Circassian
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a term derived from the [Turkic] Cherkess (Çerkes), and is not the self-designation of any people. It has sometimes been applied indiscriminately to all the peoples of the North [Caucasus]. Most specifically, the term can apply only to the Adyghe people. Today a significant number of Circassians live in diaspora, primarily due to the Muhajirism, an exodus of Muslim population from the Caucasus since 1864 after the successful Russian invasion of the Caucasus.
The [terms] [vagueness] stems largely from the fact that the northern Caucasus was a remote and relatively unknown area for Westerners and Turks, who often did not distinguish carefully between similar groups living there. -
Relating to or denoting a group of mainly Sunni Muslim peoples of the northwestern Caucasus.
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