A Krasnodar Agglomeration Will Destroy the Adygey Republic, Circassian Activists Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, November 27 – There are many tactics Moscow can use to destroy non-Russian republics. One of them, the new Circassian Progress organization says in an appeal to the head of the Adygey Republic. is to form urban agglomerations that include part but not all of the republic and subordinate them to larger and more powerful entities beyond the republic borders. 

            The appeal written by Aslan Agirov of that organization and sent to Murat Kumpilov last week, stresses that plans to create a Krasnodar agglomeration including three municipalities of the republic “threatens the very statehood of our republic” and must be opposed (circassianprogress-rus.blogspot.com/2018/11/blog-post_26.html).

            Those pushing for this agglomeration “are pursuing completely obvious goals,” among the most important is giving new powers to those regions which do not rely on subsidies to direct the activities of those which do, something that will work to the advantage of Russian areas in this case and against those of the Adygey (Circassians).

            That will lead to the abandonment of some villages and municipalities in the latter in the name of efficiency for the former and for the Russian Federation as a whole, but among the things destroyed in the process will be many sites critical to the history and identity of the Circassian people.

            The process may be indirect or even hybrid, but it is nonetheless obviously directed at that end, the appeal says. And those who will suffer will be those who have already suffered more than enough as “the most defenseless part” of the population, the Circassians rather than the ethnic Russians.

            “In We the residents of the republic, in particular Adygs, have long been among the most defenseless part of the population of the Russian Federation. This has been recognized even in law.” In 1996, the republic parliament officially recognized “the genocide of the Adyg (Circassian) people.”

But since that time, things have so been arranged so that Russians dominate the parliament that passed that legislation. Agglomeration will only make that trend more all-embracing.  The appeal calls on the republic head to oppose this process in order to defend the indigenous population against further depradations.