Circassian Studies

EŞREF: Kuşçubaşı’nın Alternatif Biyografisi, gayrinizami harp tarihimizin en meşhur ismini en insani özellikleriyle ortaya koyan sıradışı bir kitap…

Adı tarihe Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa’nın kurucusu ve ilk başkanı olarak geçen Eşref Kuşçubaşı gerçekte kimdi? Ömrünü gayrinizami harp ve istihbarat faaliyetleriyle geçiren bir kahraman mı? Yoksa Milli Mücadele sırasında Yunan saflarına geçerek yıllar boyunca Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’ne karşı savaşan bir vatan haini mi?

Gayrinizami harp ve istihbarat tarihi uzmanı Polat Safi, bu sorulara Eşref Kuşçubaşı’nın çoğu gün yüzüne yeni çıkmış olan şahsi evrakına dayanarak hazırladığı alternatif biyografiyle yanıt veriyor: EŞREF, yakın tarihimizin, hakkında
çok şey yazılıp çizilmesine karşın aslında hala bir muamma olan bu tartışmalı figürüne dair ezberleri bozuyor ve ona önce bir insan, sonra tarihi bir kişilik olarak yeniden ayna tutuyor.

Bu kitap aynı zamanda yakın tarihimizi ilgilendiren birçok karanlık noktayı da aydınlatıyor: Eşref, Arabistan Devrimci Komitesi diye bir örgüt kurdu mu? Çok yakın olduğunu iddia ettiği Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Enver Paşa ve Çerkes Ethem’le nasıl bir ilişkisi vardı? Garbi Trakya Hükümeti ve Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa’nın başkanlığını yaptı mı? Mehmet Akif Ersoy, “Çanakkale Destanı”nı onunla birlikte gittiği Necid görevi sırasında mı yazdı? Eşref, Yakup Cemil hadisesinde nasıl bir rol oynadı? Milli Mücadele aleyhindeki ayaklanmalarda payı oldu mu? Neden Yunan tarafına geçti? Atatürk’e suikast girişimindeki rolü neydi? ve daha nicesi…

Аннотация. В статье на основе опубликованных и архивных источников рассматривается участие 2-го Владикавказского казачьего полка в кавалерийском сражении у селения Субатан 6 июля 1877 г. Автором делается вывод о несоответствии официальных боевых потерь частей русской армии, принимавших участие в бою у селения Субатан, реальным.
Summary. Using published and archival sources, the article considers the 2nd Vladikavkaz Cossack regiment’s participation in the cavalry battle near the village of Subatan on 6 July 1877. The author draws a conclusion about the inconsistency between
the official combat losses of the Russian army units, which took part in the battle near the village of Subatan, and the real ones.

This article examines aspects of cultural exchange between the Middle East and the West in which Sufism, Christianity, the traditions of the Circassians and New Age concepts played a central role. It focuses on the teaching of Murat Yagan, of Abkhaz-Circassian origin who grew up in Turkey and immigrated to Canada in the 1960s, where he developed his philosophy, Ahmsta Kebzeh (“the knowledge of the art of living”). The Kebzeh way of life emphasizes modesty, mutual responsibility and compassion. Yagan linked these values to the ancient ethos of the Caucasus Mountains which he sought to revive as the basis of a universal vision. The nature of Kebzeh was influenced by the cosmopolitan environment in which Yagan was educated in Turkey; by his enrollment with Sufi circles in North America; and by the multicultural Canadian atmosphere. These diverse influences enabled him to devise an ecumenical model of dialogue between cultures. The article provides a first-time survey and analysis of Ke...

This is the single comprehensive scientific book in Italian on the tragedy of the Circassians in the XIXth Century. On the strictly documentary side, it contains the full transcription of the documents of the Italian consulate in Trebisond and above all of very important documents in French that have been known until now only partly and imperfectly through English reports. The book is not only on the forced exodus of the Circassian but also on their merging in the growing Turkish nation and on the difficult emergence of the recollection of the experienced tragedy in the republican age. Comparisons with and reflexions on the much more known Armenian tragedy are present. Turkish translation published, English translation in progress.

