STATUS AND PROSPECTS OF STUDYING NATIVE LANGUAGE IN THE CIRCASSIAN DIASPORA OF TURKEY
This article deals with historical review of the process of Circassian language teachingin Turkey, where the world’s largest Circassian community lives.The first attempt to teach Circassian was made in imperial period, in 1910, despite the social and political upheavals and military situation that the country experienced until 1923.After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and foundation of the Turkish republic (1923) situation in the educational sphere deteriorated significantly, as a ban was imposed not only on teaching but also on the public use of the languages of ethnic groups, including Circassian. This situation continued until the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Turkey began implementing political and cultural reforms in the process of European integration.The article puts special emphasis on the description of dynamics of the accompanying processes andthe challenges in Circassian language teaching in Turkey.