THE CIRCASSIANS IN KOSOVO POLJE IN THE YUGOSLAV FEDERATION

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM "LES TCHERKESSES DU KOSOVO POLJE EN YOUGOSLAVIE" BY NIKO ZUPANIC IN THE JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY, THE PARIS SESSION, FIRST SECTION. IT WAS TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY MYSELF.

THE ETHNOGRAPHERS AND HISTORIANS ARE AWARE THAT THE HOMELAND OF THE CIRCASSIANS IS ALONG THE BASIN OF THE KUBAN RIVER IN CISCAUCASIA. THEY INHABITED THE NORTH-WESTERN PART OF THE CAUCASUS. THE CIRCASSIANS WERE DIVIDED INTO MANY TRIBES THAT SPOKE MUTUALLY INTELLIGIBLE DIALECTS: NATUQWAZH, SHAPSUGH, ABZAKH, BZHADUGH, HATUQWAI, BESLANAY, MOKHOSH, TEMIRGOY, ZHANAY, EGHERUKOY, UBYKH AND KABARDAY.

THEIR COLLECTIVE NAME WAS PROBABLY CORRUPTED BY THE TURKS FROM THE ANCIENT GREEK NAME 'KERXETAI'. IN THE MIDDLE AGES, THE RUSSIANS USED TO REFER TO THEM BY THE NAME KOSSOGH, WHICH IS RELATED TO KASAG, THE NAME BY WHICH THE OSSETIANS CALL THE KABARDIANS, BUT ALSO THE CIRCASSIANS IN GENERAL. THE SELF DESIGNATION OF THE CIRCASSIANS IS ADYGHA, WHICH IS BELIEVED BY LINGUISTS TO BE RELATED TO THE OLD NAME ZYGHOY (STRABON). IT IS BELIEVED THAT THE 'IAZYGHI', WHO WERE INSTALLED IN THE TERRITORY BETWEEN THE RIVERS TISA (THEISS) AND THE DANUBE NOT LONG AFTER THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, WERE A GROUP OF ZYGHOY FROM THE CAUCASUS, WHICH NAME WAS TRANSFORMED IN EUROPEAN SARMATIA BY ADDING FIRST THE PREFIX A- AND THEN IA-.

THE CIRCASSIANS WERE UNTIL THE 13th CENTURY A.D. PAGAN AND FREE. THEY WERE THEN SUBJUGATED BY THE GEORGIANS AND CHRISTIANIZED. IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 15th CENTURY THEY OVERTHREW THE GEORGIAN YOKE, BUT THEY WERE IN CONTINUOUS BATTLE WITH THE TATARS AND THEY LOST THEIR TERRITORY IN THE NORTH. TOWARDS THE MIDDLE OF THE 16th CENTURY THE KUBAN BECAME THEIR NORTHERN FRONTIER, BECAUSE IN 1570, GHIRAI, THE KHAN OF THE TATARS, DEFEATED THEM IN A BATTLE ON THE BANKS OF MIDDLE KUBAN AND FORCED THEM TO EMBRACE ISLAM. UNTIL THAT TIME, THE CIRCASSIAN SETTLEMENTS STRETCHED NORTHWARDS TO THE RIVER KAMA AND SOME SCATTERED GROUPS WERE EVEN FOUND AS FAR AS THE MOUTH OF THE DON.

THE CIRCASSIANS SWITCHED THEIR RELIGIOUS ALLEGIANCE VERY EASILY ACCORDING TO THE CIRCUMSTANCES. THEY HAD A SUPERFICIAL KNOWLEDGE OF CHRISTIANITY AND THEY WERE A MIXTURE OF SEMI-PAGANS, DEMI-MUSLIMS AND SOME CHRISTIANS.

THE CIRCASSIANS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN DISTINGUISHED BY THEIR INTREPIDITY AND EQUINE SKILLS. THEY STRICTLY OBSERVED A CODE OF HOSPITALITY AND BLOOD VENGEANCE. THE SONGS AND TALES OF THE EAST CELEBRATE THE BEAUTY OF CIRCASSIAN MAIDENS.

THE CIRCASSIANS PUT UP A FIERCE RESISTANCE IN THEIR WAR WITH THE RUSSIANS, BUT THEY WERE EVENTUALLY DEFEATED IN 1864. MANY OF THEM WERE FORCED TO LEAVE THEIR COUNTRY AND RESETTLE IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE: IN SYRIA, ASIA MINOR AND THE BALKAN PENINSULA. ONLY A FEW REMAINED IN THEIR HOMELAND, ABOUT 110,000 PEOPLE.

THE MAJORITY OF THE CIRCASSIANS WHO WERE ESTABLISHED IN THE BALKAN PENINSULA WERE SENT BY THE OTTOMAN AUTHORITIES TO THE FRONTIERS OF THE ANCIENT DUCHY OF SERBIA TO REINFORCE ITS POSITION THERE AND TO TERRORIZE THE SERBS. DURING THAT TIME THE CIRCASSIANS WERE ESTABLISHED IN KOSOVO POLJE WHERE THE AUTHOR VISITED THEM IN 1924 AND 1929. HE COUNTED ABOUT FIFTY FAMILIES, OR ABOUT 250 PEOPLE, FOR THE MAJORITY HAD LEFT FOR ASIA MINOR AND SYRIA.

