Invasion and Overwhelming Force: No Justification for Genocide
Adel Bashqawi
April 6, 2026
Throughout history, imperial powers have sought to cloak their gravest atrocities in the language of strategic necessity. Military superiority, territorial ambition, and the supposed imperatives of statecraft have been invoked time and again to rationalize the annihilation of entire peoples—as though the capacity to destroy were itself a license to do so. Yet no calculus of power, no doctrine of conquest, and no appeal to geopolitical interest has ever carried, or can ever carry, the moral authority to justify genocide.
The Circassian nation stands as one of history’s most striking and unresolved testimonies to this truth. For more than a century, the Circassians resisted the relentless advance of the Russian Empire across the Caucasus, defending their homeland with a valor recognized by contemporaries and historians alike. Their reward was not negotiation or coexistence, but systematic extermination and mass expulsion. By 1864, what had begun as imperial expansion culminated in genocide: the destruction of a civilization, the emptying of a homeland, and the scattering of a people across continents—consequences that endure to this day.
This article examines the fundamental disconnect between the logic of invasion and the moral boundaries that no force, however overwhelming, is entitled to cross. It argues that the very framework by which military dominance is used to legitimize annihilation must be dismantled—not only in the Circassian case, but wherever the machinery of conquest has been deployed to extinguish a nation’s right to exist.
Wherever they reside, Circassians persist—not merely by observing the somber day of May 21 each year (the anniversary of the genocide, colonial occupation, and forced displacement) to remind themselves and their nation of the atrocities inflicted upon them, their parents, and their ancestors, but also by working tirelessly and unceasingly to reclaim their legitimate rights, which remain undiminished by the passage of time. They strive as well to remind and inform the world of these shameful crimes and their enduring repercussions. For the brutal invading forces perpetrated a litany of abuses, transgressions, and crimes—foremost among them the genocide that unfolded over more than a century.
More than half of the total population of this patient and steadfast nation was annihilated, while the vast majority of survivors were forcibly displaced—under tragic and harrowing circumstances—beyond the borders of their homeland. Only ten percent of the population remained; yet even they were severed from one another within their own country, having been deported and resettled in distant Russian colonial administrative regions far removed from the Black Sea. Consequently, the territories designated for their residence were transformed into fragmented, disjointed, and non‑contiguous geographical zones—a deliberate strategy designed to deny the Circassians who remained any opportunity to reunite or reintegrate.
Within this historical context—which bridges the tragic events of the past with the painful realities of the present—Circassian communities in the diaspora continue to commemorate the unparalleled crime of genocide and forced displacement, widely regarded as the greatest act of genocide perpetrated in the nineteenth century. As noted by the United Nations:
“By its resolution 69/323 of 29 September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly established 9 December as the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime… Every year the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and Responsibility to Protect organizes events to mark this International Day, honoring the victims of genocide and the anniversary of the Convention.” [1]
In the modern era, international laws and norms have evolved, and legislation has been enacted to establish standards governing the international community’s obligation to uphold national dignity—specifically within the framework of human rights law—and to honor the significance of this commemoration. As the United Nations affirms:
“The Genocide Convention confirms that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or war, is a crime under international law which parties to the Convention undertake ‘to prevent and to punish’ (article 1). The primary responsibility to prevent and stop genocide lies with the State.” [2]
References:
[1] https://www.un.org/en/observances/genocide-prevention-day
[2] https://www.un.org/en/observances/genocide-prevention-day
