https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3014-2037
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Abstract
The humanitarian crisis in Syria has fuelled the Circassian issue in Russia. Escaping from the war, hundreds of Syrian Circassians (Adyghe) chose Russia as their destination because their ancestors came to the Middle East from the North Caucasus. Syrian Circassians have faced difficulties in entering Russia and staying there regardless of the state’s ability to accept a large number of immigrants. In the case of receiving Syrian Adyghe, Russian authorities were suspicious about: (1) growing Circassian activism before the Olympics in Sochi; (2) ISIS infiltration; and (3) ethnic tensions in the Southern regions. Nevertheless, many Syrian Circassians settled in Russia due to the support extended by local Adyghe. Our findings are based on interviews and public polls conducted in Karachay-Cherkessia in 2017 and Adygea in 2018.
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Notes
1 Or exodus; see Bram and Gammer (Citation2013, p. 310).
2 ‘Natsional’nyi sostav naseleniya’, Federal State Statistics Service, 2010, available at: https://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/perepis2010/croc/Documents/Vol4/pub-04-01.pdf, accessed 16 June 2022.
3 The Shapsugs are one more titular endonym used in the census. They had an autonomous district during 1924–1945, consequently the name of this subethnic group was put into the list of nations (‘natsional’nost’ in Russian).
4 ‘Federal'naya sluzhba gosudarstvennoi statistiki. Veserossiiskaya perepis' naseleniya 2010', Natsional'nyi sostav i vladenie yazykami, grazhdanstvo, Tom 4, available at: https://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/perepis2010/croc/perepis_itogi1612.htm, accessed 29 November 2022.
5 Note that Sochi and surrounding areas are considered sacred lands for the Circassians (Sykes & Hamzeh Citation2016; Petersson & Vamling Citation2017; Richmond Citation2019, p. 10). Krasnaya Polyana (Red Meadow) or Qbaada, as the Circassians call it, is the site of the final battle between the Adyghe tribes and the Russian Imperial army in Empire’s army in 1864 (Zhemukhov Citation2012, p. 507).
6 In Adyghe language, Duneipso Adyghe Khase; now ICA is the Russia-based international organisation which unites various Circassian NGOs and communities in many countries (Bram & Gammer Citation2004).
7 In Adyghe language, khasa or khase is a ‘council’ or ‘assembly’ summoned to discuss and resolve current problems; Adyghe khase is now the term used for Circassian NGOs.
8 For more detail on Kosovo Circassians in the Russian Federation, see Schneider (Citation2019).
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10 ‘Monitoring realizatsii gosudarstvennoi programmy po okazaniyu sodeystviya dobrovol'nomu pereseleniyu v Rossiiskuyu Federatsiyu sootechestvennikov, prozhivayushchikh za rubezhom, na territoriyakh vseleniya sub"yektov Rossiiskoi Federatsii’, Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation, 2018, available at: https://xn--b1aew.xn--p1ai/mvd/structure1/Glavnie_upravlenija/guvm/compatriots/monitoring/2018, accessed 16 June 2022.
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13 ‘Rossiya otkazyvayetsya priznavat' bezhentsev’, Civic Assistance Committee, 2022, available at: https://refugee.ru/dokladyi/no-refugees-in-russia/, accessed 10 June 2022.
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18 ‘Total Number of International Immigrants’, Our World in Data, 2020, available at: https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/migration?facet = none&Metric = Number±of±international±immigrants&Period = Total&Sub-metric = Total, accessed 9 June 2022.
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21 ‘Sotsial'no-ekonomicheskie pokazateli’, Rosstat, 2019, available at: https://rosstat.gov.ru/bgd/regl/b19_14p/Main.htm, accessed 3 August 2022.
22 For example, (names have been changed) Mahmoud, 47 years old, handyman, Pahakhez, 7 July 2018; Mohammed, 25 years old, unemployed, Maykop, 5 July 2018; Aya, 28 years old, saleswoman, Bavuko, 15 July 2017.
23 ‘Bezhentsy-cherkesy iz Sirii nuzhdayutsya v pomoshchi i adaptatsii—glava Adygei’, Interfax, 29 September 2015, available at: https://www.interfax-russia.ru/south-and-north-caucasus/main/bezhency-cherkesy-iz-sirii-nuzhdayutsya-v-pomoshchi-i-adaptacii-glava-adygei, accessed 3 February 2021.
24 ‘Kak v Adygeye pomogayut obustraivat'sya etnicheskim cherkesam’, TASS, 1 August 2018, available at: https://tass.ru/v-strane/5418613, accessed 16 August 2022.
25 Omar, male, 54 years old, works in a car service, Khabez, 10 July 2017.
26 Hazrail Khanakok, Adyghe Khase organisation representative, Maykop, 7 July 2018.
27 For example, Hamid, 32 years old, Maykop, 10 July 2018.
28 Rami, 29 years old, handyman, Maykop, 9 July 2018.
29 Dana, female, 32 years old, a housewife and mother of three children, Afipsip, 9 July 2018.
30 Rana, female, 47 years old, unemployed and a mother of two children, Khabez, 10 July 2017.
31 Adiba, female, 45 years old, English teacher, temporary jobs, Cherkessk, 13 July 2017.
32 Sada, female, 73 years old, retired, Panakhes, 9 July 2018.
33 Abaza, female, 41 years old, temporary jobs, Ersacon (KChR), 12 July 2017.
34 Adil, 50 years old, unemployed, Cherkessk, 7 July 2017.
35 ‘Iz stolitsy Adygei v aul Panakhes pereselilos' neskol'ko semey siriiskikh cherkesov’, Adyge Kheku, 30 October 2012, available at: https://aheku.net/news/society/3275, accessed 3 August 2022.
36 See, for example, Issaev et al. (Citation2018).
37 We did not conduct field research in KBR. However, our respondents often mentioned that the Kabardian activists and regular locals did a lot to support Syrian Circassians who came to KBR. In particular, our respondents in KChR emphasised that more opportunities for the migrants were created in KBR compared to their region.
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Andrey Korotayev
Andrey Korotayev, Professor, Head of the Laboratory for Monitoring the Risks of Socio-Political Destabilisation, HSE University, 20 Myasnitskaya, Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation; Leading Research Fellow, Centre for Civilisational and Regional Studies, Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 30/1 Spiridonovka, Moscow, 123001, Russian Federation. Email: [email protected]
Leonid Issaev
Leonid Issaev, Associate Professor, Vice-Head of the Laboratory for Monitoring the Risks of Socio-Political Destabilisation, HSE University, 20 Myasnitskaya, Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation; Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Civilisational and Regional Studies, Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 30/1 Spiridonovka, Moscow, 123001, Russian Federation. Email: [email protected]
Yevgeniy Ivanov
Yevgeniy Ivanov, Junior Research Fellow, Laboratory for Monitoring the Risks of Socio-Political Destabilisation, HSE University, 20 Myasnitskaya, Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation. Email: [email protected]
Alisa Shishkina
Alisa Shishkina, Senior Research Fellow, Laboratory for Monitoring the Risks of Socio-Political Destabilisation, HSE University, 20 Myasnitskaya, Moscow, 101000, Russian Federation; Research Fellow, Centre for Civilisational and Regional Studies, Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 30/1 Spiridonovka, Moscow, 123001, Russian Federation. Email: [email protected]