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[UNPO: The Circassian Genocide]


December 1862

Dakhovskiy Division /Colonel Geyman – During the night of December 21st – 22nd, we moved toward the village of Djankat [family] whose dwellers promised to surrender, however never did so and resettled deeper [into the mountains of] the upper Pshekha. After burning the village with all the properties...


January 1863

Sebshskiy Division /Colonel Levashov – January 19th before the sunrise moved toward them...[the army] siezed the big village, situated on both banks of the river [where Circasssians took defense] and this forced us to stop in front of the village. In order to provide the success of the affair,[the village] was bombarded with our artillery... After bombarding of the middle part of the Wanowbat village... these columns rushed into the village and fought with mountaineers [driving them out]... The mountaineers left several corpses. After setting fire to the village, the division moved further toward Chibiy River.


Adagumskiy Division/Major-General Babich – January 21st, 3 columns were sent to exterminate the villages located along the rivers Konseshus, Merzat’h, Bigger and Smaller Il... All the villages along the army itinerary were totally exterminated...

On the 24th of January, the division left their positions and moved by small columns into the gorges of upper tributary of Afips, and after that went from the upper Ubin, destroying all the villages existing in between these two rivers, and reconvened in the evening near the mouth of Chus’haje...

Between January 20th and 27th, the area between Shebsh and Ul was cleansed of the aboriginal people.

The Circassian genocide has been recorded as the first genocide of the modern age and ripped our people from the coasts of the Circassia. On the 21st of May in 1864, it was declared that the invasion of the Caucasus was complete. It was celebrated a victory parade that was held by Tsarist Russia in Kbadaa( Krasnaya Polyana). This 21st of May, we will be remembering the 147th anniversary of the Circassian Genocide.

The soul of the Tsar’s Army, which was aiming to destroy an entire civilization, today tries to send the Circassian Genocide into a historical black hole, while they try to bury the right of Caucasians to lead a decent life, while they construct the most expensive Olympic project of all time.  Coming into existence within the most corrupted regime, today this soul usurps all the democratic rights of the people of the North Caucasus while it also destroys the natural environmental legacy of the region. Olympic facilities, the construction of Putin’s private palace in Sochi, and the industrial waste of Gazprom cause great harm to this environmental legacy.

Now is not the time to weep over the things we have lost or the country we were made to leave, but instead it is the time to fight against historical and recent injustices. Within two years there have been demonstrations before the Embassy of Russia held in many countries and cities where Circassian and Caucasian people live. This international Circassian opposition movement has shown its determination to the whole world. Gaining momentum more and more, the Circassian movement has become an important subject of local and international policy in all the countries where it is active. This positive transformation experienced both in the Diaspora and the homeland proves that the new generation, which has destroyed the taboos and deconstructed the old, sees civil politics as the only way out.

Now we call you on the 21st of May of 2011 to show one more time that no one and nothing can stand before the plight of the Circassians. They fight for their rights and speak out to the world from every country and square in front of the representatives of Russia. Be there and let them see that we hold onto our history which they tried to cover up, and we will defend our rights to the bitter end.

T o shout the truth, be in Taksim on the 21st of May!
Date: May 21, 2011 - Saturday
Time: 13:00
Meeting Point: Taksim Subway Station
Press Release: Istiklal St. before the Russian Consulate

Caucasus Forum