Turkey’s Circassians Denounce Putin’s War in Ukraine, Fearful of Its Consequences for Turkey and the North Caucasus

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 1 – The Federation of Circassian Associations in Turkey has denounced Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine, saying it fears the consequences not only for the international system as a whole but for Turkey, their country of residence and the North Caucasus, their national homeland.

            The vicious attack, which Moscow justifies out of its fears that Ukraine might join NATO, in fact is part of a broader plan in the Kremlin to restore a Russian empire on the territory of the former USSR (cerkesfed.org/haberler/diaspora-haberleri/rusyanin-ukraynaya-saldirisini-siddetle-kiniyoruz/).

            “We are worried that our country, Turkey, and our fatherland, the Caucasus, are among the regions that will be most affected by Russian aggression,” the authors of the Circassian declaration say. And they says that Putin’s war “must be stopped immediately before Russia and its new tsar will be able to take further steps.”

            “Otherwise,” they say, “the traditions of genocide, ingrained in its genetic makeup, may lead to even worse consequences for Ukraine” and the world.” To that end, “we back the international community’s efforts to impose the most effective sanctions to restore regional peace as soon as possible.”

            There are more than two million Circassians in Turkey, and even Moscow concedes that they and Circassians elsewhere in diaspora are increasingly united with Circassians living in the North Caucasus (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/01/moscow-scholars-see-circassian-movement.html).