This paper deals with the situation of the Caucasian-origined population of Tukey. It focuses on three aspects: the difficult, controversial shaping of its own identity; the experience of the review Jıneps, which aims at connecting the struggle for the recognizing of the Caucasian identities with a a more general struggle for the democratization of the Turkish society; and the Abkhazians, who, contrarily to the other sides of the Caucasian diaspora, look at Russia as a worthwhile ally.

In recent years, due to some contemporary political influences in Russia, Circassian activists, and some foreign states have proposed that the Circassian exile (forced deportations) and Russian colonization in the 19th century, might be considered as an expression of the contemporary notion in philosophical politics of ethnic cleansing and the genocide by the Russian Empire. This campaign claims that according to the historical records during these colonization thousands upon thousands of humans were massacred. Hence, the formation of the Circassian Genocide as an international issue is begun to be internationalized, this paper tries to clarify the legitimacy question of the Circassian Genocide based on the ethical dimension and the meaning of genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948. We describe this view about moral epistemology elsewhere, but we will not elaborate on it in the present context. Another important factor that we will survey in this study, is the recent activities of Circassians to recognize this historical event as a genocide. Nowadays we see a considerable sort of unification and symphonic movement has been developed in Circassian identity around the international recognition of the genocide. Due to a lot of historical information, the aim of this paper is not to demonstrate or to prove the ethnic cleansing and genocide, but is to discuss that it was a genocide or not, according to our knowledge in Eurasian contemporary politics.

Из всех явлений традиционной религии причерноморских адыгов-шапсугов, культ грома (или молнии) Шибле (Щыблэ) имеет наибольшую консервативную устойчивость к переменам. Обрядовые мероприятия, относящиеся к этому культу, фиксировались сторонними наблюдателями у черкесских племен как минимум с XVI века. Сохранился этот культ и до наших дней, но подвергся изменениям и утерял многие элементы. Коренные перемены в общественном устройстве адыгов в XIX и XX веках превратили его из общенародного культа в ряд узких культов для малых групп, сохранивших память об отдельных элементах обрядовых форм, либо восстановивших их на основе этнографической и художественной литературы конца XX века.

На протяжении XIII–XV вв. в этнонимической и этногеографической номенклатуре Северо-Западного Кавказа  утверждается этноним «черкес» и,  соответственно,    название  территории  –  Черкесия.  Данный термин является  синонимом старого, употреблявшегося с античной эпохи термина зихи (название территории – Зихия). В статье исследуется вопрос о причинах внедрения нового термина и обстоятельствах, способствовавших его утверждению в исторической литературе как основного названия адыгского этноса.

Benim Dağıstanım bana posta yoluyla yayımcısı Koyusiyah Yayıncılık tarafından gönderildi. Sıklıkla tanıtım yazısı yazan biri olmadığım için, yayınevlerinden bana pek kitap gelmez. Tek tük geldiğinde de gönderene teşekkür mesajımı yazar, göz atar, okur ya da kitaplığıma kaldırırım. Mızağe’den sevgili dostum Kuban Kural, Koyusiyah’ın bu kitabı bana yollamak istediğini söyleyince de, çok üstünde durmamıştım. Rasul Hamzatov pek tanıdık gelmiyordu (ciddi bir cehalet) ve Benim Dağıstanım başlığı da pek çekici gelmemişti (bildiğin, kendini bilmezlik). Evet, Çerkesler ve Kuzey Kafkasyalılar olarak kayıp vatanın önemini, acısını biliyoruz, anısı kimliğimizin önemli unsuru ama Türkiye’mizdeki vatan edebiyatı üzerinden de vatan, memleket lafları biraz bezginlik vermiyor, gözlerimizi devirmemize yol açmıyor değil. Bütün bunlar bir yana, kitap elime ulaştığında 448 sayfa olduğunu görmek de, “tamam, hemen bir göz atayım, sonra da dolup taşan kütüphane raflarında bir yer ayarlamaya çalışayım” dedirtiverdi. Çok da iş var, ne yapayım?

Derkeeennn, işler tavsadı ve kitap elden bırakılamadan okunup tamamlandı. Doğrusu bu öyle keyifle okunan, o kadar ilginç bir kitap ki, hakkında yazmak bile biraz zor, bir parça zül geliyor. Şöyle diyesim var: “Benim Benim Dağıstanım bana, sizinki size. Kendi kitabınızı alın ve okuyun işte.” Ve ondan sonra da Rasul Hamzatov’un bol kullandığı bir Avar ya da Dağıstanlı ifadesiyle, “Vesselam, velkelam...”

