Circassians find Erdogan's reform a chance to solve their assimilation problem

About 500 persons, members of the Circassian Diaspora and delegates from Adygea, have celebrated the Day of Circassian (Adyg) Language in Istanbul. The main problem of Circassians of Turkey is assimilation; and the reforms initiated by the president will help to solve it, the Circassian Diaspora hopes.

The event was held on March 19 in the cultural centre named after the Turkish artist Jem Karaji, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The well-known Circassian fashion designer Zeki Beshtepe (Beshtoev) said that the Circassian Diaspora in Turkey "is more thoroughly, with every passing year, organizing the Day of Circassian (Adyg) Language."

Professor of medicine Gyensel Avdjy, the head of the Circassian women's organization “Teauin”, believes that in recent years Circassians in Turkey “have been provided with a sufficient toolkit for preserving their mother tongue, customs and culture.”

Kenan Kaplan, the leader of the Pluralistic Democratic Party, told about the goals of the political party of Circassians. "The reason for the appearance of the party was the fact that 6 million ‘pure’ Circassians live in Turkey; and there are also two million Circassians, who have a kinship with our ethnic group on their father's or mother's side," he said.

Fortunately, according to his story, the democratization of the Turkish society "has served the revival of the Circassian culture and language."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.