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149 
 
Later on, it was taken into consideration in the Congress of Mountaineers in 
May 1917 and the special commission on cultural issues and education set up. This 
commission studied the issue in detail (See Chapter II). But the failure of 1918 did 
not allow the North Caucasian State to implement these decisions in the North 
Caucasus. 
In the following sections of the article, the author clarified the similarities 
between the approaches of the North Caucasians who were living in the North 
Caucasus and those in exile by comparing discussions which took place during a 
congress in Dagestan in 1928, and existing discussions from Severnyi Kavkaz. 
 
Another author Kosta (Kosta Zangi) joined the discussion by asserting a 
different argument. He pointed out that having a common official language was of 
course a big advantage, but for the North Caucasus in particular, the discussion of 
this issue would have no benefit, because of the existing situation. Therefore, “for 
the time being there was no need to dwell on this issue and assume a position.”
382
 
The participation of General Mikail Halil to the discussion brought about 
some serious reactions. As for the alphabet, Mikail Halil was in favor of the Latin 
script and, in order to overcome some obstacles related to particular sounds, he 
proposed some modifications. His analysis on the common official language 
provoked some reactions. 
“I have never been inclined to my fellow citizens who, by the help of the 
tombs and archaeological excavations, were trying to prove that the North 
Caucasian peoples had the same origin with the European nations like Kelt, 
Frank, Roman, Greek, Germen or etc. In my opinion, the native populations 
                                                 
382
 Kosta, November 1934. “Müşterek Devlet Dili Mes’elesi Münasebetile,” Severnyi Kavkaz/Şimali 
Kafkasya, (Warsaw), 7: 17. 

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150 
 
of the North Caucasus are originally Turks or Tatars. Some tribes like the 
Kumuk, Balkar and Karachay could preserve their languages, but the other 
majority, like Avar, Lak, Chechen, Osetian, Abkhaz and Adige had 
forgotten their original languages and instead took their current 
languages.”
383
 
 
From that perspective, he defended the position choice had to be made, it 
could never be Turkey’s Turkish or Russian. The most suitable choice, in spite of 
its inadequate literary quality, would be the Kumuk language. 
The response, in a violent manner appeared suddenly. A Kabardian, 
Shurdumyiko Ali (Ahmet Ali Şurdum) replied to him in the next issues: 
 
“Not so Mr. Mikail, on the contrary, the Kumuks, Karachays and Balkars 
distorted their own languages as a result of social intercourse. …in 
designing the race connections I am not passionately inclined to the 
Europeans. …Today, while there are several excellent languages existing 
among our tribes and particularly the Adyge language is still more copious 
than most of the independent states’ languages, is it convenient that trying 
to dictate a Turkic language and dealing with the reorganization of the 
Kumuk language on behalf of the common language?”
384
 
 
“It could be asserted that the Adyge language, although it was deprived of 
the enlightenment, is copious than most of the nations’ languages”
385
 
 
This language and alphabet discussion continued until 1938 on the pages of 
the periodicals enthusiastically. Moreover through ‘the Commission for the 
Languages of the North Caucasus’, founded in 1933, the Kumuk language was 
chosen as the lingua franca for the North Caucasus. For the future they planned to 
                                                 
383
 Mikail Halil, December 1934. “A.T. Beyin Makalesine Cevap,” Severnyi Kavkaz/Şimali 
Kafkasya, 8: 8-9. 
384
 Şurdumyiko Ali, February 1935. “Şimali Kafkasyanın müşterek resmi dili mes’elesinde Mikail 
Halil Paşa Hazretlerine cevap,” Severnyi Kavkaz/Şimali Kafkasya, 10: 16-17. 
385
  Şurdumyiko Ali, March/April 1935 “Şimali Kafkasyanın müşterek lisanı mes’elesine dair,” 
Şimali Kafkasya,11/12: 26-27 

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151 
 
“unify the North Caucasian alphabets using the Latin alphabet” having used Latin 
with diacretics and diphthongs to create a 47-letter alphabet. They had undertaken a 
Polish-North Caucasian dictionary with 2,000 basic words in each language written 
in the new alphabet.
386
 
 
5- Caucasians in General: Caucasian Independence Committee: 
While the peoples of the Caucasus were continuing their activities within 
their own national centers in the framework of Prométhée, the setting up of an 
overarching organization encompassing all the peoples of the Caucasus still had 
some adherents. The leaders of the national centers of the North Caucasus, 
Azerbaijan and Georgia were also in favor of it and they actively took part in 
activities to set up such an organization. The activities of these groups were 
expressed firstly in Vol’nye Gortsy’s No. 3 published in July 1927.
387
 Later on, the 
establishment of the Caucasian Independence Committee-CIC (Komitet 
Nezavisimosti Kavkaza) was declared ostentatiously during celebrations for the 10
th
 
anniversary of the declaration of independence of the Caucasian states in Paris in 
1928.
 388
 
The Committee’s basic aim was to bring all Caucasian nations, that is the 
North Caucasians, Azerbaijanis, Georgians, and Armenians, together and to unite 
their efforts in the common struggle against the Bolsheviks or the Soviet Union to 
restore independence. The basic project of this Committee was the establishment of 
                                                 
386
 See, “The Commission for the Languages of North Caucasia,” 1938. Wschod-Orient, 2: 26-29. 
387
 “Chas Priblizhaetsya,” 28 July 1927. Vol’nye Gortsy, (Prague), 3: 1-2 and Batraz, “Chto Delat?” 
8-10. 

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