CC BY
125
Irina BABICH
D.Sc. (Hist.), Leading Research Fellow at the Department of the Caucasus, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russian Federation).
WESTERN ADIGHES AND COSSACKS: TOGETHER AND SEPARATELY IN EUROPEAN EMIGRATION (1919-THE 1930S)1
Abstract
T
he author draws on private archives of Caucasian emigrants in France to discuss the changing relations be-
tween members of the Caucasian ethnicities (the Western Adighes in particular), on the one hand, and Russians and Cossacks,
1 I would like to express my deep gratitude to the Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme, France, for the opportunity to use its archives and libraries in France in 2008-2011.
on the other, in 1920-1930s in the context of European emigration. Dr. Babich dwells in detail on the Adighes who, having arrived from the Kuban Region, felt a certain affinity with the Kuban Cossacks. At the early stage of their life in emigration they
hoped to return with them to their native land freed from the Bolsheviks. As part of the Caucasian community, the Adighes were inevitably aware of their kinship with those who initially belonged to another political camp.
Introduction
The 1917 revolution and Bolshevik power in the Northern Caucasus drove away the huge numbers of those who lived in the region and refused to continue living there under the new power, including the Western Adighes from the Kuban Region which they had shared with the Kuban Cossacks. At the early stage of their life abroad they gravitated toward the Kuban Cossacks in the hopes of soon returning home together after the Bolsheviks had been driven away from their land. On the other hand, as part of the Caucasian community, the Adighes were attracted to these ethnically kindred people even though they belonged to a different political camp.
This article discusses the relations between the Western Adighes (known at that time as the Kuban mountain-dwellers) and the Kuban Cossacks (residents of the Kuban Region) who found themselves in emigration amid other numerous Cossack groups.
This article is based on the materials from several private archives now kept in Paris; descendants of Caucasian émigrés carefully preserve the private papers of their ancestors who were forced to emigrate in the 1920s.
The record group which contains documents related to the life and activities of Alimardan bek Topcibashi (referred to in Russia and sometimes in Azerbaijan as Topchibashiev/Topchibashev),2 who figured prominently in the public life of the Russian Empire and Azerbaijan, supplied a wealth of interesting information. A lawyer, A. Topchibashev (Tiflis 1862-Paris 1934) actively promoted the modernization of Islamic life in the Caucasus in 1900-1917 as a member of the State Duma and outside it. As one of the Azeri delegates dispatched to the Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920) which set up the League of Nations, he found himself in emigration together with the rest of the Azeri delegation. When in emigration Alimardan Topchibashev never abandoned his public and political efforts to free Azerbaijan from Bolshevik power and to preserve it as part of the Russian Empire. Later he promoted the idea of Azerbaijan's independence. He was convinced that the shortest route to the desired aim lay through a Confederation of the Peoples and States of the Caucasus (the North Caucasian peoples were also included). This explains why his contacts with North Caucasian emigration in France and in Europe in general were close and highly productive. In fact, he was the only representative of the Southern Caucasus in European emigration who treated the North Caucasian peoples and members of North Caucasian emigration
Photo 1
Alimardan bek Topchibashev (from the Internet).
—■ k ' •
2 See: "Archives personnelles de Alimardan Topcibasev," CERCEC, EHESS, par autorisation spéciale.
Photo 2
Aliakber bek Topchibashev (Archive of Alimardan bek Topchibashev,
France, Paris).
with respect, attention, warmth, and kindness, which is amply shown by the materials from his archive on which this article is based.
The archive of Aliakber bek Topchibashev, the oldest of Alimardan's three sons (Aliakber born in 1896, Rashid born in 1902, and Enver born in 1912) supplied a lot of interesting information about the life and activities of the North Caucasian émigrés in Europe. Educated as an Orientalist, he remained his father's most dedicated assistant until the latter's relatively early death in 1934 when he plunged into public and political activities in Paris and close contacts with people from the Northern Caucasus. In fact, his archive revealed extremely interesting documents about the life and activities of the most prominent North Caucasian emigrants.3
I also used materials from the private archives of the Hadjimoukoff family.4 Vassily Hadjimou-koff was born in 1878 into the family of well-known Bjedugh Prince Temtetch (Nikolai) Hadjimoukoff who was on Russian service. Vassily Hadjimoukoff graduated from the Department of Oriental Languages of St. Petersburg University, served in the Foreign Ministry, and filled diplomatic posts in Turkey, Jerusalem, and Macedonia. He returned to his native land Adigey to fight the Bolsheviks along with the Volunteer Army; he retreated from the Caucasus with Wrangel and his army and, in 1920, returned to the Diplomatic Mission in Constantinople (Istanbul). Three years later he moved to Marseilles where he lived for almost the rest of his life. He spent the last few years in a retirement home for Russian émigrés in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois where he was buried in the Russian cemetery in 1956.
Photo 3
Vassily Hadjimoukoff, photo from the archive of Sébastien Hadjimoukoff,
France, Paris.
3 See: "Archives personnelles de Aliakber Topcibasev," CERCEC, EHESS, par autorisation spéciale.
4 I am deeply grateful to the Hadjimoukoffs for their permission to familiarize myself with the materials from their
family archive.
The Delegation of the Kuban Rada and the Mountain-Dwellers of the Northern Caucasus at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919-1920
The history of the emigration of the Caucasian peoples began at the Peace Conference opened in Paris in 1919 which attracted delegations from several regions of the former Russian Empire that wanted independence. Here is what representatives of seven republics wrote to French Premier Georges Clemenceau, who chaired the conference, on 8 October, 1919. The letter was signed by Al-imardan Topchibashev (Azerbaijan), A.M. Chermoev (the Northern Caucasus), S.R. Puska (Estonia), N. Chkheidze (Georgia), L. Bych (the Kuban Republic), J. Seskis (Latvia), T. Parushevich (Lithuania), and Count Tyszkiewicz (Ukraine).5 Each of the republics supplied its own Declaration of Independence; all of them together wrote a joint Declaration of Independence dated 7 June, 1991.
It said that the states which appeared in the territory of the former Russian Empire were "based on the principles of democracy" and needed "recognition as entities of international law."
The document went on to say:
1. "The Russian Bolsheviks wanted to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat in the entire territory of former Russia, while the Russian reactionary circles wanted to establish military dictatorship in the same territory and restore Russia of the previous period in which the people were enslaved (italics mine.—I.B.)." Both forces were determined to fight the "newly formed democratic republics."
2. These states were "rich in primary products indispensable to foreign countries;" they, in turn, badly needed the products of other states.
The delegations asked Clemenceau to recognize these states as independent entities of international law. The great powers, however, preferred to keep the issue on the backburner until the so-called Russian Question had been resolved.
This shows that at the first stage of emigration the Kuban and Caucasian émigrés acted together.
