Circassians in Kosovo

After the Circassian genocide following the Russo-Circassian War, large number of Circassians were exiled to the Ottoman Empire, including in Kosovo.[1] Between 1858 and 1862, 6,000 Circassian families settled in Kosovo.[1][4] Other Circassians were settled in Niš and Prokuplje between 1862 and 1863.[1][5] Around 12,000 Circassians were once again sent to Kosovo and Serbia in following months.[1][6] In total, 40,000 Circassians were settled in Kosovo alone.[7]

The Ottoman Empire aimed to make life easier for the newly arrived Circassians, and did not tax them and they were provided with materials to farm with.[1][2] The Circassians were not well received by both Albanians and Serbs.[8] Both Albanians and Serbs considered the Circassians to be wild and primitive Barbarians.[9] People of the Kosovo region as well as some regional governors helped Circassians.[1][10][11] Since there was no mosque in Babimusa, where more than 200 Circassian families were settled, the local administration started to work on the construction of a mosque at the end of 1864.[1][12]

The Circassians in Bulgaria fiercely opposed the Bulgarian Revolt in 1876. Kosovo Circassians also joined the Bulgarian Circassians.[1][2] European countries in turn demanded that the Circassians leave the region.[13]

Circassians sided with the Turkish army during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878).[2] After the war, the Circassians were seen as a "Muslim threat" and expelled from Kosovo, Bulgaria and other parts of the Balkans by Russian armies following the end of the Russo-Turkish war. They were not allowed to return,[14][15] so the Ottoman authorities settled them in new other lands such as in modern Jordan (see Circassians in Jordan), where they would have conflict with Bedouin Arabs,[16] and Turkey (see Circassians in Turkey).[17]

When the Kosovo War began, the Circassians in Kosovo emigrated to their ancestral homeland, Republic of Adygea, where they founded a village named Mafekhabl near the republic's capital of Maykop.[18] Muammar Gaddafi sent support and donations to the village. Gaddafi, according to his own words, showed a deep respect for the Circassians and their historical suffering.[19]