Case Study Circassian Migration FV - EUROCLIO

Why did so many Circassians go to the Ottoman
Empire?
“If a proper system of succour be established,
the Turkish Government might make
considerable capital of this movement. There
are vast and fertile plains and tracts of land in
Asia Minor, and other parts of the empire,
comparatively denuded of population, to which
the Circassians may be drafted with advantage.
The rapid development in the growth of cotton,
which only requires bands for its further
extension, could bring into immediate
requisition and profit the employment of a vast
number of the people; but something must be
done immediately, and the most practical and
useful mode of proceeding is to provide
abundant means of transport. “
The Times, June 13, 1864
What do these two extracts from The
Times tell us about the indirect
consequences of Circassian migration
to Ottoman Empire?
“There is a project also of drafting some 20,000 of
these men into the Turkish army: the Grand Vizier
and Minister of War, Fuad Pasha, has sent a military
commission to the Black Sea, with this object,
headed by Ali Pasha, a general officer of Circassian
origin, who is said to have weight and authority
with them. The execution of this measure will
enable the War Department to relax considerably
the system of recruiting, which would be an
incalculable boon to the country at large; and
judging by the past exploits of the Circassian race,
neither the army nor the general population of the
empire will suffer by the infusion of this new blood
into their ranks. This is certainly an excellent idea,
and one that may work well in time, but the urgent,
the almost imperative want of the moment is to
obtain immediate relief, and by the adoption of
stringent sanitary measures to check the progress
of the disease which is destroying these
unfortunate creatures in the proportion of twenty
per cent., and is spreading itself among the
indigenous population.”
The Times, June 13, 1864
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