The same year another document appeared (found in the archive of Alimardan bek Topchibashev)—Agreement among the Republics of Azerbaijan, the Northern Caucasus, and Kuban in which the sides pledged to mutually recognize their political independence and state sovereignty and to extend, if needed, military, political, diplomatic, and financial support. The sides also stated that they deemed it necessary to establish relations with Georgia and Armenia.6 Another version of the same document had the following addition: this agreement appeared because the sides "are aware of their common aims and interests in the strug-
Photo 4
Luka Bych (from the Internet).
5 See: "Archives personnelles de Alimardan Topcibasev," CERCEC Libraray, case IX.
6 See: Ibid., case XI.
gle for national liberation and political independence and the need to consolidate democratic order in their countries."7
Luka Bych (Bich), a prominent Cossack public figure born in 1870, was one of the leaders of the Kuban Cossacks. An excellent economic manager, he did a lot as the mayor of Baku; in 1917-1918, he served as Chairman of the Kuban Territorial Government; in 1919, he was appointed head of the delegation of the Kuban Republic at the Paris Peace Conference and had to remain abroad. He lived in Prague where he first taught municipal law at the Ukrainian Agricultural Academy and was later appointed as its rector; he died in 1945.
The Kuban People's Republic was formed in the territory of the former Kuban Region and the Kuban Cossack Army Administrative Unit when the Russian Empire fell apart; it survived in 19181920); on 16 February, 1918 it formed a government with Luka Bych as its head.
According to the Provisional Statute on the Supreme Power Structures in the Kuban Territory, the Kuban Rada of 98 members (45 Cossacks, 45 people of other social groups, and 8 mountain-dwellers) elected by "legally qualified" local people (with full rights)—Cossacks, mountain-dwellers, and local peasants—was the only governing body. Executive power belonged to the Cossack Army government of ten members (three of them represented the mountain-dwellers and people of other social groups) accountable to the Legislative Rada. In the political sphere the Rada insisted on continued observation of the Cossack rights and privileges; members of other social groups (not Cossacks or mountain-dwellers) were deprived of certain rights. In the economic sphere the Rada intended to preserve traditional landownership and land use to encourage private property.
A.J. Basniev has written that the Western Adighes unanimously supported the Cossacks.8 There were several Kuban mountain-dwellers among the cabinet members (Adighe Aytek Namitok (Nami-tokov) was one of them); Vassily Hadjimoukoff was deputy of the Kuban Rada.
Aytek Namitok was born on 2 February, 1885 (according to other sources, he was born in 1892) in the Ponejukay aul; he graduated from a grammar school in Stavropol and the Department of Law of St. Petersburg University. He was Minister of Justice in the Kuban government and accompanied Luka Bych to the Paris Peace Conference as a member of the delegation.
According to the personal file of Vassily Hadjimoukoff found in his family's private archive (Paris, France), on 28 October, 1917, "the Circassian population elected him deputy of the Kuban Territorial Rada." Between 28 February and 20 August, 1918, he served in the Mounted Circassian
Regiment and took part in the Kornilov March (the so-called Ice March). On 28 August, 1918, he was re-elected deputy of the Kuban Rada. In 1920, he emigrated to Constantinople where he served as chief translator at the Diplomatic Mission in Constantinople.9
The following people were also elected to the Kuban Territorial Rada: S. Shakhim-Girey, K. Natyrbov, P. Kot-sev, P. bek Sultanov, Kh. Khubiev, S. Siyukhov, K. Ulagay, andM. Khatgogu. Together with Namitok, they formed the so-called Adighe faction.10
Photo 5
Aytek Namitok (from the Internet).
7 "Archives personnelles de Alimardan Topcibasev," case II.
8 See: A.J. Basniev, "Adygskiy parlamentarizm nachala XX veka," available at [www.vestnik.adygnet.ru].
9 Formulyarny spisok V.N. Hadjimoukova, Private archive of the Hadjimoukoffs, Paris, France.
10 See: A.J. Basniev, op. cit.
Photo 6
Sultan Shakhim-Girey (from the Internet).
All of them, except for Seferbi Siyukhov, emigrated, which explains why their personal qualities are very important for a better understanding of the relations between the Kuban Cossacks and the Caucasian mountain-dwellers in emigration.
Sultan Shakhim-Girey (Shekhim-Girey), a Circassian, born in 1880 in the Kuban Region; graduated from the Department of Law, Kharkov University; practiced law in the Kuban Region; in 1917-1919, filled the post of deputy speaker of the Kuban Rada; emigrated to Turkey and died there in 1921.
Murat (Murad) Khatgogu (Gatagogu, Khatgogou), a Circassian; in 1917, took part in the First Free Congress of the Representatives of the Mountain-Dwellers of the Kuban Region and Black Sea Gubernia; in 1919, replaced Sultan Shakhim-Girey (who had resigned) as deputy speaker of the Kuban Legislative Rada; in 1919, he was arrested by Denikin's officers and expelled; lived in Prague.
Kuchuk Bakhti-Girey Natyrbov, a Western Adighe; born in 1878 (his father was Bakhti-Girey Natyrbov); graduated from St. Petersburg University; worked in the administration of the Chita Gubernia; emigrated first to Paris, but soon (in 1923) moved to the United States. The family preserved its contacts with the North Caucasian people in France and Germany: Murat and Islam Natyrbovs kept in touch with Geydar Bammat in Paris in the 1920-1950s.u
Pshemakho (Pshemaf) Kotsev (Kosok), a Circassian, born in 1884 in the Sarmakovo aul; graduated from the Department of Law of St. Petersburg University; worked as a lawyer; served as Chairman of the Government of the Mountain Republic; emigrated to Turkey, where he died many years later in 1962.
I have no information about the other émigrés—Pasha bek Sultanov, Khasambi Khubiev, or Kaspolet Ulagay—no traces of them have been found so far in archival materials.
Kaspolet Ulagay, an Adighe, son of an officer, and a councilor of state, was a civil servant in the Kuban Region. In February 1917, he was elected to the Kuban Legislative Rada where he represented the Circassians. There is no information about his life in emigration, but his son Kuchuk Ulagay (1893-1953) was well known. He served in the Volunteer Army and lived in emigration in Turkey, Bulgaria and Serbia; his father probably lived with him.
