Syria's Circassian community marks genocide for first time in Damascus

Syria's Circassian community held a historic demonstration in Damascus this week to mark a 19th-century genocide against the group, said to be the first public commemoration of the tragedy in the country's history.

Over 100 Syrians took part in a vigil at the Umayyad Square on Wednesday for the 'Circassian Day of Mourning', which remembers the brutal military offensives by Russian forces in the 18th and 19th centuries that led thousands of Circassians seeking refuge in the Middle East.

These ethnic cleansing campaigns and pogroms by Tsarist forces resulted in the expulsion of almost the entire Circassian population from their historic homeland in the Caucasus region, with the territory incorporated into the Russian Empire.

Celine Kasem, a Syrian Circassian activist and researcher, said the vigil in Damascus was not only a chance for the community to publicly remember the dead but also to demonstrate the new freedoms for minority groups in Syria after the fall of the Assad regime.

"Before 8 December (the revolution), the Assad regime did not allow more than five people to gather, unless it was for a regime-sanctioned loyalist parade. Civil society, as we know it, did not exist," Kasem told The New Arab.

"The claim that the regime 'protected minorities' was a carefully crafted lie. In reality, it ruled through fear, division, and control - turning communities against each other and making us afraid to even connect.

"To be able to commemorate 21 May - the Circassian Day of Sadness - publicly, in Damascus, is a dream come true."

Circassians previously dominated large parts of the northern and western Caucasus region, until bloody Russian Tsarist expansions in the region led to as much as 97 percent of the ethnic group fleeing the area.

Thousands of Muslim families fled to Turkey and then to lands in modern-day Jordan and Syria, with around 250,000 Circassians living in the Levant region today.

Many generations later, Circassian-Syrians and Jordanians are fully integrated into mainstream society but maintain some distinct cultural customs and traditions.

Circassians in the MENA region still mark the anniversary of the collapse of Circassian defences on 21 May 1864, resulting in the annexation of the northern Caucasus region by Russia and the exile of much of the native Muslim population.

Previously, the community in Syria had to mark the genocide in semi-secrecy due to a complete intolerance of non-state-sponsored civil society by the Assad regime, particularly those condemning their ally, Russia.

After the fall of the regime on 8 December, Syrian Kurds marked Nowruz this year publicly in Damascus and other cities for the first time in decades.

Circassian Syrians also finally managed to commemorate the Circassian Day of Mourning in public for the first time, a hugely emotional experience particularly for those, like Kasem, who were forced into exile during the Syrian revolution.

In Damascus, curious members of the public and security forces asked the activists more about the event and the history of the Circassian community during the vigil, showing how much of Syria's cultural and religious diversity had been kept under wraps for decades under the Assad regime.

"Any public acknowledgment of our history was either silenced or stripped of its political significance. Commemoration was limited to private gatherings, if allowed at all, and always under the shadow of state surveillance," Kasem told The New Arab.

"The regime feared that recognising historical injustices - especially those involving Russia - might encourage broader demands for justice, accountability, and self-determination among Syria’s diverse communities. Instead of honoring our memory, they erased it."

There are also parallels for the Circassian community between the Syrian people's struggle to highlight the crimes of the Baathist regime and the Circassian diaspora's efforts to have the world recognise the genocide.

In January, Circassian activists achieved a victory when the Ukrainian parliament voted to recognise the genocide.

"As Circassians, we’ve held this day of remembrance in cities around the world, but never in our own capital. Now, with Syria freed from one of the most brutal dictatorships in modern history, we can finally gather, mourn, remember, and reconnect - openly and without fear," said Kasem.

"Today we recognise that the tragedies our ancestors endured over a century ago have found a haunting echo in our new home, Syria. For the past 14 years, as Russia became the backbone of the brutal Assad regime, Syrians have suffered the same patterns of massacre, displacement, and repression."