Circassian Americans

Arrival of Ottoman Circassians to the US

Before the Russo-Circassian War ended in 1864, a mass deportation was launched against the population surviving the Circassian genocide.^[6] Including calculations taking into account the Russian government's own archival figures, it is estimated that 95–97% of the Circassian nation^{[7][8][9][10]} was destroyed during this process. The displaced people generally settled in the Ottoman Empire.^[11] Between 1820 and 1920, significant waves of Ottoman migration to the United States began. Approximately 300,000 people immigrated to the United States from the Ottoman Empire. These immigrants feared they would not be accepted in a Christian country and would face discrimination. As a result, they concealed their Islamic faith (taqiyya) to avoid discrimination. Many Ottoman Muslims felt compelled to declare themselves as "Armenian" to avoid discrimination. At the beginning of the 20th century, individual Circassian immigrants from the Ottoman Empire began to appear in the USA.^[12]

"Old Immigrants"

The first "wave," consisted of Circassian White émigrés.^[13][14][15] The Circassians known as "old immigrants" left their homeland in the Caucasus shortly after the Russian Revolution. Many were clergy or aristocrats fleeing Communism. They set off from Novorossiysk by boat. They arrived in Istanbul in 1919 and lived there for about two and a half years. The conditions they lived in at that time were quite difficult due to the occupation of Turkey by Allied Forces after World War I. A Circassian woman known there as Fatima Hanum helped them.^[16] Fatima Hanum found a way to contact high-level Turkish officials and persuaded them to provide shelter for the refugees who had no place to live. As a result, the Ottoman Sultan allocated one of his unfurnished summer houses, which would soon be called the "Circassian House," to the Circassian refugees.^[16] Visiting this house, Admiral Bristol was saddened by the state of the Circassians; he contacted the US government and requested that the Circassians be admitted to America.^[17] Fatima Hanum hurriedly organized a private meeting and announced that the State Department had approved the admission of all Circassian refugees to the United States. However, after a long discussion, the majority rejected this offer and decided to stay in Muslim Turkey. Only a few Circassian families accepted and decided to immigrate to the United States. They arrived in America on August 1, 1923.^[16] In the 1930s, individual Circassian families and persons from Turkey, Syria, and Transjordan also resettled in the USA.^[18][14]

Arrivals resulting from World War II

The second "wave" of Circassian and other North Caucasian immigrations to the USA falls on the period of World War II, 1939–1945. So-called "displaced persons," scattered across the countries of Europe and the Middle East, began to resettle in the USA:^[18][17][19] When the Soviet army broke the German front in the Caucasus on January 17, 1943, most of the male population aged sixteen and over in this region fled to Europe for fear of being accused of collaborating with the Germans. As World War II neared its end, these refugees crossed the Italian Alps into Austria in May 1945 and settled in the Drau (Drava) River valley. Stalin demanded the return of these refugees from the Allied Powers. Circassians explained their situation by writing and sending appeal letters to leaders such as US President Roosevelt and UK Prime Minister Churchill, insisting that they not be returned to the Soviet Union. However, their requests were disregarded, and British soldiers came to collect them and extradite them to the Soviet Union. Most were captured; some managed to escape, while others committed suicide by jumping into the river. Those who managed to escape went to refugee camps and disguised themselves as refugees fleeing Nazi oppression; some came to America this way. The first of these were the Circassian couple Salamat and Teuchejh Bayramoglu, who immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1950. Blanaghaptsa was their real surname, and "Bairamoğlu" was a pseudonym they used in Europe during the post-war years.^[16]

Establishments

The Circassian Benevolent Association was founded by Circassian Americans on June 19, 1952, to "study and improve all matters concerning the welfare of Circassians in America and to strengthen the bonds of cooperation among Circassians wherever they may be in order to preserve the Circassian heritage."^{[14][16][20][21]} It houses a community center, a mosque, a Sunday school for language and history, and a banquet hall.^[4]

The Circassian Cultural Institute was founded in Totowa, New Jersey, in 2005. In California, the Kavkaz Cultural Center and the Circassian Association in California (est. 2006) serve the local community.^[18][22] Circassian Education Foundation (CEF) was established in 2005 and promotes higher education by providing scholarships to Circassian youth.^[4] Circassian Cultural Institute is focused on connecting Circassians globally and promoting awareness of the Circassian genocide.^[4] The Nassip Foundation was founded in 2010 to protect and promote Circassian language and history.^[4]

Arrival of Middle Eastern Circassians to the US

The first Circassian to come to the US from the Middle Eastern Circassian diaspora was Omar Kashoga and his family from Jordan, who arrived in 1917. In 1951, Mustafa Kazuk and his family, a Circassian from Turkey, arrived. Later, migrations began from other countries such as Syria and Saudi Arabia.^[16]

The third "wave" of Circassian immigration to the USA falls in the summer of 1967.^[23] Hundreds of Circassian refugees from the Syrian Golan Heights occupied by Israel began to arrive in Paterson.^[24] Jordanian and Syrian Circassian communities in the US grew further after the Six-Day War in 1967.^[16][25] Circassians also migrated from the Middle East following the Syrian civil war.^[26][27] Due to the lack of employment prospects in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the process of labor emigration intensified within the Circassian diaspora of Syria: young specialists began to leave in search of work in the USA, Canada, Western European countries, and the United Arab Emirates.^[25] In subsequent years, the process of Circassian emigration from Arab countries and Turkey to the USA continued. In the 1990s and early 21st century, an insignificant number of Circassians from the North Caucasus resettled in the USA, predominantly young specialists seeking to find promising work.^[28] The American Circassian community mobilized to send aid to Turkey following the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes.^[29]