21 May is the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Circassian Genocide

Today, we honour the memory of hundreds of thousands of Circassians who fell victim to the brutal policies of the Russian Empire in the 19th century.

In 1864, the Caucasian War, one of the longest and bloodiest wars in European history, ended. However, for the Circassians (Adyghe), it was not the end of the War but the beginning of an ethnic tragedy. Various historians estimate that between 600,000 and 1.5 million Circassians were killed or perished from starvation, diseases, and exhaustion during their forced deportation to the Ottoman Empire. Researchers argue that this was not just a deportation but the deliberate physical extermination of the ethnic group, a fully conscious imperial strategy.

Professor Dmytro Bilyi, Doctor of Historical Sciences and senior researcher at the Holodomor Museum Research Department notes that no more than 10% of the Circassian population remained in their homeland after the Caucasian War. He also emphasises the inhuman cruelty of the Russian troops, citing the example of General von Sass, who encouraged the killing of Circassians and promised 10 rubles for each head.

“Now, when Ukraine is at war with the Russian invaders, we must know that the genocidal policy of the Russians has not changed and will not change until the peoples give a proper rebuff. Ukrainians have their own experience of the Holodomor genocide of 1932-1933. But we understand that all the people that the Muscovy, the Russian Empire, the USSR, and the modern Russian Federation tried to subjugate have this experience. The names of the Russian state entities change, but their principal weapon against other peoples remains the same, and this weapon is genocide. Our response to this is to support the peoples who have suffered genocide and to fight together with them to stop this terrible evil empire,” Dmytro Bilyi says.

On 9 January 2025, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recognised the mass extermination of the Circassian (Adyghe) people and their forced expulsion from their historical homeland, committed by the Russian Empire during the Caucasian War of 1763-1864, as genocide. We, Ukrainians, understand the pain of the Circassian people. We sympathise and honour them…

The photo shows a painting by Petro Hruzynskyi ‘Highlanders leaving their village as Russian troops approach’.