Surviving
89-429: Destroyed or barely existing The Abzakh ( Circassian : Абдзэх, Abdzekh ; Russian : абадзехи; also known as Abdzakhs or Abadzekhs ) are one of the twelve major Circassian tribes, representing one of the twelve stars on the green-and-gold Circassian flag . Historically, they lived in the mountainous part of the modern Russian republics of Adygea and Krasnodar Krai . Major settlements or villages were located in
178-800: A "holy conquest day" to celebrate the beginning of the end of Russia's successful invasion of Circassia. The same day is observed annually as the Circassian Day of Mourning , which consists of ceremonies and marches in memory of the victims and, sometimes, protests against the Russian government. Today, the Circassian diaspora is primarily concentrated in Turkey and Jordan , with some 750,000 living in Russia's North Caucasus Economic Region . Surviving Destroyed or barely existing In
267-592: A Russian commission decided that in order to end Circassian resistance against the Russian Empire, the Circassians would need to be eliminated from their homeland. In February 1810, General Fyodor Bursak's forces entered a Circassian village near the Sop River and proceeded to burn the village. They decided to postpone their plans to attack the next village when the river began to overflow. In December,
356-996: A basic subject–object–verb typology and is characterised by the ergative construction of sentences. The official alphabet for Adyghe is the Cyrillic script , which has been used since 1936. Before that, the Arabic script was used. A new Latin alphabet based on the Turkish alphabet is designed in Turkey with the motivation to make Adyghe and Kabardian education in Turkey easier. The vowels are written ⟨ы⟩ [ə] , ⟨э⟩ [ɐ] and ⟨а⟩ [aː] . Other letters represent diphthongs : ⟨я⟩ represents [jaː] , ⟨и⟩ [jə] or [əj] , ⟨о⟩ [wɐ] or [ɐw] , ⟨у⟩ represent [wə] or [əw] , and ⟨е⟩ represents [jɐ] or [ɐj] . The language of Adyghe
445-510: A call for the Circassian people for the creation of a standard Latin script to be used by all Circassian people on the globe. Their main motivation for the creation of this alphabet was that the majority of Circassian people live in Turkey and use the Latin alphabet in their daily life because they know Turkish. However, when trying to teach the language to the younger generation, teaching them
534-453: A campaign of mass deportation to get rid of the bulk of Circassia's surviving population. By 1867, a large portion of the Circassians had been expelled from their ancestral homeland; many died from epidemics or starvation among the crowds of deportees and were reportedly eaten by dogs after their death, while others were killed when their ships sank during storms. Most sources state that as little as 3% of Circassia's population remained after
623-635: A few consonants as well. Below table shows the Adyghe Arabic alphabet as it was officially adopted between 1918 and 1927. The Adyghe orthography was officially switched to the Latin alphabet in 1927. The Adyghe Latin alphabet was compiled and finalized a year prior, in 1926. This alphabet was the sole official script in the Soviet Union . The Adyghe Latin alphabet consisted of 50 letters, many of them newly created, some even borrowed from Cyrillic. Another interesting feature of this iteration of
712-453: A general meeting. Among Circassians, Abzakhs were considered the most warlike. The Abzakh tribe engaged in arable farming and horticulture, and kept many animals, especially prized horses. In the mountains, the Abzakh mined copper, iron, lead, and silver. Since the early 19th century, their dominant religion is Sunni Islam . The Abzakh people speak a sub-dialect ( Adyghe : Абдзахэбзэ ) of
801-678: A letter to Bematiqwa stating that he, as caliph, ordered all Muslim peoples of the Caucasus to officially make war against Russia. The Ottoman Empire lost its protector status with the Crimean Khanate with the 1774 Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca . Following these events, Russian presence in the region increased, and the Circassians requested help and alliance from the Ottomans. The Russians introduced courts in Kabarda (Eastern Circassia) in
890-481: A neighborhood: The savages panicked and started fleeing from their homes, leaving their weapons behind attempting to escape to the forest but most of them were killed by the Cossacks ;... with the soldiers lined up ready to fight, the cleansing continued with artillery shells, and I sent there two infantry brigades, but they could only capture 11 more people, and since the fire was in flames in many places,
979-493: A new alphabet takes time and makes the process more laborsome. ABX has created a Latin script based on the Turkish alphabet and chose the Abzakh dialect as their base because it is the dialect with the most speakers in Turkey. However, the alphabet employed by the Circassian Language Association has been criticized by others. Some suggested that they created the alphabet without a good understanding of
