Status of Circassian in Cherkessia

The Karachai-Cherkess Republic has a Circassian, mainly Kabardian and Baslanay, population of about 100,000.

The Abaza, who number about 50,000, are closely related to and allied with the Circassians.

The kindred Abkhaz are just across the border to the south. The President of the Republic is

Karachai and the Chairman of the Parliament is Circassian (Zurab H. Dex'wschoqwe [Dokshokov]).

The Cherkess and Abaza have been at loggerheads with the Karachai people in the Republic for more than a decade.

There is an unwritten law that the leadership in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic is

made up of Kabardians, whereas in the Karachai-Cherkess Republic the Karachai,

who make up more than a third of the population, are given the upper hand.

The position of Prime Minister was denied the Circassians by the present Karachai president,

which caused a surge of Circassian nationalist feelings to sweep all the northwest Caucasus.

The younger Circassians demanded the establishment of a unitary Circassian republic,

to the consternation of the Russians and their Circassian cronies. The position of the Circassians

in the Republic is being undermined by the lack of official support from the Circassians in other republics.

This unnatural situation could be resolved by uniting kindred peoples in the two republics:

the Karachai and Balkar on the one hand and the Kabardians, Cherkess, and Abaza, on the other.

This is seen as a first step towards the establishment of a Northwest Caucasian Federation

(which would also include the Adigeans, Shapsugh, and Abkhazians) by first resolving bones of contention.

National State Library of the Karachai-Cherkess Republic (in the Name of Kh. B. Bayramukov)

The Library does not have a dedicated website, let alone a resource search facility. The scant web info concerning libraries in the Republic are provided by the Russian Library Association.

Circassia (ЧЕРКЕС ХЭКУ, ЧЕРКЕСИЯ): Къэрэшей-Черкес Республикэм и бэдаущ-политическэ газет. The newspaper is in Circassian and English. The newspaper decided not to follow a government order to publish an open letter critical of the 'minority' Circassian population in the Karachai-Cherkess Republic following the meeting of Circassian delegations from across Circassia in Cherkessk in November to consider the response to the non-appointment of a Circassian to the position of Prime Minister in the Republic, as is dictated by political convention.

Vesti Gor [News of the Mountains]: Russian language weekly (newspaper) on political and social issues.

Den Respubliki [Day of the Republic]: Published three times a week, the newspaper is concerned with political and social issues.

The magazine is in English, Turkish, and Russian. This was originally a publication of the International Circassian Association (ICA). The journal, which was intended to depict the situation of the Circassian, Abaza and Abkhaz communities and to foster consolidation, is distributed in the three Circassian republics and other Circassian regions, as well as in the diaspora. The journal was conceived by Kalmyk, one of the Circassian nationalist greats of the 1990s.

Broadcasting Studio of the State Television and Radio Company of the Karachai-Cherkess Republic

Broadcasts in five languages: Circassian (Kabardian), Abaza, Karachai, Nogai, and Russian.

Television of the State Television and Radio Company of the Karachai-Cherkess Republic

A site from Cherkessia in English and Russian. Unfortunately, this was a stillborn project, as it has been inactive for a number of years. Emblem of Union of Abaza-Adyg Youth unfortunately has only Russian writing. It is markworthy that the Circassians (Adiga) and Abaza in the Karachai-Cherkess Republic act in unison in cultural and political matters.

Aliybeirdiqwe Village, also called 'Heghwndiqwey', is located in the Hebez District of the Karachai-Cherkess Republic on the left bank of the Little Zelenchuk River. The site is supported in Russian only.