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Wednesday Jun 19

About Circassian World

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Due equally to its ethno-linguistic diversity and the numerous armed conflicts and wars that have taken place on its soil in recent years, global interest in the Caucasus as a region has been on the increase in the post-Soviet era. As a result, especially in the Western Europe and the US, Caucasian Studies has been gradually developing into a multi-disciplinary area of study bringinging together research into the histories, cultures and politics of the peoples and states of the region.

Despite being historically one of the most numerous and politically significant peoples of the Caucasus, Circassians  have somewhat been by-passed by the recent academic interest in the region due to their  political marginalisation caused by the devastating impact of the prolonged wars, ethnic cleansings, and the resultant exile of the Russo-Caucasian War in the19th Century.  It is only recently that various Circassian communities, both in the Caucasus and in the diaspora, have begun to show signs that Circassians are slowly overcoming the psychological and political effects of their calamitous past and working towards taking their rightful place in the Caucasian Studies.
It is in this regard that Circassian World joined forces in March 2011 with a group of researchers from the Caucasus, the UK and Turkey to help reduce the deficit in Caucasian Studies by gathering, compiling and publishing academic and journalistic works on the Circassians.

Despite being historically one of the most numerous and politically significant peoples of the Caucasus, Circassians had somewhat been overlooked by this growing academic interest due to their century-long marginalisation caused by the devastating socio-political impact of the Russo-Caucasian War. Nonetheless Circassian communities worldwide have recently begun showing visible signs of a cultural and political revival, which we consider as a demonstration of Circassians' gradual recovery from the effects of their calamitous past that held them back for so long. The tangible results of this recovery are manifested in the resurgent Circassian political activism worldwide.

Therefore it is in this regard that "Circassian World" website, which was created in February 2005 and has since been operated by Metin Sonmez (Kodzoko), joined forces in March 2011 with Circassian Research Group (CRG), an informal group set up by researchers from the UK, Caucasus and Turkey to help improve the deficit in Caucasian Studies on Circassians by gathering, compiling and publishing academic and journalistic works on Circassians.

Our ultimate aim is to raise awareness of Circassian culture, history and contemporary politics in the global academia, journalism and policy making circles to pave the way for "Circassian Studies" to be recognized as a constituent part of Caucasian Studies. Despite the scale of the challenge we are facing, we are hopeful of reaching our goals by building on the foundations laid by "Circassian World" back in 2005 and combining them with the depth of experience and new knowledge that CRG will bring in.

It goes without saying that we continue to welcome feedback from all visitors of this website on all our endeavours.

CW Administration & Circassian Research Group