By KYIV. May 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – A group of Ukrainian parliamentarians has proposed the Verkhovna Rada to recognize the genocide of the Circassian people by the Russian Empire.
Respective bill No. 9290 was registered on the website of the parliament on May 11. The text of the document is not available yet.
The initiative is co-authored by around 50 Ukrainian MPs, including Maria Mezentseva (the Servant of the People faction), Iryna Konstankevych (For the Future Group), Mykhailo Tsymbaliuk (the Batkivschyna faction), and Yaroslav Yurchyshyn (the Holos faction).
The genocide of the Circassians is the extermination of the Circassians by the Russian Empire in the Caucasus during the Great Caucasian War of 1763–1864 by ousting this people from their places of traditional residence in the northwestern Caucasus. As a result, about 90% of the Circassian population left their homeland and moved mainly to the territory of the Ottoman Empire, and colonists loyal to the empire settled in their place. Every year on May 21, Circassians around the world mark Day of Remembrance for the victims of the Circassian genocide.
