Surviving
84-402: Surviving Destroyed or barely existing The Kabardians ( Kabardian : Къэбэрдей адыгэхэр; Adyghe : Къэбэртай адыгэхэр; Russian : Кабарди́нцы ) or Kabardinians are one of the twelve major Circassian tribes, representing one of the twelve stars on the green-and-gold Circassian flag . They are also commonly known by the plural terms Kabardin , Kebertei , or Kabarday . Along with
168-506: A federal subject of Russia , where they are indigenous and were about 12% of the population in 2010. In English, it still refers to all Circassians. The origin of the term "Circassian" is disputed. One view is that its root stems from Turkic languages, and means "head choppers" or "warrior killers", because of the Circassians' battle practices. Other sources argue that the term comes from Mongolian Jerkes , meaning "one who blocks
252-470: A Cyrillic-based script for Kabardian. Over the decades, the popularity in use of Arabic-derived script increased. In 1881, the poet Bekmurza Pachev compiled a standardized Arabic script for Kabardian consisting of 39 letters. He published various literature and wrote poetry in this version of the alphabet. The Arabic alphabet was gaining universal acceptance and increasing usage among Kabardian Circassians. In 1908, Nuri Tsagov compiled another iteration of
336-734: A Latin alphabet for Kabardian. While many in the Circassian community have opposed the move, the endorsement of the project by Turkey's ruling party, AK Party , has resulted in the boosting of ADDER script. Since then, government-endorsed education material and primers have been prepared in ADDER Latin script. Table below lists the 49-letter Kabardian Latin (ADDER) Alphabet and their respective Cyrillic equivalents. Highlighted letters aren't considered independent letters, but are digraphs and are used to correspond to specific Kabardian phonemes. Below table shows Kabardian Arabic alphabet, as it
420-484: A path". Some believe it comes from the ancient Greek name of the region, Siraces . According to another view, its origin is Persian and combines two parts, kar ("mountain") and kās ("region", in Pahlavi ), meaning "mountainous region". The spelling Cherkess may be an abbreviation of Persian Chahār-kas ("four people"), denoting four tribes. Ali ibn al-Athir (died c. 1232/3) and Ibn Khaldun (died 1406) used
504-555: A plan to occupy the Caucasus. Although he was unable to implement this plan, he laid the political and ideological foundation for the occupation to take place. Catherine II started putting this plan into action. The Russian army was deployed on the banks of the Terek River . The Russian military tried to impose authority by building a series of forts, but these forts in turn became the new targets of raids and indeed sometimes
588-404: A result prefer to maintain a phoneme /aː/ . In a later section of his monograph, Kuipers also attempts to analyze the two vowels phonemes /ə/ and /a/ out of existence. Halle, however, shows that this analysis is flawed, as it requires the introduction of multiple new phonemes to carry the information formerly encoded by the two vowel phonemes. The vowel /o/ appears in some loan words; it
672-649: A smaller number were resettled into the Empire's major cities. In January 1922, the Soviet government created an autonomous oblast which was the predecessor of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic . The actions of the Russian military in acquiring Circassian land through expulsion and massacres have given rise to a movement among descendants of the expelled ethnicities for international recognition of
756-399: Is also complicated somewhat by the existence of Besleney, which is usually considered a dialect of Kabardian but also shares many features with certain dialects of Adyghe. Kabardian is written in a form of Cyrillic and serves as the literary language for Circassians in both Kabardino-Balkaria (where it is usually called the "Kabardian language") and Karachay-Cherkessia (where it is called
840-531: Is an accepted version of this page Surviving Destroyed or barely existing The Circassians or Circassian people , also called Cherkess or Adyghe ( Adyghe and Kabardian : Адыгэхэр , romanized: Adygekher ) are a Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation who originated in Circassia , a region and former country in the North Caucasus . As a consequence of
924-473: Is concerned, a majority of diaspora Circasians have tried to follow the conventions and literary practices in place among people living in the Circassian homeland. This is to help diaspora communities maintain ties to their homeland. Therefore, before 1924, the Arabic-based scripts developed for Western and Eastern (Kabardian) Circassian, also took roots among the diaspora communities. This is also why for
