02:29, 22 May 2018

Prayers and rallies to commemorate victims of Caucasian War held in Adygea and Kuban

Prayer in the village of Bolshoi Kichmaj, May 21, 2018. Photo: Asker Sokht

On May 21, whole families of Circassians came to the monument to victims of the Caucasian War, erected near the village of Bolshoi Kichmaj, to honour the memory of their ancestors, Asker Sokht, the deputy chairman of the public organization "Adyge Khase" of the Krasnodar Territory, has stated.

The Caucasian War, which lasted from 1763 to 1864, put Adygs (Circassians) on the brink of complete extinction. After the war and mass deportation to the Ottoman Empire, just a little more that 50,000 of them were left in their homeland. Circassian organizations insist that Russian authorities should declare Circassian genocide during the Caucasian War.

"The programme of the Memory Day is the same for 30 years," Mr Sokht said, adding that after the rally, a traditional prayer service was held at the Tulip Tree, sacred for all Circassians; and then, the participants of the events released wreaths into the sea.

Asker Sokht said that traditionally on the Memory Day of the Circassians who perished during the Caucasian War, people come to events with their whole families, with children and grandchildren, all dressed in national clothes.

He has also reported that the Memory Day was marked in the auls (villages) of Aguj-Shapsug and Agoy of the Tuapse District.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Author: Anna Gritsevich, Oleg Krasnov

Source: CK correspondents