Facing the Past Liberates, Says Jıneps in 156th Year of Circassian Genocide

* Photo: Hikmet Adal - bianet

Click to read the article in Turkish

The multilingual Jıneps / Free Voice of Circassians monthly newspaper has carried the headline "Facing the past liberates" in memory of the ones who lost their lives in the Circassian Genocide on May 21, 1864.

Marking the 156th anniversary of the genocide in its May issue, the newspaper has noted that "facing the past does not degrade" people or states.

Giving examples of exile and genocide from around the world, the newspaper has said, "The ones who feel responsible for the unjust acts committed against the ones different than themselves should be able to face their own realities and apologize to the victims and they should be able to force their states to do it."

The newspaper has also briefly stated the following:

"Facing their histories does not degrade people, societies and, in the last instance, the states, it has never degraded them. On the contrary, doing this brings them respectability.

"And facing the sorrows of the past on the path of peace and democracy... We must be aware that so long as they are not confronted, they are avoided and even denied, we keep on experiencing unfortunate incidents.

"We must not keep silent, we must not be a party to the crime and we must, perhaps, make extra effort to ensure that people will not be a party to it. We can always make a start for a better world and a better life."

'First internal exile in Republican history'

On this occasion, the newspaper has also remembered the Circassians who were exiled from the Ottoman Empire and faced a second exile in Balıkesir province on May 2, 1923:

"With the Decree on thr Exile of Gönen-Manyas Circassians, 14 Circassian villages were evacuated and Circassians experienced the first internal exile in the history of the Republic of Turkey. We will not forget it."

Not genocide, but 'Tsitsekun'

Jıneps has also reminded its readers that since 2014, they have been using the Ubykh word "Tsitsekun" to refer to the genocide.

The newspaper has explained the reason behind their use of the word "Tsitsekun" rather than genocide in following words:

"The Genocide of the Jews is known as the 'Holocaust', Armenian Genocide as 'Meds Yeghern', Syriac Genocide as 'Seyfo' and Dersim Genocide as 'Tertele'. We wanted to symbolize the genocide faced by Circassians in 1864 with a word from their extinct language of Ubykh.

"From now on, we will prefer this word rather than genocide. With respect to Tevfik Esenç, who prepared a dictionary of Ubykh that did not have any speakers left by working with Dumezil, also worked with Şeraşidze and Norwegian linguist Hans Vogt apart from Dumezil and is known as the 'Last Ubykh'; this word is 'Tsitsekun', which is cited in the Ubykh Dictionary that was prepared by Hans Vogt and published in 1963, and means massacre, slaughter and, thereby, expressing the genocide in best terms."

About Jıneps

It has been published since 2005. It reports on the issues and problems concerning Circassians in Turkey and in the countries where the diaspora lives. It offers an open archive to researchers and academics from around the world who are interested in the Circassian culture and history.

Click here for the website of the newspaper. (HA/SD)