In 1920, the Kuban Cossack and Caucasian émigrés held common meetings also attended by Luka Bych; on 2 November, 1920, one of such meetings was held at Abdul Chermoev's place12; it was
11 See: The author's interview with a relative of G. Bammat, Paris, 2009.
12 Abdul Mejid Chermoev (Tapa), a Chechen, born on 3 March, 1882 in Grozny, died on 28 August, 1937 in Lausanne, buried in Bobigny; his father was General Artsu Chermoev. He graduated from a military school and joined the Imperial Guard; in 1901 went into business; before World War I the oil discovered on his land outside Grozny made him rich; Chairman of the First National Government of the Republic of the Northern Caucasus; in May 1917, the first congress of the mountain-dwellers elected him Chairman of the Central Committee of the Alliance of the North Caucasian Mountain-Dwellers; he was an active supporter of the Mountain Republic; in 1919, emigrated to France; served as head of the Foreign Delegation at the Versailles Peace Conference and Chairman of the North Caucasian Foreign Delegation, close follower of G. Bammat; took part in the general Caucasian conference in Paris in 1921; signed the Declaration on Setting up a Caucasian Union of Independence, Paris, 1921.
attended by several Azeris (A. Topchibashev, J. Hadjibekov, Sh.-I. Islamov, and Ya. Mekhtiev) and two people from the Northern Caucasus (A. Namitok and V. Djabagi).13
The new draft Treaty on Cooperation among Azerbaijan, the Republic of the Union of the Mountain-Dwellers of the Northern Caucasus, and the Kuban Republic is dated October 1920.14 The document said in particular: "Proceeding from our unshakable conviction of the unity of historical destinies and shared aims and interests of these peoples in their struggle for national liberation and political independence and for joint protection of democratic republican order, it should be recognized that the present treaty of fraternal unity be entered on the following conditions:
"1. The governments of Azerbaijan, Kuban, and the Mountain-Dwellers shall mutually recognize the political independence and sovereignty of the sides to the Treaty.
"2. They shall provide mutual military, political, economic, and financial support.
"The Treaty will be signed by representatives of the Delegations at the Peace Conference in Paris."
The Kuban Cossacks and the National Committee for the Liberation of the North Caucasian Mountain-Dwellers, Constantinople, 1920
m
Another organization of mountain-dwellers—the National Committee for the Liberation of the North Caucasian Mountain-Dwellers—was set up in Constantinople in 1920 to fight Bolshevism together with the Cossacks. A. Kazakov1 has written that it was also known as the Committee for the Liberation of the North Caucasian Mountain-Dwellers and the Mountain Monarchic Center. The Hadjimoukoffs' archive supplied a certain amount of information about the National Committee.
It was founded by General F. Bekovich-Cherkassky (who represented Kabarda), V. Hadjimoukoff (who represented Kuban Circassians),16 General Ya. Khabaev (Osse-tia), and General S. Malsagov (Ingushetia).17
Photo 7
Safarbek Malsagov (from the Internet).
13 See: "Archives personnelles de Àlimardan Topcibasev," CERCEC Libraray, case XI.
14 See: Ibidem.
15 See: A.V. Kazakov, Deyatelnost organov bezopasnosti Kabardino-Balkarii po neytralizatsii podryvnykh aktsy emigrantskikh organizatsiy v 20-kh-50-kh gg. XX veka, Ph.D. thesis, Moscow, 2005.
16 See: Obshchee delo newspaper, No. 186, 17 January, 1921; Archive of Sébastien Hadjimoukoff (great grandson of Vassily Hadjimoukoff), Paris, France.
17 See: Yakov (Beta) Khabaev, an Osset of the village of Novoosetinskaya, was born on 1 October, 1870, educated at a military school, and served in the Imperial Guard as Major General. Safarbek Malsagov, an Ingush, was born in
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
According to the materials found in the Archives des Affaires Étrangères de France, Mikael Khalilov (Khalil-Pasha) (1856-1936) was one of the committee members. Born in Daghestan, he served in the Russian Army, was promoted to general, and, along with other committee members, figured prominently on the political scene of Daghestan (he was the last premier of the Mountain Republic); in 1920, he was appointed president of the Constantinople Caucasian Committee.18
The committee members belonged to the North Caucasian military elite who served in the Russian army.
Throughout the 19th century, the Russian Empire consistently created a pro-Russian elite from among the mountain-dwellers, military service being one of the obvious spheres. Young Caucasian boys were enrolled in military schools and served in the Russian army.19 By 1917, five members of the future Caucasian Committee had been faithfully serving Russia for many years and were dedicated to it; they supported the Russian Empire and the Russian monarchy and, most importantly, accepted Russia's presence in the Northern Caucasus as logical and useful.
The National Committee for the Liberation of the North Caucasian Mountain-Dwellers based its program on the following linchpins:
1. Recognition of General Wrangel as Supreme Commander.
2. Complete neutrality with the Entente and the Kemalists.
3. Organization, under favorable conditions, of an army of Turkish muhajirs (people of North Caucasian origin) to organize an anti-Bolshevist movement in the Caucasus.
The Program went on to say that "the Committee, which does not pursue political aims, is the only representative structure of the Russian Muslims (italics mine.—I.B) abroad and has been recognized as such by General Wrangel."
The Committee obviously intended to fight with Wrangel to restore the Russian Empire and the monarchy, which means that they wanted to see the Northern Caucasus part of the Russian Empire. The document had the following note: "The Committee will work toward unification with the anti-Bolshevist forces, primarily with the Cossacks." At the first stage, there were plans to join forces with the Ukrainian National Committee.
Information extracted from archival materials is supported by information about the Committee for the Liberation of the North Caucasian Mountain-Dwellers found in File 541 ("strictly confidential") of the Cheka Foreign Department dated 24 January, 1922. In addition to the above-mentioned committee members, the Cheka document mentioned Pshemakho Kotsev as one of the members. A. Kazakov mentioned Sultan Klych-Girey—a well-known Kuban Circassian (1880-1947), Major General of the Russian Army—as a member. He and Bekovich-Cherkassky graduated from the Elizavetgrad Cavalry School, commanded a hundred in the Mounted Circassian Regiment of the Native (Wild) Division during World War I and fought with the Volunteer Army.20
The Cheka document said that the Committee supported by the Turkish authorities had formed a mounted regiment of mountain-dwellers under the command of the Angora (Ankara) government stationed on the Soviet border.21 A. Kazakov pointed out that the Constantinople Caucasian Committee established close ties with the Supreme Monarchic Union formed in France.22
Vladikavkaz in 1868; graduated from a military school in Elizavetgrad; commanded the Mounted Osset Division; was promoted to general; fought with the Volunteer Army; was appointed as ruler of Ingushetia under General Denikin; in 1920 emigrated to Constantinople along with the army.
18 December 1920, Diplomatic representation of Russia in Constantinople. Document addressed to the High Commissioner of France at Constantinople, 10 January, 1921. Archive des Affaires Étrangères de France, No. 3812.
19 For more detail, see: I.L. Babich, "Vzaimosvyaz sovremennykh gorskikh ideologiy i natsionalnykh interesov Rossii na Severnom Kavkaze," in: Severnyy Kavkaz v natsionalnoy strategii Rossii, ed. by V.A. Tishkov, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology RAS, Moscow, 2008, pp. 171-186.
