish government’s arrangements for the reception and resettlement of migrants were grossly insufficient. Moshnin, the Russian consul in Trabzon on the Turkish coast, reported the following:
About six thousand Circassians landed in Batum, and up to four thousand were sent to Çürüksu on the border with Turkey. They came with their emaciated and dying livestock. About 240,000 deportees have arrived in Trabzon and its environs, of whom 19,000 have expired upon arrival… Average mortality: two hundred people per day… 63,290 remain. In Giresun, there are about fifteen thousand people. In Samsun and its environs, over 110,000 people… Consumption is raging.[xix]
According to an 1830 census, prior to deportation, there was a population of approximately four million Circassians.[xx] Karl Freidrick Neuman, a German orientalist, cites Ottoman correspondence claiming that 1.5 million Circassians attempted to sail to Turkey, with 500,000 dying in route. An additional 500,000 Circassians died of disease in the camps on Turkish shores, and 200,000 people fled voluntarily to Turkey in 1858 before the deportations.[xxi] In 1864, Russia reappropriated Circassian lands to pro-Russian ethnic groups and forcibly resettled around 120-150,000 Circassians who were spared by accepting Russian cultural assimilation.[xxii] Russian assimilation programs and deportations to Turkey only account for approximately half of the Circassian population. The corroboration between both Turkish and Russian documents puts the number of Circassian deaths by military operations and pre-planned massacres between 1.5 – 2 million; this is including those that disappeared, died from war, depopulation of villages, and instances of mass murder.[xxiii] Following the events of the genocide, the Russian census of 1897 recorded that there were only 150,000 Circassians remaining in the conquered region.[xxiv] The devastating events that unfolded resulted in the disappearance, death, or exile of 90-97% of the Circassian population.[xxv]
Comparing the Circassian Genocide to Similar Cases
Although less recognized than the Armenian Genocide, Herero Genocide, or Khmer Rouge genocides, the Circassian case shares similar themes of mass killing, military action, and forced migration. The Herero Genocide occurred between 1904 and 1908 in modern-day Namibia under German colonial forces. This tragic episode in colonial history involved systematic efforts by German forces to exterminate Herero and Nama people indigenous to that region. The Circassian and Herero genocides were not due to spontaneous explosions of long-time tensions; they were calculated efforts by military occupation forces with specific instructions to do what was necessary to fit their imperialist agenda. Similarly, the ambitious acts of unchecked generals elevated the genocides: as General Yevdokimov stated “all available means” should be used to ensure the “total removal of the native population.”[xxvi] Similarly, German General Lothar von Trotha ordered that “every Herero, with or without a gun, with or without cattle, will be shot.”[xxvii] The reinforcement of calculated military intervention through brute force was a common denominator in the imperial dilemma of displacing a native population.
The Cambodian Genocide also shared many parallels to the Circassian Genocide, particularly its use of forced labor and death by exposure. The Khmer Rouge regime destroyed evidence of Western influence, emptied cities, and forced urban populations into inadequate agricultural projects. This led to widespread starvation, disease, and a significant humanitarian crisis. Additionally, the Khmer Rouge targeted and persecuted ethnic minorities such as the Chinese and Cham Muslims, along with anyone the Khmer could arbitrarily define as intellectuals, including people who wore glasses or spoke a foreign language.
As hundreds of thousands of Cambodians fled to Thailand, the genocide escalated. The atrocities finally came to an end in November 1978 when Vietnam invaded Cambodia. By then, it is estimated that of a population of 7.5 million, between 1.25 million to 3 million Cambodians had died due to the actions of the Khmer Rouge.[xxviii] The Khmer Rouge forced millions into agricultural labor camps, far from arable land and water. These locations were unfit for supporting large populations. Similarly, the Circassian Genocide witnessed comparable events with countless victims suffering due to harsh working conditions, mistreatment, and exceedingly long forced migrations. The common elements of forced labor and exposure highlights the systemic and calculated nature of these genocidal acts. By recognizing the parallel of forced displacement between these two genocides, we gain a deeper understanding of the immense human tragedy inflicted upon these communities.