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#17327726566661008-437: Is known today as Krasnaya Polyana. "Krasnaya Polyana" means red meadow. It takes its name from the Circassian blood flowing from the hill into the river. The proposal to deport the Circassians was ratified by the Russian government, and a flood of refugee movements began as Russian troops advanced in their final campaign. Circassians prepared to resist and hold their last stand against Russian military advances and troops. With
1092-557: Is often pronounced /aw/ . The diphthong /aw/ is pronounced /oː/ in some dialects. /jə/ may be realised as /iː/ , /wə/ as /uː/ and /aj/ as /eː/ . This monophthongisation does not occur in all dialects. The vowels /a, aː/ can have the semi-vowel /j/ in front of it. The official alphabet used for writing Kabardian, is Cyrillic alphabet, including additional letters, totalling 59 letters. Digraphs, trigraphs, and one tetragraph, are counted as independent letters on their own. The Cyrillic alphabet in its current form has been
1176-551: Is one of very few languages to possess a clear phonemic distinction between ejective affricates and ejective fricatives . Some linguists argue that Kabardian is only one dialect of an overarching Adyghe or Circassian language , which consists of all of the dialects of Adyghe and Kabardian together, and the Kabardians themselves most often refer to their language using the Circassian term Adighabze ("Adyghe language"). Several linguists, including Georges Dumézil , have used
1260-456: The Beslenei dialect, there exists an alveolar lateral ejective affricate [t͡ɬʼ] which corresponds to [ ɬʼ ] in literary Kabardian. The Turkish Kabardians (Uzunyayla) and Besleneys have a palatalized voiced velar stop [ɡʲ] and a palatalized velar ejective [kʲʼ] which corresponds to [ d͡ʒ ] and [ t͡ʃʼ ] in literary Kabardian. The glottalization of
1344-1070: The Besleney tribe, they speak a distinctive dialect of Circassian . Historically the Kabardians lived in Kabardia , a region of the north Caucasus . In modern times the Kabardians live mostly in the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria , which partly corresponds to the historic region. Despite the Soviet administrative divisions that placed Circassians under four different designations and political units, namely Adygeans (Circassians in Adygea ), Cherkessians (Circassians in Karachay-Cherkessia ), Kabardians (Circassians in Kabardino-Balkaria), and Shapsugs (Circassians in Krasnodar Krai ), all four groups are essentially
1428-985: The Circassian genocide , which was perpetrated by the Russian Empire during the Russo-Circassian War in the 19th century, most of the Circassian people were exiled from their ancestral homeland and consequently began living in what was then the Ottoman Empire —that is, modern-day Turkey and the rest of the Middle East . In the early 1990s, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization estimated that there are as many as 3.7 million Circassians in diaspora in over 50 countries. The two Circassian languages —western Adyghe and eastern Kabardian —are natively spoken by
1512-761: The Hanafi school Kabardians also constituted one of the earliest Christian communities in Europe , converting in the late 2nd and early 3rd Centuries. Kabardians living in Mozdoksky District in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania are Orthodox Christians . Some of the Kabardians living in the southern part of the neighbouring Kursky district of Stavropol Krai are also Orthodox Christians. There are also some Roman Catholic Kabardians (possibly descended from families who reportedly converted from Orthodoxy during
1596-681: The Kingdom of Alania . Between the 10th and 13th centuries Georgia had influence on the Adyghe Circassian peoples. In the medieval era there was a Circassian kingdom called Zichia ( Adyghe : Адзыгъэй ; Greek : Ζιχία ) or Zekchia. In 1382, Circassian slaves took the Mamluk throne, the Burji dynasty took over and the Mamluks became a Circassian state. The Mongols, who started invading
1680-635: The Yegeruqway and the Zhaney . Circassians have played major roles in areas where they settled: in Turkey , those of Circassian origin have had massive influence, being instrumental in the Turkish War of Independence and among the elites of Turkey's intelligence agency. In Jordan , they founded the capital city Amman , and continue to play a major role in the country. In Syria , they served as
1764-948: The "Cherkess language"). Like all other Northwest Caucasian languages, Kabardian is ergative and has an extremely complex verbal system. Since 2004, the Turkish broadcasting corporation TRT has maintained a half-an-hour programme a week in the Terek dialect of Kabardian. The phoneme written Л л is pronounced as a voiced alveolar lateral fricative [ ɮ ] mostly by the Circassians of Kabarda and Cherkessia , but many Kabardians pronounce it as an alveolar lateral approximant [ l ] in diaspora. The series of labialized alveolar sibilant affricates and fricatives that exist in Adyghe /ʃʷʼ/ /ʒʷ/ /ʃʷ/ /t͡sʷ/ became labiodental consonants /fʼ/ /v/ /f/ /v/ in Kabardian, for example
