Alexander Thatcher

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Alexander Thatcher is an American graduate student at Central European University working on Turkish Circassian History.

Commemoration of the Circassian Genocide in Ankara, 21 May 2023. Photo: Alexander Thatcher/OC Media

Abkhazia

Foreboding and fracture for Turkey’s North Caucasus diaspora

by Alexander Thatcher

•7 min read

Turkey’s North Caucasian diaspora has long occupied an uneasy position between Ankara and Moscow, but after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Erdogan’s re-election, tensions within the community and its representative organisations are coming to the fore. This year’s commemoration of the Circassian Genocide on 21 May stood out: instead of primarily gathering in Istanbul, the bulk of the commemoration took place in Ankara at Anıtpark — a park built in the shadow of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s mausol

The Circassian Day of Mourning rally in Istanbul. Photo: Alexander Thatcher/OC Media.

Circassian Diaspora

Turkey’s largest North Caucasian organisation to take anti-Kremlin turn?

by Alexander Thatcher

•4 min read

Turkey’s largest North Caucasian organisation, KAFFED, might be poised for a possible anti-Kremlin shift in light of a change in leadership that promises to shake up the organisation’s role in contemporary Turkey. Hundreds of North Caucasian flags dotted the streets of Istanbul on 21 May, just as they have on every Circassian Day of Mourning for the past two decades. In a sea of thousands of demonstrators commemorating the Circassian Genocide, you could see the green and gold of the Circassi

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