Censored Monday is a weekly series that sheds light on genocides that have taken place and been edited.
Aggression is an act of hostility towards a person, an entity, a nation, a religious sect, etc.
Over 157 years ago, in 1763, the Russian empire began a mass ethnic cleansing of the Circassian population. This happened during the period that Russia invaded Circassia and assumed authority over the Circassian kingdom. The Circassians protested, which led to the Russo-Circassian War that went on from 1763 up till 21 May 1864 and defeated the Circassian army.
This war that lasted 101 years was the longest war both Russia and Circassia have ever fought.
They fought the Russians longer than all the other peoples of the Caucasus.
The Russian general, Grigory Zass described the Circassians as “subhuman filth” and encouraged the murder of the Circassian civilians; he allowed his soldiers to rape Circassian women and justified their use in scientific experiments.
The Russian forces used several methods in the Circassian genocide, including impaling and tearing the bellies of pregnant women, burning their villages, starvation and massacre. A British Diplomat, Sir Palgrave, a witness to the event, said that “their only crime was not being Russian.” It is a crime that seems to be repeating itself with the Russian and Ukrainian wars we are witnessing.
Circassian leaders wrote to the Queen asking the British empire for humanitarian aid in 1864. The same year, Russia launched mass deportation against the surviving population towards the end of the war in 1864, and by 1867, it was almost completed. Among the deportees, many died from epidemics and starvation. So many others died when the ships underway sank during storms.
The ottoman archives document nearly a million migrants entering their land from the Caucasus by 1879, with almost half of them dying on the shores due to diseases. The Russian census of 1897 also records that only 150,000 Circassians, one-tenth of the original number, remained in the now-conquered region.
These cleanse led to the death of about 800,000 Circassians, approximately 80% of the population. However, the Russian government claims it to be 600,000.
As of 2021, Georgia is the only country to recognize the Circassian genocide. Russia actively denies it and classifies the event as a migration. However, some Russian nationalists in the Caucasus region still celebrate 21 May, the day the Circassian deportation was launched, annually, calling it the “holy conquest day”. Circassians remember 21 May every year as the Circassian Day of Mourning, acknowledging the Circassian genocide.
Recently, there’s been a war going on between Russia and Ukraine. It’s important to point out that Russia has a history of military aggression.