Науке известен ряд традиционных культовых практик причерноморских адыгов-шапсугов, которые подверглись гибридизации со стороны авраамических религий и сохранились, либо исчезли к настоящему времени. Особенно выделяются среди элементов этих культов деревянные кресты-джоры в священных рощах. Наличие возможного католического (францисканского) следа в использовании T и Y-образных крестов для моления в них, а также наличие этих знаков в символике соседних народов – осетин и абхазов, определяется совпадением хронологических рамок и общего смыслового содержания этих символов внутри короткого периода влияния францисканского ордена на Северном Кавказе в XIII-XIV веках и в местных культовых практиках. Данное исследование посвящено постановке вопроса для обоснования гипотезы католического влияния на локальные культы, отраженное в символике T и Y-крестов-джоров.

During the second half of the XVIII century – the first half of the XIX century outstanding importance in the political history of Circassia played Natkhokuadj – a region in the west of the country, which had a special geostrategic importance. Culturally, it was the most contact zone, where Circassians consistently communicated with the Greeks, the Genoese, the Turks. This region belongs to the most ancient area of settlement of ancestors of the Circassians. In XIV – XVII centuries this territory belonged to the Circassian principality of Zhaney, but after the weakening of the princely power in Circassia during the XVIII century, this whole area was occupied by the Circassian highland population.
The name of Natkhokuadj goes back to a numerous highland clan Natkho, who originally was located in the area between Tuapse and Sochi. Natkhokuadj includes in its composition yet at least two princely possessions: the family of Zanoqo, who owned Anapa and its surroundings, and the family of  Bastoqo, who owned the area of Sudjuk-Kale. Political leadership in Natkhokuadj belonged to branched noble family Shupaqo. The representatives of this family are often mentioned in Russian, Turkish and European sources.
Natkhokuadj population experienced a strong military pressure on the part of the Russian Empire during the long Caucasian war and five Russian-Turkish wars that took place from 1768 to 1857. As a result of the military-colonial strategy of tsarism, implemented in Circassia in 1860 - 1864 years, Natkhokuadj completely disappeared from the political and ethnic map of the Caucasus.

In the final decades of Ottoman rule, several waves of refugees from the Russian Empire's North Caucasus region immigrated to Transjordan, where they founded Amman and other agricultural villages. This article examines the economy of Amman in its formative years as a Circassian refugee settlement. By exploring connections between North Caucasian refugees, Syrian and Palestinian merchants, and Transjordanian urban and nomadic communities, this study posits refugees as drivers of economic expansion in the late Ottoman period. I argue that the settlement of North Caucasian refugees and their active participation in the real estate market in and around Amman contributed to the entrenchment of the post-1858 property regime in Ottoman Transjordan. Through a study of an upper-class Circassian household and its legal battles, this article also illustrates the rise of refugee elites who benefited from the commodification of land and the construction of state-sponsored infrastructure in the late Ottoman Levant.

Winner, 2018 Best Article Prize, Syrian Studies Association

Winner, 2018 Khayrallah Prize in Middle Eastern Migration Studies, Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies

Based on phonological research of 37 Northwest and Northeast Caucasian languages, the author proposes for them an original and phonetically complete generalized featural alphabet shaped via peculiar usage of the morphological principles of construction of millennial South Caucasian alphabets. Unlike the phonetically inconsistent Cyrillic alphabets currently in use, it has exceptional properties for precise and alphabetically unequivocal rendition of all phonetic peculiarities of the North Caucasian languages which possess the largest consonant inventory among all languages of the world.

Public space discussion of various aspects of the Circassian (Adyghe) problematics and the so-called Circassian question became extremely hot in the mid-2000s in connection with such a significant event like the Olympics 2014 in Sochi. The viewpoint that the Circassian question itself does not exist outside the Olympic agenda is prevailing in the Russian research environment. The authors of the current article argue against the binding of the Circassian question exclusively to the Olympics and consider it in a broad historical and cultural context, tracing the transformation of its content and perception by the international community. The article gives a retrospective picture of the Circassian question in relation to the place, time and processes of both local and global significance, identifies the factors that influenced its coverage in a particular way and the main actors that determine the formation of public opinion. The authors distinguish the main historical stages of development of the Circassian national movement, give a detailed description of each of them, reveal the basic mechanisms and features, examine topical Circassian issues. The article gives a large amount of data on the Circassian organizations, their appeals to the governmental and international organizations. As follows from the analysis, the authors conclude that the sharp growth of the relevance of the Circassian problematics after 2007 is conditioned not only by the objective internal processes of the Circassian national movement, but even more by foreign policy factors and the Circassian question perceprion in the international arena has historically predetermined outcome.

