The Circassians of Sochi
Circassian men wearing traditional clothes pose for a photograph in a tea field during the visit of a delegation of diaspora Circassians in Golovinka, near Sochi, Russia, Oct. 15, 2013.
Circassians are a people indigenous to the North Caucasus region, most of whom were scattered across the globe by a 19th century tsarist military campaign that caused the deaths of huge numbers.
Many Circassians have called for the killings to be recognised as genocide, and have campaigned against the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, set to take place in the very same broad valleys and mountain slopes they say hold the bones of their ancestors.
Bolshoy Kichmay
Boys in traditional dress look at the audience from backstage before a dance performance for diaspora Circassians in Bolshoy Kichmay, in Greater Sochi, Oct. 15, 2013.
A delegation of Circassians hailing from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Israel, Canada, Germany and the U.S. travelled to the North Caucasus to visit historic sites of their ancestor's homeland ahead of the Olympics.
Bolshoy Kichmay
Bolshoy Kichmay
Bolshoy Kichmay
Tkhagapsh
Golovinka
Tkhagapsh
Circassian villager and former Soviet army correspondent and writer Madin Chachukh stands on his front porch in the village of Tkhagapsh in the Lazerevskoye district of Sochi, Oct. 26, 2013.
Tkhagapsh is one of the few remaining settlements in the Sochi region, that mainly consists of ethnic Circassians.
"As every small nation, the biggest threat we face today, is the loss of our language and subsequently our culture. There are only very few of us left, too few. We wish the government gave us money to help us preserve our language. Its loss would be a tragedy. I fear it will eventually happen, but we have to slow down this process" Chachukh said.
Tkhagapsh
Circassian villager Ashirkhan Chachukh, 82, and her great-grand daughter Saira, 4, sit in the living room of their house in the village of Tkhagapsh in the Lazerevskoye district of Sochi, Oct. 26, 2013.
"The Olympic Games are far away, they don't concern me. The only thing I wish is that they pass peacefully. God forbid, only no war! Then everything is good" Chachukh said.
Tkhagapsh is one of the few remaining settlements in the Sochi region, that mainly consists of ethnic Circassians.
Bolshoy Kichmay
Bolshoy Kichmay
Golovinka
Tkhagapsh
Tkhagapsh
Tkhagapsh
Tkhagapsh
Tkhagapsh
Circassian villager Muzarbek Teshu attends to his bee hives in the village of Tkhagapsh in the Lazerevskoye district of Sochi, Oct. 20, 2013.
Teshu, who inherited a beekeeping business from his father and produces his own wine, lives mostly off the produce he makes.
Historically, honey making has been one of the main trades the Circassian people have been known for, Teshu said.
Tkhagapsh
Lazerevskoye
Tkhagapsh
Tkhagapsh
Tkhagapsh
Tkhagapsh
Circassian villager Ais Tlyf poses for a photograph in his kitchen in Tkhagapsh in the Lazerevskoye district of Sochi, Oct. 20, 2013.
"The clan of my ancestors settled on this plain in the mountains in 1872 along with other Circassian families. It was long after the end of the Russian Caucasian war when hostilities had ceased and the Russians dismantled their military fort that used to be here," Tlyf said.
Tkhagapsh
Tkhagapsh
