"Moans, flying away in the sky,
Echoed through the ages
Proud Great Kbaad
Blood stained ground.
In the footsteps of the great mahajirs
My great people was expelled.
Proud, wayward, fair
He will not disgrace the ancient race ”
Aminat Napshev
May 21, 1864 ended the Caucasian War, which lasted more than a hundred years
For the Caucasian peoples, this war turned into a tragedy. From 1858 to 1865 only according to official statistics, up to half a million people were evicted from their lands. The highlanders left their homes, left property, livestock - all this went to the Cossacks who settled in their places. Representatives of the Adyghe-Abkhaz peoples were expelled to Turkey along the Black Sea - a route that became a cemetery for a huge number of people.
Every year on May 21 in Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, victims of the Caucasian War are remembered. This day is officially declared a memorable and non-working day in these three republics of the Russian Federation. Memorial Day is celebrated also abroad - in Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Abkhazia, Israel and the USA. Wherever the descendants of the Circassian Muhajirs live. The lessons of the Russian-Caucasian war are discussed at round tables, mourning rallies, processions and other commemorative events.
100 years of the Caucasian War
The Caucasian War is the longest war in the history of Russia. And the most controversial. Even with regard to the date of its beginning, there is no unity among scientists. Some believe that there was no war, but only a series of events that were not related to each other. Others say there were several wars in the Caucasus. But it is usually believed that the Caucasian War began with the appointment of General Ermolov as commander of the Georgian Corps (later renamed Caucasian) in 1816, which in 1817 sharply intensified the conduct of military policy in the region. The actual hostilities broke out in 1818.
Organized armed resistance ended when Shamil and his murids (personal guard) surrendered in the high-mountainous village of Gunib in 1859. The war finally ended on May 21, 1864 with the defeat of the detachments of the Black Sea peoples - Adygs, Ubykhs and Abkhazians in the area of modern Krasnaya Polyana (Kbaada ist.). In this place, several columns of Russian troops united, which solemnly celebrated the completion of the conquest of the Caucasus. Thus, hostilities lasted 46 years.
In the footsteps of the Muhajirs
The resettlement of the highlanders of the North Caucasus into the Ottoman Empire took place in several stages, each of which was distinguished by its own characteristics.
In 1860, the High Commission for Resettlement ("Muhajirin Komisyun 'Ali") was formed in Istanbul. It was under the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce, and from July 1861 it received an independent status, staff and budget. The commission was responsible for the resettlement of the highlanders and providing them with material assistance. On March 19, 1875, it was disbanded, and a special department for highlanders' affairs was created under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ottoman Empire.
In 1863, Charge d'Affaires of Russia at the court of the Ottoman Sultan E.P. Novikov wrote to the Chief of the Main Staff of the Caucasus Army, Lieutenant General A.P. Kartsov, that the Port put forward a number of demands, including demands to begin the resettlement of the Highlanders no earlier than May 1864, to send people in small batches, relocate annually no more than 5000 families.
Officially, the eviction began after the release of the resolution of the Caucasian Committee of May 10, 1862 "On the resettlement of highlanders", at the same time a commission was formed on the case of the resettlement of highlanders in Turkey. The commission was authorized to organize the resettlement of the highlanders of the North Caucasus, to issue them cash benefits and to negotiate with the owners of transport ships on the transportation of emigrants. But the extent of the resettlement, unexpected for the authorities of both the Ottoman and Russian empires (the idea of the number of Circassian tribes turned out to be significantly underestimated), as well as its real conditions, almost thwarted the governments ’intentions to conduct it in a civilized manner.
Highlanders-immigrants of the 1860s (that is, Circassians, Ubykhs, etc., who did not obey the tsarist authorities of the highlanders of the Northwest Caucasus until 1861), who stopped resistance, but refused to move to the swampy lowlands of the Kuban, “to the plane”) were driven under escort on the Black Sea coast, often far from settlements, where they accumulated in large numbers and stayed for months, suffering and dying from hunger, cold and infectious diseases. The latter served as the reason that Russian shipowners in every possible way avoided the transportation of the highlanders, and often unprincipled salespeople, who stuffed the ships with immigrants excessively, went from the Turkish, which led to high mortality among emigrants also on the way. On the Asian coast of Turkey, where ships with immigrants arrived, quarantine camps were waiting for them, often not provided with adequate conditions for living and food. As a result, the sultan was forced to publish a special firman forbidding the highlanders to sell their children and wives, although in this way they rather saved relatives from death in the camps.
In 1867, the governor of the Caucasus, Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, visiting the Kuban region, "personally announced to the highlanders that their resettlement in Turkey should stop completely." Cossacks and peasants resettled from the interior of Russia were not able to farm in the mountains. Horticulture, animal husbandry, beekeeping, and even agriculture, which had been extremely developed in these parts of the world, fell into decay, and significant spaces were depopulated.
We suggest recalling songs dedicated to the theme of memory of the victims of the Caucasian war
Video in the top: 21 May 1864 [Official Music Video]
ADYGE PSOMI HUEGEZAUE
DEDICATED TO ALL CIRCASSIANS
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Director and screenwriter: Bisher Yeroko
Production by One Light Studio