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#17327759458711068-846: A primer was published in Yekaterinodar . This official endorsement resulted in a literary boom in Adyghe and the publication of various newspapers, textbooks and other literature, including the Adyghe Maq , the main Adyghe language newspaper established in 1923. During the abovementioned decades, parallel with this process, the Arabic orthography had also been standardized for the sister Circassian language of Kabardian . Although very similar in many aspects, there were minor variations, in which letters were included based on each respective phonology, and there were minor differences in presentation of
1157-400: A scorched-earth campaign of state terror aimed at the extermination or complete expulsion of all Circassian natives from the Caucasus region. In 1857, Dmitry Milyutin published the idea of mass expulsions of Circassian natives. Milyutin argued that the goal was not to simply move them so that their land could be settled by productive farmers, but rather that "eliminating the Circassians
1246-416: A small percentage of Circassians, namely those who accepted Russification and made agreements with Russian troops, were completely spared. Starvation was used as a tool of war against Circassian villages, many of which were subsequently burned down. Russian writer Leo Tolstoy reported that Russian soldiers would frequently attack village houses at night. British diplomat William Palgrave , who witnessed
1335-433: A standard action by the Russian army and Cossack units. Nevertheless, the Circassian resistance continued. Villages that had previously accepted Russian rule were found resisting again, much to the ire of Russian commanders. In September 1820, Russian forces began to forcibly resettle inhabitants of Eastern Circassia. Military forces were sent into Kabardia, killing cattle and causing large numbers of inhabitants to flee into
1424-559: A tribal federation encompassing all tribes of the area. In May 1818, the village of Tram was surrounded, burnt, and its inhabitants killed by Russian forces under the command of General Ivan Petrovich Delpotso, who took orders from Yermolov and who then wrote to the Circassian forces: This time, I am limiting myself on this. In the future, I will have no mercy for the guilty brigands; their villages will be destroyed, properties taken, wives and children will be slaughtered. The complete destruction of villages with everything within them became
1513-487: A very uncommon sound: a voiceless bidental fricative [ h̪͆ ] , which corresponds to the voiceless velar fricative [ x ] found in other varieties of Adyghe. This sound is only known to be used in the Black Sea dialect. Affricate In contrast to its large inventory of consonants, Adyghe has only three phonemic vowels in a vertical vowel system . Adyghe, like all Northwest Caucasian languages, has
1602-429: A village, a Russian soldier named Midvideiv killed a Circassian who tried to stop him from burning down a mosque. The Russians countered the heavy Circassian resistance by modifying the terrain. They laid down a network of roads and cleared the forests around these roads, destroyed native villages, and often settled new farming communities of Russians or other Orthodox Slavic people. In this increasingly bloody situation,
1691-570: Is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken by the western subgroups of Circassians . It is spoken mainly in Russia , as well as in Turkey , Jordan , Syria and Israel , where Circassians settled after the Circassian genocide ( c. 1864 –1870) by the Russian Empire . It is closely related to the Kabardian (East Circassian) language , though some reject the distinction between
1780-732: Is in Turkey , spoken by the diaspora from the Russian–Circassian War ( c. 1763 –1864). In addition, the Adyghe language is spoken by the Cherkesogai in Krasnodar Krai . Adyghe belongs to the family of Northwest Caucasian languages . Kabardian (also known as East Circassian) is a very close relative, treated by some as a dialect of Adyghe or of an overarching Circassian language . Ubykh , Abkhaz and Abaza are somewhat more distantly related to Adyghe. Adyghe exhibits between 50 and 60 consonants depending on
1869-575: Is officially written in the Cyrillic script, and is also unofficially written in the Latin script. Before 1927, Adyghe was written in a version of the Arabic script ; after the Soviet Latinisation campaign , an older variant of the Latin alphabet had been in use in the Soviet Union until 1938, when all Soviet languages transitioned into the Cyrillic alphabet. Prior to the mid-19th century, Adyghe had no writing system. Starting from 1853,
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#17327759458711958-718: Is spoken by Circassians in Iraq and by Circassians in Israel , where it is taught in schools in their villages. It is also spoken by many Circassians in Syria , although the majority of Syrian Circassians speak Kabardian . There are many books written in or translated into Adyghe. An Adyghe translation of the Quran by Ishak Mashbash is available. The New Testament and many books of the Old Testament have been published in Adyghe by
2047-688: Is taught outside Circassia in Prince Hamza Ibn Al-Hussein Secondary School, a school for Jordanian Adyghes in Jordan 's capital city of Amman . This school, established by the Jordanian Adyghes with support from the late king Hussein of Jordan , is one of the first schools for the Adyghe communities outside Circassia. It has around 750 Jordanian Adyghe students, and aims to preserve the Adyghe language and traditions among future generations. Adyghe
