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According to Balkar historian, ethnographer and archaeologist Ismail Miziev[ru] who was a specialist in the field of North Caucasian studies, the theories on the origins of the Karachays and the neighboring Balkars is among "one of the most difficult problems in Caucasian studies," [6] due to the fact that they are "a Turk-speaking people occupying the most Alpine regions of Central Caucasus, living in an environment of Caucasian and Iranian (Ossetian) languages."[6] Many scientists and historians have made attempts to study the issue, but "the complexity of a problem lead to numerous hypotheses, often contradicting each other." He concluded that "Balkarians and Karachais are among the most ancient nationalities of Caucasus. The roots of their history and culture are intimately intertwined with the history and culture of many Caucasian peoples, as well as numerous Turk nationalities, from Yakutia to Turkey, from Azerbaijan to Tatarstan, from the Kumik and Nogai to the Altai and Hakass."[6]
Ankara University's professor Ufuk Tavkul, another specialist, locates that the ethnogenesis of Karachays-Balkars and Kumyks inside the Caucasus, not outside;[7] he then succinctly describes the ethnogenesis of peoples of the Caucasus, including the Karachays and Balkars, thus:
In the first millennium before Christ diverse groups representing the ancestors of the Abkhaz/Adyghe, Ossetian and Karachay-Balkar people lived in the Caucasus, who contributed to varying degrees to the emergence of these peoples. From the 7th century BC Kimmerian, Scythian, Sarmatian, Alan, Hun, Bulghar Turk, Avar, Khazar, Pecheneg, Kipchak, etc. groups invaded the Caucasus and settled there, causing a radical change in the ethnic map of the Central Caucasus. By assimilating the local Caucasian people of Caucasid anthropological features who had brought to life the Koban culture of the Bronze Age, the Ossetians of an Iranian tongue and the Turkic-speaking Karachay-Balkars emerged in the Middle Caucasus. The Ossetian and Karachay-Balkar people and cultures were certainly fundamentally influenced by the Caucasian substratum belonging to the Koban culture (Betrozov 2009: 227)
—"About Karachay-Balkar people: Ethnogenesis", in Sipos & Tavkul (2015), Karachay-Balkar folksongs, p. 44.[8]
Other research by Boulygina et al. (2020) shows Karachays' genetic connection to the pre-historic Koban culture.[9] A recent genetic study states the following: "Balkars and Karachays belong to the Caucasian anthropological type. According to the results of craniology, somatology, odontology, and dermatoglyphics, the native (Caucasian) origin of the Balkars and Karachays and their kinship with the representatives of neighboring ethnic groups and a minor role of the Central Asian component in their ethnogenesis were concluded."[10]
The state of Alania was established prior to the Mongol invasions and had its capital in Maghas, which some authors locate in Arkhyz, the mountains currently inhabited by the Karachay, while others place it in either what is now modern Ingushetia or North Ossetia. In the 14th century, Alania was destroyed by Timur and the decimated population dispersed into the mountains.
In the nineteenth century Russia took over the area during the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. On October 20, 1828 the Battle of Khasauka took place, in which the Russian troops were under the command of General Georgy Emanuel. The day after the battle, as Russian troops were approaching the aul of Kart-Dzhurt, the Karachay elders met with the Russian leaders and an agreement was reached for the inclusion of the Karachay into the Russian Empire.[citation needed]
Flag of Karachay in 1828
After annexation, the self-government of Karachay was left intact, including its officials and courts. Interactions with neighboring Muslim peoples continued to take place based on both folk customs and Sharia law. In Karachay, soldiers were taken from Karachai Amanat, pledged an oath of loyalty, and were assigned arms.[citation needed]
From 1831 to 1860, the Karachays were divided. A large portion of Karachays joined the anti-Russian struggles carried out by the North Caucasian peoples; while another significant portion of Karachays, due to being encouraged by the Volga Tatars and Bashkirs, another fellow Turkic Muslim peoples that have long loyal to Russia, voluntarily cooperated with Russian authorities in the Caucasian War. [citation needed] Between 1861 and 1880, to escape reprisals by the Russian army, some Karachays migrated to the Ottoman Empire although most Karachays remain in modern territory.[11][need quotation to verify]
Karachay Balkars in XIX century
All Karachay officials were purged by early 1938, and the entire nation was administered by NKVD officers, none of whom were Karachay. In addition, the entire intelligentsia, all rural officials and at least 8,000 ordinary farmers were arrested, including 875 women. Most were executed, but many were sent to prison camps throughout the Caucasus.[12]
During the parade of sovereignties and the collapse of the USSR on November 30, 1990, KCHAO withdrew from the Stavropol Territory and became the Karachay-Cherkess Soviet Socialist Republic (KChSSR) as part of the RSFSR, which was approved by a resolution of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR on July 3, 1991.