One similarity between the Circassian Genocide and the Armenian Genocide is the perpetrators’ use of forced deportations. Orthodox Armenians sided with Russia during the Circassian Genocide to curry favor and were granted territory in the Russian Empire. Armenian migrants were granted the city of Armavir, in historical Circassia, in 1839 as goodwill for their role in displacing the Circassian Abazin tribe.[xxix]
Following World War Ⅰ, The Nationalist Turks seized an opportunity to blame the pitfalls of the Ottoman Empire on the Armenians and expel them for alleged crimes against the Sunni brethren, Circassians included.[xxx] Many of the now stateless Circassian tribes sided with the Nationalist Turks during the Armenian genocide to gain a stable relationship with their host nation upon the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. While unconfirmed, it is plausible that the Armenian Genocide was partly influenced as a form of faith-based retaliation for the Circassian Genocide, as both events took place within sixty years.
To prevent further cases of genocide, it is crucial to understand the historical context of state violence and recognition of the atrocities committed. Ultimately, both the Armenian and Circassian diasporas are responsible for their involvement in acts of genocide to gain favor with a stronger nation. This shared culpability stems from their active participation and complicity in these atrocities, through direct actions and alliances that facilitated the forced deportations and massacres. The relationship between the Circassian and Armenian Genocides reveal how perpetrators themselves can become victims in this tragic cycle of ethnic retaliation. However, unlike the Armenian Genocide, the Circassian Genocide is lesser known, and thus, there have been few instances of recognition; this is a testament to the success of Russia’s efforts. Untold historical genocides will remain so because there is no one left to remember, other than the perpetrators.
Applying Definitions of Genocide to Russia’s Targeted Campaign
The Circassians’ case can be classified as genocide due to its alignment with several internationally recognized definitions. Due to Russia’s targeted efforts against the Circassian tribes, the Circassian case aligns with the UN definition of genocide:
In the present Convention, Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; Causing severe bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.[xxxi]
The Ten Stages of Genocide provide a framework for understanding the systematic and deliberate extermination of an ethnic, religious, or cultural group.[xxxii] Conceived by Gregory H. Stanton of Genocide Watch, they serve as a useful way of identifying and analyzing processes involved during genocides, allowing us to make meaningful comparisons and evaluations genocidal cases. It is evident when studying Circassian genocide against this framework that this tragic event aligns with definition of genocide due to its presence of all stages present in this model. The first stage of genocide involves the process of classification, which entails categorizing individuals into ‘us’ and ‘them.’ This can be carried out through the perpetuation of generalized stereotypes and exclusion of individuals from state society based on a perception of difference. It has been documented that the term Circassian was used as a means of classifying people, originating from a Turkish expression coined by the Russians to portray them as foreign. Additionally, Circassian was also utilized as a synonym for “mountaineer” to encompass all individuals residing in the Caucus region. This is evidenced by the Russian Prince, Alexander Baryatinsky, stating, “We must assume that we will need to exterminate the ‘mountaineers’ before they agree to our demands.”[xxxiii] The process of eradicating the Circassians commenced when Russia denied their territorial sovereignty. This was achieved by revising the charters of the Russian Empire, effectively eliminating the Circassians from all maps beginning in 1863. Venyukov, a Russian member of the geographical society, wrote in his memoirs that when he consulted General Yevdokimov on the Circassian territory, Yevdokimov stated:
If you wish to make your map of current interest, then rub out the Circassians. In St. Petersburg, they talk about humaneness, interpreting it falsely. I consider humaneness to be love for one’s country, for Russia, and her deliverance from enemies. So, what are the Circassians to us? I will expel them, like all the remaining mountaineers, to Turkey.[xxxiv]
The Russian and Ottoman Empires also implemented discriminatory policies against Circassians, such as forbidding them from owning land and speaking their native tongue.[xxxv] Surviving tribes like the Ubykh became linguistically extinct. The last speaker of Ubykh, Tevfik Esenç died in 1992; in his native language, he told his closest colleague:
My great friend…Please forgive me if I made any mistakes. From now on, you will be in the Ubykh language. May God give you all blessings and beauty! This is where Ubykh comes to an end.[xxxvi]
Russian policies dating back to 1837 defined the Circassians as intellectually different from other ethnicities, dehumanizing them through classifications as “savages” or “wild beasts” and stating that they did not deserve respect “equal to a European man.”[xxxvii] A Russian observer, Nikolai Lorer, writes that the regional commander, General Grigory Zass, was boiling and cleaning severed Circassians’ heads to instill terror and obedience into the Circassian population. To further facilitate the dehumanization of Circassians, General Zass also employed a form of scientific racism by sending the preserved heads to several anatomical offices in the country.[xxxviii]
This preparation allowed the Russian Empire to persecute Circassians through mass killings, forced relocation, and enslavement policies. The Russian empire organized military campaigns against the Circassians by sending Cossack and Russian troops into the region. In the words of Adolf Berzhe, an Imperial Russian Bureaucrat and Orientalist historian, “Yevdokimov planned to utilize military lines and new settlements to continually pressure the tribes until it became completely impossible for them to live in the mountains.”[xxxix] In 1863, General Yevdokimov outlined the preparation for his occupation, “We will have to keep extra forces in the region, take special precautions and establish a special surveillance regimen in the western Caucasus and, consequently, spend excessive funds.”[xl] A Russian observer by the name of Olshevsky detailed the horrid conditions in the migrant city of Ekaterinodar, now Krasnodar:
The squares of Ekaterinodar were impassable because of filth and swampiness. This occurred because of the frequent rains… Illnesses, especially fever, due to the miasmas hidden in the swamps and quagmires in the city itself and the surrounding bogs and reeds… Moving away from Ekaterinodar, the countryside became more lifeless and yellowed, with swamps and sandy fields filled with silt, and just after the postal station was a kingdom of mosquitoes.[xli]
By the 1840s, it became commonplace in Russia to isolate and otherize the Circassians from Russians, labeling them as khishchniki, meaning “thieves” or “plunderers,” designed as a word to describe the rogue parties of Circassians who attacked Russian fortifications. These rogue parties made up a small minority of the Circassian population who sought a militant response to their subjugation, rejecting Russian suzerainty. The Russians used the isolated attacks as justification for continued occupation, thereby leading to the stigmatization, in the Russian mind, of Circassians as mere bandits solely based on their ethnic identity.[xlii]
Circassian case can be considered genocide based on evidence such as deportation, classification, starvation, and dehumanization. Furthermore, deliberate extermination by Russian Empire predates both Holocaust and Armenian Genocide indicating that ethnic cleansing tactics had already been employed against Circassians. In his reports, General Yevdokimov used the words “ochistit“and “ochishcheniye,” a literal translation to “cleanse” and “cleansing” when he reports the operations of how the Russian soldiers “ascended along the Shapsugo and crossed over into Psekups Basin, they ‘cleansed’ the left bank of this river of natives.”[xliii] Later, the Russian Empire denied any allegations of Circassian Genocide by asserting that all Circassians left of their own accord, thus refuting claims about an atrocious deportation policy.
The military consul to the Ottoman Empire’s Russian Embassy stated that the abuse reports were “nonsense.”[xliv] This perspective remains today, as the Russian Federation developed a presidential commission to deny the Circassian Genocide.[xlv] The potential concern is that acknowledgment would entail financial compensation and possible repatriation of the diaspora. Both outcomes the Russian Federation seeks to avoid as it continues its efforts in Russification, evidenced by its operations into Ukraine, Abkhazia, Ossetia, and Transnistria – territories of their former empire.
Concluding Thoughts
Genocides serve as sobering reminders of humanity’s darkest chapters, making genocide studies one of the key factors in preventing future atrocities. Exploring the similarities in past genocides, such as the Circassian and Armenian case, allows us to both remember those affected and recognize their suffering. If we forget these events, such as those related to Circassians in Russia, valuable lessons could be lost about how best to move forward and safeguard future at-risk population. Furthermore, studying causes and consequences can contribute towards creating a more accountable world.