2136-596: The Circassians ' land, but had absolutely no need of them." — Military historian Rostislav Fadeyev summarising Russian policy towards Circassians Genocides and mass expulsions of Caucasian natives and Crimean Tatars were perpetrated by the Russian empire during the latter half of 19th century as it expanded southwards and launched extermination campaigns against Circassians , Chechens , Crimean Tatars , and others. Pogroms against Jews also intensified across
2225-605: The Earl of Clarendon , defended the Circassians' rights, but was thwarted. The final treaty also extended amnesty to nationals that had fought for enemy powers, but since Circassia had never previously been under Russian control, Circassians were exempt, and thus Circassians were now placed under de jure Russian sovereignty by the treaty, with Russia under no compulsion to grant Circassians the same rights as Russian citizens elsewhere, effectively making them Russian property with which Russia could do whatever it wanted. "The state needed
2314-1406: The Institute for Bible Translation in Moscow. According to the UNESCO 2009 map entitled "UNESCO Map of the World's Languages in Danger", the status of the Adyghe language in 2009, along with all its dialects (Adyghe, Western Circassian tribes; and Kabard-Cherkess, Eastern Circassian tribes), is classified as vulnerable . 1. Алахьэу гукӏэгъушӏэу, гукӏэгъу зыхэлъым ыцӏэкӏэ! 2. Зэрэдунае и Тхьэу Алахьым щытхъур ыдэжь, 3. Гукӏэгъушӏэу, гукӏэгъу зыхэлъэу, 4. Пщынэжь мафэр зиӏэмырым! 5. Шъхьащэ тэ къыпфэтэшӏы, тыолъэӏу О ӏэпыӏэгъу укъытфэхъунэу! 6. Гъогу занкӏэм О тырыщ, 7. Шӏу О зыфэпшӏагъэхэм ягъогу нахь, губж лъэш зыфэпшӏыгъэхэр зытетхэр арэп, гъощагъэхэр зытетхэри арэп. [1. Ālāḥăw g°č̣′ăġ°ṣ̂ăw, g°č̣′ăġ° zǝxălъǝm ǝc̣ăč̣′ă! 2. Zărădwnāe i Tḥăw Ālāḥǝm šʹǝtx°r ǝdăž′, 3. G°č̣′ăġ°ṣ̂ăw, g°č̣′ăġ° zǝxălъăw, 4. Pšʹǝnăž′ māfăr ziʾămǝrǝm! 5. Ŝḥāšʹă tă qǝpfătăṣ̂ǝ, tǝolъăʾ° O ʾăpǝʾăġ° wqǝtfăx°năw! 6. Ġog° zānč̣′ăm O tǝrǝšʹ, 7. Ṣ̂° O zǝfăpṣ̂āġăxăm яġog° nāḥ, g°bž lъăš zǝfăpṣ̂ǝġăxăr zǝtetxăr ārăp, ġošʹāġăxăr zǝtetxări ārăp.] Error: {{Lang}}: Non-latn text/Latn script subtag mismatch ( help ) 1. In
2403-846: The West Adyghe dialect of the Circassian language. About 1,123 Abzakh people live in the Rehaniya , in Galilee ( Northern District , Israel ), where there is an Adyghe museum. In 1958, Abzakhs (and other Adyghe tribes) of Israel were allowed to enter military service, which gave them a number of privileges. In Israel, the Abzakh are the second largest Adyghe tribe, after the Shapsug . Other Circassian tribes : Adyghe language Surviving Destroyed or barely existing Adyghe ( / ˈ æ d ɪ ɡ eɪ / or / ˌ ɑː d ɪ ˈ ɡ eɪ / ; also known as West Circassian )
2492-481: The 5th and 6th centuries, were generally allied with Georgians. From the 16th century it entered into alliance with Georgia: Georgians and Circassians regarded themselves as constituting a single Christian island in the Black Sea and jointly appealed to Russia for protection. Although there had previously been a small Muslim presence in Circassia, significant conversions came after 1717, when Sultan Murad IV ordered
2581-573: The Abzakh, most of whom backed Seferbiy Zaneqo . After the Caucasian war, most Abzakhs (and other tribes) were deported to the Ottoman Empire, the remaining Abzakhs were relocated to the present-day steppe Shovgenovsky District in Adygea. The Abzakh tribe was traditionally divided into nine companies, managed by elected elders. In discussing and resolving important issues elders agreed in
2670-475: The Adyghe Latin alphabet was that there was no distinction between lower case and upper case letters. Each letter only had one single case. Below table shows Adyghe Latin alphabet as it was officially adopted between 1927 and 1938. In 2012, the Circassian Language Association (Adyghe: Адыге Бзэ Хасэ or Adıǵe Bze Xase, abbreviated as ABX; Turkish : Adıge Dil Derneği ; danef.com) in Turkey has issued
2759-616: The CLA and continued the use of their alphabet in Circassian courses. Some glyphs in the Temirgoy-based Cyrillic alphabet have no equivalent in the Abzakh-based Latin alphabet because of dialectal differences. The most notable of these differences is the lack of differentiation between post-alveolar, alveolo-palatal and retroflex sounds. Though there are some additional letters in the alphabet for Eastern Circassian,
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2848-559: The Caucasus, often deceived the central administration and obscured the attempts of Circassian groups to establish peace with Russia. In 1833, Colonel Grigory Zass was appointed commander of a part of the Kuban Military Line with headquarters in the Batalpashinsk fortress. Colonel Zass received wide authority to act as he saw fit. He was a racist who considered Circassians to be inferior. The only way to deal with
2937-419: The Caucasus. Others among the Russian military class such as Rostislav Fadeyev characterized the Circassians as a "barbaric people", additionally expressing his view that they were incapable of being Russified . Fadeyev argued that a "re-education of a people is a centuries-long process" and claimed that Russia was at a pivotal moment in its history towards the total assimilation of the Caucasus region into
