The resurgence of Circassian identity in front of Sochi Winter Olympics of 2014

Dreams of a Circassian Homeland and the Sochi Olympics of 2014

Sochi Olympics Makes the Circassian Genocide an International Issue, Analysts Say

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Ethnic cleansing of Circassians

The Circassian Genocide

Circassian, also known as Cherkess, is a dialect continuum of the North Caucasus. There are two Circassian languages as defined by their literary standards, Adyghe (West Circassian), with half a million speakers, and Kabardian (East Circassian) with a million. The spoken languages, however, merge, with geographically intermediate dialects intelligible to both standards.

The terms “Circassian” and “Cherkess” are sometimes also used as synonyms for the Northwest Caucasian languages (Pontic, Abkhaz–Adyghe, Circassian, West Caucasian) in general. Pontic is the hypothetical language family linking the Northwest Caucasian and Indo-European languages, and Proto-Pontic, the Pontic proto-language, is the reconstructed common ancestor of Proto-Northwest Caucasian and Proto-Indo-European.

Kaskian (Kaskean) was a non-Indo-European language of the Kaskians of northeastern Bronze Age Anatolia, in the mountains along the Black Sea coast. It is sometimes suspected that Kaskian was related to the pre-Hittite Hattic language, based on toponyms and personal names.

The name Kaskian may be cognate with an old name for Circassia (ser-KASS-ee-uhnz), and the name of one of the tribes in the Kaskian confederation, the Abešla, may be cognate with the endonym of the Abkhaz peopleand some Circassian people, or Adyghe people, suggesting the Kaskians proper and Abeshla might have been the ancestors of the Circassians and other Caucasian peoples.

The Hittite language was a member of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. They referred to their native land as Hatti, and to their language as Nešili (Nesili= from the city Nesa/Kanesh). The conventional name “Hittites” is due to their initial identification with the Biblical Hittites in 19th century archaeology.

Despite the use of Hatti for their core territory (present-day central Anatolia, Turkey), the Hittites should be distinguished from the Hattians, an earlier people who inhabited the same region (until the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC) and spoke a language possibly in the Northwest Caucasian languages group known as Hattic. Hittite is an Indo-European language, linguistically distinct from the Hattians.

The Adyghe people originate in the North Caucasus region, an area they are believed to have occupied as early as the Stone Age period, with traces of them dating back as far as 8000 BC. In about 4000 BC, the Maykop culture flourished in the North Caucasus region, which influenced all subsequent cultures in the North Caucasus region as well as other parts of the region that is now southern Russia. Archaeological findings, mainly of dolmens in North-West Caucasus region, indicate a megalithic culture in the region.

The Adyghe kingdom was established in about 400 BC. After 460 AD, reports of “Utige” begins to feature in connection to a state established around Phanagoria, which grew into Old Great Bulgaria. After the collapse of this state under pressure from the Khazars, the Adyghe people did not seem to unite politically. This reduced their influence in the area and their ability to withstand periodic invasions from groups like the Mongols, Avars, Pechenegs, Huns, and Khazars.

The resurgence of Circassian identity in recent years faces daunting obstacles. Many Circassians believe that the long-term sustainability of their community requires a return to the northwestern Caucasus, but both the Russian state and the other peoples of the region resist such designs. Circassians are thus focusing much of their efforts on global public opinion, building a protest movement in preparation for the Sochi Winter Olympics of 2014.