A Story of Reunion – ABKHAZIA
Introduction:
The Circassians of Turkey are the descendants of the peoples of the Caucasus who, after losing their centuries-long struggle for freedom in 1864, were expelled from their homeland by Tsarist Russia and resettled in the territories of the Ottoman Empire. Until the dissolution of the USSR, they were generally known under the common name “Circassians.”
The deportation, recorded in history as one of the greatest tragedies of the modern era, resulted in enormous loss of life. Those who survived sought to adapt to the conditions of their new homeland while simultaneously struggling to hold onto life itself. Yet, despite centuries of exile, they never removed their ancestral homeland from their hearts.
What kept these people alive was the hope of one day returning to their homeland. Yet this dream never came true. Even after one and a half centuries, although the hope of return gradually faded, the longing never left their hearts. They carried this yearning across generations—through songs, music, tales, and laments.
Second, third, and fourth generations passed in exile. For the later generations, the Caucasus had become a land of dreams. To go there, to see it, to find relatives, to embrace them, to smell the soil and breathe its air remained an ever-present dream.
It was only this generation that had the fortune to realize the dream.
This book recounts the journey of those who, in 1991, traveled to the “Land of Dreams”—the Caucasus—and the “Land of Souls”—Abkhazia—through a Caucasian folk dance tour, turning their dream into reality. For one month, they lived and breathed this long-awaited reunion.
This journey, taking place a century and a half after the exile, inscribed not sorrow but joy into the painful pages of Circassian history—a true story of reunion.