3026-473: The Circassian phonology and have not even considered former Latin alphabets used to write Circassian and that the use of the Latin script would sever the ties with the homeland. Despite the criticism, the CLA has obtained a €40,000 funding from the European Union for the recording of the Circassian language with a Latin script and the preparation of multi-media learning materials for the language, and
3115-478: The Circassian villages of Jambut, Aslan, Morza, and Tsab Dadhika and completely destroyed them, along with the inhabitants, despite the villages being at peace with the Russian Empire. In 1828, General Emanuel destroyed 6 Natukhaj Circassian villages and many more Shapsug Circassian villages. He then passed the Kuban and burned 210 more villages. The Treaty of Adrianople was signed on 14 September 1829. According to
3204-482: The Circassians as " subhuman filth " and a " lowly race " to justify and glorify their wholesale slaughter and their use as human test subjects in unethical scientific experiments . Russian soldiers were also permitted to rape Circassian women . Circassia was largely emptied of the native Circassian population during the genocide, and those who were not killed were expelled to the Ottoman Empire . Only
3293-477: The Circassians as "untrustworthy swine" to "show how insignificant they are compared to Russia". In 1805, a plague struck Kabardia. Using this as an excuse, General Glazenap ordered his forces to burn down 80 villages to terrorize the people into submission and to wreak vengeance upon the Kabardians. A village burning campaign started, in which the Circassian population were burnt without separation. First,
3382-458: The Circassians, in his opinion, was to scare them away "just like wild animals". Zass advocated ruthless military methods predicated on this notion, including burning people alive, cutting off heads with show, burning populated villages to the ground, spreading epidemics on purpose, and mass rape of children. He kept a box under his bed with his collection of severed Circassian body parts. He operated in all areas of Circassia. Zass' main strategy
3471-539: The Circassians, who are predominantly Muslims , but other Muslim Caucasian peoples were also affected, as part of the Caucasian War . Notable killing methods used by the Imperial Russian Army in Circassia included impalement and tearing open the bellies of pregnant women in order to intimidate the Circassians and devastate their morale. Many Russian generals, such as Grigory Zass , described
3560-579: The Crimeans to spread Islam among the Circassians, with the Ottomans seeing success in converting members of the aristocracy who would then ultimately spread the religion to their dependents; Islam gained much more ground later as conversion came to be used to cement defensive alliances to protect their independence against Russian expansion. During the reign of Catherine II , the Russian army started entering Circassian soil and erecting forts, in an attempt at quick annexation. In 1763, Russian forces occupied
3649-512: The Natukhaj tribe in favor of populating their land on the northern coast of the Black Sea with Cossacks. In late 1831, in retaliation for Circassian attacks against Cossack military bases, Russian General Frolov and his task force destroyed several villages. Beginning the night of November 20, a "horror campaign" was started, in which villages were surrounded by artillery and bombarded. The targets were local homes, as well as mosques. The operation
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3738-514: The Russian Empire's forces were commanded by officers who commanded political dissidents and criminals. In 1834, Zass sent a report to Rosen detailing his campaign into Circassia. He talks about how he killed three Circassian civilians on their way to fetch grass: I captured three Circassians from carriages that were on their way to fetch grass, other than the thirteen we already had, who did not wish to surrender to us voluntarily, so I ordered to kill them. He then talks about how he destroyed
3827-417: The Russian army would enter and loot a Circassian village, then they would kill those who resist or complain, and finally, they would set fire to the village and make sure all inhabitants were killed. In 1810 about 200 villages were burned. Between 1805 and 1807, General Bulgakov's army alone burned more than 280 villages. The population of Kabarda, which was 350,000 in 1763, was only 37,000 in 1817. In 1808,
3916-406: The Russian commanders instead preferred the idea of massacring large portions of the Circassian population. Richmond has noted that "reports abound" of massacres in the final stages of the Caucasus campaign. In 1859, three years before the approval of the plan by the Russian government, Russian officials began talks with the Ottomans about the migration of a limited number of emigrants, and in 1860
4005-506: The Russian empire during this period. These extermination campaigns were part of Tsarist Russia's " brosok na yug " ("throw to the south") settler-colonial policy of Russification in the Caucasus and surrounding regions. Following the Crimean war , the Russian empire forcibly expelled millions of Crimean Tatars and sent Russian settlers to the Crimean peninsula . During the 1860s, the Russian imperial army conquered Circassia and launched
