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Concept
Balkars
Summary
Balkars (Malqarlıla or Таулула, Tawlula, 'Mountaineers') are a Turkic ethnic group in the 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.
The modern Balkars identify as a Turkic people, who share their language with the Karachays from Karachay-Cherkessia and have strong lingual similarities with Kumyks from Dagestan.
Sometimes Balkars and Karachays are referred to as to a single ethnicity.
The ethnogenesis of the Balkars resulted, in part, from an invasion of Alania during the 11th century, by Kipchak Turks and their Cuman allies. Alania had its capital in Maghas, which some authors locate at Arkhyz, in the mountains currently inhabited by the Karachay-Balkar, while others place it in either what is now modern Ingushetia or North Ossetia.
During the 14th century, Alania was destroyed by Timur. Many of the Alans, Cumans, and Kipchaks migrated westward into Europe. Timur's incursion into the North Caucasus introduced the remainder to Islam.
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.
In the 19th century, Russia annexed the area during the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. On October 20, 1828 the Battle of Khasauka took place, in which the Russian troops were under the command of General Georgi Emmanuel. The day after the battle, as Russian troops were approaching the aul of Kart-Dzhurt, the Karachay-Balkar elders met with the Russian leaders and an agreement was reached for the inclusion of the Karachay-Balkar into the Russian Empire.
Deportation of the Balkars
In 1944, the Soviet government forcibly deported almost the entire Balkar population to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Omsk Oblast in Siberia. Starting on 8 March 1944 and finishing the following day, the NKVD loaded 37,713 Balkars onto 14 train echelons bound for Central Asia and Siberia.
Official source
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