Radio Adiga: “Sochi: The Circassian Viewpoint”, By Ruslan Keshev.
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posted by eagle on December, 2010 as Genocide Crime
"Sochi: The Circassian Viewpoint”, by Ruslan Keshev.08 12 2010
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Due to the importance of the subject presented by Ruslan Keshev at the conference that was held in Tbilisi on November 19-21 - 2010, Radio-Adiga posts Keshev’s presentation fully so everyone could enrich his knowledge.
Presentation "Sochi: The Circassian Viewpoint” at the Second International Conference "Hidden Nations, Enduring Crimes: The North Caucasus Between Past and Future,” Tbilisi, November 19-21, 2010, by Ruslan Keshev from the chapter of the international non-governmental organization Circassian Congress located in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria
Russian Empire’s Conquest of Circassia: [1763-1864] By May of 1864 only about 5 percent of Circassian population is left in the Caucasus.
1920s: The Soviet division of Circassians into four peoples: Adygheans, Kabardins, Circassians, and Shapsughs.
The Soviet Autonomies Granted to Circassians:
1. Circassian (Adyghean) Autonomous Oblast. Center – Krasnodar, since 1936 – Maikop.
2. Circassian Autonomous District. Center – Cherkessk. In 1957 merged with Karachai into Karachai-Circassian Autonomous Oblast.
3. Kabardin Autonomous Oblast. In 1922 merged with the Balkar District into Kabardino-Balkarskaya Autonomous Oblast. Center – Nalchik.
4. Shapsugh National Region. Center – Tuapse; Lazarevskoe. Abolished in 1945. Its territory was included in the Tuapse District and Lazarevskiy District of the city of Sochi.
May 2010: The conclusion of the Russian Academy of Sciences "On ethnonym Cherkes and toponym Circassia:”
Contemporary Adygheans, Kabardins, Circassians, Shapsughs and Ubykhs – are all representatives of the one Circassian (Adyghean) people.
* * *
Legal provisions defining genocide:
I. KILLING OF MEMBERS OF A PARTICULAR NATIONALITY.
II. INTENTIONAL CREATION OF SPECIFIC LIVING CONDITIONS FOR A PARTICULAR GROUP THAT ARE INTENDED TO FACILITATE ITS COMPLETE OR PARTIAL PHYSICAL EXTERMINATION.
III. DEPORTATION OR FORCED TRANSFER OF POPULATION.
1. KILLING OF MEMBERS OF A PARTICULAR NATIONALITY.
a) June 1824 – Punitive expedition of Colonel Kotsarev and destruction of auls of Klychev and Dudarukovykh.
"…Russians, taking advantage of their position, could freely shoot the retreating Circassians. About 200 corpses were seen on location. The majority of the population, especially the young children, drowned in Zelenchuk, while trying to swim to the other bank of the river. About 370 prisoners of both genders were taken away.”
b) December 12, 1828 – Expedition of General Emanuel beyond the Kuban.
"…A number of skirmishes and battles took place. There were killed and wounded on both sides, but the highlanders suffered defeat everywhere and undoubtedly had more killed among their ranks than in the Russian troops. Many prisoners were taken from the Circassian population, many auls were destroyed and a lot of hey was burned. On December 6, 7, 8 and 9, along the River Kurjips about 25 auls were destroyed with population close to 1,348 families in total.”
c) November 20, 1832 – Expedition of the Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasus Line, General Frolov beyond the Kuban.
"…In this ruthless 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.
d) November 7, 1833 – Zass’s Expedition beyond the Kuban.
"…began to pound the aul from canons and the Cherkess were forced to leave their dwellings while soldiers and Cossacks attacked them with bayonets and set the devastated aul on fire.”
e) November 4, 1834 – Destruction of aul Tamovsky by Zass’s detachment.
"…Many residents, who could not escape to the mountains, died in the burning aul. All their property, which we did not already capture, was destroyed in flames. About 24 prisoners of both genders were captured. These are truthful but harsh words of the bloody history of Trans-Kuban.”
f) June 8, 1842 – Serebryakov’s expedition and destruction of 150 Circassian auls.
"…By five in the evening the detachment was back in the encampment having cleared from the enemy the area adjacent to Gostagay up to 17 versts and destroyed up to 150 auls.”
g) N.Lorer wrote that in support of the idea of spreading fear, which General Zass actively suggested, at the specifically created mound close to the Prochny Okop "…the heads of Circassians on spikes could be constantly seen, whose beards would wave in the wind. It was sad to look at this revolting scene.”
2. INTENTIONAL CREATION OF SPECIFIC LIVING CONDITIONS FOR A PARTICULAR GROUP THAT ARE INTENDED TO FACILITATE ITS COMPLETE OR PARTIAL PHYSICAL EXTERMINATION.
a) November, 1823 – The punitive expedition of Vlasov.
"…In December Vlasov with Cossacks destroyed the auls of Shapsughs the second time, burning not only auls but also hey and grain reserves.”
b) 18 September, 1829 – The expedition of General Bezkrovny into Abadzekh and Shapsugh territories.
