Balkars ( or аланла, romanized: alanla or таулула, , 'mountaineers') are a Turkic ethnic group in the North Caucasus region, one of the titular populations of Kabardino-Balkaria.
Their Karachay-Balkar language is of the Ponto-Caspian subgroup of the Northwestern (Kipchak) group of Turkic languages.
Identity The modern Balkars are a Turkic-Caucasian people, who share their language with the Karachays from Karachay-Cherkessia and have strong lingual similarities with Kumyks from Dagestan. Balkars and Karachays are sometimes referred to as a single ethnicity.
History
Ethnogenesis The ethnogenesis of the Balkars, alongside their Karachay neighbours, is dubbed as "one of the most difficult problems in Caucasian studies", which historians have debated, but some theories, in part, may have been from:
Ancient Caucasian peoples like the Circassians, Georgians, Durdzuks, and Armenians. The Oghuric Bulgars and Khazars who lived in Old Great Bulgaria and Khazar Khaganate. Batbayan was the only one of Kubrat's sons who remained in the Caucasus, while his four brothers moved from North Caucasus and went to the Balkans, the Italian Peninsula and the Volga River; one such entity would become Bulgaria, which was also established by the same Bulgar Turkic people but underwent massive Slavicization to become the Slavic Bulgarians. The intrusion of the Iranian tribe Alans during the 8th century, and the first wave of Kipchak with their Cuman allies' migration later on. Alania had its capital in Maghas, which some authors and historians locate at today’s Arkhyz, in the mountains currently inhabited by the Karachay-Balkar, while others place it in either what is now modern Ingushetia or North Ossetia. The result of Tokhtamysh–Timur war in 1395, which saw Timur crushed Tokhtamysh's Kipchak soldiers and routed them to the mountains; these second wave Kipchaks, now Islamised and distinct from the first Kipchak and ancient Oghur migration, brought with them their Borjigin Turco-Mongol heritage and intermarriages with various tribes, contributed to the Kipchakisation of some group of North Caucasian peoples to form the modern Karachays and Balkars, whose identities are a combination of native Caucasian-Iranian and also of partial (but significant) Turco-Mongol lineage.
While acknowledging contributions by Bulgars, Khazars, Alans and Kipchaks (among many others), Tavkul (2015) locates the ethnogenesis of Balkars-Karachays and other peoples of the Caucasus inside the Caucasus, not outside.
During the 14th century, Alania was destroyed by Tamerlane as part of the infamous war between the Kipchaks led by Tokhtamysh and the Karluk Timurid Empire. Many of the Alans, Cumans, and Kipchaks migrated westward into Europe; while the majority of remainders fled south, deep into the mountains; some Alan tribes would form the modern Ossetians, who became Orthodox Christians. Nonetheless, Timur's incursion into the North Caucasus introduced the remaining to Islam and the process of intermixing and ethnogenesis, though it was Tokhtamysh's leftover troops that resulted in the formation of what would be the future Karachays and Balkars, whose heritages remain natives to the mountains but also interestingly shared a greater component of Central and Northern Asian heritages than any other Caucasian peoples (except the Kumyks).
Most Balkars adopted Islam in the eighteenth century due to contact with the Kumyks, Circassians, Nogais, and Crimean Tatars. The Balkars are considered deeply religious. The Sufi Qadiriya order has a strong presence in the region.
Caucasian War
The Balkars and Karachays have been helping the Kabardians in their rebellions since ancient times. Thus, in 1787, Kabard's bailiff wrote: "The Kabardians, in cases of close, always find their shelter and shelter of estates with them (the Balkars)“.
During the uprising in Kabarda of the primary bridles of the Kudenetovs, in the battle of May 9, 1804 on the river Chegem, the Karachays and Balkars came to the rescue, Lieutenant General Glazenap himself in a report to the Russian Emperor Alexander I reported that the battle lasted from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., noting:
"...Fought in the gorges for the most part with 11,000 desperately fighting Kabardians, Chegemians, Balkars, Karachays and Ossetians knocked out of 12 dug-out auls"
In the subsequent uprising of Kabarda, which was in 1810, the Balkars again did not deny help, on April 30, General Bulgakov reported from the camp to the river Cherek:
"Their armed gathering of more than 2,000 horsemen and as many as pedestrians can be heard, with the help of the Balkars held in two fortified gorges at the foot of the snowy mountains, is locked by me."
The following years did not pass quietly either, the Karachays, for example, were engaged in robbery. In June 1822. Yermolov told Major General Stal:
"I'm sure, Your Excellency, that you will visit them if they continue to rob and don't want to evict"
And so, in 1828, the village of Nezlobnaya was brought together by fugitive Kabardians, Karachays, Balkars and other outer Kubans, on the way back a detachment of highlanders met with imperial forces, and there was a battle, in Georgi Emmanuel's report about these events it is written:
"At the same time, I dare to witness to V.I.V. the excellent courage shown by all our troops, who were in this case, against the selected only in a large number of mountaineers, who were in shells and fought with incredible effort, attacking artillery, such examples have never happened before"
In the same year, Emmanuel undertook an expedition to Karachay, the expedition lasted from October 17 to 29, a contingent was introduced into Karachay, the strength of which was more than 3,000 combat units with 15 guns, the final battle took place on October 20 near the village of Kart-Jurt. In official sources, the losses of Russian Empire amounted to 262 killed and wounded in unofficial sources up to 800 killed and wounded.(Gisetti Anton Ludvigovich, Collection of information on the losses of Caucasian troops during the wars of the Caucasus-Mountain, Persian, Turkish and the Trans-Caspian Territory. 1801-1885)Caucasus newspaper, Wednesday, June 18 (30), 1869.