Karachay sword fighters (folklore ensemble)
In 1989–1997, the Karachay national movements appealed to the leadership of the RSFSR with a request to restore a separate autonomy of Karachay.[13]
On November 18, 1990, at the congress of Karachay deputies of all levels, the Karachay Soviet Socialist Republic (since October 17, 1991 — the Karachay Republic)[14][15] was proclaimed as part of the RSFSR, which was not recognized by the leadership of the RSFSR. On March 28, 1992, a referendum was held in which, according to the official results, the majority of the population of Karachay-Cherkessia opposed the division. The division was not legalized, and a single Karachay-Cherkessia remained.
Partition of Karachay and Balkar territories after the deportation
In 1942 the Germans permitted the establishment of a Karachay National Committee to administer their "autonomous region"; the Karachays were also allowed to form their own police force and establish a brigade that was to fight with the Wehrmacht.[16] This relationship with Nazi Germany resulted, when the Russians regained control of the region in November 1943, with the Karachays being charged with collaboration with Nazi Germany and deported.[17] Originally restricted only to family members of rebel bandits during World War II, the deportation was later expanded to include the entire Karachay ethnic group. The Soviet government refused to acknowledge that 20,000 Karachays served in the Red Army, greatly outnumbering the 3,000 estimated to have collaborated with the German soldiers.[12] Karachays were forcibly deported and resettled in Central Asia, mostly in Kazakhstan and Kirghizia.[18] In the first two years of the deportations, disease and famine caused the death of 35% of the population; of 28,000 children, 78%, or almost 22,000 perished.[19]
Diaspora
About 10,000–15,756 Karachays and Balkars emigrated to the Ottoman Empire, with their migration reaching peaks in 1884–87, 1893, and 1905–06.[20]
The Karachay nation, along with the Balkars occupy the valleys and foothills of the Central Caucasus in the river valleys of the Kuban, Big Zelenchuk River, Malka, Baksan, Cherek, and others.
The Karachays are very proud of the symbol of their nation, Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe, with an altitude of 5,642 meters.
Culture
Like other peoples in the mountainous Caucasus, the relative isolation of the Karachay allowed them to develop their particular cultural practices, despite general accommodation with surrounding groups.[21]
Karachay people live in communities that are divided into families and clans (tukums). A tukum is based on a family's lineage and there are roughly thirty-two Karachay tukums. Prominent tukums include: Abayhan, Aci, Batcha (Batca), Baychora, Bayrimuk (Bayramuk), Bostan, Catto (Jatto), Cosar (Çese), Duda, Hubey (Hubi), Karabash, Kochkar, Laypan, Lepshoq, Ozden (Uzden), Silpagar, Tebu, Teke, Toturkul, Urus.[citation needed]
The majority of the Karachay are followers of Islam.[22] Some Karachays began adopting Islam in the 17th and 18th centuries due to contact with the Nogais, the Crimean Tatars, and most significantly, the Circassians.[23][24] The Sufi Qadiriya order has a presence in the region.[24]
The Caucasus or Caucasia, is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have conventionally been considered as a natural barrier between Europe and Asia, bisecting the Eurasian landmass.
Karachay-Cherkessia, officially the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus. It is administratively part of the North Caucasian Federal District. As of the 2021 census, Karachay-Cherkessia has a population of 469,865. Cherkessk is the largest city and the capital of the republic.
The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and Black Sea to the west, the Caspian Sea to the east, and the Caucasus Mountains to the south. The region shares land borders with the countries of Georgia and Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus. Located in the south of the region, Mount Elbrus is the tallest peak in Europe. Krasnodar is the most populous among the urban centres in the region.
Balkars are a Turkic ethnic group in the North Caucasus region, one of the titular populations of Kabardino-Balkaria.
Kumyks are a Turkic ethnic group living in Dagestan, Chechnya and North Ossetia. They are the largest Turkic people in the North Caucasus.
The Caucasian languages comprise a large and extremely varied array of languages spoken by more than ten million people in and around the Caucasus Mountains, which lie between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.
From 1930 to 1952, the government of the Soviet Union, on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and under the direction of the NKVD official Lavrentiy Beria, forcibly transferred populations of various groups. These actions may be classified into the following broad categories: deportations of "anti-Soviet" categories of population, deportations of entire nationalities, labor force transfer, and organized migrations in opposite directions to fill ethnically cleansed territories. Dekulakization marked the first time that an entire class was deported, whereas the deportation of Soviet Koreans in 1937 marked the precedent of a specific ethnic deportation of an entire nationality.
Ingush, historically known as Durdzuks, Gligvi and Kists, are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Republic of Ingushetia in central Caucasus, but also inhabitanting Prigorodny District and town of Vladikavkaz of modern day North-Ossetia. The Ingush are predominantly Sunni Muslims and speak the Ingush language.
The Republic of North Ossetia – Alania is a federal subject of Russia, located in the Caucasus region.
Kumyk is a Turkic language spoken by about 520,000 people, mainly by the Kumyks, in the Dagestan, North Ossetia and Chechen republics of the Russian Federation. Until the 20th century Kumyk was the lingua franca of the Northern Caucasus.