4094-598: The Russian empire. Fadeyev supported the extermination of half the population, stating that Russians intended to "exterminate half the Circassian people in order to compel the other half to lay down their arms". Sentiments for expulsion existed among prominent Russian politicians such as Prince Kochubei . Kochubei said to Americans visiting the region that "these Circassians are just like your American Indians – as untamable and uncivilized ... and, owning to their natural energy of character, extermination only would keep them quiet." As Russian armies advanced in Circassia in
4183-610: The Russian government". The Circassian resettlement plan was eventually agreed upon at a meeting of the Russian Caucasus commanders in October 1860 in Vladikavkaz and officially approved on 10 May 1862 by Tsar Alexander II and a flood of refugee movements began as Russian troops advanced in their final campaign. Although the order given by Tsar Alexander II was to deport the Circassians rather than to massacre them,
4272-458: The [jɜ] and [jə] sounds at the beginning of syllables and [e] and [i] sounds at the end. The Latin letters are only used for the sounds [e] and [i]. The diphthongs are written as "Ye" and "Yi" 4) Circassian languages do not have phonemic rounded vowels but the labialized consonants affect the vowels around them to create allophonic rounded vowels. The letters O, Ö, U and Ü are used to show these allophonic rounded vowels. O/Ö and U/Ü works similar to
4361-510: The accepted orthography for Adyghe. Over the following decades, several authors attempted to further improve the Adyghe Arabic orthography. The most successful attempt was the alphabet created by Akhmetov Bekukh . In this version, letters were designated for vowel sounds, and the orthography was transformed from an " Impure abjads to a true alphabet . In 1918, on the initiative of the Kuban Revolutionary Committee ,
4450-485: The beards. Russian soldiers and Cossacks were paid for sending Circassian heads to General Zass. Besides cutting Circassian heads off and collecting them, Zass employed a deliberate strategy of annihilating Circassians en masse , burning entire Circassian villages with the people in them and encouraging violation of Circassian women and children. Zass is depicted as the Devil or Satan in Circassian folklore. In 1842, Zass
4539-524: The beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. This one was in the beginning With God. All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence. What has come into existence by means of him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light is shining in the darkness, but the darkness has not overpowered it. Circassian genocide The Circassian genocide , or Tsitsekun ,
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#17327759458714628-525: The champion of Eastern Orthodoxy against non-Christian inhabitants in its territories. Russian Tsars viewed the Circassian tribes in the Caucasus as "primitive" humans to either be forcibly converted to Christianity or exterminated and expelled. Imperial army generals further regarded Circassia as a strategic territory to advance Russian expansionism in the Caucasus and surrounding lands. Circassians, Christianised through Byzantine influence between
4717-409: The conquered region. As of 2023 , Georgia is the only country that has formally recognized the Circassian genocide. The Russian Federation classifies the events in Circassia as a mass migration ( Russian : Черкесское мухаджирство , lit. ' Circassian migrationism ' ) and denies that a genocide took place . Some Russian nationalists in the Caucasus mark 21 May 1864 ( O.S. ) as
4806-572: The dialect. All dialects possess a contrast between plain and labialized glottal stops . A very unusual minimal contrast, and possibly unique to the Abzakh dialect of Adyghe, is a three-way contrast between plain, labialized and palatalized glottal stops (although a palatalized glottal stop is also found in Hausa and a labialized one in Tlingit ). The Shapsug (Black Sea) dialect of Adyghe contains
4895-410: The document, Circassia was given by the Ottoman Empire to Russia. The Circassians considered it invalid, arguing that because their territory had been independent of the Ottomans, Istanbul had no right to cede it. Circassian ambassadors were sent to England, France and Ottoman lands announcing that they denied the treaty under all conditions. In 1831, the Russian government considered the destruction of
4984-571: The early 1790s and declared that the Adyghe Xabze , the Circassian law, had been removed, greatly angering Circassians. In 1799, Russian general Fyodor Bursak organized several raids against the Western Circassians, and ordered his men to burn Circassian villages, including those loyal to the Russian Empire. From 1802 to 1806, General Pavel Tsitsianov led campaigns in Circassia and targeted Circassian villages. He referred to
5073-419: The flesh off the heads after storing them under his bed in his tent. He also had Circassian heads outside of his tent impaled on lances on a hill. Circassian men's corpses were decapitated by Russian-Cossack women on the battlefield after the battles were over for the heads to be sent to Zass for collection. Zass erected Circassian heads on poles outside of his tent, and witnesses reported seeing wind blowing
