Experts assess Syrian Circassians' problems at Russian universities

Several groups of Circassian students from Syria have arrived in Russia; they will study at universities in Krasnodar and Nalchik. Students study both for fee and at the expense of the Russian state budget; through the Fund for Assistance to Repatriates, they receive humanitarian and financial support. In Adygea, not all universities are ready to accept compatriot students from Syria; they refer to deficit of beds in hostels, said Asker Sokht, the head of the NGO "Adyge Khase" of the Krasnodar Territory.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that back in 2012, Circassians began returning to their historical homeland in Northern Caucasus, when an active phase of hostilities began in Syria. By the end of 2018, the flow of repatriates decreased due to the normalization of the situation in Syria, but Circassians continue coming to study in Russia.

For ten years, Syria has been in a state of civil war and humanitarian crisis; millions of people have left the country, which could not but affect its education system, Mr Sokht has noted. Russia has become a "window" that gives a small part of the Syrian society a chance to get higher education, he has added.

"Among the students there is our compatriot, the champion of Syria and Lebanon in judo, Yakhya Gish. He plans to continue his sports career under the guidance of Kuban trainers," Asker Sokht has explained.

"A new generation of repatriates' children has already grown up here, at their historical homeland, in Adygea. They also receive education at Adygean universities and stay here to work," said Asker Shkhalakhov, the chairman of the Adygean Republic Committee on Ethnic Matters, Relations with Compatriots and Mass Media.