From 1763 to 1864 the Circassians fought against the Russian expansion. May 21, commemorates the last stand of 20,000 Circassian men and women, armed mainly with swords and bows against the 100,000 strong horsemen, infantry and artillery of the Russian army. The majority of the remaining population was forcibly expelled mainly to the Ottoman Empire via Black Sea in overcrowded small boats. According to Ottoman archives nearly 1 million migrants entered the Ottoman territory from the Caucasus by 1879, with nearly half of them dying on the shores because of starvation, exposure and drowning. 

The ones who stayed behind were re-localised and their population was diluted by Russian colonists that were established on to their ancestral lands. Today the Circassian people living in the Russian Federation (their number is estimated at 700 000), are separated from each other into different entities - the Kabardino-Balkar Republic, the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, the Republic of Adygea and Krasnodar Krai.- where they are minorities.

The exiles were dispersed over all the geography of the Ottoman Empire. Often they met with animosity of the local population and had to adapt to different customs and languages. Although there are no official statistics, approximately 2–2.5 million Circassians are thought  to reside in Turkey. They are organised under about 80 cultural associations and collaborate with their kin in other countries. They work on the recognition of the Circassian genocide by the international community, organise courses to learn and preserve their languages and traditions. Many still dream of returning back to their ancestral homes but experience the obstruction of the Russian Federation. 

Similarly, from 18 to 20 May 1944, the Crimean Tatars were forcibly deported by the Soviet Union. Mainly women, children and elderly men were brutally deported crammed into freight wagons with no idea where they were going, with only minimal luggage. The several hundred kilometres of journey lasted several weeks, under horrible conditions. Thousands died of hunger and disease. Many more perished due to the harsh living conditions of where they were relocated. Soviet authorities confiscated their homes and lands, settled new colonists and renamed all the toponyms. By the end of May 20 there were no Crimean Tatar staying in the Crimean peninsula.

This was not the first deportation of the Crimean Tatars, particularly after the Crimean war in 1856 a large number of Crimean Tatars were encouraged to  emigrate to the Ottoman Empire. 1944 deportation simply finished the process. Only by 1989 the ban on the return of deported ethnicities was officially removed. The Crimean Tatar national movement led a large-scale return to the Crimean peninsula without receiving any financial compensation for the injustices of the deportations. 

According to the Russian census conducted in 2014 after illegal annexation, at least 280,000 Crimean Tatars are living in the peninsula. However, their culture is suppressed as their language is suppressed in the school and Russian is widely used as the language of instruction. Religious institutions are only permitted to operate with strict supervision. Moreover Crimean Tatars are subjected to forced mobilisation, killings, enforced disappearances, and imprisonment.

Similarly, homeland Circassians increasingly feel the pressure of assimilation as they cannot use their language in everyday life since they are a minority. Moreover, in the schools the teaching of their language was first reduced and then made completely optional which opens way to the suggestions that Circassian language is not as important as Russian. The preservation and revival attempts of their tradition which is called khabze is suppressed. The history of Circassian is not studied in the schools let alone the Circassian genocide. Russian propaganda belittles Circassian identity and teaches that they were just mountaineers. 

As the Circassian national movement has gained momentum many in the Circassian diaspora wish to return to their ancestral homeland in the North Caucasus. However the Russian Federation denies their right to return as they describe the 1864 exodus “voluntary”. 

These are just a glimpse of what both Circassians and Crimean Tatars have suffered but they still kept their homeland in their heart. Every family has its own history and tales passed every generation to the other to remind them who they are and where they come from. I for example never met with my great-grandfather who gave a son as hostage to the Russian Empire and he was killed soon after. My father told me about it. I heard from my grand uncle that we needed to settle twice as the locals of the first settlement laid ambush and killed some of our tribesmen. 

Also the social life in our adyghe villages were different from their neighbours. Youngs often would come together at tea parties. First they would converse, then would clean the room, give my father an accordion, he would play and they would dance. When the party finishes, first girls would be escorted to their home by the boys, only then the group would disperse. Khabze were taught and obeyed. The word haynapa (shame) was the biggest deterrence. From my father I also learned that my grandfather was sent to our ancestral lands during WWI to organise a revolt in the North Caucasus. Yes, that’s true and may be a bit more colourful than some other family stories. However, it is also true that even than, just after a generation from the terrible genocide, despite their dwindled numbers, our kin was ready to fight once more for freedom according to my grandfather.

Both the exiled and the homeland of the genocide victims endured and preserved their identities. Their wrongdoer continues to use the same methods to reach the same goals, just its name keeps changing from Russian Empire to Soviet Union and today it is Russian Federation.