After the battle, the Karachay people gave Amanats and accepted the conditions of the Empire:
"1) Obeying the will of Your Excellency, we undertake from now on not to be guilty of anything against Russia, and guilty people, such as: Kabardians and others, not to accept them at all, and not to join them; to always be loyal to the Russian throne and to confirm with an oath, to return everything stolen by us in advance by people, cattle and other property without seizure under oath.
2) In the certificate of the above, we give from the four surnames of the Amanates appointed by you.
3) If a large Circassian army will pass through our lands to invade Russia, which we will not be able to keep, we will not be accused of, but only immediately we are obliged to let us know about it, and we are responsible for those we will be able to keep.
4) If anyone has Muslims like us from the subjects of the Russian Emperor, no matter what claim is against us or we are against them, let us understand our customs, sheriat.
5) For exchange and trade, establish us on the river Kume, near the fortress of Akhandukovskaya, exchange yard, so that we can get salt, iron, goods and bread there and would be allowed to enter Russia according to our needs"
Despite this, in 1830–1831, there was an agreement between the Circassians, Karachays, Balkars and Abazins that they would help each other, and the general ambassador and representative of these peoples, or rather 12 provinces, Sefer Bey Zanoko was chosen. On this occasion, James Bell writes in 1837:
"The Circassians are convinced that their main, if not the only, hope rests on themselves and on their own swords. Therefore, they are preparing to continue the war against Russia on their own. To this end, Sefir Bey, the most prominent of their princes, Judge Haji-Oku Mehmet and other influential and high-ranking persons went on a tour of the provinces. Everywhere they were met by a meeting of special representatives who, under oath, committed themselves on behalf of their communities to remain faithful to each other and reject all conditions of obedience, whatever they may be and what Russia may offer, unless they are authorized by their general approval. At the same time, they granted the prince and judge the title of ambassadors to try to get help for themselves from abroad, specifically instructing the first to stay abroad to finally achieve this goal. It was especially stipulated that no change could be made to the provision of the treaty without the consent or even the presence of Sefir Bey. It has been almost seven years since he has been absent and since nothing says that he is going to return under the current circumstances (which cannot be explained by a sense of fear, since everyone agrees to recognize him as the bravest of the brave), he reminds us of the legislator who forced his subjects to swear to obey his laws before his return and who then left his country forever. The league, of which Sefir Bay was appointed ambassador, consisted of the following twelve provinces: Natuhach, Shapsug, Abaza, Psadug, Temirgoy, Khatukoy, Makosh, Besni, Bashilbay, Teberdekh, Braki and Karachay.
The Karachay-Balkars continued to be active until 1833, as well as to support the Kuban Circassians, thanks to which the Amanates received by Emmanuel in 1828 were sent in early 1833 to the Dmitrievsky semi-battalion of military cantonists:
"The Karachay people live in the tops of the Kuban River, the population of it can be put up to 5,000 souls, which are divided into two classes: the elders and the free people. The Karachay people have repeatedly raided themselves or together with other highlanders on our borders. In 1828, the general from the cavalry Emanuel penetrated the lands and took the Amanats from them as a pledge of loyalty, but as they continued to pass predators through their lands and some of them personally participated in predation, their Amanates were sent in early 1833 to the Dmitrievsky semi-battalion of military cantonists. According to their situation, the Karachay people can contribute a lot to ensuring the tranquility of the neighborhoods of Mineralnye Vody and Kabarda, in order to have time to convince them to this, I allowed the staff captain Prince Shakhovsky to promise them that their former Amanates will be returned if they again express submission on favorable terms for us. What they promised to do:
1. To give one amanat from the elders and the free people.
2. To accept one of the Kabardian princes loyal to us as a bailiff, so that during the passage of predatory parties with the Zakuban princes, the Karachay people could raise their weapons to the princely families, because according to the ancient custom of some highlanders, the common people cannot fight with the princes without having an order from their equal family.
3. Stop any friendly relationship with the mountaineers who are hostile to us, to keep guards from the tops of the Caucasus Mountains to the Morzhisin River, which is near the stone bridge in the Kuban, and to keep predatory parties not exceeding thousands of people, if there are more of them, then let the Urusbians and the nearest military post know.
4. If predatory parties break through below the Marzhisina River, the nearest military authorities are obliged to notify the Karachay bailiff so that he can take appropriate measures to assist in case of persecution of predators by Russian troops. If the government considers it necessary to bring troops into the Karachay lands, they should assist them as much as possible.