Search for a Common North Caucasian Identity: the Mountaineers' Attempts for Survival and Unity in Response to the Russian
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SEARCH FOR A COMMON NORTH CAUCASIAN IDENTITY: THE MOUNTAINEERS’ ATTEMPTS FOR SURVIVAL AND UNITY IN RESPONSE TO THE RUSSIAN RULE The Institute of Economics and Social Sciences of Bilkent University by MİTAT ÇELİKPALA In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS in THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS BİLKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA February 2002 I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations. --------------------------------- Associate Professor Dr. Hakan KIRIMLI Supervisor I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations. --------------------------------- Professor Dr. Ali İhsan BAĞIŞ Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations. --------------------------------- Professor Norman STONE Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations. --------------------------------- Professor Dr. Erol TAYMAZ Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations. --------------------------------- Assistant Professor Dr. Hasan ÜNAL Examining Committee Member Approval of the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences --------------------------------- Professor Dr. Kürşat AYDOĞAN Director ABSTRACT SEARCH FOR A COMMON NORTH CAUCASIAN IDENTITY: THE MOUNTAINEERS’ ATTEMPTS FOR SURVIVAL AND UNITY IN RESPONSE TO THE RUSSIAN RULE ÇELİKPALA, Mitat Ph. D., Department of International Relations Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hakan Kırımlı February 2002 Throughout the history, the North Caucasian region has hosted a number of peoples, whose numbers are occasionally limited to some hundreds, and whose mother tongues are quite different from each other. Beyond this ethnic and linguistic complexity, the religious pattern has been an additional factor to complicate the matters. Nevertheless, despite the existence of this great diversity, all the inhabitants of the North Caucasus have come to share the same way of life, traditions, customs, and even the costume dictated by harsh mountain conditions and thus they are unified by broad cultural similarities. It is believed that all these commonalities have created a mode of life, or a common identity encompassing the peoples of the North Caucasus called Gortsy or the Mountaineer identity. As a consequence, the Russians define all these peoples of the North Caucasus with the general name of Mountaineer and then it was accepted even by themselves. These peoples, until the arrival of the Russians to the region, had continued a life in an atomized state and never felt it necessary to form a common, comprehensive organization or state. The feeling of freedom, culture and the iii common way of life were transformed to a conscious bond by the emergence of an alien power –the Russians. By the late 16th century, the long-lasting struggle of the Mountaineers with the Russians had begun. The main concern of this study is, thus, to scrutinize the North Caucasian Mountaineers’ long-lasting struggle of establishing North Caucasian identity and independence, inside and outside their homelands. This thesis, which aimed to analyze the stages of this struggle, intends to be the first comprehensive study on the North Caucasian struggle of independence in this length. Keywords: North Caucasus, Mountaineers, Mountain Republic, Union. iv ÖZET MÜŞTEREK BİR KUZEY KAFKASYALI KİMLİĞİ ARAYIŞI: DAĞLILARIN RUS HAKİMİYETİ KARŞISINDA VAROLUŞ VE BİRLİK MÜCADELESİ ÇELİKPALA, Mitat Doktora, Uluslararası İlişkiler Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Hakan Kırımlı Şubat 2002 Kuzey Kafkasya, tarih boyunca, dilleri ve etnik yapıları birbirinden farklı çok sayıda halka ev sahipliği yapmıştır. Bölgenin dini yapısı da bu farklılığa değişik bir boyut kazandırmış ve karmaşık bir toplumsal yapının oluşmasına katkıda bulunmuştur. Bu karmaşık durum ve birbirinden farklı etnik grupların varlığına rağmen Kuzey Kafkasya halkları, zorlu coğrafi koşullar tarafından şekillendirilen benzer yaşam tarzları, gelenek, örf ve adetleriyle ve hatta benzer giyim biçimleriyle ortak bir kültür çerçevesinde benzeşmektedirler. Bu benzerliklerin, Gortsy ya da Dağlı olarak nitelendirilebilecek olan ve Kuzey Kafkasya’nın tüm halklarını kapsayan bir ortak kimlik yarattığına inanılmaktadır. Bu çerçevede Kuzey Kafkasya halkları Ruslar tarafından Dağlı Halklar olarak adlandırılmış ve bu, Kuzey Kafkasyalılar’ın kendileri tarafından da