While conducting military operations and overseeing the occupation of Circassian territory, General Yevdokimov explicitly called for the “ethnic cleansing” of the Circassian people a hundred and thirty years before the Western media began using the equivalent phrase in Serbian, etničko čišćenje, during the Bosnian War. Yevdokimov’s concern for the land and Circassians was little more than the removal of a pestilence. The disaster encompassed forced marches, burning of crops, intentional massacres, physical harm, mental trauma, and the loss of cultural and linguistic history, thus fulfilling the UN requirements for Genocide. As of 1997, there are around 3.7 million Circassian people whereby 90% of Circassians live outside their historic homeland, spread across the interior of Anatolia and the fringes of the old Ottoman Empire – in the Balkans, Egypt, and the Levant.[xlvi]
The Circassian tribes became a forgotten example of a stateless people in modern history, all so Russia could annex the Caucasus and gain access to Black Sea ports. In modern events, the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics ski venue was located on Krasnaya Polyana or “Red Hill,” named by Russia in celebration of the glade where the Abkhaz Circassians were massacred prior to exile exactly one hundred and fifty years prior.[xlvii] The exiled Circassian diaspora even stated, “We want the athletes to know that if they compete here, they will be skiing on the bones of our relatives.”[xlviii] Today, the only nation that formally recognizes the case of the Circassian Genocide is Georgia, who have erected a monument to commemorate the sacrifice of their historical ally and the lives lost on their shores.[xlix] Strong external forces and international ambivalence created the situation, and now the exiled Circassian diaspora may not survive the next century. The lack of recognition and their continually diminishing visibility serve as a testament to the gradual elimination of a people and their erasure from history.
References:
[i] Zirin, Dave. “The Sochi Games Are Being Held on the Land of Genocide.” The Nation, June 29, 2015.
[ii] Mauk, Ben. “A Lost Nation in the Caucasus.” Pulitzer Center, March 5, 2019.
[iii]. Stephen D. Shenfield, Mark Levene, and Penny Roberts. “The Circassians – A Forgotten Genocide?” Essay. In The Massacre in History. Providence, Oxford: Berghahn Book, 1999. Page 149.
[iv]. Federal State Statistics Service. “National Composition of the Population.” December 2022.
[v]. UNPO. “The Circassian Genocide.” Underrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. December 2004.
[vi]. Vasiliĭ Petrovich, Pi︠a︡dyshev. “General Map of the Caucasus Region and the Land of the Mountain Peoples: Showing Postal and Major Roads, Stations and the Distance in Versts between Them.” Map. Geographical Atlas of the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Poland, and the Grand Duchy of Finland. Saint Petersburg, Russia: Military Topographical Depot, 1825.
[vii]. Shenfield. “The Circassians.” Page 149; de Marigny, Taitbout. Three Voyages in the Black Sea to the Coast of Circassia: Including Descriptions of the Ports, and the Importance of Their Trade; With Sketches of the Manners, Customs, Religion, of the Circassians, 1837.
[viii]. Jaimoukha, Amjad M. Circassian Customs & Traditions. London: Centre for Circassian Studies, 2014. Page 91; Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation. “HUMATA HŪXTA HUVARŠTA.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, March 2012.
[ix]. Jaimoukha, Amjad M. The Chechens: A Handbook. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2014. Page 32.
[x]. Perrie, Maureen. Ivan the Terrible. Oxford: Routledge, 2016. Pages 116-7.
[xi]. Shenfield. “The Circassians.” Page 160.
[xii]. Shenfield. “The Circassians.” Page 150.
[xiii]. Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopedia. “Treaty of Paris.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 1856.
[xiv]. Richmond, Walter. The Circassian Genocide. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2013. Page 72.
[xv] Richmond, The Circassian Genocide. Page 72.
[xvi]. Shenfield. “The Circassians.” Page 151.
[xvii]. Richmond, The Circassian Genocide. Page 77.
[xviii]. The Circassian People. Letter to Her Majesty Queen Victoria. “A Petition from Circassian Leaders.” Sochi: Circassia, April 12, 1864.
[xix]. Shenfield. “The Circassians.” Page 152.
[xx] Ryan, Atticus, Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization: Yearbook 1997 (Kluwer Law International, 1998). Page 67.
[xxi]. Neumann, Carl Friedrich. Russland und die tscherkessen. Stuttgart: Nabu Press, 2014.
