Author: dwalker

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-circassians-demand-justice-anniversary-mass-killings-russia

While this article is a year old, it is a reminder that the anniversary of the Circassian genocide is next month. After 150 years, this article gives great insight into how the Circassians have fared over time. As a show of solidarity, representatives from every political party in Turkey showed up to the ceremony last year despite the nation’s polarized political scene. Circassian as a language disappeared in the 1970s and the culture as a whole is on the brink of extinction as well. This byproduct of the genocide is unsurprising and unfortunate. Circassians in Turkey want to be able to travel to Russia without a visa as it used to be their homeland. Other minorities who have suffered violence under Russian rule were present at the event as well. This form of camaraderie only reinforces my prior post about Zelensky citing the Naqshbandi leader in an effort to gain support from minorities in Russia. Overall, the article demonstrates that the Circassians will likely succumb to a delayed cultural genocide as a result of Russian policy 150 years ago.

“Zelensky urges ethnic minorities, indigenous peoples in Russia to fight mobilization”

https://www.jpost.com/international/article-718601

I was unable to embed the link, but this link includes an interesting article where President Zelensky argues that minorities in Russia should not have to take part in the Russian war effort. In one of his appeals, he cites the words of Imam Shamil, a famous leader of the Naqshbandi Sufi order in the Caucasus during the 1800s. Imam Shamil said, “Anyone who raises a weapon against the truth raises it to his own destruction.” In this light, Russia is fighting truth and therefore destroying itself. It is interesting to see the Ukrainian President use Imam Shamil as a persuasive speaker because of his religious ties to Muslims in Russia, but also because of the tremendous importance he has to regions like Dagestan. Zelensky shows that Shamil’s words are still influential to this day as a political tool in addition to being a religious one.