benimsenmiştir. Bu halklar, Ruslar’ın bölgeye gelişlerine kadar, herhangi bir bütüncül yapı ya da devlete ihtiyaç duymadan dağınık bir biçimde varlıklarını sürdürmüşlerdir. Yabancı bir güç olarak Ruslar’ın Kuzey Kafkasya’ya sızmalarıyla birlikte v özgürlük, ortak kültür ve yaşam tarzı gibi kavramlar ortak bir kimliğin ve bilincin yaratılmasının unsurları olarak önem kazanmışlardır. Böylece 16. Yüzyılın ikinci yarısından itibaren Dağlıların uzun soluklu özgürlük ve kimlik mücadelesi başlar. Bu çalışmanın temel amacı da Kuzey Kafkasya halklarının, ister vatan topraklarında olsun ister sürgünde, bu uzun soluklu kimlik ve dolayısıyla özgürlük mücadelelerini incelemek ve devamlılıkları ortaya koymaktır. Bu çerçevede bu çalışma, mücadelelerin tüm safhalarını kapsayan ilk kapsamlı çalışma olmayı hedeflemektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Kuzey Kafkasya, Dağlılar, Dağlı Cumhuriyeti, Birlik. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the preparation of this thesis I have been fortunate to have the assistance of a number of people and institutions, and now is the time to convey my appreciation. They all deserve my special gratitude. First of all, I owe the greatest debt of gratitude to Professor Ali İhsan BAĞIŞ who helped me patiently in developing my academic mind and supported me virtually at all my difficult times. I also owe a lot to my supervisor, Associate Professor Dr. Hakan Kırımlı. His firm support and guidance made the conclusion of this thesis possible. My heartfelt thanks for their passionate encouragement and support in my research pursuit. I also thank to Professor Norman STONE, Professor Dr. Erol TAYMAZ, and Assistant Professor Dr. Hasan ÜNAL for their kind and expert critiques on my thesis. Thanks are also due to Sefer BERZEG for his support. I have benefited greatly from conversations with him. I also owe similar debts to Muhittin ÜNAL and KAFDER, KAFKAS VAKFI and ŞAMİL VAKFI and their staff. I am grateful to American Research Institute in Turkey contributed to the realization of this thesis with the scholarship that they provided. Lastly, a thankful hug to my wife, Özlem, for her kind and enduring attitude and support to my research. She deserves more than usual thanks. It goes without saying that the responsibility for the completed work is entirely my own. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... iii ÖZET ...................................................................................................................................v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..............................................................................................vii TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................................ viii INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER I: THE NORTH CAUCASUS, THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE AND THE NEED FOR UNIFICATION.........................................................................................6 1-THE NORTH CAUCASIAN GEOGRAPHY...........................................................................7 2-ETHNIC AND LINGUISTIC FORMATION .........................................................................11 3-THE RELIGIOUS STRUCTURE ........................................................................................15 4-THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE .............................................................................................21 5-THE POLITICAL MAKE UP ............................................................................................26 6-THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE ..............................................................................................29 7-THE NATIVE REACTION: EMERGENCE OF THE ‘MURIDIZM’.........................................33 8-RE-EMERGENCE OF THE MURIDIZM .............................................................................38 9-TOWARDS THE SOVEREIGN STATE: THE NORTH CAUCASIAN IMAMATE......................41 CHAPTER II: RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONS AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NORTH CAUCASIAN MOUNTAIN REPUBLIC...................................................59 1-FROM REVOLUTION TO REVOLUTION: FEBRUARY-DECEMBER 1917...........................59 A-The First Congress of the Peoples of the North Caucasus.....................................64 B-The Second Congress.............................................................................................70 C-Cossacks