20 See: A.V. Kazakov, op. cit.
21 See: Russkaya voennaya emigratsia 20-40-kh godov, Vol. I, Moscow, 1998, pp. 549-550.
22 See: A.V. Kazakov, op. cit.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
In 1920 in Adigey, before he emigrated to Constantinople, Vassily Hadjimoukoff published a newspaper in Circassian to inform the people and prepare them for the struggle against the Bolshevist agitators. "The mountain-dwellers found the old and the new regime equally unacceptable," however "if they have the chance to choose between them, the mountain-dwellers being as friendly with the Cossacks as ever, will go for state-building along with the Volunteer Army, will prefer to remain the subjects of Great, Indivisible, and Democratic Russia, and will unquestionably obey the decisions of the Constituent Assembly."23
The life span of the National Committee for the Liberation of the North Caucasian Mountain-Dwellers in Constantinople proved short, about twelve months, for several reasons. First, late in 1922 another committee—the Committee for the Liberation of Azerbaijan and the Mountain-Dwellers of the Northern Caucasus—appeared in Constantinople, which attracted the National Committee members. In emigration, the Azeris were working toward setting up an independent state, outside the Russian Empire, which meant that the monarchist mountain-dwellers had very little in common with them.24 According to L. Sotskov, those in Turkey who extended financial support were paying for the idea of independence of the Caucasus rather than restoration of the monarchy, which meant that the National Committee was doomed from the very beginning.25 On 16 March, 1921, the R.S.F.S.R. and Turkey signed a friendship and cooperation treaty which ruled out subversive activities in Turkish territory. Many of the committee members left Constantinople for European states where their lives took a different turn; some of them revised their previous ideas.
What happened to the members of the Caucasian Committee? In 1923, Vassily Hadjimoukoff moved to Marseilles, where he stayed away from French politics. His great grandson Sébastien Hadjimoukofftold us that once Vassily had visited Paris to attend a "Caucasian meeting of sorts, but never repeated this trip."26 He remained loyal to his ideas but was not very disappointed about the downfall of the Russian Empire. In emigration he remained an Adighe, but preferred Russians to the Caucasians. He spent the last years of his life in a retirement home for Russian émigrés in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois and was buried in the local cemetery. There is an Orthodox cross on his grave. Yakov Khabaev also went to France and lived in Paris where he limited his involvement in public activities to Russian military organizations—the Council of All-Cossack Alliance in France; the Union of the Order of St. George Holders; and the Union of Russian Military Invalids in France. Because of his Caucasian roots, he joined the Association of Refugee Mountain-Dwellers of the Northern Caucasus, the only North Caucasian organization in France with no political undertones, which made it attractive to North Caucasians of different political convictions. General Khabaev represented the Ossetian Aul Organization at the so-called Congress of Foreign Emigrants convened in 1925 in France. Safarbek Malsagov moved to Poland and stayed away from politics. Mikael Khalilov remained in Istanbul; he was no longer involved in political activities, but he wrote for the Gortsy Kavkaza (The Caucasian Mountain-Dwellers) journal (1928-1934).
Fyodor Bekovich-Cherkassky moved to Paris to become an active member of the "Russian monarchist organization of Nikolay's supporters" (Grand Prince Nikolay, former Supreme Commander of the Russian Army who lived in France in emigration was one of the main contenders to the Russian throne). General Bekovich-Cherkassky joined several military unions and was a board member of the Union of Holders of the St. George Order; the Union of Officers of the Caucasian Army; the Union of the Former Students of the Nikolay Cavalry School; and the Alliance of the Cuirassiers of the Imperial Regiment. Despite his Caucasian roots, he stayed away from the Caucasian, obviously anti-Russian, organizations in France determined to set up independent states in the Caucasus rather than restore the empire. He was, however, a member of the Alaverdy Caucasian Society which pur-
p. 28.
23 The Hadjimoukoffs' archive.
24 See: "Osetinskaya emigratsya," in: Istoriya Severnoy Osetii. XX vek, Moscow, 2003, p. 299.
25 See: A.F. Sotskov, Neizvestny separatism. Na sluzhbe SD i Abvera: iz sekretnykh dosye razvedki, Moscow, 2003,
26 My interview with Sébastien Hadjimoukoff, Paris, 20 March, 2011.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
sued cultural rather than political aims. During World War II he deliberately moved further away from the Caucasian movements which supported the Germans in their war against the Soviet Union; there is information that he was one of the leaders of the Russian anti-fascist resistance in Paris.
He adopted Islam and changed his name to Tembot; on 16 November, 1953 he was buried in the Muslim cemetery in Bobigny outside Paris; his wife, Kalmyk Nadjivat Kaplanova, outlived him by over 25 years; she spent the last years of her life in the Home for Russian Military Invalids in Montmorency where she died in 1979 and was buried in the same cemetery.27
The All-Kuban Conference: The Kubans and the Mountain-Dwellers, Prague,
1921
On 10 September, 1921, an initiative commission met in Prague to pass a decision, first, on an All-Kuban Conference28; according to Luka Bych, by November 1921 there were 10 thousand (mostly military) émigrés from the Kuban region.29 Second, it was decided to invite the following people to the planned conference: members of the Presidium of the Kuban Extraordinary Territorial and Legislative Rada, members of the Paris and Transcaucasian parliamentary delegations of Kuban; and the acting Ataman and Chairman of the Government and the Ataman and Chairman of the Government elected on Lemnos Island. The following people were among those invited: F. Aspidov, L. Bych, I. Bely, L. Be-lashov, F. Voropinov, V. Vinnik, A. Gordienko, V. Ivanis, P. Kurgansky, S. Manjula, V. Naumenko, A. Namitokov, who was member ofthe Paris Parliamentary Delegation, G. Omelchenko, Pavlogradsky, T. Rogovets, V. Savitsky, D. Skobtsov, Sultan Shakhim-Girey, Deputy Chairman ofthe Legislative Rada and Comrade of Chairman ofthe Territorial Rada, and I. Timoshenko. Shakhim-Girey and Namitokov (Namitok) were the only two mountain-dwellers invited to the congress. Third, the commission drafted an Address to All Émigrés from the Kuban Region. Fourth, it was decided to ask the Caucasians (Azeris in particular) for financial support. On 15 September, 1921, the Azeri delegation, its Chairman A. Top-chibashev to be more exact, received a request for money (in the amount of 5 to 10 thousand francs) to pay for the all-Kuban conference. The Committee preferred to dispatch A. Namitok, an Adighe, to receive the money. The document described him as a press secretary of the Kuban delegation.
