KARACHAY

Karachay: translation

Ethnic group. The Karachay are a Turkic ethnic group of some 190,000 inhabiting theNorth Caucasus. They form a plurality inKarachayevo-Cherkessiya, theethnic republicthat they share with the CircassianCherkess. Karachays are closely related to theBalkars; both groups speak dialects of the samelanguage, which is part of the Kypchak branch of the Turkic language family.Karachay are predominantlyMuslim, often identifying less strongly withIslamthan their Caucasian counterparts.

As one of thepunished peoples, the Karachay were deported en masse during World War II toKazakhstanandUzbekistan; tens of thousands died on the journey or shortly thereafter. They were rehabilitated and returned to their reconstituted homeland in 1957. Today, ethnic identification remains tepid, crosscut by clan affiliation; however, Russophobia, a by-product of the deportation and exile, is a staple of the Karachaynational identity. While the collectivization and deportation disrupted traditional social structures, the Karachay continue to recognize three principal societal stratifications: the largely extinctBii(barons), the subalternUzden(yeomen), and theKul(serfs); the latter group gained political dominance under Soviet rule. Since 1991, the Karachay nationalist movementJamagat(Karachay: “Renaissance”) has advocated a separate Karachay republic; however, demographic superiority due to high birthrates and Russian emigration has sapped support for such plans in recent years.