Contemporary diaspora identities differ to a certain extent from conventional forms of diasporic formations in the sense that the former are no longer characterised by the overwhelming wish to return. Contemporary diasporas are built upon two principal pillars: modern communicative circuitry, and acts of exclusion by receiving societies. Deported by the Russians from their homeland in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Circassian tribes were welcomed by the Ottoman Empire for practical reasons. Since then they have been subject to several acts of both inclusion and exclusion by the Turkish Republic. They were also treated differently by their local neighbour groups. This paper claims that Circassian groups in diaspora have generated distinct ethnic and cultural identities depending on how they were recognised, or unrecognised, both by their neigbours and the Turkish state. Cultural reification, or essentialisation, becomes common practice among diaspora groups, providing them with a safe haven against misrepresentation, prejudice, exclusion and discrimination. Cultural reification not only adds to the construction of a sense of communality, but also serves as a way of doing politics for the Circassians in diaspora. Culture, then, not only remains a heritage, but also becomes a political strategy.

Our great-grandparents did not untie their bales for the first fifty years with the expectation of return to the homeland sooner or later; I, myself, haven’t yet untied the bale in my soul (30-year-old Abzekh male from Eskisehir, interview, July 2001).

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.

http://www.de-regulation.org/node/8