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#17327726566661848-478: The 13th century). According to the 2012 survey census, of the 240,000 Catholics who lived in Russia, 1.8% were Kabardians. Kabardian language Destroyed or barely existing Kabardian ( / k ə ˈ b ɑːr d i ə n / ), also known as East Circassian , is a Northwest Caucasian language , that is considered to be the east dialect of Adyghe language . While some Soviet linguists have treated
1932-649: The 17th century, under the influence of the Crimean Tatars and of the Ottoman Empire , large numbers of Circassians converted to Islam from Christianity. In 1708, Circassians paid tribute to the Ottoman sultan in order to prevent Tatar raids, but the sultan did not fulfill the obligation and the Tatars raided all the way to the center of Circassia, robbing everything they could. For this reason, Kabardian Circassians announced that they would never pay tribute to
2016-591: The 18th century stereotype of the Circassian beauty . Feudalism began to emerge among Circassians by the 4th century. As a result of Armenian, Greek and Byzantine influence, Christianity spread throughout the Caucasus between the 3rd and 5th centuries. During that period, Circassians (known at the time as Kassogs ) began to accept Christianity as a national religion, but did not abandon all elements of their indigenous religious beliefs . Circassians established many states, but could not achieve political unity. From around 400, wave after wave of outsiders began to invade
2100-482: The 19th century, Kabardian did not have a literary tradition yet, and it did not have a native orthography. At the time, Ottoman Turkish was used as the literary language by Circassians. Starting in the 1820s, efforts at compiling and standardizing Arabic-based scripts were undertaken by various Kabardian literaturists, and by the early 1920s, an officially-adopted Arabic-based script was in widespread educational and literary use. However, in 1924, Kabardian Arabic alphabet
2184-491: The 59-letter Kabardian Cyrillic Alphabet. Dighraphs, trigraphs, and a tetragraph are counted as independent letters. Since the genocide and forced expulsion of Circassians in their homeland in the second half of the 19th century, most Circassians have been living as diaspora communities in countries such as Turkey , Syria , Jordan , and elsewhere. In fact more Circassians live in the diaspora than within Circassia . As far as orthographic conventions among diasporic communities
2268-580: The Adyghe warriors as courageous and well-experienced. It encouraged them to settle in various near-border settlements of the Ottoman Empire in order to strengthen the empire's borders. According to Walter Richmond , Circassia was a small independent nation on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea. For no reason other than ethnic hatred, over the course of hundreds of raids the Russians drove
2352-453: The Arabic alphabet, better suited for all consonant and vowel phonemes of Kabardian. This version of the alphabet was widely accepted, with many authors utilizing it to publish books and literature, including a primer . The alphabet gained official status in education and later also inspired the standardization of Arabic-based orthography for Adyghe language by Akhmetov Bekukh. In line with
2436-621: The Caucasus in 1223, destroyed some of the Circassians and most of the Alans. The Circassians lost most of their lands during the ensuing Golden Horde attacks and had to retreat to the back of the Kuban River. In 1395 Circassians fought violent wars against Tamerlane , and although they won the wars, Tamerlane plundered Circassia. Prince Inal , who owned land in the Taman peninsula during the 1400s, established an army and declared that his goal
2520-448: The Circassian army of 20,000 Circassian horsemen and a fully equipped Russian army of 100,000 men. Circassian warriors attacked the Russian army and tried to break through the line, but most were shot down by Russian artillery and infantry. The remaining fighters continued to fight as guerillas and were soon defeated. All 20,000 Circassian horsemen died in the war. The war ended officially on May 21, 1864. The place where this war took place
2604-493: The Circassian people have lived in and near the mountains for thousands of years. The word Circassian ( / s ər ˈ k æ s i ə n z / sər- KASS -ee-ənz ) is an exonym , Latinized from Russian Cherkess ( Russian : Черкес ; Adyghe : Чэркэс/Шэрджэс ), which is of debated origin. The term, in Russian, was traditionally applied to all Circassians before Soviet times, but it has since usually referred only to Circassians living in northern Karachay-Cherkessia ,
