Circassians
in Turkey
The
Circassians (Cherkei), who are so widely
distributed throughout Anatolia, N. Syria, and N.
Mesopotamia, are partly emigrants from Circassia
after its conquest by Russia, and partly refugees
from Bulgaria, E. Roumelia, and Circassiaafter
the last Turko-Russian War. They include the
Kabardai, Chechen, Dagestanis, &c., who are
of Semitic- Turanian race, and the Abasa who are
of Indo-European origin, and were originally
Christians. Two principal dialects, which differ
greatly, and several minor ones, are spoken. (JBOC:
There is no such group as the Semitic- Turanian
race and the Abasa are not Indo-European. All of
these are North
Caucasian.)
The
Abasa have a dim reminiscence of
Christianity, and in some cases bear Christian
names. Some have Georgian, some Greek, and others
Latin, features. The Armenian double cross, and
the Latin cross, are still used as symbols, and
in some of the tribes old Greek customs still
exist. They are divided into several tribes, of
which the most important are the Shabsukh,
Absekh, and Obukh; and the people are
sharply parted into four castes—princes,
nobles, freemen, and slaves. The slaves, who
appear to be of different origin, are very
numerous; they are well treated, and completely
identify themselves with their masters. To a
certain extent the old tribal organization is
maintained, and race and family ties are regarded
as peculiarly holy and binding. Many of the
customs, especially those relating to marriage
and the honeymoon, are interesting.
The
Circassians are more manly, vigorous,
intelligent, and truthful than the Anatolian
peasants. They have high courage, a love of
personal freedom and independence, a natural
aptitude for commerce, and a great capacity for
civilization and education. They have introduced,
wherever they have gone, improved carts, more
comfortable houses, and a better system of
agriculture. Next to the Albanians they supply
the most capable and honest officials; and they
make the best laborers in many of the mines and
in the cotton-ginning factories in the Aidin
Vilayet. Some of the tribes are great
horse-breeders; and some of the men are bold
robbers.
The
principal settlements are those of the Kabardai,
on the Uzun Yaila, E. of Sivas, and near
Kutaya; the Gilastenei, a branch of the
Kabardai, near Geuksun; the Chechen, Shamil's
tribe—fine, handsome, intelligent men, in
Syria and Mesopotamia; the Haguch, near
Sinope; the Absekh, near Samsun and
Amasia, at Balikisri, and in Syria; tho Shabsukh,
near Amasia and Samsun, at Ada-bazar and
Duzje, and in Syria; the Abaza and Obukh
round Ada-bazar and Duzje.
Handbook for Travellers Asia Minor, Trancaucsia,
Persia, Etc… Edited By Major-General, Sir
Charles Wilson, R.E, K.C.B.
London (UK): John Murray, Albemarle Street 1896.
From Impressions of Turkey during
twelve years' wanderings by Sir William Mitchell
Ramsay
Recent Refugees.—The Circassians are in
many respects the most interesting race in
Asiatic Turkey. After the Russian conquest of the
Caucasus, large numbers of the Mohammedan
Circassians took refuge in Turkey, where the
government promised them welcome and lands. Most
of the immigrants learned to repent bitterly of
having trusted a Turkish government promise. The
officials, who were entrusted with the duty of
settling them, went about their task in the usual
style, promising always, performing nothing,
aiming only at plundering the refugees of
whatever they possessed. But the Circassians were
not so submissive as Turks. Most of them took to
robbery, and seized what they could find. One
band, as I was told, who had been several times
cheated by the Pasha at Amasia with promises of
land, seized him in the government house, and
compelled him by threats of death to execute a
deed settling them on land in the district. Most
characteristic of Turkish policy was the way in
which the main body was planted in the Long
Yailas.
Impressions of Turkey during twelve
years' wanderings; Sir William Mitchell Ramsay,
G.P. Putnam's sons, 1897
The Burji Mamluk Sultans were of
Circassian origin.
Bacharach, Jere L. "Circassian
Mamluk Historians and Their Quantitative
Data" in JARCE. Vol. 12. 1975.
75-87. Bacharach, Jere L. "Circassian
Monetary ...
1412-1422 A.D.), translated
by William Popper; and Egypt and Syria
under the Circassian Sultans,
1382-1468 A.D.: Systematic Notes to Ibn
Taghrî Birdî's ...
"The Regime of the Circassian
Mamluks" in The Cambridge History of
Egypt. Vol.1: Islamic Egypt, 640-1517.
Petry, Carl F. (edited by). ...