Saturday, May 22, 2021
Moscow Working to Block Other Countries from Following Georgia and Declaring Expulsion of Circassians a Genocide, Activists Say
Paul Goble
Staunton, May 20 – Ten years ago today, one day before Circassians around the world mark the anniversary of their expulsion from tsarist Russia in 1864, the Georgian parliament voted unanimously to recognize that event and the repressions in Russia against the Circassians since then as an act of genocide.
At that time, many Circassians hoped that other countries, and especially those like Turkey and Jordan where there are large Circassian diasporas or others like Poland and Ukraine which have long shown an interest in ethnic groups within Russia, would follow Tbilisi. But a decade on, that has not happened, largely because Moscow has worked hard to block it.
Murat Temirov, a Circassian activist, said that the Georgian action had not only an important psychological impact on members of his nation but practical consequences as well because Tbilisi opened a Circassian Center and erected a monument to the losses the Circassians suffered (kavkazr.com/a/31264556.html). Read more
