Adyghe

   Ethnic group. The Adyghe, or Adygs, are a nationality of the northwest Caucasus region living principally in the Republic of Adygeya, where they represent 24 percent of the population, Kabardino-Balkariya, where they represent 55 percent of the population, and the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, where they represent 11 percent of the population. Worldwide, the Adyghe community— including the diaspora—is estimated at 2.9 million, with the largest community, known as the Muhajirs (Arabic: “refugees” or “emigrants”), living in Turkey.

   Sometimes called Circassians or Cherkessians, Adyghe are traditionally a warlike people whose values of bravery, dignity, and honor are affirmed through an orally transmitted code of rigid and complex customs and social norms called Adyghe Xabza. Adyghe are Sunni Muslims, but elements of pre-Islamic paganism persist among many communities. Adyghe speak languages from the Northwest Caucasian family, which includes Adyghe, Kabardian, Abkhaz, Abaza, and the recently extinct Ubykh.

   The republican social movement Adyghe Khase, established under glasnost, represents the premier nongovernmental organization intended to advance the interests of the Adyghe in the Russian Federation. While it promoted independence in the past, its current mission is to facilitate the “integration of the peoples of the North Caucasus, protection of their cultural-ethnic and socioeconomic rights and interests, and preservation of originality of the North Caucasian people.” However, recent studies show that support for separatism among Adyghe remains close to 50 percent.