The Azeri delegation discussed the request and decided to allocate 5 thousand francs; A. Nam-itok signed for the sum.30 The Azeris accompanied their decision with an assessment of the Kubans and the Caucasians: "While agreeing with the Kuban Delegation that the Azeris and the Kubans have common interests, namely, liberation of Azerbaijan and the Kuban Region from Bolshevik occupation, the Azeri Delegation expects that in future, under corresponding conditions, the Azerbaijan Republic and the other republics of the Caucasus will arrive at the conviction that they need close political and economic alliance with the Kuban Region."31
On 21 September, 1921, the chairman of the Azeri delegation received a letter of thanks from the Kuban delegation32 signed by Chairman Vyacheslav Savitsky.3
27 See: "Nekrolog," Russkaia Mysl, No. 3247, 1979.
28 See: "Archives personnelles de Alimardan Topcibasev," CERCEC Libraray, case VII.
29 See: Ibid., case XI.
30 See: Ibid., case VII.
31 Ibidem.
32 See: Ibidem.
33 Vyacheslav Savitsky, born on 7 March, 1880 in Ekaterinodar, died on 12 February, 1963 in Hollywood, the U.S. He graduated from a military school in Orenburg and studied at the St. Petersburg Technological Institute, which he quit to enter the Nikolay Cavalry School from which he graduated and joined the Imperial Guard. In November 1917, was appointed head of the military department of the Kuban Region; late in 1917-1918, served as advisor to the Kuban Government.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
On 3 November, 1921, Luka Bych wrote a "confidential letter" to Alimardan Topchibashev in which he described the All-Kuban Conference in Prague as a conference of "Kuban political and public figures." He wrote that the conference was convened in order "to consolidate the democratic forces of the Kuban Region under slogans of strengthening and consistently realizing the principle of the region's independence, fighting occupants of all hues, and tilling the soil for future friendly associations with natural allies—independent states which would emerge on the ruins of the Russian Empire... One of the main tasks of the conference was to put an end to the polyarchy in Kuban claimed by the government in emigration and self-proclaimed contenders to power."
Luka Bych pointed out that the conference split into those who supported independence and those who thought in terms of a "united and indivisible Russia." While the former wanted an independent state instead of the Kuban Region, the latter spoke about driving the Bolsheviks out and restoring Russia; they sided with Wrangel. "This means," he wrote, "that some of the Kubans moved to the camp of enemies of democracy in general and of Kuban democracy in particular," therefore, those who supported the idea of the Russian Empire and agreed with Wrangel were the enemies of the other Kubans. "The rest of the conference participants united into a Democratic Union for Kuban Independence."34
From this it follows that the Caucasian Committee in Constantinople and the Kuban Delegation with Kuban Adighes among its members pursued opposite aims.
At the first stage Luka Bych wanted cooperation with the Caucasian delegations and sought their financial support. With these aims in view he informed the delegations of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia about his political position and asked them for money for the Democratic Union for Kuban Independence.35
The Caucasians and Boris Savinkov,
1922
Alimardan Topchibashev's archive contains a highly interesting document "On Sentiments among the Cossacks Abroad"36 dated 30 January, 1922. The "strictly confidential" document originated from the Information Bureau of the Society for Defense of the Motherland and Freedom set up in 1921 in Warsaw by Boris Savinkov. This large terrorist structure united people of different political convictions; its leader deemed it necessary to involve the Caucasians in his struggle against Bolsheviks.
I found another protocol of the delegations' meeting, this time in French rather than in the usual Russian. It took place in 1921 and was attended by A. Khatisov, Akharoyan [A. Agaronyan], M. Mager-ramov, A. Chkhenkeli (who chaired the meeting), S. Mdivani, P. Gegechkori, A. Topchibashev, A. Cher-moev, Prince M. Sumbatov, and Prince A. Avalov,37 who discussed cooperation between the Caucasian delegations and Savinkov. Abdul Chermoev opened the meeting with an outline of Savinkov's nature and his organization: it was, he said, "the first Russian group which understands that we are workingfor our common cause. Other Russian groups think that we are working against Russia. Our aim is to organize the lives of people as they themselves want and what we are doing is not hostile to Russia." He suggested that contacts with Savinkov be continued, but, he said, first "the very possibility of such contacts"
Fought with the Volunteer Army and took part of the 1st Kuban (Ice) March in the ranks of the Kuban unit. On 12 March, 1918, he was promoted to colonel and became member of the Kuban Territorial Government for military affairs; was sent to France as a member of the Kuban Delegation in Paris where he remained in emigration. On 2 December, 1919, was excluded from the lists of the Kuban Cossack Army; promoted to major-general in the fall of 1918; in 1921, became chairman of the Kuban Delegation in Paris; in 1919, signed a treaty between the Kuban Region and the Mountain Republic.
34 "Archives personnelles de Alimardan Topcibasev," CERCEC Libraray, case XI.
35 See: Ibidem.
36 Ibid, case VII.
37 See: Ibid., cases II-III.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
should be studied. Abdul Chermoev believed that official contacts with Savinkov be better avoided and that contacts be established through third parties, namely through "other Russian groups."
Support was unanimous; Avetis Agaronyan, in particular, confirmed that "no official documents should be signed with the Savinkov group because this amounted to interference in Russia's internal affairs. Contacts should be sought through other groups." Alimardan Topchibashev advised "caution when gathering information in Paris and London about the group and its activities. Contacts can be established through the representatives of the Caucasian republics in Poland." Savinkov, in turn, asked the Caucasian delegations for money, but his request was declined.
The Kuban Cossacks and Western Adighes Break Up, 1922
The fact that the document "On Sentiments among the Cossacks Abroad" is kept in Topchiba-shev's archive means that Alimardan received it directly from Savinkov. The document said that Cossack emigration in Europe, which numbered 30 thousand, believed that the struggle against the Bolsheviks was far from lost and that it was prepared for further action. Boris Savinkov went on to describe the political trends among the Don Cossacks: the Democratic Union for the Revival of Cossacks; supporters of "new tactics"; supporters of Ataman Bogaevsky and the Don government; supporters of General Krasnov; then he offered his opinion about the Kuban Cossacks. According to his information, Aytek Namitok had "completely ruptured his relations with the Kuban Cossacks" and cut short business and political contacts with Luka Bych. The latter had left Prague for Marienbad (Czechoslovakia); there were about two thousand Cossack émigrés in Czechoslovakia.
Aytek Namitok radically changed his life: he became an active supporter of the North Caucasian (Mountain) Delegation headed by Abdul Chermoev; in 1927, he joined the Temporary United National Center of Azerbaijan and the Northern Caucasus38 and became one of the editors-in-chief of the Prometheus journal, which agitated for Caucasian independence.39 In 1924, he was among those who founded the Caucasian Golden Fleece Lodge (1924-1926); was founder and member of the Prometheus Lodge (1926-1931); in 1930, served in the Commission set up to draft a Pact of the Caucasian Peoples (where he represented the North Caucasian peoples), and became one of the closest associates of Alimardan Topchibashev.
