KBSU honored the memory of the Circassians — victims of the Caucasian War

On May 17, 2023, in honor of the approaching Day of Remembrance of the Adyghe people — the victims of the Caucasian War (1763–1864) at the Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after H.M. Berbekov held a memorable evening. Representatives of various public organizations, major religious denominations, teachers and students of the university were united by the memory of the mournful events of a century and a half ago, during which many highlanders died and an almost complete exodus of the indigenous peoples of the Caucasus took place, as a result of which they were scattered all over the world. Opening the meeting, acting rector of KBSU Yuri Altudov said:

The memory of the Caucasian War is part of our culture. The memory of the ancestors is needed in order to learn from them how to create, to preserve their national identity and culture. Today’s generation of Adyghe-Circassians is facing the future, but they also understand that the past must be studied and known in order to learn the right lessons and do everything to preserve and develop our basic values, national traditions, language, history, culture as a whole. KBSU, one of the leading centers of science and culture, is doing a huge amount of work to unite young people, representatives of various regions of our country and countries of the world. An indicator of this is the number of students, of which we have 18 thousand, of which 2.5 thousand are foreign students, including children of repatriates. We understand that there is nothing more valuable than friendship and mutual respect of people. And today, during the period of a special military operation, this issue is especially relevant for us. We see that the society has rallied around the head of our state, this pleases us, because our patriotic youth is a great merit in this. We, worthy representatives of our ethnic group, are committed to creative work together with all the peoples of the Russian Federation for the benefit of the prosperity of our peoples and our great country.

The head of the Department of Russian Language and General Linguistics Svetlana Bashieva noted that the Adyghe people, starting from 1917, made a huge leap in their development, like other small peoples of Russia:

Today, the Adyghe people have their own fiction, other spiritual monuments. I would like to remind you that the people are alive as long as the language and culture are alive. In KBSU, a lot of work is being done to popularize the Adyghe language and Adyghe culture not only among students of our republic, but also among compatriot students from other countries. Svetlana Bashieva called on students to use their potential for the benefit of the development of the Adyghe culture and the Adyghe language.

Mikhail Golikov, Director, Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the St. Petersburg State Philharmonic Society for Children and Youth, Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Tavrichesky International Symphony Orchestra, People’s Artist of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, sent his video message:

10 years ago, life connected me with cultural heritage Adyghe people. Due to the birth of the “Symphony of the Caucasus” project, I was lucky to work with many representatives of the republics of the North Caucasus, which I am very proud of. War is a terrible thing. Today we see how hot spots are ignited in different parts of the world and how people suffer from this. I hope that the unifying power of culture will help us correctly evaluate the results of these conflicts, conduct the necessary analysis in order to prevent them from happening again. With all my heart I wish health and prosperity to you, young people who will go forward and carry the flag of their culture, the history of their people and, together with Russia, continue a common future.

Member of the Board of Trustees of the KBSU, Chairman of the International Circassian Association Hauti Sohrokov thanked the representatives of all peoples who gathered in the center of culture named after H.S. Temirkanov in KBSU, to share the sadness for the Circassians who died during the protracted Caucasian war:

I am grateful to fate that today in our republic we live in peace and harmony with all the peoples inhabiting it. We need to cherish all that is valuable, above all the good-neighborly relations that we have developed over many years, to preserve peace and mutual respect. I, like each of you, think about my family, about children and grandchildren, and I want them to have a great happy future and to preserve the best qualities of our people. Unfortunately, the history of any ethnic group consists not only of joyful events, but also of sad and sorrowful ones too. The Caucasian war was a product of its era, the era of colonial wars, expansion and rivalry of empires. Our ancestors said that it is necessary to know and remember history not so that the past dominates us, but in order to design the future. Moreover, we all know that the Adyghe people connected their fate with Russia long before the start of the Caucasian war. The motto «Forever with Russia» confirms the correctness of the choice made by our distant ancestors almost five hundred years ago. May no nation ever again experience such a tragedy.

The audience was presented with a poignant literary and musical composition dedicated to the Day of Remembrance of the Circassians — the victims of the Caucasian War. Its participants were actors of the Kabardian Drama Theater, Honored Artists of the KBR Fatima Chehmahova and Ahmed Hamurzov, soloist of the State Academic Dance Ensemble of the KBR «Kabardinka» and actor of the musical theater, honored artist of the KBR Amirhan Havpachev, students of KBSU Ratmir Bifov and Eduard Zhigunov, as well as first-year students of different directions native language training.

It should be noted that the organizer of the memorable evening is the center of the Adyghe culture named after A. Tsipinov in KBSU under the guidance of the candidate of philological sciences, associate professor of the department of the Kabardino-Circassian language and literature Madina Ezaova.

Translated by Gekkieva J.A.