23 May 2024, 21:54
At UN building in New York, members of Circassian Diaspora remind about expulsion of their ancestors
To mark the end of the Caucasian War and the expulsion of their ancestors from their historical homeland, Circassian activists have held an action outside the UN General Assembly building in New York.
An action to mark the 160th anniversary of the end of the Caucasian War was held on May 21 in Istanbul under enhanced security measures. Activists were not allowed to hold an action in the main street of the European part of the city, where the Russian Consulate General is located, but they were able to lay a funeral wreath at the walls thereof.
The Caucasian War (1763-1864) brought the Adyg (Circassian) nations to the brink of extinction. After the war and mass deportation of Circassians to the Ottoman Empire, a little more than 50,000 people remained in their homeland.
Kase Kik, one of the organizers of the action, who is the plenipotentiary representative of the United Circassian Council in the USA and the chairman of the socio-political movement Circassian Congress of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR), told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that about 30 members of the new emigration wave gathered for the action. "Unfortunately, not everyone could show their faces for photos due to the situation in Russia; there is a high probability of repressions against their relatives and friends there," Kase Kik has explained, noting that authorities did not interfere with the action. According to his story, the action was aimed is to raise awareness of Circassians' rights.
Marianna Sheru, a co-organizer of the action, the head of the newly created organization "US Circassian Centre", said that 12 members of the Circassian Diaspora from different parts of the United States came to the action.
Also, the Council of United Circassia sent an appeal to the UN Secretary General, expressing concern that the Circassian language, due to its absence in the school curriculum, may suffer the same fate as the Ubykh language.
The Ubykhs are the indigenous people of Western Caucasus, one of the sub-ethnic groups of Circassians (Adygs). After the Russian conquest of the Caucasus in 1858-1865, the Ubykhs almost completely moved to the Ottoman Empire and were quickly assimilated there. According to the 2010 census, the Ubykh nationality does not exist in Russia, and the language is already dead.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 22, 2024 at 06:28 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Alikhan Mamsurov Source: СK correspondent