[xxii]. UNPO, “The Circassian Genocide”
[xxiii] Karpat, Kemal H. Ottoman Population 1830-1914: Demographic and Social Characteristics (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin, 1985). Page 68-69
[xxiv] Edris, Abzakh. “The History of Circassians,” Circassian History, Spring 1996.
[xxv]. Richmond, The Circassian Genocide. Page 132.
[xxvi]. Richmond, The Circassian Genocide. Page 69.
[xxvii]. Gewald, Jan-Bart. Herero Heroes: A Socio-Political History of the Herero of Namibia, 1890-1923. Oxford U.K.: James Currey, 1999. Page 67.
[xxviii]. Raszelenberg, Patrick. “The Khmers Rouges and the Final Solution.” History and Memory 11, no. 2 (1999): 62–93. Page 88.
[xxix]. Encyclopedia of the City of Russia. Great Russian Encyclopedia. Moscow: Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, 2003. Page 24.
[xxx]. “Islam in the Ottoman Empire.” Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Encyclopedia.com. (April, 2023).
[xxxi]. Office of Genocide Prevention and The United Nations General Assembly. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. December 9, 1948.
[xxxii]. Stanton, Gregory. “10 Stages of Genocide.” Genocide Watch, 2016.
[xxxiii]. Richmond, The Circassian Genocide. Page 54.
[xxxiv]. Veniukov, Mikhail, Veniukova Iz Vospominanii, and Kniga Pervaia. K Istorii Zaseleniia Zapadnogo Kavkaza. 22. 6th ed. Vol. 22. 22 vols. Amsterdam: Kniga Pervaia, 1895. Page 319.
[xxxv]. Kushner, David. The Rise of Turkish Nationalism. London: Cass, 1977. Pages 20-56.
[xxxvi]. Esenç, Tevfik. “Bir Dilin Ölümüne Tanıklık Etmek: Tevfik Esenç’in Anısına.” Gazete Duvar, October 2020.
[xxxvii]. Richmond, The Circassian Genocide. Page 49.
[xxxviii]. Benzera, A.S. Memuary Dekabristov. Moscow: Pravda, 1988. Page 518.
[xxxix]. Berzhe, Adolf. Eviction of the Gortsevs of the Caucasus. Nal’chik: Kotlyarov Publishing House, 2010. Page 20.
[xl]. Richmond, The Circassian Genocide. Page 79.
[xli]. Richmond, The Circassian Genocide. Page 95.
[xlii]. Richmond, The Circassian Genocide. Page 56.
[xliii]. Kumykov, Tugan. Archival Materials about the Caucasian War and the Deportation of the Circassians (Adygs) to Turkey. Nal’chik: El’-Fa, 2003. Page 62.
[xliv]. Richmond, The Circassian Genocide. Page 56.
[xlv]. Richmond, The Circassian Genocide. Page 1.
[xlvi]. Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, “Results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census in relation to the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of individual nationalities.” January 2010.
[xlvii]. Richmond, The Circassian Genocide. Page 2.
[xlviii]. Cultural Survival, “Circassians Demand Russia Admit to Genocide in Sochi,” Cultural Survival, February 2014, https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/circassians-demand-russia-admit-genocide-sochi.
[xlix]. William Armstrong, “The Circassian Genocide,” Hürriyet Daily News, accessed May 4, 2023, https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/opinion/william-armstrong/the-circassian-genocide-62673.
Bibliography:
Armstrong, William. “The Circassian Genocide.” Hürriyet Daily News. n.d. Accessed May 4, 2023 https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/opinion/william-armstrong/the-circassian-genocide-62673.
Benzera, A.S. Memuary Dekabristov. Moscow: Pravda, 1988.
Berzhe, Adolf. Eviction of the Gortsevs of the Caucasus. Nal’chik: Kotlyarov Publishing House, 2010.
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Treaty of Paris.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 1856. https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Paris-1856.
Cultural Survival. “Circassians Demand Russia Admit to Genocide in Sochi.” Cultural Survival, February 2014. https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/circassians-demand-russia-admit-genocide-sochi.
de Marigny, Taitbout. “Three Voyages in the Black Sea to the Coast of Circassia: Including Descriptions of the Ports, and the Importance of Their Trade; With Sketches of the Manners, Customs, Religion, of the Circassians.” London: J. Murray, 1837.
