İNGİLİZ GAZETELERİNDE ÇERKES SÜRGÜNÜ SÜRECİNE DAİR SÖYLEM: GÖÇ, SÜRGÜN VE SOYKIRIM KAVRAMLARININ KULLANIMI
THE DISCOURSE ON THE PROCESS OF THE CIRCASSIAN EXILE IN BRITISH NEWSPAPERS: USE OF THE CONCEPTS OF MIGRATION, EXILE AND GENOCIDE

Summary/Abstract: Academics the world over are, to this day, still studying how to the Circassians migrated from the Caucasus to Ottoman Empire during the second half of the 19th century. There presently are dozens of different interpretations and views about the subject depending on where you look. British newspapers published during that same period described the events using very inconsistent language. That, too has led many to debate whether the migration should be viewed as “exile” or “genocide”. That, thus, arises from two different schools of thought. (1) Russia forced the Circassians into exile in the Ottoman Empire in anticipation of mass death. (2) The panic caused by the Russian occupation alongside mass deaths caused the incident to turn into an “unplanned, mass migratory movement.” However, during the period in question, the British public wasn’t yet linguistically aware of “ethnic cleansing” or “genocide.” Using discourse analysis, the purpose of this study is to explain the conceptual basis behind the so called “Circassian population movement” as the [Victorian] British public would have viewed it, and thus make a contribution to the ongoing discussion about whether the events in question were in fact “exile,” “genocide,” or otherwise.

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