Moscow’s Effort to Debunk Circassian ‘Genocide’ Backfires

(Source: bianet.org)

Russian efforts to discredit Circassian arguments that that nation was subjected to an act of "genocide” by Tsarist forces in 1864 in Sochi, the site of next February’s Winter Olympiad, have backfired on Moscow. Not only have Russian books and articles provided additional evidence that Tsarist forces did carry out "genocide” against the Circassians, but they have offered new information as well on other acts of "genocide” by the Russians against the peoples of the North Caucasus over the last two centuries. And perhaps most important, they have called into question the highly restrictive definition of the crime of "genocide” that Joseph Stalin insisted upon at the end of World War II in an effort to prevent anyone from ever holding Russia or the Soviet Union accountable for this most horrific of crimes.

In a new ...

Geopolitical Games Around "Greater Circassia”

 Adyghe Khasa in Maikop Decided to Declare Next Year, "A Year of Grief ” 

Adyghe Khasa in Maikop has taken a decision to declare the year 2014 "A Year of Grief", the basis of this decision is - next year coincides with the memory of the passage of 150 years of the end of the Russian-Caucasian War; the Russian leadership ignores the Circassians’ demands related to the Olympics. This proposal was presented to the Executive Committee for consideration, by the Thamada (Chief) of the Association, Mr. Zaurbi Chundeshko on the 14th of November. On the same day the decision was taken after voting by a majority, with one abstention.

According to Mr. Zaurbi Chundeshko’s saying, he spoke on the subject preliminarily with some members of the Executive Committee and he knows their opinion. It is appropriate to broach the subject at the time so that each of those ...

Russian TV Alleges Circassian Activist Is Conspiring Against Russian State

Circassian activist Ibragim Yaganov (Source: Caucasian Knot)

On November 12, Russia’s NTV television channel broadcast a program called "Who Wants to Divide Russia?” which listed people who supposedly want to divide up the Russian Federation. The list included Yevgenia Albats, the liberal editor of the popular Russian magazine The New Times, whom the program accused of wanting to give away Siberia to China for saying on a radio program that she did not "see any great tragedy if Russia were to split along the Ural Mountains.” Alexander Budnikov, a Russian nationalist from Novosibirsk was presented as the founder of the Siberian Liberation Army and a proponent of the separation of Siberia from the Russian Federation. Budnikov later denied the accusations in his blog (http://vk.com/id10118456).

The NTV program paid special attention to the North Caucasus, reviving ...

Circassians Organize as Sochi Olympics Approach

Istanbul demonstration in support of assisting Syrian Circassians (Source: Caucasian Knot)

On October 31, the parliament of Kabardino-Balkaria approved an appeal to Russian Federation Council chairwoman Valentina Matvienko and State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin to assist in the repatriation of Syrian Circassians to the North Caucasus. "Over 150,000 Circassians live on the Syrian territory,” the appeal read. "They have experienced hardships, such as fleeing their homes. Their natural aspiration to return to their historical homeland is inextricably linked to their concerns for their personal safety and well-being, for maintaining their cultural identity [in Syria].” Thus far, an estimated 1,000 Syrian Circassians have left Syria for the North Caucasus (http://ria.ru/arab_riot/20131031/973944694.html#ixzz2jQRGN5xD).

The Kabardino-Balkarian parliament’s appeal to the Russian parliament is not a trivial step, and required significant nerve on the part of the republican government given Moscow’s annoyance with the Circassian question. Even though ...