THE CHERKESSK ISSUE IN THE SOUTH RUSSIA: INNER CHALLENGES AND GEOPOLITICAL RISKS

Scholars are considering the problem of aggravation "Circassian issue" in the south of Russia, which took place in 2007, after the city of Sochi was the capital of Winter Olympic games in 2014. Traditionally, the "Circassian issue" refers to the process of entering the Circassian ethnic group in the Russian Empire, which began at the end of the XVIII century and formally ended in May 1864 after the end of the Caucasian War.
It is noted that to date the history of the Circassian people is often the subject of speculation by certain political forces, standing on the position of ethnic nationalism and pursuing their own specific goals. Almost immediately after Winter Olympic Games in 2014, a number of Circassian public organizations have criticized the holding of sports events in the region. In particular, against the games there were organized social movements such as the "Circassian congress", "Circassian International Association" and "Worldwide Circassian Brotherhood". Numerous Circassian diasporas didn’t stay aside, they created the committee so called  "No Sochi 2014", which brought together about 30 Circassian movements and organizations around the world. It is emphasized that nowadays, there are three basic requirements that are put forward to the Russian authorities the Circassian national movement: 1) recognition of the Russian events of the period of the Caucasian war a genocide of Circassians; 2) assistance to the repatriation of Circassians to their historic homeland; 3) creation of a single Circassian subject of the Russian Federation.
In a future prospect, the Russian authorities are not likely to bring into life all these requirements. One of the reasons is that the policy of the Russian Empire in relation to the Circassian ethnic group does not fall under the definition of genocide, stated in the UN Convention "On Prevention of the Crime of Genocide and Punishment." According to the author, we should differentiate two notions "genocide" and "war": unlike war, genocide is an intentional crime, its  purpose to exterminate a race or an ethnic group. The second reason why the authority can’t implement the demands of Circassian public organizations of the requirements is that the decision on the relocation to the territory of the Ottoman Empire in the XIX century was taken by Circassians, mostly of their own free will, which was obtained due to the propaganda carried out by Muslim clergy, with the support of the Turkish government and diplomatic structures of the UK. As for the third requirement, the inability to implement it is stipulated for  the fact that it carries a serious threat to the territorial unity of the Russian state. The project of creation the  «Great Cherkess Republic»  has existed since the beginning of the 90s, and the first requirement from Circassian national movement to leave Russia were made in the autumn of 1992.  Availability of this project proves the desire of certain forces to undermine the national security of the Russian Federation, and also to make contribution to the weakening of the country's geopolitical position in the region.

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