СУЩЕСТВОВАНИЕ ЧЕРКЕСОВ В ТУРЦИИ: ВОСТОЧНЫЙ И СРЕДИЗЕМНОМОРСКИЙ ПРИМЕР

Although every country has its unique conditions, the socio-demographic data about the Circassians living in the eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey can be viewed as a representative sampling for Turkey or even a sampling of all of the Circassian Diaspora because the majority of Circassians in the world presently live in Turkey. The data analyzed in this chapter were obtained through surveys conducted by the Adana Caucasian Cultural Society in 2004-2005 as part of a project supported by the Representation of the European Commission to Turkey. Data from 5 cities (Adana, Mersin, Kahramanmaraş, Osmaniye, Antakya), 4 districts (Ceyhan, Tufanbeyli, Göksun, Reyhanlı) and 36 villages or small towns were obtained by face-to-face interviews with 2236 families. In the interpretation of the research findings, the survey data were analyzed in three categories: (1) socio-demographic substructures, (2) building Circassian collective identity, and (3) Circassians and the political process.