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2688-464: The Circassian people. Khabzeism is their ethnic religion , which was historically practiced in Circassia since ancient times, but Sunni Islam became the dominant religion among them around the 17th century, following a long period of Islamization . Circassia has been repeatedly invaded since ancient times; its isolated terrain coupled with the strategic value external societies have placed on
2772-523: The Circassians are of Turkic origin, but no scientific evidence supports this claim and it has been strongly denied by ethnic Circassians, impartial research, linguists, and historians around the world. The Circassian language does not share notable similarities to the Turkish language, except for borrowed words. According to various historians, the Circassian origin of the Sind-Meot tribes refutes
2856-401: The Circassians from their homeland and deported them to the Ottoman Empire. At least 600,000 people lost their lives to massacre, starvation, and the elements while hundreds of thousands more were forced to leave their homeland. By 1864, three-fourths of the population was annihilated, and the Circassians had become one of the first stateless peoples in modern history. As of 2020, Georgia was
2940-699: The Crimean Khan and the Ottoman Sultan again. The Ottomans sent their army of at least 20,000 men to Kabardia under the leadership of the Crimean Khan Kaplan-Girey to conquer the Circassians and ordered that he collect the tribute. The Ottomans expected an easy victory against the Kabardinians, but the Circassians won because of the strategy set up by Kazaniko Jabagh during the battle of Kanzhal . The Crimean army
3024-676: The G2-YY1215 haplogroup is larger on the Western Caucasus and decreases to the east, while G2-YY9632 has the opposite tendency. R1a-M198* is shared with Balkars , Karachays and Kuban Cossacks . The Circassian language , also known as Cherkess, is in the Northwest Caucasian language family . Archaeological findings, mainly of dolmens in Northwest Caucasus region , indicate a megalithic culture in
3108-434: The Kabardian words мафӏэ [maːfʼa] "fire", зэвы [zavə] "narrow", фыз [fəz] "wife" and вакъэ [vaːqa] "shoe" are pronounced as машӏо [maːʃʷʼa] , зэжъу [zaʒʷə] , шъуз /ʃʷəz/ and цуакъэ [t͡sʷaːqa] in Adyghe. Kabardian has a labialized voiceless velar fricative [xʷ] which correspond to Adyghe [f] , for example the Adyghe word "тфы" ( [tfə] "five" is тху ( [txʷə] ) in Kabardian. In
3192-763: The Northwest Caucasus. The ancestors of present-day Circassians are known as the Sinti - Maeotian tribes. Archaeological research shows that these tribes were the indigenous people of the Caucasus. Some researchers have claimed there may be links between Circassians and Indo-European-speaking communities, and some have argued that there are connections between Circassians and Hatti , who are from ancient Anatolian peoples, but these theories are not widely accepted. According to genetic tests performed on Circassians, their closest relatives are Ingush , Chechens , Georgians and Abkhazians . Turkish nationalist groups and proponents of modern-day Pan-Turkism have claimed that
3276-554: The Ottoman Empire or still languished on the Circassian coast awaiting transit, even as far greater numbers arrived following the Russo-Circassian War's conclusion. What was intended to be an orderly, gradual expulsion quickly eroded over the following months, as the Ottomans overcrowded boats and neglected previously enforced safety regulations. Numerous boats sank, unable to safely accommodate these larger loads, while
3360-437: The Ottomans had anticipated, easily reaching tens of thousands at a time. Conditions on the beaches were dismal, as those waiting for Ottoman-chartered ships contended with insufficient supplies of food and shelter, occasional raids from Russian soldiers, and outbreaks of typhus and smallpox that were only exacerbated by the cramped and unsanitary conditions. By 1864, hundreds of thousands of Circassians had either already entered
3444-405: The Russian military also systematically destroyed crops and livestock and killed Circassian civilians. Circassians responded by creating a tribal federation encompassing all tribes of the area. In 1840 Karl Friedrich Neumann estimated the Circassian casualties at around one and a half million. Some sources state that hundreds of thousands of others died during the exodus. Several historians use
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3528-636: The Uzunyayla plateau of Kayseri Province and around central Turkey. However, there are Kabardian villages in Balıkesir , Düzce , Eskişehir in northwest Turkey, Çorum , Samsun , and Tokat in the Black Sea region, amongst many others. Significant populations of Kabardians also live in Jordan , and there are communities in the United States. In Israel and Jordan, respectively, Shapsugs and Abzakhs are
