On the Occasion of Circassian Flag Day!

Very soon, on April 25th, we will once again celebrate the day of our national flag.
In this regard, dear brothers and sisters, allow us to share with you some thoughts regarding this solemn date and the essence of the flag as a symbol.

Obviously, a flag is not just a piece of cloth, color, and ornament. It is never a trifle, as it is a concentrate of history, memory, and meaning. Within it, the past of a nation, its trials, its perception of itself, its sense of honor, and its right to the future are gathered in a compressed form. It is the visually expressed collective “we,” a sign that a people recognizes itself as a community with dignity, and not a random gathering of individuals without roots and destiny. That is precisely why on April 25th we must once again clearly tell ourselves and others: Circassians have their own flag, their own historical memory, their own name, and their own place in this world.

What is ordinarily scattered throughout the memory of generations, in the stories of elders, in the bitterness of losses, in the glory of ancestors, in wars and trials—is brought together into a single image within the flag. It reminds us who we are, what we have been through, and what we are obliged to preserve. When a national flag is raised, it is not just fabric that rises—the historical self-consciousness of the people and its memory of itself rises.

This is why the attitude towards the flag is always revealing. Through the attitude towards it, much can be understood: both the true feelings of others toward our people, and the degree of our own inner maturity. Where the flag is respected, the people itself is acknowledged. Where there are attempts to humiliate it, mock it, or present it as an accident, a trifle, or something conditional, the blow is not aimed at the cloth or the symbol as such. The blow is aimed at the dignity of the people, its historical memory, and its inner backbone.

And therefore, disrespect for the flag is disrespect for the people. In this matter, we should have neither timidity nor false delicacy. Any talk that the significance of the flag is disputable, that it can be devalued, reduced to “lines, circles, and squiggles,” is not harmless chatter. This is an attempt to disarm the people in the realm of symbols, and consequently, in the realm of the spirit. It is a blow to what connects generation to generation, an individual to the nation, and memory to the future.

Imagine if someone began to mock your family name, your lineage, your ancestral tamga, calling it all trifles and funny little badges. Wouldn’t you feel personally insulted? Wouldn’t you take it as an insult to your ancestors and your dignity? So why should we be indifferent when someone attempts to trample on the symbol of an entire people? Why shouldn’t we react to this painfully and jealously? On the contrary, it is natural. This is how the healthy feeling of a nation manifests itself. This is how its moral and historical immune system works, preventing the society from decaying from within.

Sometimes they try to instil in us that the flag is an “artificial” thing, created by people, and therefore unworthy of special reverence. But this is cheap sophistry and a substitution of concepts. Yes, the flag was created by people. But almost the entire human world, besides nature itself, is created by people: language, law, honor, the state, family ties, customs, oaths, public memory. None of this grows on trees or falls from the sky either. The human society rests precisely on these things. Artificial origin does not negate value—it merely shows that a people has created the forms of its own self-respect, its unity, and its historical will. And it seems to us that this only makes it more valuable.

And here it is especially important to understand the following: a flag is not only a solemn emblem for festive dates. It is also an instrument for the daily reproduction of identity. A nation exists not only in great moments, not only in eras of war, uprising, or triumph. A nation exists in everyday life as well—as long as it recognizes itself daily, reaffirms itself, and guards its symbols. Scholars of national identity have written about this for a long time. Benedict Anderson called the nation an “imagined political community”—not because it is fabricated, but because people feel a connection with a multitude of those they have never met personally. Michael Billig showed that a nation is, in a way, daily newly designated and reaffirmed through customary symbols, including the flag. And anthropologist Thomas Hylland Eriksen noted that flags evoke strong emotions and mark the boundary between “us” and “them.” In other words, a nation is sustained not only by the force of arms and the words of historians, but also by the power of everyday symbols through which it recognizes itself. That is why solemn dates and days when it is customary to specially honor them hold such significance.

The same applies to our flag. We, the Circassians, do not claim that it was sent down from the heavens or came to us from some mythical antediluvian antiquity. What of it? Is that the point? The point is that once our ancestors accepted this flag as a unifying symbol. The point is that it absorbed the idea of Circassia, of the unity of the people, of dignity, of the right to be oneself. For a reasonable person, this is more than enough.

Moreover, the power of a national flag lies precisely in the fact that it does not merely adorn the people, but gathers it. It keeps people within a common historical field, even if borders, distances, and decades have come between them. For us Circassians, this is of special, almost fateful importance. Our flag is the flag of a nation that has survived severe upheavals and dispersion, but has not disappeared. It is a flag that sustains the nation in the diaspora. It evokes a sense of belonging, and a sense of belonging is not an empty emotion, but one of the conditions for a nation’s survival. When a person sees their flag, they understand: I am not alone; I have my people; I have a name, a memory, a homeland, and a history. Without this, dispersion easily turns into dissolution. And with a unified banner, even geographical distance ceases to be an outright severance.

That is exactly why abandoning one’s flag or being indifferent to it is no small matter. It is a step toward abandoning much more: historical memory, political agency, the right to be named and recognized in the world as a nation, rather than as a formless population. A nation that ceases to cherish its symbols sooner or later begins to lose its will, its self-respect, and the respect of others. Those who renounce their own are valued by no one. Such people are usually only used against their own kind, and then discarded as useless.

But despite all this, another point must be clearly emphasized: we also welcome the striving of every nation to preserve its originality and its right to its symbols. Our flag is not against anyone. It is not a symbol of hatred, vindictiveness, or blind opposition. It is for something. For revival. For unity. For a dignified life. For historical memory. For the right to live on our land with our heads held high. For our children to grow up preserving ties with the best that our fathers and grandfathers bequeathed to us.

And therefore, April 25th must be a day not only of words, but of visible action. Hang the Circassian flag on your homes. Set it as your avatar on social media and share photos of family gatherings and public events on this day. Wear pins on the streets. Show your love for it openly and proudly—without any regard for those who would like to see us as a people without memory, without symbols, and without a core.

In conclusion of our address, we appeal to you, brothers and sisters: let the Circassian flag be visible on this festive day wherever Adygeans live and remember who they are. Let it remind each of us: we are a people with a glorious past, indisputable dignity, and a strong future. And let the love for the flag be expressed not only in a gesture, but also in the attitude toward one another—in respect, solidarity, mutual support, and loyalty to the nation. Then our flag will not be merely an emblem. Then it will truly be a living expression of our shared dignity, our memory, and our unyielding will to be ourselves.

Адыгэ лъэпкъыр Псэущ!

Strategic Research Center of the Circassian Socio-Political Organization “Habze”