THE CIRCASSIANS ARE VERY INTERESTING FOR THE SERBS, BECAUSE THE FIRST BEARERS OF THE NAME SERB WERE ABORIGINALS IN THE CAUCASUS, PROBABLY CIRCASSIANS WHO CROSSED THE DON AT THE TIME OF THE GREAT SARMATIAN MIGRATION, TOGETHER WITH THE ANTS, THE ZICHI (KISSI), THE CHORVATS, THE VALS, ETC. THEY CO-MINGLED WITH THE SLAVS AND ESTABLISHED THE FIRST TRIBAL ORGANISATIONS. UNDOUBTEDLY THESE CAUCASO-SARMATIAN HORSEMEN WERE ASSIMILATED IN THE MASS OF THE SLAV POPULATION, BUT THE NAMES OF THE TRIBES AND THE PRIMITIVE STRUCTURE OF THE STATE STILL EXIST TO THIS DAY.

FROM THEIR ORIGINAL SLAV HOMELAND AT THE CONFLUENCE OF THE UPPER AND MIDDLE DNIEPR AND OF THE PRIPET AND THE BOUG, THE SERBS IMMIGRATED TO THE CONFLUENCE OF THE MIDDLE ELBE AND THE SAALE, WHENCE A GROUP, WHICH HAD A MILITARY ORGANISATION, RESETTLED IN ILLYRIA. IT WAS PROBABLY IN 626 A.D., WHEN CONSTANTINOPLE WAS BESIEGED BY THE AVARS AND THE PERSIANS, THAT HERCULES, THE BYZANTINE EMPEROR IMPLORED SAMO, THE GRAND DUKE OF THE SLAVS, FOR HELP. THE CROATS AND THE SERBS MOVED TO THE BALKAN PENINSULA, ATTACKED THE AVARS FROM BEHIND, DELIVERED THE SLAVS (YUGOSLAVS) WHO WERE LIVING THERE AND SAVED CONSTANTINOPLE, THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE AND EASTERN CHRISTIANDOM.

AFTER DEFEATING THE AVARS, THE SERBS ESTABLISHED THEMSELVES IN THE INTERIOR OF ILLYRIA AT THE LOWER END OF THE INDIGENOUS SLAVS. AT THEIR ARRIVAL IN ILLYRIA, THE SERBS SPOKE THE SAME LANGUAGE AS THE SERBS OF LUSACE, BUT BEING FEWER IN NUMBER THAN THE NATIVE POPULATION, THEY WERE LINGUISTICALLY ASSIMILATED AND THEY LOST THEIR NORTH-WEST SLAVIC LANGUAGE.

THE CIRCASSIANS, WHO USED TO BE ONE OF THE THREE PRINCIPAL NATIONS IN THE CAUCASUS, SPEAK A JAPHETIC LANGUAGE, WHICH IS NOT RELATED TO ANY OTHER LANGUAGE GROUP. THIS MEANS THAT THEY ARE NOT ARYAN, SINCE THESE SPEAK INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. THEY MAY BE ALLIED TO THE BASQUES IN THE PYRENEES, WHO, BEFORE THE ADVENT OF THE INDO-EUROPEANS, FORMED ONE SECTION OF AN ORGANIC CHAIN OF RELATED NATIONS THAT STRETCHED FROM SPAIN TO THE CAUCASUS. THOSE NATIONS WERE THE IBERIANS, THE LEGURS, THE ETRUSCANS, THE RETS, THE PELASGIANS (AN ANCIENT PRE-ARYAN RACE, WHICH USED TO BE WIDELY SPREAD OVER THE COASTS AND ISLANDS OF THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND AEGEAN, AND BELIEVED TO HAVE OCCUPIED GREECE BEFORE THE HELLENES), THE KARS, THE CAPPADOCHIANS, THE AMAZONS (A RACE OF FEMALE WARRIORS ALLEGED TO HAVE EXISTED IN SCYTHIA) , THE KHALYBS, THE COLCHIANS, ETC. THESE PEOPLES WERE VIOLENTLY REPLACED BY THE INDO-EUROPEANS.

THE CIRCASSIANS IN KOSOVO POLJE ARE TO BE FOUND IN THE FOLLOWING VILLAGES: GORNJE STANOVCE, DONJE STANOVCE, VELIKA REKA AND MILOSEVO. BEFORE THE TURKO-SERBIAN WAR OF 1877-1878, THERE WERE ABOUT 12,000 CIRCASSIANS IN THE REGION. AFTER THE WAR THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY IMMIGRATED TO SYRIA AND ASIA MINOR. IN 1912 AND 1918 MORE PEOPLE MOVED OUT, AND THE AUTHOR ESTIMATED THAT THERE WERE ONLY 250 CIRCASSIANS IN THE PROVINCE BY 1929. THE PRESENT POPULATION IS ESTIMATED AT 1,000.





REFERENCES:

1. NIKO ZUPANIC, 'LES ORIGINES DES SERBES', THE ORIGINS OF THE SERBS. SECOND SESSION OF THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY, PP. 227-229. PARIS, 1926.

2. NIKO ZUPANIC, 'BELA SRBIJA'. ZAGREB, 1922; LES SERBES A SRBCISTE (MACEDOINE), AU VII SIECLE. EXTRAIT DU BYZANTION, T. IV, P. 277-280. LIEGE, 1929.

3. T. R. DJORDJEVIC, 'CERKEZI U NASOJ ZEMLJI', THE CIRCASSIANS ON OUR TERRITORY. GLASNIK SKOPSKOG NAUCNOG DRUSTVA, T. III, P. 143. SKOPLJE, 1928.


NOTE: FIND IN THE SAME JOURNAL AN ARTICLE "LES CARACTERES ANTHROPOLOGIQUES DES TCHERKESSES DU KOSOVO POLJE EN YOUGOSLAVIE", BASED ON A STUDY CONDUCTED IN 1924 AND 1929 BY THE SAME AUTHOR ON THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CIRCASSIANS OF KOSOVO POLJE.



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