В истории черкесов много загадочных и трагических страниц. Почему, например, в Средние века и Новое время, за пределами своей страны они проявляли большую мобильность и политическую активность, чем у себя на Родине? И в чем причины такой, во многом парадоксальной культурной модели поведения? Что двигало ими – «бегство от свободы»? Почему, распологая необходимыми природными, экономическими условиями и достаточными человеческими ресурсами, черкесы так и не смогли создать свою государственность? В статье автор предпринимает попытку найти ответы на эти вопросы, рассматривая наиболее характерные для черкесского традиционного общества формы политического отчуждения. Выявлены как позитивные, так и негативные последствия данного феномена в истории черкесского народа.

Circassian history is full of mysterious and tragic pages which give rise to many questions. Why was it, that throughout the Middle Ages and the Modern Age, the Circassians when serving in foreign countries tended to play a more important social role, displaying far greater mobility and political activity than when living in their homeland? What underlay their driving powers, were they striving for freedom or escaping from it? What caused their ‘curious’ cultural model of behaviour? Why did they fail to develop a broad governmental system in spite of natural, economic, cultural and human resources being available? In this article the author attempts to find the answers to these questions by taking into consideration those voluntary, involuntary, individual and collective forms of political alienation which are seen as characteristic of traditional Circassian society. Both the positive and negative consequences of this phenomenon in the development of the Circassian people are revealed.

Abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate the traditional music and instruments of the Circassians from the North-West People of Caucasus. The vast majority of Circassians, who lived through the 19th century's largest exile and immigration, were settled by the Ottoman Empire in Anatolia and the Balkans since 1864. These people, who are intertwined with music and dance in their social lives, tried to preserve their traditional music as a means of keeping their identity and keeping tradition and cultural heritage alive. During, they replaced some of their lost instruments and music with new ones. Those who remained in the Caucasus somewhat managed to preserve their traditional instruments, music and dance traditions. In this study qualitative research system is used. Voice record resources compiled by musicologists, ethnologists and various researchers, publications and visual resources were searched and internet search was made. Some of the audio and video resource samples are added at the end of this notice via Qr Code.

Özet: Bu çalışmanın amacı Kuzey-Batı Kafkasya halklarından olan "Çerkes"lerin geleneksel müziklerinin ve çalgılarının genel bir bakış açısıyla araştırılmasıdır. 19. yüzyılın en büyük sürgün ve göç olayını yaşayan Çerkeslerin oldukça büyük bir kısmı 1864 yılından itibaren Osmanlı Devleti tarafından Anadolu ve Balkan coğrafyasına yerleştirilmiştir. 19. yüzyılın sonlarından itibaren de çoğu Balkan-lar'dan getirilerek Anadolu'ya yerleştirilmişlerdir. Sosyal yaşamlarında müzik ve dansla iç içe olan bu insanlar, kimliklerini kaybetmemek için, yaşama tutunma aracı olarak geleneksel müziklerini korumaya çalışmıştır. Kaybolan çalgılarının, müziklerinin ve danslarının yerine yenilerini koymuş-lardır. Kafkasya'da kalanlar ise geleneksel çalgılarını, müzik ve dans geleneklerini her şeye rağmen korumayı başarmışlardır. Bu çalışmada nitel araştırma yöntemi kullanılarak daha önce yazarlar tara-fından ve çeşitli araştırmacılar tarafından derlenmiş ses kayıtlarına dayalı kaynaklar taranmış, ya-yınlar ve görüntü kaynakları ile internet taraması gerçekleştirilmiştir. Taranan kaynaklardan bazı sesli ve görüntülü örnekler karekod aracılığı ile çalışma sonuna eklenmiştir.