5162-500: The genocide and that as many as 1.5 million people were forced to flee in total, though only around half of them survived the journey. Ottoman archives show the intake of more than a million immigrants from the Caucasus by 1879, with nearly half of them having been found dying on the shores of the Black Sea as a result of disease. Presuming that these statistics are accurate, Russia's military campaign in Circassia constitutes
5251-604: The genocide, recalled that "their [the Circassians] only crime was not being Russian ." Seeking a credible military intervention against Russia, Circassian officials signed and sent " A Petition from Circassian Leaders to Her Majesty Queen Victoria " in 1864, but were ultimately unsuccessful in their attempt to solicit aid from the British Empire . That same year, the Imperial Russian Army launched
5340-606: The goal being destroying as many villages and towns as possible. He attacked the Besleney region between November and December, destroying most villages, including the village of the double agent Aytech Qanoqo . He continued to exterminate the Circassian population between 1834 and 1835, particularly in the Abdzakh , Besleney , Shapsug , and Kabardian regions. Zass' forces referred to all Circassian elderly, children women and men as "savages", "bandits", "plunderers" or "thieves" and
5429-620: The land of the Shapsug tribe. They were grouped into highland and lowland Abzakhs and favored close relations with the Ubykhs , whom they practically regarded as their own kin. In 1834, together with the Shapsugs and the Nathukajs , they swore an oath to fight against the Russians. The Abzakhs were reluctant to join non-Circassian commanders, which is why Muhammad Amin failed to win over
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#17327759458715518-425: The late 1850s and early 1860s, Circassians were evicted from their lands so they could be settled by loyal Cossacks as the Russian military elite developed a belief that Circassians would have to be entirely expelled from regions for the security of Russian rule. Yermolov wrote that "resettlement of intractable mountaineers" to Turkey would be the easiest way to "give freedom" to those who "prefer death to allegiance to
5607-476: The late 18th and early 19th centuries, although it was already making attempts in the early 18th century, the Russian Empire began actively seeking to expand its territory to the south at the expense of the neighboring Ottoman Empire and Qajar Iran , and thus aimed to incorporate the Caucasus into its domain. Some areas proved easier to incorporate than others, largely depending on the nature of local political structures. Eastern Georgia for example, comprising
5696-601: The materials created by ABX were accepted by the Ministry of National Education to be taught in Secondary Schools. This decision was protested and legally objected by the Federation of Caucasian Associations (Turkish: Kafkas Dernekleri Federasyonu ; KAFFED) who created the materials for Circassian and Abaza languages with the Cyrillic script; however, the court ruled in favour of the Latin alphabet created by
5785-408: The materials in the CLA website are primarily in West Circassian. 1) Ć is the equivalent of both Кӏ and Чӏ and shows the ejective potalveolar affricate. Qq, on the other hand, only corresponds to Кӏ and shows an ejective velar plosive. 2) Ç normally stands for Ч but when it is followed by Ü and Ö, it is equivalent to Цу. 3) É and İ are not direct equivalents of Е and И. The Cyrillic letters denote
5874-507: The most powerful and dominant Georgian regions of Kartli and Kakheti had been under intermittent Iranian suzerainty since 1555 . Russia eventually found itself able, through instability in the geopolitical situation of Georgia within Qajar Iran, to annex eastern Georgia in the early 19th century, ratified in the 1803 Treaty of Gulistan . Russia endeavored to bring the entire Caucasus region under its control, conquering Armenia, Caucasian Azerbaijan, and southern Dagestan, while co-opting
5963-427: The mountains, with the land these inhabitants had once lived on being acquired for the Kuban Cossacks . The entirety of Kabardia (Eastern Circassia) was then declared property of the Russian government. General Yermolov accelerated his efforts in Kabardia, with the month of March 1822 alone seeing 14 villages being destroyed as Yermolov led expeditions. In February 1824, the Russian army led by General Vlasov attacked