3612-476: The alphabet inconvenient to learn and use. Thus two year later, in 1938, N.F. Yakovlev led a commission that reformed the Cyrillic alphabet to its present form. Among the diasporic Circassian communities, the situation with respect to orthography has been more complex. Some groups have advocated for use of Latin or Arabic in line with the language of the larger society in which Circassian communities reside. On
3696-401: The boosting of ADDER script and its usage in development of new educational material. The alphabet consists of the following letters: A a, B b, C c, Ç ç, Ć ć, D d, E e, É é, F f, Ḟ ḟ, G g, Ǵ ǵ, Ğ ğ, H h, Ḣ ḣ, I ı, İ i, J j, Ĵ ĵ, K k, Ḱ ḱ, Ǩ ǩ, L l, Ĺ ĺ, M m, N n, O o, Ö ö, P p, Ṕ ṕ, Q q, R r, S s, Ś ś, Š š, Ş ş, Ṩ ṩ, T t, Ṫ ṫ, U u, Ü ü, W w, V v, X x, Y y, Z z, Ź ź, ' Table below lists
3780-403: The capital city of Shashe (Sochi) on June 25, 1861. Haji Qerandiqo Berzedj was appointed as the head of the assembly. This assembly asked for help from Europe, arguing that they would be forced into exile soon. However, before the result was achieved, Russian General Kolyobakin invaded Sochi and destroyed the parliament and no country opposed this. In May 1864, a final battle took place between
3864-401: The claim that the Circassians are of Turkic ethnic origin. German racial theorists, after comparing skull shapes, declared that Europeans, North Africans, and Caucasians were of a common race, termed "Caucasian" or later " Caucasoid ". Scientific racism emphasized the so-called "superior beauty" of the Circassian people, referring to them as "how God intended the human race to be", leading to
3948-506: The ejective stops (but not fricatives) can be quite weak, and has been reported to often be creaky voice , that is, to have laryngealized voicing. Something similar seems to have happened historically in the Veinakh languages . Kabardian has a vertical vowel system . Although many surface vowels appear, they can be analyzed as consisting of at most the following three phonemic vowels: /ə/ , /a/ and /aː/ . The following allophones of
4032-722: The ethnic Circassian population are affected. Considering these rates, calculations including those taking into account the Russian government's own archival figures, have estimated a loss 600,000–1,500,000. Ivan Drozdov , a Russian officer who witnessed the scene at Qbaada in May 1864 as the other Russians were celebrating their victory remarked: On the road, our eyes were met with a staggering image: corpses of women, children, elderly persons, torn to pieces and half-eaten by dogs; deportees emaciated by hunger and disease, almost too weak to move their legs, collapsing from exhaustion and becoming prey to dogs while still alive. The Ottoman Empire regarded
4116-668: The general linguistic policy of the Soviet Union at the time, the existing Arabic script was replaced with a newly developed Kabardian Latin alphabet in 1924. Khuranov is credited for first compiling the first version of Latin alphabet in May 1923. This version closely resembled the Latin alphabet adopted for Adyghe language in 1927. This alphabet consisted of many newly created letters, some even borrowed from Cyrillic. Another interesting feature of this iteration of Adyghe Latin Alphabet
4200-413: The highlanders actually captured and held the forts. Under Yermolov, the Russian military began using a strategy of disproportionate retribution for raids . 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,
4284-460: The historic lands of Circassia: Genetically, the Adyghe have shared ancestry partially with neighboring peoples of the Caucasus , with some influence from other regions. The most prevalent SNP haplotypes among all Circassian tribes is G2 -YY1215 (43%); others are R1a -M198* (13%), G2-YY9632 (9%), J2-M172* (7%), sharing a single common ancestor 3,000 years ago, with the largest demographic growth between 2,000 and 1,500 years ago. Prevalence of
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#17327726566664368-738: The lands of the Adyghe people , who were also known as the Kasogi (or Kassogs) at the time. They were conquered first by the Bulgars (who originated on the Central Asian steppes ). Outsiders sometimes confused the Adyghe people with the similarly named Utigurs (a branch of the Bulgars). After the Khazar state dissolved, the Adyghe people were integrated around the end of the 1st millennium AD into
4452-477: The largest groups. Religions historically practiced by Kabardians include the native Adyghe Xabze faith, Christianity and Islam . The majority of Kabardians had converted to Islam by the early 19th century. There are also still some adherents to traditional Xabze beliefs, with 1,8% being practiced in Kabardino-Balkaria, although most Kabardians are either Non-denominational or Sunni Muslims of