Politics was not his only occupation—he was active in the academic sphere as well. After graduating from the Sorbonne, he joined the Club for Caucasian Studies, where he delivered several lectures ("Whence the Name of the Caucasus?" in 1935; "Problems of Caucasian Ethnology: Georgians and Circassians," 1937); after moving to Turkey, Aytek Namitok did not abandon his academic studies; he published several books, including Fables des Tsey Ibrahim (Paris, 1938); Origines des Cir-cassiens (Paris, 1939), and Récits Oubykh (Paris, 1955).
Murat Khatgogu and A. Tsalikov organized a Union of Caucasian Mountain-Dwellers in Prague; its slogan "A strong man and a waterfall will find a way" was well suited to the Union's main aim: "National-cultural renaissance and economic prosperity of the Caucasian mountain-dwellers."40 The Union started a journal Kavkazskiy gorets (The Caucasian Mountain-Dweller); its editors deemed it necessary to point out that the journal "was not interested in purely political issues because they might disunite the mountain émigrés," yet they were tempted to blame the Russian imperial regime because
38 See: Ibid., cases XIII-XIV.
39 See: Ibidem, in French.
40 The Kavkazskiy gorets journal, Prague, 1925. Published by the Union of Caucasian Mountain-Dwellers in the Czechoslovak Republic, ed. by Murat Khatgogu, No. 2-3.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
"the pre-revolutionary czarist regime interfered with study of the Caucasus. It did everything it could to separate the mountain intellectuals from their people; moreover, it stifled all manifestations of national self-awareness (the bitter fate of Osset poet Kosta (Hetagurov.—Ed.) is ample evidence of this."
Pro-Russian and Anti-Russian Camps among the North Caucasian Émigrés
The first issue of the newly established journal Kazachiy vspolokh (The Cossack Tocsin) carried an article by Osset Cossack Nikolay Bigaev entitled "Gorsko-kazachiemu emigrantskomu stu-denchestvu" (To the Mountain Cossack Émigré Students) which later appeared in the Kavkazskiy gorets journal. It called on the young mountain émigrés to abandon "national ambitions" and to unite with Russian émigrés. Its author, Colonel Bigaev, was an officer of the Russian Caucasian Army who served in the Guard of the Royal Viceroy in the Caucasus during World War I. In 1915, he was appointed head of the Guard of Grand Prince Nikolay Nikolaevich, joined the White Movement, and emigrated to Czechoslovakia where he lived in Prague. In 1925, he stood at the head of the Russian All-Arms Union in Czechoslovakia, took part in the Eurasian Seminar in Prague in 1928, belonged to the Russia military organization in Prague in 1935, and in the 1920-1940s headed the Caucasian Comradeship Organization which functioned in Prague. At all times he tried to keep "national antagonism" in check.41 He was elected as first chairman of the newly formed Union of Caucasian Mountain-Dwellers set up in Prague in 1923 (Kabardin Elmurza Bekovich-Cherkassky was among the board members). Nikolay Bigaev was replaced with Murat Khatgogu as chairman on the strength of an open letter of Elmurza Bekovich-Cherkassky published in the Kazachiy vspolokh journal.42
A couple of years later the same Elmurza Bekovich-Cherkassky started a discussion with another pro-Russian North Caucasian émigré. In 1929, the Vozrozhdenie (Renaissance)43 newspaper carried two articles by Ismail Baev44 about the separatist sentiments of the Caucasian mountain-dwellers. He presented his pro-Russian ideas, "bitingly criticized the national-liberation movement of the mountain-dwellers, and supplied historical arguments in favor of an alliance between the Caucasian mountain-dwellers and the Russian Empire." It was Elmurza Bekovich-Cherkassky who once more, in 1929, used the Gortsy Kavkaza journal to rebuff the pro-Russian sentiments.
The Gortsy Kavkaza (Les Montagnards du Caucase) was published for six years, between 1928 and 1934, as an heir to the Volnye gortsy (The Free Mountain-Dwellers) journal which appeared earlier in Prague. It comes as no surprise that Elmurza Bekovich-Cherkassky was its editor-in-chief from the third to the ninth issues. The journal was published by the People's Party ofthe Caucasian Mountain-Dwellers with its headquarters in Paris. As its member and the editor-in-chief of its journal, Bekovich-Cherkassky published several articles in the third to ninth issues. Issue 8-9 carried his arti-cle45 in which he criticized Ismail Baev's article on separatism of the mountain-dwellers.
41 See: Kazachiy vspolokh, Prague, No. 1, 1925.
42 See: Ibid., pp. 86-91.
43 Vozrozhdenie, a Russian newspaper published by Russian émigrés in Paris between 1925 and 1940, this moderately conservative monarchic newspaper was published by A. Gukasov and edited by P. Struve and Yu. Semenov.
44 Ismail Baev, an Osset, one of the three Baevs émigré brothers. Georgy Baev (1868-1939), defense lawyer who made an academic career in Germany, was the best known of them. He lived in Berlin and worked at the Department of Ossetian Studies of Berlin University; on an assignment of the London Biblical Society he translated The Bible into the Ossetian language and published sources related to the history of the Caucasus (The Terskiy Kazak journal, Belgrade, No. 38, 1939). Little is known about the second brother Ivan. He lived in France and died in 1982 in a retirement home for Russian émigrés in Cormeilles-en-Parisis; Ismail, the third of the Baev brothers, lived in Belgrade, Serbia.
45 See: E. Bekovich-Cherkassky, "'Vozrozhdenie' o separatizme gortsev Kavkaza," Gortsy Kavkaza (Les Montagnards du Caucase), ed. by E. Bekovich-Cherkassky, Paris, No. 8-9, September-October 1929, pp. 13-17.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
He deemed it necessary to point out that Baev believed that the mountain-dwellers "should not seek national independence because of the tragic fate of the Adighes" caused by the Russian-Caucasian war (he had in mind the forced resettlement of the Adighes in the Ottoman Empire).46 He dismissed this argument as unimportant for the cause of Caucasian independence.
Ismail Baev's second argument—the so-called "achievements of Russian enlightenment"—was merely pushed aside. His opponent believed that "many mountain-dwellers from the valleys close to the urban centers became addicted to the pernicious aspects of urban life (italics mine.—I.B.) when involved in relations with towns and cities. This undermined the people's family and communal life and their spirit previously strong in the patriarchal mountain auls." "As a result," the author went on to say, "religious muridism, sheikism, abrek (robber) crimes, and other unhealthy symptoms of dissatisfaction of the spirit with its fate and the desire of the popular masses to live separately according to their own traditions of everyday life and the adats and to guard themselves against Russian influence developed beyond all proportions." Elmurza Bekovich-Cherkassky was convinced that "the Caucasian mountain-dwellers are an extremely nationally active element while their intelligentsia is nationally passive." He saw the problem of the mountain-dwellers in the absence of their own intelligentsia while they as a people were united: "We explain our unity by the fact that the religious and social existence of the mountain-dwellers is based on the old historical cultures which for many centuries have shaped the specifics of the masses of mountain-dwellers."47 He lamented that the Russians in charge of the Vozrozhdenie newspaper had chosen a Caucasian to plant their ideas among the émigrés.