6052-1526: The name of Allāh, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful! 2. [All] praise is [due] to Allāh, Lord of the worlds, 3. The Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful, 4. Sovereign of the Day of Recompense! 5. It is You we worship and You we ask for help! 6. Guide us to the straight path, 7. The path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have earned [Your] anger or of those who are astray. ١-بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ ٢-الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ٣-الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ ٤-مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ ٥-إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ٦-اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ ٧-صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ Ублапӏэм ыдэжь Гущыӏэр щыӏагъ. Ар Тхьэм ыдэжь щыӏагъ, а Гущыӏэри Тхьэу арыгъэ. Ублапӏэм щегъэжьагъэу а Гущыӏэр Тхьэм ыдэжь щыӏагъ. Тхьэм а Гущыӏэм зэкӏэри къыригъэгъэхъугъ. Тхьэм къыгъэхъугъэ пстэуми ащыщэу а Гущыӏэм къыримыгъгъэхъугъэ зи щыӏэп. Мыкӏодыжьын щыӏэныгъэ а Гущыӏэм хэлъыгъ, а щыӏэныгъэри цӏыфхэм нэфынэ афэхъугъ. Нэфынэр шӏункӏыгъэм щэнэфы, шӏункӏыгъэри нэфынэм текӏуагъэп. Ublāṗăm ədăžʼ G˚šʼəʾăr šʼəʾāġ. Ār Tḥăm ədăžʼ šʼəʾāġ, ā G˚šʼəʾări Tḥăw ārəġă. Ublāṗăm šʼeġăžʼāġăw ā G˚šʼəʾăr Tḥăm ədăžʼ šʼəʾāġ. Tḥăm ā G˚šʼəʾăm zăč̣ʼări qəriġăġăꭓ˚ġ. Tḥăm qəġăꭓ˚ġă pstăwmi āšʼəšʼăw ā G˚šʼəʾăm qəriməġġăꭓ˚ġă zi šʼəʾăp. Məč̣ʼodəžʼən šʼəʾănəġă ā G˚šʼəʾăm xăłəġ, ā šʼəʾănəġări c̣əfxăm năfənă āfăꭓ˚ġ. Năfənăr ṣ̂˚nč̣ʼəġăm šʼănăfə, ṣ̂˚nč̣ʼəġări năfənăm teḳ˚āġăp. In
6141-408: The nobility of other areas such as Lower Kabardia and parts of Dagestan. Although the Russians faced considerable resistance to incorporation in Dagestan and Georgia, as well as military resistance by the local government of Imereti , the regions they felt most difficult of all to incorporate were those that had not been conquered by foreign empires and did not have any local monopolies of power—which
6230-432: The place of stopping) is written with a ` (accent grave) or ' (apostrophe) and has a complicatd use. It is equivalent to Ӏ (palochka) in its use an ejective marker but not as the glottal stop. The glottal stop is not written as a letter but is implied through the use of consecutive vowels like in "mıerıs" (мыӀэрыс; apple). As many ejective sounds have their own letters (Ć, Ṕ, Q, Š, Ṫ), only some ejective sounds are written with
6319-449: The population into surrender. Under Yermolov, Russian troops retaliated by destroying villages where resistance fighters were thought to hide, as well as employing assassinations, kidnappings and the execution of whole families. Because the resistance was relying on sympathetic villages for food, the Russian military also systematically destroyed crops and livestock and killed Circassian civilian farmers. Circassians responded by creating
6408-702: The process of creating an orthography for Adyghe was started. In Tbilisi in 1853, a document titled " Primer of the Circassian Language " ( Archive ) was published, in which an Arabic-based orthography influenced by the Ottoman Turkish alphabet was developed. This document became the first ever publication in Adyghe. In this document, several new letters were introduced to represent the consonants that exist in Adyghe language. This proposed orthography, although with many shortcomings, received widespread approval and usage. And thus, Arabic script became
6497-639: The rest were either killed or burned after attempting to escape by hiding on the roofs of their homes or by the manure. So like this, we destroyed and destructed the neighborhood. Reportedly, Zass would pick random Circassian males from the towns he attacked and burn them alive as a form of entertainment. He did not stop at burning women; he also cut the pregnant women's bellies with a bayonet. He sent severed Circassian heads to friends in Berlin who were professors and used them to study anatomy. The Decembrist Nikolai Ivanovich Lorer said that Zass cleaned and boiled
6586-418: The river valleys Kurdzhips , Psheha , Pshish , and Psekups . However, today the vast majority of them live in diaspora in Turkey — about 500,000 people, which are the descendants of those expelled from their homeland as a result of the Russian–Circassian War . After Kabardians , the Abzakh are the second-largest Adyghe tribe in Turkey, other diaspora countries, and in the world in general. They are also
6675-796: The same methods were applied in the Shapsug region, and several villages were burnt. After some civilians deserted to the forests, forests in the region were burnt down. In 1811, petitions were sent to St. Petersburg in Russia, appealing for the basic rights of Circassians in the occupied areas. In 1817, Russian veteran general Aleksey Yermolov arrived in the Caucasus. Deciding that Circassians would not surrender willingly, General Yermolov concluded that "terror" as an official strategy would be effective. Although terror methods were already in use, they were only officialized after Yermolov's orders. Russian generals began to destroy Circassian villages and towns and slaughter people as part of an official duty to shock
6764-698: The second-largest Adyghe tribe in Israel (after Shapsugs ), largest in Jordan, and the sixth-largest in Russia. The Abzakhs are not to be confused with the Abkhazians or the Abaza , yet the naming "abadz'ekh" in Circassian language means "the people who live under the Abazas", but they are different in language. Before the Caucasian War, Abzakhs inhabited the northern slope of the Caucasus mountain range, near
6853-455: The single largest genocide of the 19th century. Russian records, in confirmation of the Ottoman archives, documented the presence of only 106,798 Circassians in the Caucasus on the approach to the 20th century. Other estimates by Russian historiographers are even lower, ranging from 40,400 to 65,900. The Russian Empire census , conducted in 1897, reported the presence of 150,000 Circassians in