4536-519: The main orthography of the time in the Circassian homeland, i.e. Nuri Tsagov's script. More recently, there has been developments in Turkey . In the 2000s, the Konya -based Adyghe Language Teaching Association (ADDER) has compiled a Latin alphabet for Kabardian. While many in the Circassian community have opposed the move, the endorsement of the project by Turkey's ruling party, AK Party , has resulted in
4620-900: The modern day: the Abaza family . In Israel , Bibras Natcho is the captain of the Israeli national soccer team . In Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union , historical Circassia was divided into the republics of Adygea , Kabardino-Balkaria , Karachay-Cherkessia , and Krasnodar Krai , and southwestern parts of Stavropol Krai . Accordingly, Circassians have been designated as Adygeans in Adygea, Kabardians in Kabardino-Balkaria, Cherkess in Karachay-Cherkessia, and Shapsug in Krasnodar Krai; all four are essentially
4704-431: The name Cherkess/Circassians. In Persian sources, Charkas/Cherkes is used to refer to the "actual" Circassians of the northwest Caucasus, and in some occasions as a general designation for Caucasians who live beyond Derbent (Darband). Despite a common self-designation and a common Russian name, Soviet authorities divided the nation into four different peoples and applied four designations to Circassians remaining in
4788-425: The name has been settled as Cherkess . It is the same or similar in many world languages that cite these languages. The Encyclopaedia Islamica adds: "The Cherkess: the Kabardians and the western Adyghe people share a common language, which is spoken by the north-western Caucasian people, and belongs to the family known as Abkhazian-Adyghe". In Medieval Oriental and European texts, the Adyghe people were known by
4872-497: The official alphabet since 1938. Kabardian alphabet, while having minor differences reflecting dialectical variations, is very similar to orthography of the Adyghe language , the other prominent Circassian language. Kabardian is also unofficially written and taught in Latin, in some diaspora communities, especially in Turkey where government-backing of a Latin-based script has been a cause for controversy and opposition among Kabardians who still overwhelmingly favor Cyrillic. Prior to
4956-409: The only country to classify the events as genocide, while Russia actively denies the Circassian genocide, and classifies the events as a simple migration of "undeveloped barbaric peoples". As early as 1859, the Russian government had sought potential avenues for expelling the native Circassian population, and found a solution in the Ottoman Empire. Despite their numerous historical and ongoing disputes,
5040-425: The other hand, since the adoption of Cyrillic in Circassia others have advocated for continued use of Cyrillic as it helps maintain contact with the Circassian homeland and the literary tradition there. This divergence goes back to the early 20th century, when in 1909, Muhammad Pchegatlukov developed a new and independent Arabic-based writing system in the Ottoman Empire . His proposed script didn't manage to displace
5124-623: The overcrowded conditions helped disease spread even further among both the Circassian migrants and the Ottoman crews. Upon their arrival, the Emigrant Commission attempted to relocate most of the new arrivals as quickly as possible to alleviate the strain on Ottoman port cities, and began to settle the Circassians throughout the Ottoman Empire. The exiled Circassians were resettled in the Empire's remaining Balkan territories, in Ottoman Syria and Transjordan, and Anatolia, while
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#17327726566665208-411: The past decades up till today, the majority of Circassians, be they in Turkey or Jordan or elsewhere, have adopted the Cyrillic alphabet and insist on educating the new generation in Cyrillic alphabet. Nevertheless, the issue of orthography hasn't been without controversy among diaspora communities. In the 2000s in Turkey , the Konya -based Adyghe Language Teaching Association (ADDER) has compiled
5292-465: The perpetration of genocide. On 20 May 2011 the Georgian parliament voted in a 95 to 0 declaration that Russia had committed genocide when it engaged in massacres against Circassians in the 19th century. Adyghe society prior to the Russian invasion was highly stratified. While a few tribes in the mountainous regions of Adygeya were fairly egalitarian, most were broken into strict castes. The highest
