Kipchak branch
Balkars
A Turk mountain people of the central Caucasus, deported in 1944 and able to return to their valleys only in 1957.
Malqarlıla, Taulula / Balkarlar
The Balkars live in the highest inhabited valleys of the central Caucasus, beneath Mount Elbrus, in the south-west of Kabardino-Balkaria, whose capital is Nalchik. Their most general self-name, Taulu, means “mountaineer”. They share one literary language with the neighbouring Karachays, and the two peoples are closely related in culture and history.
On 8 March 1944 the Soviet authorities deported the entire Balkar people, accused of collaboration with Germany, mainly to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, where they lived under special-settlement restrictions. Many deportees died in the first years of exile. Return to the Caucasus became possible in 1957, when the Kabardino-Balkar Autonomous Republic was restored.
Balkar culture is known for its medieval stone family towers and fortresses, for a share in the Nart heroic epic of the Caucasus, and for felt-making and embroidery.
- Language
- Karachay-Balkar, a Kipchak Turk language and the common literary language of the Balkars and Karachays, written in Cyrillic
- Branch
- Kipchak
- Homeland
- The high mountain valleys of south-western Kabardino-Balkaria in the central Caucasus (Russia) — the Baksan, Chegem, Khulamo-Bezengi and Cherek gorges
- Also living in
- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye and wider diaspora
Key dates
1827
The Balkar communities become subjects of the Russian Empire.
1920s–1930s
Karachay-Balkar is established as a written literary language.
8 March 1944
Deportation of the entire Balkar people by the Soviet authorities, mainly to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
1957
The Kabardino-Balkar Autonomous Republic is restored and the Balkars begin to return to their valleys.
Heritage
- Medieval stone family towers and fortresses of the Chegem, Cherek and Bezengi gorges
- The Nart heroic epic, shared with other peoples of the Caucasus
- Felt-making, embroidery and a living tradition of song and dance
Sources
- I. Shamanov and P. Friedrich, “Balkars”, in P. Friedrich and N. Diamond (eds.), Encyclopedia of World Cultures, vol. 6: Russia and Eurasia / China (G. K. Hall, 1994)
- J. O. Pohl, Ethnic Cleansing in the USSR, 1937–1949 (Greenwood Press, 1999)
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Karachay-Balkar language”