In the summer of 1998, Prince Ali of Jordan, who was raised by a Circassian family, organised a trip with a special team composed of ten security guards of the Jordanian King. They were all dressed in ‘authentic’ Circassian warrior costumes and accompanied by horses, which have a special place in Circassian culture. These riders travelled from Amman to North Caucasia through Syria and Turkey. They received a very warm welcome in those Circassian villages and towns they visited in both Syria and Turkey. Circassians in Turkey were in fact shocked at the sight of these authentically dressed Caucasian men with their horses, resembing mythical figures from beyond the Caucasian mountains. Every village organised festivals to welcome their kin. This was an opportunity for many Circassians, or Adygei as they call themselves, in Turkey to realise that there were other Circassians whose destiny is similar to their own. Those imagined distant kin had suddenly become real. This incident is just one of many indications of the recent Circassian ethnic resurgence in Turkey.1 Circassian associations and some Turkish TV channels (CNN Turk and NTV) recently broadcast the video-film of this journey to a wider audience. The video-film was accompanied by a soundtrack from Loreena McKennitt, who also belives herself to be of Circassian descent. The journey of the Prince of Jordan as well as many other contemporary forms of representation initiated through means of electronic capitalism contribute to the construction of a ‘community of sentiments’ (Appadurai 1997) amongst Circassians who live across borders. This journey has also made the Circassians in Turkey publicly visible.
This article has two principal aims, one of which is to apply diaspora studies to the Adygei-speaking Circassian diaspora in Turkey, using the primary conceptual tools of diasporic identities, globalisation, and cultural reification. The other purpose of the article is to scrutinise the processes of cultural reification among Circassian diaspora groups in Turkey. The findings presented here have been gathered from my own anthropological research conducted both in urban and rural spaces.
http://www.de-regulation.org/node/8