Syria / Golan: Syrian Circassians between the civil war frontlines

According to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), two Circassian villages in the demilitarized zone – Bir Adscham and Barek – are being drawn between the frontlines of the Syrian civil war due to the exchange of fire between the Syrian and the Israeli army on the Golan Heights. "While the government troops are fighting the opposition by means of heavy weapons, the frightened civilians are caught between the two villages like in a mousetrap," said the STP's expert on questions regarding the CIS States, Sarah Reinke, in Berlin on Monday. "Many Circassians are urgently trying to be allowed to return to their ancestral homeland, the Caucasus, before the war escalates."

The President of the International Association of Circassians, Chauti Sochrok, has currently addressed an urgent appeal to the Chairman of the Russian Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko, to grant refuge to the oppressed Circassians. There are at least 80,000 Circassians living in Syria. "Peaceful civilians have become hostages in the conflict between the state troops and the opposition. Heavy artillery was used and people tried to find shelter in completely insecure basements, from where they phoned to ask for help. People were killed," says his letter. He demands a humanitarian corridor to the two villages and also their evacuation.

Some Circassian refugees from other Syrian villages arrived in Turkey. In the Turkish city Reyhanli in the province of Hatay alone, 70 members of this ethnic group were registered among the Syrian refugees. For the Circassians in northern Caucasus, the escape way is blocked for now. Although about 500 Circassians were admitted to Russia after Valentina Matvienko had informed himself about the situation in Syria in March of 2012, but momentarily the Russian embassy is not issuing any more visa – despite the willingness to help that was signaled by the Circassian communities in the Caucasus.

The STP has issued a memorandum on the situation of the Circassians in Syria, in the Caucasian republics and other exile countries. It also focuses on their historical sufferings which are closely associated to Sochi. When the Winter Olympics will be held there in 2014, the collective expulsion of Circassians by the Tsarist army in 1864 will reach the 250th anniversary.

You can dowload our memorandum (in German) here.