In Adygea, Repatriate's Day refreshes memory on adaptation of Kosovo Circassians

In 1998, repatriation of Kosovo Adygs favourably affected the image of Russia among members of Circassian Diaspora. However, in the past ten years, the problem concerning the return of Circassians to their homeland has become intractable and the same repatriation from Syria is no longer possible, said participants of the operation for the resettlement of families from Kosovo.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 1, 1998, the Repatriate's Day was established in Adygea. On that day, the first plane with Kosovo Adygs arrived in the republic, and the village of Mafekhabl was founded to accommodate the repatriates. Today marks the 20th anniversary of the resettlement of Circassians from Kosovo to Adygea.

The Russian government prepared the decision to resettle Kosovo Adygs in response to the appeal from the leaders of Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Karachay-Cherkessia. The decision was made during several days and became an unprecedented action, said Gaziy Chemso, who was involved in the settlement of Kosovo Circassians.

He has noted that the decision was made during several days. "I remember that time with pleasure. No such an agreed and friendly joint action of a subject of the federation and the centre took place before or after that," Gaziy Chemso stated.

According to Gaziy Chemso, local philanthropists helped settle the first group of settlers. The federal centre and the authorities of the Krasnodar Territory and neighbouring republics also provided assistance to the settlers. "Thanks to public support, the construction of the Mafekhabl aul (village), a settlement for the Adygs from Kosovo, was launched. And now Mafekhabl is being built and expanding. At present, in general, the Adygs from Kosovo are not much different from other Adygs. They are well integrated into society," said Gaziy Chemso. He refuted the information that many of the Adygs from Kosovo left Adygea.

Gaziy Chemso has also noted that when the problem of Syrian Circassians arose, he assumed that it would be possible to evacuate them from the war-torn region. "I then worked in the government of Adygea and assumed that we could use that way of evacuation. However, unfortunately, the situation has changed. There was no legal support to start the process of resettlement of Adygs from Syria," Gaziy Chemso complained.

According to him, as a result, Syrian Circassians left for different countries, but most remained in Damascus.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 1, 2018 at 05:22 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.