One Hundred And Fifty Years Elapsed, The Circassian Homeland Remains In The Heart… This month, specifically today the 21st of May, marks a painful memory for the Circassian nation, to mark the passage of one hundred and fifty years since the catastrophe that befell on their brave ancestors who defended their homeland and their survival, a rare heroic defense of its kind. This commemoration comes while the Circassian nation is still reeling from the difficulties and results caused by the consequences of the unjust war waged by the forces of oppression and aggression against its homeland and existence.
The Circassian nation is still experiencing a real tragedy, as being away from homeland is taken into account, the alienation from homeland for about ninety percent living in Diaspora in dozens of countries as a result of a forced exile and geographical distance, in addition to the administrative division at Motherland, which made the other ten percent of the remaining population live in six non- homogeneous or geographically contiguous enclaveswhich was imposed by the successive Russian governments and authorities in order to impose the fait accompli facto that is characterized by vacating the Circassian land of its population and/or bringing settlers from different origins and nationalities in order to keep the Circassians as strangers and minorities in their places of residence imposed on them as such.
The Russian State has utilized its victory in the war over the years, and still is, where the last imperial step in this direction, was what happened in Circassian Sochi, where the Russian state has hosted the Winter Olympic Games in the month of February of this year for the purpose of desecration, in order to erase and wipe the graves and grave-yards of Circassians who had perished while defending their homeland, in addition to changing the land marks and even the nature of the land and nature reserves that were indeed registered in the UNESCO archives.
The clarity of the colonial character of the Russian state for all and as such, the emergence of methods of domination and control over peoples by twisted ways and means that are pursued by the affiliated forces and intelligence agencies, as well as what took place in the Crimean Peninsula and still going on in Ukraine, proves beyond any doubt that the nature of the Russian colonial state, and greed, which was un able to hide from the world at this time of the Twenty First Century!
The time of colonialism has gone and it’s over for good, the colonized peoples and nations with their rights confiscated such as the Circassian nation and other peoples of the Caucasus and others will not remain motionless, watching what goes on without demanding their freedom and their right to self-determination and the restoration of their independence. Claiming the usurped rights in accordance with the International Laws and the perpetrator’s confession of the genocide crimes cannot be tolerated or passed unnoticed, because the crime of genocide is no statute of limitations, and the authorities that committed the crime or its successors in the government, will bear the legal responsibility and its consequences.
During the last year, many events relating to the Circassian Question have occurred, it is useful to mention some of the news samples that relate directly with the influencing Russian authoritarianism on the fragile relationship between the Russian colonial state and the colonized nations, including the Circassian nation which reminds of some imperial abuses like racial and ethnic discrimination and crimes against humanity which began since the military occupation, annexation and regional expansion which still continues to this day.
For example and not limited to it, it is a must to mention the murder of the young Circassian, 25 years old Timur Ashinov, of Adguezk in the Republic of Adygea as a result of injuries sustained in the head following an attack by Russian extremists in the city of Krasnodar. According to witnesses and victims of the attack, the aggressors were asking those who were present at the scene before the attack, whether they were Russians or not. They did not touch those who said that they were Russians (http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2014/05/window-on-eurasia-circassians-block.html?spref=tw).
In addition to the complaint filed by Aslan Beshto, who is one of the Circassians in Nalchik to the Chair of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin, in regard to racist and extremist statements made by Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a member and Vice Chairman of the of the Russian Duma and President of the Russian Liberal Democratic Party. Zhirinovsky demanded to restrict the constitutional rights of Russian citizens on the basis of nationality, and more precisely the practice of racial discrimination against national minorities, and it is not surprising that the Federal Investigator response came with the phrase: “It cannot be true”! Settling through this reply and expressing coldness towards a fair end to the case, is considered Russian authorities’ disrespect which indicates neglect and ridicule that is dedicated to Russian Racial Discrimination (http://aheku.net/news/incidents/5718).
It is worth mentioning also that the American Time magazine has recently published an article entitled “Meet the Cossack ‘Wolves’ Doing Russia’s Dirty Work in Ukraine”, which is reminiscent of practices and acts of the Cossacks in the service of the imperial Tsarist Russia during the Russian – Circassian War, and who helped in the gradual subjugation of Circassia through killings, genocide, ethnic cleansing, the construction of fortresses and Cossacks’ settlements, looting and seizure of the Circassian properties, stealing crops and livestock, and destroying anything that can be ruined. That scene is repeated now, where the magazine reported methods of violence used by “Cossack wolves” in the Ukrainian example not to mention the recklessness and exercising rude, degrading behaviors, fallen Ethics, and lack of respect for religious or civilized values (http://time.com/95898/wolves-hundred-ukraine-russia-cossack/).
Frederick Douglass said: “Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave”.
Eagle
21, May, 2014