6942-472: The town of Mezdeug (modern-day Mozdok ) in Eastern Circassia, turning it into a Russian fortress. Thus began the first hostilities between Circassians and the Russian Empire. In 1764, Circassian prince Misost Bematiqwa started the Circassian resistance in Eastern Circassia. Bematiqwa's resistance was strengthened when on October 18, 1768, the Ottoman sultan, who had declared war on Russia, sent
7031-564: The two languages in favor of both being dialects of a unitary Circassian language . The literary standard of Adyghe is based on its Temirgoy dialect. Adyghe and Russian are the two official languages of the Republic of Adygea in the Russian Federation . In Russia, there are around 128,000 speakers of Adyghe, almost all of them native speakers. In total, some 300,000 speak it worldwide. The largest Adyghe-speaking community
7120-459: The two sides negotiated a treaty for the migration of 40,000–50,000 Circassians, with the Ottoman side being eager for an increase in population. However, Russia did not aim to limit the number of exiles to 50,000, as the plan was to exile the entire Circassian population. With a gathering sense of emergency, on 25 June 1861, leaders of all the Circassian tribes gathered in Sochi to jointly petition
7209-501: The vowel use О and У in the Adyghe Cyrillic alphabet with O/Ö showing labialized consonant+[ɜ] combinations and U/Ü the labialized consonant+[ə] combinations. However, Ö and Ü are used when these combinations occur next to postalveolar sounds (Ş, J, Ç). The diphthongal uses of О and У, i.e. [wɜ] and [wə], are written as "We" and "Wı". Another use of Ö and Ü is writing Turkish loanwords containing these letters. 5) Wıçüpe (уцупэ;
7298-471: The wholesale destruction of villages became a standard tactic. General Yermolov remarked that "We need the Circassian lands, but we don't have any need of the Circassians themselves". Russian military commanders, such as Yermolov and Bulgakov, acting in their own interests to attain glory on the battlefield and riches through conquest, which would be much more difficult to attain on the Western front than in
7387-399: The wıçüpe (ş`, ĺ`). Another use of wıçüpe is to show that an U at the end of a word represents a labialized consonant and not a labialized consonant + [ə] combination. For example, джэгу in Cyrillic is written cegu` to make sure that it is pronounced [d͡ʒɜgʷ] as a single syllable but wıçüpe is removed when the word takes a suffix and the allophonic [u] is audible, as in cegum [d͡ʒɜgum]. Adyghe
7476-604: Was described in a report: In this affair the Russians lost 10 soldiers and had one officer and 16 soldiers wounded. At the scene of the battle there were more than 150 bodies of Circassians killed by bayonets and up to 50 women and children killed from the action of the Russian artillery. In another report, General Rosen described how, in December 1831, 381 Circassians were captured by his forces and boasted about taking them prisoner and firing at villages, leaving 100 men and 50 women dead. He goes on to detail how when setting fire to
7565-461: Was removed from service due to his methods being deemed too cruel by St. Petersburg. In 1837, some Circassian leaders offered the Russians a white peace , arguing that no more blood should be shed. In response to this offer, the Russian army under the command of General Yermolov burnt 36 Circassian villages. In the negotiations to formulate the 1856 Treaty of Paris , the British representative,
7654-419: Was the state of most Circassian territories, where resistance to absorption into the Russian Empire was most tenacious. Prior to the perpetration of genocide by Tsarist Russia , more than 4 million Circassians lived in their homeland in the Caucasus. The Russian empire 's decision to launch genocide against Circassians was driven by anti-Muslim sentiments and by Tsarist Russia's "messianic self-image" as
7743-400: Was the systematic mass killing , ethnic cleansing , and expulsion of between 95% and 97% of the Circassian people during the final stages of the Russian invasion of Circassia in the 19th century. It resulted in the deaths of between 625,000 and 1.5 million and the destruction of Circassia , which was then annexed by the Russian Empire . Those planned for extermination were mainly
7832-454: Was to be an end in itself – to cleanse the land of hostile elements". Tsar Alexander II endorsed the plans to exterminate Circassians , and in June 1861 ordered the launch of a settler-colonial Russification and Christianization programme. Milyutin later had been appointed as the minister of war the same year, and from the early 1860s massacres and ethnic cleansing began occurring in
7921-432: Was to intercept and retain the initiative, terrorize the Circassians, and destroy Circassian settlements. After a victory, he would usually burn several villages and seize cattle and horses to show off, acts which he proudly admitted. In his reports, he frequently boasted about the destruction of villages and glorified the mass murder of civilians. In August 1833, Zass led his first expedition into Circassian territory, with
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