Edris, Abzakh. “The History of Circassians.” Circassian History, Spring 1996. http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/540/handouts/ussr/circass.htm.
Encyclopedia of the City of Russia. Great Russian Encyclopedia. Moscow: Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, 2003.
Esenç, Tevfik. “Bir Dilin Ölümüne Tanıklık Etmek: Tevfik Esenç’in Anısına.” Gazete Duvar, October 2020. https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/bir-dilin-olumune-taniklik-etmek-tevfik-esencin-anisina-haber-1501188.
Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, “Results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census in relation to the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of individual nationalities.” January 2010. http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/perepis2010/croc/results2.html
Federal State Statistics Service. “National Composition of the Population.” December 2022. https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/Tom5_tab1_VPN-2020.xlsx.
Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation. “HUMATA HŪXTA HUVARŠTA.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, March 2012. https://iranicaonline.org/articles/humata-huxta-huvarsta.
Gewald, Jan-Bart. Herero Heroes: A Socio-Political History of the Herero of Namibia, 1890-1923. Oxford U.K.: James Currey, 1999.
“Islam in the Ottoman Empire.” Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Encyclopedia.com. (April, 2023). https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/islam-ottoman-empire
Jaimoukha, Amjad M. Circassian Customs & Traditions. London: Centre for Circassian Studies, 2014.
Jaimoukha, Amjad M. The Chechens: A Handbook. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2014.
Karpat, Kemal H. Ottoman population 1830-1914: Demographic and social characteristics. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin, 1985.
Kumykov, Tugan. Archival Materials about the Caucasian War and the Deportation of the Circassians (Adygs) to Turkey. Nal’chik: El’-Fa, 2003.
Kushner, David. The Rise of Turkish Nationalism. London: Cass, 1977.
Mauk, Ben. “A Lost Nation in the Caucasus.” Pulitzer Center, March 5, 2019. https://pulitzercenter.org/projects/lost-nation-caucasus.
Neumann, Carl Friedrich. Russland und die tscherkessen. Stuttgart: Nabu Press, 2014.
Office of Genocide Prevention and The United Nations General Assembly. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. December 9, 1948.
Perrie, Maureen. Ivan the Terrible. Oxford: Routledge, 2016.
Raszelenberg, Patrick. “The Khmers Rouges and the Final Solution.” History and Memory 11, no. 2 (1999): 62–93. https://doi.org/10.2979/his.1999.11.2.62.
Richmond, Walter. The Circassian Genocide. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2013.
Stanton, Gregory. “10 Stages of Genocide.” Genocide Watch, 2016. http://genocidewatch.net/genocide-2/8-stages-of-genocide/.
Stephen D. Shenfield, Mark Levene, and Penny Roberts. “The Circassians – A Forgotten Genocide?” Essay. In The Massacre in History. Providence, Oxford: Berghahn Book, 1999.
The Circassian People. Letter to Her Majesty Queen Victoria. “A Petition from Circassian Leaders.” Sochi: Circassia, April 12, 1864.
UNPO. “The Circassian Genocide.” Underrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. December 2004. https://unpo.org/article/1639.
Vasiliĭ Petrovich, Pi︠a︡dyshev. “General Map of the Caucasus Region and the Land of the Mountain Peoples: Showing Postal and Major Roads, Stations and the Distance in Versts between Them.” Map. Geographical Atlas of the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Poland, and the Grand Duchy of Finland. Saint Petersburg, Russia: Military Topographical Depot, 1825. https://www.loc.gov/item/2018688679/.
Veniukov, Mikhail, Veniukova Iz Vospominanii, and Kniga Pervaia. K Istorii Zaseleniia Zapadnogo Kavkaza. 22. 6th ed. Vol. 22. 22 vols. Amsterdam: Kniga Pervaia, 1895.
Zirin, Dave. “The Sochi Games Are Being Held on the Land of Genocide.” The Nation, June 29, 2015. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/sochi-land-circassians-they-cant-hide-anymore/.
Source : AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL SERVICE