In 1933, the Gortsy Kavkaza journal published in France carried an anonymous article entitled "O, Servum Pecus" which is very important for a correct interpretation of "anti-Russian" and "pro-Russian" sentiments. Its anonymous author wrote: "As there is no Sun without sunspots, there is no nation without renegades, career seekers, and toadies, in short, people who have lost the feeling of their national specifics and spiritual contacts with their own people, who assess things from the point of view of their own gain, and who try to subordinate the interests of the people to their own. Our own 'monarchists' (supporters of monarchic Russia) and the supporters of the 'united and indivisible Russia' of all hues belong to the same category. They are scattered across many countries as 'Russian émigrés'; they treat the Nansen passport as a symbol of their closeness and 'unity' with the Russian people and with 'everything around' that 'smells of Russia' rather than as a heavy burden placed on us by the stupidity of our high patrons in Geneva. The phrase 'Russian culture' fills them with admiration (not always quite sincere), even if their practical knowledge of it was acquired in Russian taverns and nightclubs. The word 'independence' sends them into rage; they begin accusing those who have not yet lost the ability to blush like Italian patriots or their sense of national shame of every mortal sin. In their works they follow the old patterns and exploit our disunity and the weakened national front. Our supporters of the 'united and indivisible idea,' our 'truly Russian mountain-dwellers' are the spiritual heirs of those who in the past served as blind instruments in the hands of Russians and allowed the Chechens and Ingush to quarrel. Many of them take the activities of the 'Osset Commission for the Conversion of the Ossets and Ingush to Christianity'..., which filled Ossetia (and Abkhazia) with drunken Russian priests and homosexual monks-missionaries and which divided the Ossets and Abkhazians into two parts with different religions, as the 'beneficial' influence of 'Russian culture.'"48
It should be said that more likely than not the Kuban Adighes associated themselves with the Cossacks. In France, Cossack Fyodor Eliseev organized a dance ensemble of Cossack-jigits who performed with great success around the world. There were two Kuban Circassians in the troupe—Peyuk Khachimizov and student Chukov.49
46 See: Ibid., pp. 18-19.
47 Ibid., p. 27.
48 "O, Servum Pecus," Gortsy Kavkaza, ed. by B. Baytuganov, Paris, No. 41, July 1933, pp. 2-3.
49 See: Kazachia djigitovka. On materials from the archive of Kuban Cossack F.I. Eliseev, Krasnodar, 2003, p. 43.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
Territorial Disagreements between the Kuban Cossacks and the Kuban Mountain-Dwellers
After a while it turned out that these two émigré groups could not agree on certain territorial issues. The Cossacks wanted to include the territories which belonged to the Western Adighes in their republic; the Adighes objected. This started a process of gradual "ethnization" of the Kuban mountain-dwellers who drifted away from the Cossacks toward the Caucasians.
The Kuban Cossacks were accused of "sowing strife among the mountain-dwellers." One of the members of the People's Party of the Mountain-Dwellers of the Caucasus who used "A Common Mountain-Dweller" alias analyzed Ignatovich's articles about the Cossacks' "Great Power" ambitions, which appeared in the (Free Cossacks) kazachestvo journal in Paris in 1929. A Common Mountain-Dweller wrote that the editors of the Gortsy Kavkaza journal, on the whole, hailed the very fruitful efforts of the Volnoe kazachestvo journal to develop and consolidate the ideology of Cossack independence. The author went on to say: "The editors believe it their duty to point out the Cossacks' 'Great Power' ambitions and the still alive imperial ideology borrowed from the philosophy of Russian etatism, as well as their desire to resolve the Cossack problems by widening the gap which divides the mountain-dwellers and decreasing their territories. The mountain-dwellers cannot accept this as a method of resolving the problems which exist between the Cossacks and mountain-dwellers."50
Ignatovich asserted that "the Common Mountain-Dweller was convinced that 'the mountain-dwellers infringe on Cossack rights and Cossack territory ' and that the mountain-dwellers want to set up a Caucasian confederation which the Cossacks believed to be dangerous for them, while in fact this is not the case: to weaken the mountain-dwellers the Cossacks should capture as much land with mountain population as possible and push the mountain-dwellers high into the mountains (italics mine.—I.B. )."51
Murza bek was even harsher. In his article "K voprosu o severnykh granitsakh Respubliki Gort-sev Kavkaza" (On the Northern Borders of the Republic of the Caucasian Mountain-Dwellers), he wrote: "Not so long ago a group of ideologists of Cossack 'Great Power' ambitions appeared among the émigrés and unfolded its banner of independence on the pages of the Volnoe Kazachestvo journal... At first it was talking about an independent state shared by three Cossack groups: the Cossacks of the Don, Kuban, and Terek."52 In emigration the mountain-dwellers and the Cossacks could not agree on territorial issues, namely, in which territories they planned to set up their independent states. The mountain-dwellers demanded that they should be treated fairly.53 "When writing in the journal about us, the Mountain-Dwellers, Mr. Bily included only the Kuban mountain-dwellers in Cossackia, while Mr. Ignatovich also counted the Kabardins among them; the Ossets were left with a choice—either to retreat to Georgia or, more likely, settle in Cossackia. The numerically small group of Terek Cossacks, which Russia pushed by force into essentially the very heart of the mountain-dwellers' main territory, will also become part of Cossackia, etc. This territorial program contradicts what the mountain-dwellers want for themselves ... and it has become the main factor of the relations between the Cossacks and the mountain-dwellers, which will develop in an undesirable direction." This means that both groups claimed the same territory as their historical homeland.54
50 Ryadovoy Gorets (alias), "Gorskiy vopros na stranitsakh zhurnala 'Volnoe Kazachestvo'," Gortsy Kavkaza, ed. by E. Bekovich-Cherkassky, Paris, No. 4-5, May-June, 1929, p. 10.
51 See: Ibid., p. 16.
52 Murza bek, "K voprosu o severnykh granitsakh Respubliki Gortsev Kavkaza," Gortsy Kavkaza, Editorial Board, Paris, No. 13-15, February-March 1930, p. 33.
