Circassians will be registered as Circassians

Will the common name be followed by a reuniting of one region?
The decision of the Intenrnational Court of Justice to recognize Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence is widely discussed on the Circassian websites. The most frequently-expressed idea is that now any separatist movement may find support in Hague. The recognition of Kosovo does also seem a kind of political failure on the part of Russia, which supports Serbia on this issue.

Among the Circassians themselves, no appeals to obtain independence are to be heard these days. In fact, none of the radical leaders in the organisations of Adygeis in Russia could initiate such a movement. Today their focus is on raising national consciousness among Circassians.

In these circumstances, the conclusion come to by the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences seems very intriguing. According to the scientists there, the ethnic identity and traditional culture of Shapsugs, Circassians, Adygeis and Kabardinians are actually so common that they all may be considered one people.

The arguments over the ethnonym have strong political undertones. The Russian Empire and the Soviet Union used to implement various administrative reforms in the Caucasus, so that eventually Circassians were split into different nationalities. However, in 2002, Circassians were registered as the most numerous Caucasian people for the first time since the Caucasian War.

In some contemporary publications one may find the contrasts between "the folk of Chechnya" and "chivalric Kabarda". Such an attitude may flatter the modern Circassians. Kabarda was once as big as the whole present day North Caucasian Federal District. However, today the Adygei people are still divided into several smaller nationalities. The aim of the modern Circassian activists is to unite them somehow. They want all these nationalities to be registered as Circassians some day.