Abstract:

Whereas the Circassian diaspora engaged in a self-centered debate around the idea of repatriation to the Caucasus in the mid-1960s, it was already an offical Soviet policy targeting the Soviet emigration in the West as early as 1943. Moscow was resolute about eliminating the threat which it believed emanated from the millions-strong body of former Soviet subjects who had remained abroad at the end of the war. Following Stalin’s death, Kremlin (re)formulated an emigration policy and came up with several categories that ranged from the ring leaders to the ordinary rank-and-file. The campaign to lure the emigration did not amount to much save a few hundred individuals, mostly from South America, but it succeeeded in sowing seeds of mistrust within emigré communities. As far as the Circassians were concerned, some communities were more responsive to the idea of repatriation than others, namely Turkish Circassians. Having been indoctrinated against communism in this NATO member country, many demonized rapatriation as a Soviet plot to paralyze the diaspora, which in fact was not a viable political force. Surely, failing to discuss the idea of repatriation in a rational manner was a missed opportunity for Turkish Circassians, for they lagged behind their brethren in Syria and Jordan, something that puts them at great disadvantage even today

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