Rus-Kafkas Savaşı’nın Kafkas halklarının mağlubiyeti ve Rusya’nın zorunlu göç/sürgün politikasını uygulamaya koyması ile bitmesi, milyonlarca insanın Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’na ve bilhassa Anadolu’nun çeşitli yerlerine göçüne neden oldu. Bu göç dalgalarını genel olarak 19.yy’ın ikinci yarısının başından 20.yy başına kadar izlememiz mümkün olmakla birlikte, özellikle 1859-1865 arası dönemde göç beklenmedik ölçüde yoğun yaşandı. Bu duruma Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun yeteri kadar hazır olmaması, Anadolu’nun sosyo-kültürel ve coğrafi yapısı, göçmenlerin anayurtlarından getirdikleri sorunlar gibi pek çok etken mevcut durumu kötüleştirdi ve şehir yaşantısı olumsuz olarak etkilendi. Bu da şehir yaşantısında bazı yeni gelişmelere yol açtı.

English version of my monography (Italian original 2014), a comprehensive account of the origins, the core years and the aftermath of the massacre and forced exodus of the native population of the North-western Caucasus. It contains the full transcriptions of very important documents in French, documents which were since now roughly known or unknown. It presents and discusses also some relevant Italian reports, one of them defining in 1862 Russian operation "war of extermination". The book presents also a conceptualization of this tragedy in comparison with other tragedies commonly acknowledged as genocide.

Книга «Открытие Черкесии» представляет собой исследование значительного корпуса картографических памятников XIV – первой половины XIX вв., отображающих черкесское пространство Северо-Западного Кавказа. На основе картографических источников автор исследует проблему территориального роста и военно-политического усиления Черкесии в ордынскую эпоху, характер и масштабы генуэзского присутствия в адыгской стране. В исследовании рассматриваются вопросы политической и этнической истории черкесов на протяжении османской
эпохи, изменение границ Черкесии, взаимоотношения с ведущими державами, историческая география и демография отдельных земель и княжеств, топо- и этнонимика.

The monograph discusses Italo-Abkhazian relations during the period of dynamic trade-expansion of Italian city-states, primarily Genoa, on the Caucasian Black Sea coast, which is one of the important and still insufficiently studied topics in the history of mediaeval Abkhazia (13th–15th centuries). The essays address the issues related to: the relationship of the Italian maritime republics with Abkhazia in the 13th–15th centuries; the organisation of Italian trading activities in Abkhazia, primarily in the central city of the country – Savastopoli (Sukhum); the activities of the Roman Catholic Church in Abkhazia; the functioning of the consular and notarial services of Genoa in Savastopoli, as well as the large-scale export of slaves from the Black Sea basin, in particular from Abkhazia and Circassia. The work also
analyses the ethnonyms, toponyms and hydronyms of mediaeval Abkhazia and the coastal Circassia contained in various Italian documents, on sea-charts, atlases and portolans of the epoch, as well as the historical flags of Abkhazia as depicted on mediaeval maps.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introductory word
Foreword by V. Tomelleri
Chapter 1. Relations between the maritime republics of Italy and Abkhazia in the XIII–
                  XV centuries
Chapter 2. Savastopoli (Sukhum)
                    Cavo de Buxo (Bambora)
                    Nikofa (New Athos)
                    The Expansion of the Megrelian Principality
Chapter 3. The Catholic Church in mediaeval Abkhazia
Chapter 4. Genoese consulate and notary office in Abkhazia
Chapter 5. International trade in white slaves from the Black Sea basin
Chapter 6. Export of slaves from Abkhazia and Circassia in the 13th–15th centuries
Chapter 7. The Caucasian footprint in Italy. “A fair Circassian” in the “Orientalist” art
Chapter 8. Ethnic nomenclature of Abkhazia and Circassia in Italian documents and
                    nautical charts of the 13th–15th centuries
Chapter 9. Toponyms and hydronyms of Abkhazia and coastal Circassia on Italian
                    marine atlases and maps of the 14th–15th centuries
Chapter 10. Images of the flags of Abkhazia and Savastopoli on mediaeval maps and
                      marine atlases of the 14th–16th centuries
Conclusions
List of used maps
List of illustrations.
Bibliography
Abbreviations

My paper will discuss the history, origins, culture, and certain contemporary  issues pertaining to the Batalpashinsk Cossacks, who reside in the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia (North-West Caucasus, Russia), in the area known as the Upper Kuban’ ( Verkhnee Prikuban'e).

