Armenian-Circassian Synergy
03 February 2016, 10:10
The synergy between the Armenians and the Circassians has always been present since ancient times. Many historians of Armenian and non-Armenian descend have written about it in their works.
In 1762, Pyotr (Peter) III, the Emperor of Russia died leaving the throne to his consort, Queen Yekaterina (Catherine) II, whom the Russians call Catherine the Great. Now, let’s examine what Catherine did to earn her greatness. She rules during a time when the Russian Empire was expanding rapidly. Her noble counsellors, Gregory Orlov and Gregory Potemkin advised her how to expand the Russian Empire. Her Generals, Pyotr Rumyantsev and Alexander Suvorov, and her Admiral, Fyodor Ushakov, successfully conquered Crimea, Circassia and the rest of the Caucasus, partitioned the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and started to colonize Alaska. She was known for having many lovers, and whatever she could not conquer with war, she conquered with other means crossing all moral barriers.
Russia’s greatness; unfortunately, was built on the suffering of the nations who were conquered by the Russians. Specifically, what Russians called it a war, was in reality an ethnic cleansing, a genocide. The term genocide was developed much later to describe the Holocaust. The Circassian Genocide took place during the 1763 – 1864. For 101 years the Russians continued the ethnic cleansing against the Circassians by killing and displacing millions of Circassians.
The Russian Empire aimed to annex the Iranian Azerbaijan; however, they had to change the demographics of the Baku (Bod-Kuba in Persian or Pakul in Lezgian and Udin) Gubernia with Turkic speaking people in order to attract the Turkic speaking Iranians in Azerbaijan and create a desire for them to break away from Iran. Thus, the Russian Empire took the Armenians and Udins from the Baku Gubernia and resettled them in Circassian lands. Decades later Russia filled the Baku Gubernia with Tatars. In 1905, there were clashes between the Turkic speaking invaders and the native Christians (Armenians and Udins) of the Baku Gubernia. The relationship of the Armenians and the Circassians recorded an adverse turn when the Circassians, who found refuge in the Ottoman Empire, were used by the Ottomans in the Balkans and in the Armenian Highlands to kill Christians, who were portrayed by the Ottomans as Russia’s allies.
Despite the fact that both the Russians and the Turks used the Armenians and the Circassians against each other, both nations lived as neighbors in many communities in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Presently 1.5 million Armenians live in Circassian lands and millions of Circassians live in Western Armenia, and both nations maintain a great relationship living in the same communities. Naturally, the synergy between the Armenians and the Circassians is developing from past to present in order to prepare both nations for all present and future challenges and opportunities.
On January 28, 2016, a representative of the Geopolitical Club’s Circassian Desk, Adel Bashqawi, was our guest speaker on Geopolitical TV. He was interviewed by a representative of the Armenian Desk, Eduard Enfiajyan. The main topic of the interview was the causes of the Circassian Genocide and how it effected the Circassians as a nation. The current events in the Russia, the war in Ukraine, the war in the Middle East and in Asia Minor (Turkey) were also discussed because both Armenians and Circassians have diaspora communities in all those war zones. Here is the link https://youtu.be/9gu2jCC0jdc for those who are interested to watch the interview.
The theatrical that Russia and Turkey try to establish is that there is a religious war in the region (in the Caucasus and in the Middle East) when in reality Armenians and other Christians lived well with their Muslim neighbors in all communities of the same region. If the Russians and the Turks can work together, the indigenous people of the region, who have history of commerce, trade, and at times of war, military alliances together, can definitely work together once the isolating barriers break and new opportunities allow such synergy.
The truth is that Russia and Turkey want smaller ethnic groups to take Russia’s or Turkey’s side so they can control those people. The ethnic cleansing of the Kurds in Turkey and in neighboring Syria and Iraq by Turkish sponsored ISIS, is escalating to a Turko-Kurdish War. This creates a threat for the ethnic minorities who are affected by these atrocities. If the Turks win, then the Islamic State (ISIS) will prevail and the entire region may turn into an Islamic State. If the Kurds win then the Circassians and the Zaza, who are seen as allies of the Turks, as well as the Armenians, the Assyrians, and the Yezidis, who are the rightful owners of the lands upon which the Kurds want to establish their Kurdistan, will all be in danger. There are already reports of Kurds massacring Assyrians. This is a serious issue and the above mentioned nations need to decide what is their position and how we can survive these threats.
Garegin Nalbandian, Geopolitical Club – Los Angeles
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