SEARCH FOR A COMMON NORTH CAUCASIAN IDENTITY: THE
MOUNTAINEERS’ ATTEMPTS FOR SURVIVAL AND UNITY IN RESPONSE
TO THE RUSSIAN RULE
The Institute of Economics and Social Sciences
of
Bilkent University
by
MİTAT ÇELİKPALA
In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
in
THE DEPARTMENT OF
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
BİLKENT UNIVERSITY
ANKARA
February 2002
I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope
and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations.
---------------------------------
Associate Professor Dr. Hakan KIRIMLI
Supervisor
I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope
and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations.
---------------------------------
Professor Dr. Ali İhsan BAĞIŞ
Examining Committee Member
I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope
and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations.
---------------------------------
Professor Norman STONE
Examining Committee Member
I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope
and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations.
---------------------------------
Professor Dr. Erol TAYMAZ
Examining Committee Member
I certify that I have read this thesis and have found that it is fully adequate, in scope
and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations.
---------------------------------
Assistant Professor Dr. Hasan ÜNAL
Examining Committee Member
Approval of the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences
---------------------------------
Professor Dr. Kürşat AYDOĞAN
Director
iii
ABSTRACT
SEARCH FOR A COMMON NORTH CAUCASIAN IDENTITY: THE
MOUNTAINEERS’ ATTEMPTS FOR SURVIVAL AND UNITY IN RESPONSE
TO THE RUSSIAN RULE
ÇELİKPALA, Mitat
Ph. D., Department of International Relations
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hakan Kırımlı
February 2002
Throughout the history, the North Caucasian region has hosted a number of
peoples, whose numbers are occasionally limited to some hundreds, and whose
mother tongues are quite different from each other. Beyond this ethnic and linguistic
complexity, the religious pattern has been an additional factor to complicate the
matters. Nevertheless, despite the existence of this great diversity, all the inhabitants
of the North Caucasus have come to share the same way of life, traditions, customs,
and even the costume dictated by harsh mountain conditions and thus they are unified
by broad cultural similarities. It is believed that all these commonalities have created a
mode of life, or a common identity encompassing the peoples of the North Caucasus
called Gortsy or the Mountaineer identity. As a consequence, the Russians define all
these peoples of the North Caucasus with the general name of Mountaineer and then it
was accepted even by themselves.
These peoples, until the arrival of the Russians to the region, had continued a
life in an atomized state and never felt it necessary to form a common, comprehensive
organization or state. The feeling of freedom, culture and the
iv
common way of life were transformed to a conscious bond by the emergence of an
alien power –the Russians. By the late 16
th
century, the long-lasting struggle of the
Mountaineers with the Russians had begun.
The main concern of this study is, thus, to scrutinize the North Caucasian
Mountaineers’ long-lasting struggle of establishing North Caucasian identity and
independence, inside and outside their homelands. This thesis, which aimed to
analyze the stages of this struggle, intends to be the first comprehensive study on the
North Caucasian struggle of independence in this length.
Keywords: North Caucasus, Mountaineers, Mountain Republic, Union.
v
ÖZET
MÜŞTEREK BİR KUZEY KAFKASYALI KİMLİĞİ ARAYIŞI:
DAĞLILARIN RUS HAKİMİYETİ KARŞISINDA VAROLUŞ VE BİRLİK
MÜCADELESİ
ÇELİKPALA, Mitat
Doktora, Uluslararası İlişkiler Bölümü
Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Hakan Kırımlı
Şubat 2002
Kuzey Kafkasya, tarih boyunca, dilleri ve etnik yapıları birbirinden farklı çok
sayıda halka ev sahipliği yapmıştır. Bölgenin dini yapısı da bu farklılığa değişik bir
boyut kazandırmış ve karmaşık bir toplumsal yapının oluşmasına katkıda
bulunmuştur. Bu karmaşık durum ve birbirinden farklı etnik grupların varlığına
rağmen Kuzey Kafkasya halkları, zorlu coğrafi koşullar tarafından şekillendirilen
benzer yaşam tarzları, gelenek, örf ve adetleriyle ve hatta benzer giyim biçimleriyle
ortak bir kültür çerçevesinde benzeşmektedirler. Bu benzerliklerin, Gortsy ya da Dağlı
olarak nitelendirilebilecek olan ve Kuzey Kafkasya’nın tüm halklarını kapsayan bir
ortak kimlik yarattığına inanılmaktadır. Bu çerçevede Kuzey Kafkasya halkları Ruslar
tarafından Dağlı Halklar olarak adlandırılmış ve bu, Kuzey Kafkasyalılar’ın kendileri
tarafından da benimsenmiştir.
Bu halklar, Ruslar’ın bölgeye gelişlerine kadar, herhangi bir bütüncül yapı ya
da devlete ihtiyaç duymadan dağınık bir biçimde varlıklarını sürdürmüşlerdir.
Yabancı bir güç olarak Ruslar’ın Kuzey Kafkasya’ya sızmalarıyla birlikte
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