53 See: Ibid., p. 34.
54 Ibid., p. 35.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
The author went into the history of the disputed territory and concluded that the Cossacks of the Terek Region of the Mountain Republic were new settlers.55 "The mountain-dwellers' right to the entire Terek area is incontestable ... while the Cossacks are not in the majority, even the relative majority, not only in the area but also in its part, the so-called Terek district. This means that the claims of the V.K. are absolutely unfounded. If satisfied they will violate, for no reason, the historical rights of the mountain-dwellers and favor a small part of the local population, the Terek Cossacks. The mountain-dwellers regard all encroachments on the trans-Kuban area as an encroachment on the property of the people. It goes without saying that the Cossacks have not, and cannot have, any grounds to claim the Black Sea coastal stretch, which is the indisputable property of the mountain-dwellers. They, however, are prepared to cede a small fraction of the northern part of the coastal stretch with the port of Novorossiysk (italics mine.—I.B.) with the understanding that the interests of the Mountain Republic in this port of exceptional importance will be guaranteed in the form of its involvement in the port's management and special customs rules applied to the transit shipments brought in and out of the Mountain Republic."56
The North Caucasian who used the Common Mountain-Dweller alias wrote that Issue 51-52 of Volnoe Kazachestvo had carried articles by Bily on the territorial dispute with the mountain-dwellers. The Common Mountain-Dweller tried to persuade the Cossacks to drop their territorial claims.57 In his article "K voprosu o severnykh granitsakh Respubliki Gortsev Kavkaza," Murza bek asserted the historical rights of the mountain-dwellers to the North Caucasian Cossack-settled territories.58 He wrote further that the historical homeland of the Cossacks was limited to the Don area, "therefore," he insisted, "the Cossacks cannot claim territories beyond their primordial lands and, because of considerations related to the state's domestic policies, will have to repatriate the Cossacks who, for the sake of Russian imperialism, played the role of military colonialists on the lands of others."59 In his article "O 'Volnykh Kazakakh'" (On the Free Cossacks), Haji Abu-Bekir insisted that the Cossacks had no rights to the North Caucasian lands.60 Temur Bazyrykkho, another Caucasian mountain-dweller, likewise, was dead set against the Cossacks' territorial claims.61 In 1933, the Don Cossacks who supported the idea of independence started the Don journal in Prague to refute the territorial claims of the North Caucasian mountain-dwellers.62
An open letter of the Cossacks to the mountain-dwellers of the Prometheus movement which appeared in 1937 in the journal published by the Don Cossacks clarifies many points in the relations among the Kuban mountain-dwellers, Caucasians, and Cossacks.63 Sultan Kilech-Girey,64 a person well known in Europe (mentioned above as a member of the Kuban Rada), caused another problem in the émigré political community.
55 See: Ibid., pp. 36-37.
56 Ibid., pp. 41, 44, 49.
57 See: Ryadovoy Gorets, "Otgoloski proshlogo," Gortsy Kavkaza, Editorial Board, Paris, No. 13-15, February-March 1930, pp. 51-58.
58 Murza bek, "K voprosu o severnykh granitsakh Respubliki Gortsev Kavkaza," Gortsy Kavkaza, Editorial Board, Paris, No. 17-18, June-July 1930, pp. 39-50.
59 See: Ibid., p. 55.
60 See: Haji Abu-Bekir, "O 'volnykh kazakakh'," Gortsy Kavkaza , ed. by B. Baytuganov, Paris, No. 34, December 1932, pp. 3-11.
61 See: T. Bazyrykkho, "Appetity ne po chinu," Severny Kavkaz (Le Caucase du Nord—North Caucasia), ed. by B. Baytugan, Paris, No. 16, August 1935, pp. 14-17.
62 See: "Khronika," Gortsy Kavkaza, ed. by B. Baytuganov, Paris, No. 40, June 1933, p. 29.
63 See: Kazachiy golos, No. 1, 1937.
64 Sultan Klych-Girey (Kelet-Girey, Kelech-Girey, Kilech-Girey, Sultan-Girey), a Kuban Circassian born on 15 March, 1880 in the Ulyap aul (according to other sources, in Maykop), graduated from the Elizavetgrad Cavalry School; during World War I commanded a hundred in the Mounted Circassian Regiment of the Wild Division; in 1917 took part in the Kornilov revolt and the Ice March; during the Civil War commanded a unit and a brigade of the Kuban Division. In 1918-1920, commander of the Circassian-Terek (Wild) Division; upon routing of the Volunteer Army he organized Cossack units, later he emigrated to France.
THE CAUCASUS & GLOBALIZATION
In 1937, the Cossacks learned that Sultan Kilech-Girey had joined the Caucasian Prometheus group which fought for the Caucasus' independence from Russia. Don Cossack Kalmyk Shamba Nyu-delich Balinov, who wrote the open letter, himself a well-known personality who lived in Paris, wanted to know: "What do the mountain-dwellers think about the Kuban area? The sultan is not only a mountain-dweller himself but also a citizen ofthe independent Kuban area of which the Kuban Circassians have been and remain an inalienable part. Does Sultan Kilech-Girey look at the mountain part of the Kuban as the territory of the Caucasian Confederation (italics mine.—I.B.)?" He concluded with the following: "I should say here that the Kuban Region will never agree to lose part of its territory."
This shows that the Cossacks never regarded the Kuban mountain-dwellers as part of the North Caucasian community.
The Cossacks and the Caucasians, Late 1930s
On the eve of World War II, when the Nazis plans and activities had become obvious to all, the North Caucasians addressed the Cossacks once more. In 1938, the Kazachy golos (The Voice of the Cossacks) journal, an independent organ of the Don Cossacks published in Paris, carried an article by Tambiy Elekkhoti, a prominent Ossetian émigré, called "Istoricheskie zadachi Kavkaza" (The Historic Tasks of the Caucasus)65 based on his contribution to the meeting of Société Savante held in Paris on 9 June, 1938. He pointed out that "in the coming storms, the Caucasus will have to choose between the fighting forces of integral nationalism and order (Hitler and Germany) and world Marxism headed by Moscow. It goes without saying that we shall side with those determined to squash Moscow. The author deemed it necessary to specify: "In this way, we see that we should support the Nazi regime and Hitler. We all associate the future of the Caucasus with the anti-communist forces and resolutely reject any compromises with Marxism or its representatives." Tambiy Elekkhoti deemed a revived alliance with the Cossacks useful for the common cause.
Conclusion
The history of the relations between the Caucasians and the Cossacks (and Russians) in general, and the Western Adighes and Kuban Cossacks, in particular, reveals the traces of the Russian Empire left in the minds and political ideas of the mountain-dwellers who lived in the Kuban Region before the revolution. On the one hand, as an Adighe sub-ethnicity, the Western Adighes gravitated toward the North Caucasian peoples in general and the Kabardins in particular. On the other hand, living side-by-side with the Kuban Cossacks, the Western Adighes acquired a feeling of community with them, which greatly affected their political and national biases in emigration.
This was a result of the fairly wise policy of the Russian Empire in the Caucasus, which created a mountain elite in the Northern Caucasus, mainly among the Adighes and Ossets. The most able boys were chosen for military and civilian education and corresponding careers in St. Petersburg. In emigration they were long unable to discard the idea of their peoples' continued existence within the Russian Empire; after a while, however, national feelings prevailed.
5 Kazachy golos, No. 10-12, 1938.