5376-610: The phrase "Circassian massacres" for the consequences of Russian actions in the region. In a series of sweeping military campaigns lasting from 1860 to 1864... the northwest Caucasus and the Black Sea coast were virtually emptied of Muslim villagers. Columns of the displaced were marched either to the Kuban [River] plains or toward the coast for transport to the Ottoman Empire... One after another, entire Circassian tribal groups were dispersed, resettled, or killed en masse. Circassians established an assembly called "Great Freedom Assembly" in
5460-441: The refusal to surrender, Circassian civilians were targeted one by one by the Russian military with thousands massacred and the Russians started to raid and burn Circassian villages, destroy the fields to make it impossible to return, cut trees down and drive the people towards the Black Sea coast. Although it is not known exactly how many people are affected, researchers have suggested that at least 75%, 90%, 94%, or 95–97% of
5544-897: The region have greatly shaped the Circassian national identity as a whole. The Circassian flag consists of a green field charged with 12 gold stars and, in the centre, three crossed black arrows. The stars represent the 12 Circassian tribes: the Abzakh , the Besleney , the Bzhedugh , the Hatuqway , the Kabardians , the Mamkhegh , the Natukhaj , the Shapsugh , the Chemirgoy , the Ubykh ,
5628-436: The retrieval and resettlement of the Circassians throughout the Ottoman Empire. The process of expulsion had already begun even before the end of the Russo-Circassian war; the first Circassians had begun to arrive in small numbers as early as 1859, mainly consisting of wealthier aristocrats. Even prior to the end of the Russo-Circassian War, expelled Circassians had begun to crowd the Circassian coast in far greater numbers than
5712-451: The same people (Circassians). Furthermore, Cherkessians are mostly of the Kabardian and Besleney tribes. Kabardians are the largest Circassian group in the world in general and form the largest group in Russia, Turkey, Egypt, and other countries. As of 2002 Kabardians numbered around 520,000 in Kabardino-Balkaria , Russia. and about 50,000 in Karachay-Cherkessia in Russia. In Turkey, where more than 1 million live, they are concentrated on
5796-416: The same people. Today, approximately 800,000 Circassians remain in historical Circassia, while 4,500,000 live elsewhere. The Circassians refer to themselves as Adyghe (also transliterated as Adyga, Adiga, Adige, Adığe, Adyge , Adygei ). According to one view, the name derives from Atyghe ( Adyghe : Iатыгъэ , romanized: 'atığə ) meaning "high [in altitude]" to signify a mountaineer, as
5880-516: The short vowels /ə/ , /a/ appear: According to Kuipers, Most of the long vowels appear as automatic variants of a sequence of short vowel and glide, when it occurs in a single syllable: This leaves only the vowel [aː] . Kuipers claims that this can be analyzed as underlying /ha/ when word-initial, and underlying /ah/ elsewhere, based on the following facts: Halle finds Kuipers' analysis "exemplary". Gordon and Applebaum note this analysis, but also note that some authors disagree, and as
5964-441: The term Jahārkas , but the Persian hypothesis remains uncertain. In early Russian sources, Circassians are called Kasogi , but one view holds that the modern term "Cherkes" derives from Kerket , the name of one of the ancient Circassian tribes. In languages spoken geographically close to the Caucasus, the native people originally had other names for the Circassians (such as Georgian : ჯიქი, Jiqi ), but with Russian influence,
6048-445: The terms "eastern Circassian" (Kabardian) and "western Circassian" (Adyghe) to avoid that confusion, but both "Circassian" and "Kabardian" may still be found in linguistic literature. There are several key phonetic and lexical differences that create a reasonably well-defined separation between the eastern and the western Circassian dialects, but the degree to which the two are mutually intelligible has not yet been determined. The matter
6132-614: The two as distinct languages, the Circassians (including Kabardian people) consider the eastern and western language variants to be dialects of one Circassian language. It is spoken mainly in parts of the North Caucasus republics of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia (Eastern Circassia), and in Turkey , Jordan and Syria (the extensive post-war diaspora). It has 47 or 48 consonant phonemes , of which 22 or 23 are fricatives , depending upon whether one counts [h] as phonemic, but it has only 3 phonemic vowels. It
6216-643: The two empires negotiated on the impending migrations and resettlements. The Russians promised a gradual process that would see the Ottomans ultimately receive fewer than 100,000 Circassians. The Circassians would first be moved, or coerced to move, to the Circassian Black Sea coast, from which Ottoman boats would take them to designated ports in Anatolia. The recently formed Ottoman Muhacirin Komisyonu , or Emigrant Commission, would coordinate both
