Who will answer the Circassian question? Part 3

Vladimir Degoyev, professor of MGIMO of the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

Intensive agitation was initiated by the mountain Muslim clergy. They presented the move to Turkey as an exodus to the land of promise and predicted the hell tortures under the control of the Russian guyars. Few people could resist such pressure.

Naïve political visions of Circassians played their role as well. They seriously thought that Turkey was the most powerful and richest country in the world, and other nations, including the UK and France, served it.

Thus, a tight fusion of various factors caused a massive migratory outburst, which turned into an uncontrolled reaction. By the way, many modern successors of Muhajirs (in Syria, Jordan, and Turkey) who preserved their fathers and grandfathers’ tales believe that “princes” and “effendis” took their ancestors abroad by trickery, and it had been a mistake…

However, some of the mountaineers from various tribes and clans, who were connected to the Russian and Cossack populations through economic and cultural ties, resisted this storm and stayed in their homeland. These mountaineers received fertile lands “establishing a proper administration and a court based on national traditions and Sharia.” Intentions to move to Turkey faded away when people realized what life “under Russian control” was. It wasn’t a tragedy, and leadership was provided by elected members of the Circassian communities, together with imperial officials who knew local customs well. Significant psychological influence was provided to the mountain people by tales of traders from Turkey who spoke about a desperate situation for Circassians in the new residential areas.

History proved that under Russian and, later, Soviet power, Circassians had wide opportunities for self-realization, while in Turkey they had no alternatives for development – to be “Ottoman” and forget about your ethnic identity. It is well known what happened to those who tried to resist their Turkish role. It is also well known what the Caucasian peoples of Russia achieved (thousands of their best representatives) in science, culture and education. And nobody paid for this by rejecting their ethnic roots, traditions or language.

On Turkey’s interests

The Turkish government wanted to get Circassians as a reprisal force for curbing the national liberation movement in the Balkans. The Ottoman authorities actively encouraged resettlement by promises of prosperity, religious propaganda and providing sea transport.

As for the impulsive causes of the resettlement campaign, powerful commercial stimuli should be noted, which are forgotten by many historians for no reason. Almost the whole Turkish fleet (and not only Turkish) and infrastructure connected with it procured highly-profitable work for many months. Everything which could sail strived to reach the Caucasian shores. Ferrymen boosted prices to an outrageous level. Circassians took to the shores and sold all their property and cattle to get money for a ticket. Those who couldn’t pay for a ticket – and there were a lot of them – had to pay a fee with slaves. For carrying 30 people a ferryman got one person (usually a child) as his property, i.e. a slave. A victim was chosen by drawing lots…

The new homeland greeted the Circassians coldly. Nobody was interested in them. Without a house or money they died of famine, cold and disease. Instead of the promised paradise, the majority found graves in Turkey.