"…After burning 200 stacks of grain, 350 hey stacks and expropriating 259 sheep and capturing one Circassian, the detachment left the auls and returned to Kuban.”
c) Admiral L.M. Serebryakov:
"On March 21, 1841, I already stated to Your Highness that the current circumstances are the most favorable in order to force the Notukhays into misery, for after the bad crops of 1839 there is general lack of food everywhere in mountains and thus if during the approaching summer we shall destroy all of their crops, then the next winter they will become victims of famine.”
d) 28 August, 1843 – Zavodsky’s punitive expedition to Abadzekhia.
"On its way Zavodsky’s detachment left nothing but devastation. Only in one day, on August 28, the detachment burned 1,700 stacks of Circassian hey and Cossacks stamped out and in some places cut down up to 3 versts of grass. All in all during the campaign on the Abadzekhian territory close to 200,000 hey stacks were burned, wheat fields cut down and stamped out and up to 25 versts destroyed altogether…”
e) 1864: General V. Geiman in his report to the Acting Commander-in-Chief of the Forces of the Kuban Oblast: "Auls and grain and fruit reserves were burned down; with full confidence it is possible to assume that in winter the population will either die from famine or go to our coastal stations to be deported to Turkey.”
f) I.I. Orekhov, 1864:
"It was necessary to begin the expedition in late fall, when they prepared reserves for winter, so that after destroying these reserves, the tribe would have been forced either to depart or to die from famine. And that is exactly what happened that fall.”
Therefore it is possible to assert that in the course of the combat the Russian Army carried out mass killing of peaceful population.
Destruction of the means of livelihood was carried out intentionally to produce famine and mass death of peaceful residents.
3. DEPORTATION OR FORCED TRANSFER OF POPULATION
According to Adolf Borzhe (1828-1886), who was considered the official historian of the Russian-Caucasian war, of the population of more than one million Circassians more than 400,000 perished in war, close to 497,000 were expelled and only about 80,000 were left in their historic motherland. Naturally, these estimates cannot be considered entirely objective because of the fact that the census of expelled Circassians was carried out only at the ports controlled by the Russian administration. The massive death of peaceful population was the direct result of the absence of food and warm clothes. The tsarist administration is entirely responsible for creating such unbearable conditions.
This is what A. P. Berzhe wrote about the tragedy of Circassians on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus:
"I will never forget the gloomy impression, which I got from seeing the highlanders in the Novorosiisk Harbor, where close to 17,000 people were crowding the coast. The bad weather and cold season of the year coupled with the near absence of means of existence and the raging epidemics of typhoid and smallpox made their situation all the more desperate. Indeed whose heart would withstand to see a young Circassian girl in tattered clothes lying dead on the cold soil? Under the open skies with two little children in her arms, one of whom was still struggling to survive, whereas the other was trying in vain to drink milk from mother’s already frozen breasts.”
A. P. Berzhe Viselenie gortsev s Kavkaza [Expulsion of highlanders from Caucasus] // Russkaya starina [Old Russian stories], Public Library Collection, 1882, Volume 33, pp.362-363.
Massive extermination of the Circassian people continued in the camps on the territory of the Ottoman Empire. Although there are no estimates of Circassians, who died on the Turkish coast of the Black Sea, certain documents describing those horrible events shed some light on this tragedy.
A. N. Moshnin, the Russian Consul in Trebizond:
"Since the beginning of the expulsion to Trebizond and its surrounding areas, close to 270,000 people were brought here. Of them close to 19,000 died. At present about 63,290 people are still here. Average death rate is estimated at 180-250 people a day. In Kerasond there are about 1,500 people. In Samsun and its surrounding areas there are more than 110,000 people. There the death rate averages 200 people a day. The typhoid epidemic is spreading quickly. In Sinop and Inebolu there are about 10,000 people. In November and December of 1863 close to 100 families were brought to Trebizond. Of them 4,650 people were sent to Constantinople and Varna. The average death rate was estimated at 40-60 people a day. There are still about 2,050 people in Trebizond.”
The genocide of Circassians that ended the Russian-Circassian war of 1763-1864 was carefully planned. Here is the excerpt from the letter of Emperor Alexander II to Count Evdokimov:
"The proposal presented by You and approved by Us regarding the plan of action for the quickest end to the war in the Western Caucasus yielded the unqualified success, which exceeded Our expectations. In three years the pacified and completely free from the harmful to us indigenous population Western Caucasus in large part is occupied by the strongly reinforced Russian settlements and the long and bloody war is finally over, thereby liberating the state from enormous sacrifices, which in 150 years burdened us greatly, and giving us a vast and rich territory.”
The legal basis on which the Circassian Congress relied in its appeal to the modern Russia with regard to the recognition of the genocide of Circassian people carried out by the Russian state consists of the following documents:
1. The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, New York, December 9, 1948.
2. The UN Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, New York, November 26, 1968.
3. Most importantly: The Russian Federation is the lawful successor of the Russian State. (Federal Law of May 24, 1999, No.99-FZ, Preamble: "The Present Federal Law is based on the following: the Russian Federation is the lawful successor of the Russian State, Russian Republic, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).”)
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