6300-516: The volunteer guards of the Allies upon their entry into the country and still have high positions. In Libya , they serve in high military positions. In Egypt , they were part of the ruling class. The largest Circassian clan in the country also contributed to Egyptian and Arabic cultural literary, intellectual, and political life starting with the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha in Egypt and continuing to
6384-562: The war in Abkhazia, officially conquered Northern Abkhazia and the Abkhaz people recognized his rule. One of the stars on the flag of Abkhazia represents Inal. He divided his lands between his sons and grandchildren in 1453 and died in 1458. After that, Circassian tribal principalities were established, including Chemguy , founded by Temruk; Besleney , founded by Beslan; Kabardia , founded by Qabard; and Shapsug , founded by Zanoko. In
6468-427: Was conducted by famous Kabardian poet, Sh. Nogma, in 1825. His alphabet consisted of 42 letters, including 15 letters introduced by him, some of which had unusual forms, diverging from the conventional rasm (base of letters which are then used for addition of dots and diacritics ). His alphabet thus didn't take hold. In 1830, in collaboration with Russian philologist and orientalist, Gratsilevsky , Nogma developed
6552-667: Was destroyed in one night on 17 September 1708. The Crimean Khan Kaplan-Giray barely managed to save his life, and was humiliated, all the way to his shoes taken, leaving his brother, son, field tools, tents and personal belongings. In 2013, the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences recognized that the Battle of Kinzhal Mountain with the paramount importance in the national history of Circassians, Balkarians and Ossetians. In 1714, Peter I established
6636-408: Was discarded and replaced with Latin.. A second version of Latin script was adopted in 1930. This lasted for another 6 years, and in 1936, Latin alphabet was discarded in favour of Cyrillic. Kabardian Cyrillic alphabet underwent an iteration of modification in 1938, and the 1938 version has been in popular and official use eversince. First ever notable attempt at compiling an orthography for Kabardian
6720-454: Was reintroduced. The alphabet consisted of the following letters: A a, B b, V v, D d, E e, G g, Gu gu, Z z, Ž ž, Z̧ z̧, Ӡ ӡ, Ꜧ ꜧ, Ꜧu ꜧu, I i, J j, K k, Ku ku, Ⱪ ⱪ, Ⱪu ⱪu, Q q, Qu qu, Qh qh, Qhu qhu, L l, [REDACTED] [REDACTED] , Lh lh, M m, N n, O o, P p, Ph ph, R r, S s, Š š, Ş ş, T t, Th th, U u, F f, Fh fh, X x, Xu xu, X̌ x̌, X̌u x̌u, ɦ, C c, Ç ç, Ch ch, Y y, H h, ', Ù ù, Je je, Jo jo, Ju ju, Ja ja . In 1930, Kabardian Latin alphabet
6804-674: Was replaced by a new version derived from the nationally-adopted new standard, Yañalif . In 1936, Kabardian was one of the languages in the Soviet Union to switch to Cyrillic alphabet. Tuta Borukaev , Kabardian public figure and linguist is credited with the compilation of the first official Cyrillic alphabet for Kabardian. They consisted of the following: А а, ’А ’а, Б б, В в, Г г, Гъ гъ, Д д, Е е, Ж ж, Жь жь, З з, И и, Й й, К к, К’ к’, Л л, Ль ль, Л’ л’, М м, Н н, О о, П п, П’ п’, Р р, С с, Т т, Т’ т’, У у, ’У ’у, Ф ф, Ф’ ф’, Х х, Хь хь, Хъ хъ, Ц ц, Ц’ ц’, Ч ч, Ш ш, Щ щ, Щ’ щ’, Ъ ъ, Ы ы, Ь ь, Э э, Ю ю, Я я . The extensive reliance on use of apostrophes made
6888-530: Was that there was no distinction between lower case and upper case letters. Each letter only had one single case. The alphabet consisted of а b w d g ꜧ [REDACTED] е ӡ z ž ⱬ i j k ⱪ q qh l [REDACTED] lh m n o p ph r s š ş t th v f fh x х̌ ɦ c ç ch y h u è ù â ỳ . Kabardian Latin alphabet underwent another update in 1925. In this version, many of the newly created letters were removed in favour of introduction of accents and diacritics over base Latin letters. In this version, upper-case/lower-case distinction
6972-590: Was the official script of Kabardian Circassian between 1908 and 1924, compiled by Nuri Tsagov. Kabardian, like all Northwest Caucasian languages, has a basic agent–object–verb typology, and is characterized by ergative–absolutive alignment . The following texts are excerpts from the official translations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Kabardian and Adyghe, along with the original declaration in English. Circassians This
7056-422: Was to unite the Circassians under a single state. They were divided into many states at that time, but after declaring his own princedom, Inal conquered all of Circassia one by one. Circassian nobles and princes tried to prevent Inal's rise, but Inal and his supporters defeated 30 Circassian lords. After successfully uniting the Circassians, Inal still wanted to include the closely related Abkhazians. Inal, who won
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