Karachay–Balkar, often referred to as the "mountaineer language" by its speakers, is a Turkic language spoken by the Karachays and Balkars in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay–Cherkessia, European Russia, as well as by an immigrant population in Afyonkarahisar Province, Turkey. It is divided into two dialects: Karachay-Baksan-Chegem, which pronounces two phonemes as and and Malkar, which pronounces the corresponding phonemes as and. The modern Karachay–Balkar written language is based on the Karachay–Baksan–Chegem dialect. The language is closely related to Kumyk.
The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus (MRNC), also referred to as the United Republics of the North Caucasus, Mountain Republic, or the Republic of the Mountaineers, was a short-lived state in Eurasia. It encompassed the easternmost portions of the North Caucasus and emerged during the Russian Civil War and existed from 1917 to 1919. It formed as a consolidation of various Caucasian ethnic groups, including the Abazins, Circassians, Chechens, Karachays, Ossetians, Balkars, Ingush, and Dagestanis.
The peoples of the Caucasus, or Caucasians, are a diverse group comprising more than 50 ethnic groups throughout the Caucasus.
A chokha, also known as a cherkeska, is a woolen coat with a high neck that is part of the traditional male dress of peoples of the Caucasus. It was in wide use among Avars, Eastern Armenians Abazins, Abkhazians, Azerbaijanis, Balkars, Chechens, Circassians, Georgians, Ingush, Karachays, Kumyks, Nogais, Ossetians, Tats, the peoples of Dagestan, as well as Terek, Kuban Cossacks, Kurds from Russian empire who adopted it from the aforementioned peoples.
Circassian nationalism is the desire among Circassians worldwide to preserve their genes, heritage and culture, save their language from extinction, raise awareness about the Circassian genocide, return to Circassia and establish a completely autonomous or independent Circassian state in its pre-Russian invasion borders.
Balkar and Karachay nationalism is the national sentiment among the Balkars and Karachai. It generally manifests itself in:
The Deportation of the Karachays, codenamed Operation Seagull, was the Soviet government's forcible transfer of the entire Karachay population from the North Caucasus to Central Asia, mostly to the Kazakh and Kyrgyzstan SSRs, in November 1943, during World War II. The expulsion was ordered by NKVD chief Lavrentiy Beria, after it was approved by Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. Nearly 70,000 Karachays of the Caucasus were deported from their native land. The crime was a part of a Soviet forced settlement program and population transfer that affected several million members of non-Russian Soviet ethnic minorities between the 1930s and the 1950s.
Tat is a historical ethnonym for various ethnic and social groups in the Caucasus, Crimea, and Iran.
The Battle of Khasauka was a battle during the Caucasian War between the Russian imperial troops and the Karachay militia, which took place from 17 October till 29 October, 1828 near the village of Kart-Dzhurt. It ended with the defeat of the mountaineers, but Karachay would remain independent until the formal annexation of Karachay to the Russian Empire in 1834.
The Russo-Caucasian conflict is a protracted ethnic and political struggle between various North Caucasian peoples and Russian, Soviet, and Imperial Russian authorities. This conflict dates back to the 16th century, as Russian forces sought to expand southward. Various Caucasian groups, including Abazins, Abkhazians, Circassians, Chechens, Ingush, Karachay-Balkars, Ossetians and Dagestanis, resisted Russian control through both armed and diplomatic means. The conflict’s modern phase intensified following the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, with separatist aspirations and resistance movements that continued to face suppression into the 21st century.
↑ Толстов В. (1900). История Хопёрского полка, Кубанского казачьего войска. 1696—1896. В 2-х частях. Т. 1. Тифлис. pp.205–209.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
↑ Norman Rich: Hitler's War Aims. The Establishment of the New Order, page 391.
↑ In general, see Pohl, J. Otto (1999). Ethnic Cleansing in the USSR, 1937–1949. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN978-0-313-30921-2.
↑ Pohl lists 69,267 as being deported (Pohl 1999, p.77); while Tishkov says 68,327 citing Bugai, Nikoli F. (1994) Repressirovannie narody Rossii: Chechentsy i Ingushy citing Beria, ( Tishkov, Valery (2004). Chechnya: Life in a War-Torn Society. University of California Press. p.25.); and Kreindler says 73,737 (Kreindler, Isabelle (1986). "The Soviet Deported Nationalities: A summary and an update". Soviet Studies. 38 (3): 387–405. doi:10.1080/09668138608411648.).
↑ Grannes, Alf (1991). "The Soviet deportation in 1943 of the Karachays: a Turkic Muslim people of North Caucasus". Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. 12 (1): 55–68. doi:10.1080/02666959108716187.
↑ Richmond, Walter (2008). The Northwest Caucasus: Past, Present, Future. Central Asian studies series, 12. London: Routledge. p.20. ISBN978-0-415-77615-8.
1 Central Asian (i.e. Turkmeni, Afghani and Iranian) Turkmens, distinct from Levantine (i.e. Iraqi and Syrian) Turkmen/Turkoman minorities, who mostly adhere to an Ottoman-Turkish heritage and identity. 2 In traditional areas of Turkish settlement (i.e. former Ottoman territories).
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