Reflections on the Caucasus: 21 May 1864-2010

“I had a dream last night. I can’t tell it to you, because it was in Ubykh,” said the last speaker of the Ubykh language, Tevfik Esenç. When he passed away in 1992, the unique language of the the Ubykh people, the indigenous people of Sochi, where the 2014 Winter Olympic Games will be held, also died. This was one of the consequences of the fall of the Caucasus, which was celebrated by the Russian armies with triumphalism and a procession in the Valley of Kbaada, now called Krasnaya Polyana on May 21, 1864.

What the 21st May brings to the mind of the Adyghes (Circassians), the Abkhazians, and the Ubykhs, who have been scattered all over the world and struggling to preserve their cultures and languages today, must be exile and genocide... But what do experts have to say about 21 May, about the Adyghes, Abkhazians and Ubykhs? And what are their thoughts?

This project is the outcome of a desire of CircassianWorld.com, which has always tried to publicize academic works from the very day of its inception, to provide a platform for academics, researchers, politicians, journalists, and executives of NGOs from various countries to express their opinions about the 21st May, the North Caucasus, and its peoples.


I would like wholeheartedly to thank all of the following people who have contributed to this project proferring their valuable thoughts for inclusion on this site.

Metin Sönmez,
CircassianWorld.com & AbkhazWorld.com
Ed.

The authors were given complete freedom regarding the content of their texts whose maximum length was specified as around one page. Their views in this project do not necessarily reflect the views of the CW website. The texts have been listed alphabetically according to the names of the authors.

Annsi Kullberg, Antero Leitzinger, Ayhan Kaya, Cem Özdemir, Charles King, Daniel Müller, Eiji Miyazawa, Erol Taymaz, Fethi Açıkel, George Anchabadze, Georgi Derluguian, Georgy Chochiev, Hakan Kırımlı, Irma Kreiten, John Colarusso, Karlos Zurutuza, Kemal Karpat, Khasan Kasumov, Laurent Vinatier, Liana Kvarchelia, Mark Levene, Max Sher, Michael Khodarkovsky, Mohydeen Quandour, Moshe Gammer, Muhittin Özsağlam, Murat Papşu, Musa Shanibov, Naima Neflyasheva, Neal Ascherson, Oliver Bullough, Patrick Armstrong, Paul Henze, Paula Garb, Radosław Żurawski vel Grajewski, Rieks Smeets, Seteney Shami, Sibel Siber, Stephen Shenfield, Sufian Zhemukhov, Thomas De Waal, Walter Richmond, Yakov Gordin. Read All Articles...

• Reflections on the Caucasus: 21 May 1864-2010 - Circassian World