This paper is a part of the major study of the Republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia (KChR), an important player on the geopolitical map of Russia’s North Caucasus.  By taking a close look at the Batalpashinsk Cossacks from historical, social, and cultural perspectives, this work will attempt to analyze their changing role in this region. The role of local Cossack governance in the development of civil society and the strengthening of democracy in this Republic is on the rise.  It is promoted through Christian-Islamic co-existence and interaction, support of the old institutions of fraternity and brotherhood, such as kunachestvo, as well as development of the new ones among the republic’s many nationalities. In contemporary post-Soviet studies, there is no comprehensive study of the Batalpashinsk Cossacks, in particular, nor of the socio-political situation in Karachaevo-Cherkessia, in general. While aiming at filling in this gap, this research will help to expand our knowledge of the North Caucasus as a strategically important region in the southern borderlands of Russia.

Рахно К.Ю. Небесные битвы в булгарской мифологии // Традиционная культура народов Поволжья:  материалы  III  Всероссийской научно-практической конференции с международным участием (9-11 февраля 2016 г.): в 2 ч. – Казань: Ихлас, 2016. – Часть вторая. – С. 99-108.

Imperial Refuge revisits late Ottoman history through the lens of migration, holding the resettlement of Muslim refugees as critical to the making of the modern Balkans, Turkey, and the Levant. In the half-century before World War I, about one million Muslims from Russia's North Caucasus region arrived in the Ottoman Empire. Most of them came as refugees fleeing war and persecution. This dissertation investigates the political economy of refugee resettlement in the Ottoman provinces of Danube, Sivas, and Damascus and traces refugee networks throughout the empire and beyond. The ability of refugees to tap into local economies underpinned Ottoman regional and imperial stability. State support, whether in financial aid, legal infrastructure, or transportation, was paramount to the economic success of agricultural refugee settlements. In the northern Balkans, for example, insufficient state subsidies and scarcity of land for refugees contributed to the outbreak of Muslim-Christian clashes and then to the 1877-78 Russo-Ottoman War, which ultimately ejected the Ottomans from much of the Balkans. In central Anatolia, a lack of state investment hindered the development of refugee villages, which led to economic stagnation of the region. In contrast, in the Levant, Circassian and Chechen refugees took advantage of the state-built Hejaz Railway and land reforms to create booming settlements. The refugees founded three of the four largest cities in modern Jordan, including the capital city of Amman. This bottom-up history of refugee migration and resettlement is based on archival materials from Turkey, Jordan, Bulgaria, Russia, Georgia, and the United Kingdom, including previously unknown private letters and refugee petitions.

Winner, 2018 World History Association Dissertation Prize for the best dissertation in world, global, or transnational history

Winner, 2020 Society for Turkic, Ottoman and Turkish Studies (Gesellschaft für Turkologie, Osmanistik und Türkeiforschung) Prize for Outstanding Dissertation

Honorable Mention, 2019 Malcolm H. Kerr Dissertation Award in the Social Sciences, Middle East Studies Association

Основываясь на исследованиях по фонетике северокавказских языков, автор выявляет структурное несоответствие между исключительно богатым консонантизмом данных языков и их нынешними кириллическими алфавитами и, выдвигая идею о необходимости создания собственных и независимых систем письма для 37 западно- и восточнокавказских языков, находящихся под угрозой исчезновения, предлагает совершенно новую, оригинальную и обобщенную алфавитную систему, наделенную высшей степенью графемно-фонемной взаимооднозначности и основанную на принципах знакоформирования и морфологическом применении элементов графики трех исторических алфавитов Южного Кавказа и Армянского Нагорья.

Based on phonological research of 37 Northwest and Northeast Caucasian languages, the author proposes for them an original and phonetically complete generalized featural alphabet shaped via peculiar usage of the morphological principles of construction of millennial South Caucasian alphabets. Unlike the phonetically inconsistent Cyrillic alphabets currently in use, it has exceptional properties for precise and alphabetically unequivocal rendition of all phonetic peculiarities of the North Caucasian languages which possess the largest consonant inventory among all languages of the world.