Circassians Ended up Victims of Genocide Consequences
Adel Bashqawi
May 5, 2024
Circassians were never a burden on anyone. They rather didn’t choose to be victims of the heinous Russian Empire’s premeditated and predetermined invasion. Not even a prey to the eventual genocide and wrong doings. The Circassian ancestors, compatriots and patriots were stricken with a debilitating national catastrophe, that they have not been able to get rid of its effects yet, even though, almost 160 years have passed.
The aggressor Russian armies and their mercenaries are directly responsible for the blatant infringement over the freedom, interest and safety of the Circassian homeland and its population. The inhabitants had to be responsible for the defense of their homeland for a hundred and one years. The crazy war had destroyed relentlessly the homeland, killed half of its people and displaced 90 percent of its people to the Ottoman Empire, while 10% were deported to beyond the Kuban River.
The Circassian ancestors had to stand up to external aggression, represented by imperialist invaders who covet the nation’s resources and its strategic location, represented by shorelines on the warm waters of the Black Sea. The Circassians had to defend their present and future by clinging to their land and their legitimate rights in their homeland.
They didn’t leave their homeland voluntarily. Its quite the opposite. The military occupation, massive destruction, civilian casualties and loss of lives, and deportation process, formed a holocaust that pushed them to leave their beloved homeland involuntarily.
They were always the object of foreigners’ greed. Strangers coveted Circassians and Circassia’s riches. They have always been and still known for their good manners and high morals. They were deported to an open exile. That didn’t prevent them from paying sea transportation costs farewell to their precious homeland. Their homeland has always stayed in their hearts and minds, with an unwavering determination to meet again.
In the wake of a barbaric war of extermination, half of the total population was exterminated as a result of the savage invasion, while the other half were either deported to the Ottoman Empire or displaced in their own homeland to beyond the Kuban river. 90% of the remaining population who survived the genocide, had to take the deportation trip that makes the ‘blood run cold.’
People were not in the mood to make a one-way trip for leisure or tourism. Not even a Hajj trip, as described by circles of questionable credibility and integrity. But they had to be led into forced exile as a result of the terrorist threat and through free travel on unseaworthy ships in dangerous and unsanitary conditions. The ships were provided by the Russian Empire, paid for sea transportation cost, and sometimes the Ottoman Empire assisted in this effort.
The determination to restore the usurped rights, and the insistence and perseverance on taking this path, is in line with the inspiring quote from the famous Circassian writer Rasem Rushdi, who said in his book “The Tragedy of a Nation: The Story of the Circassians,” published in January 1939:
“Almost every day we read and hear about calls from the Cherkess either at Home or abroad for their brothers and sisters to keep as strictly as possible to their own language, traditions, and racial purity, as undoubtedly time will come when they will be able to return to their homeland which they were forced to leave under the power of arms, heads lifted. Their hearts can be heard beating loudly over their old Home, and crying: {CAUCASUS IS OURS, CAUCASUS WILL BE OURS!}”
Conclusion
Transparency of information concerning the war and all related results, is characterized by the exaggeration of deception, misleading and lying. The victims and their descendants not only complain about Russia’s continued misleading and spread incorrect information; but also about suspicious parties linked to it, whether directly or indirectly. Propaganda undermines trust and jeopardizes access to reliable sources of information. The right to access information is a human right that must be guaranteed. It is necessary to focus to empower people to be part of the solutions, defend their right to education, health care, gender equality, justice and achieve sustainable development so that everyone is included in the gains of human development.
