Karachay

The Karachays (къарачайлыла, qaraçaylıla, also tawlula, 'mountaineers') are a Kipchak Turkic people of the upper Kuban valley and the northern slopes of Mount Elbrus, their national symbol, in today's Karachay-Cherkessia in Russia. They and the Balkars (Malkar) of neighbouring Kabardino-Balkaria are one people speaking one language, Karachay-Balkar, divided by Soviet borders; many trace descent from the medieval Alans. They are organised in some thirty clans (tukum). After Russia's conquest of the Caucasus some 10,000-15,000 Karachays and Balkars emigrated to the Ottoman Empire, mainly in 1884-1887 and 1905-1906. In November 1943 Stalin deported the whole Karachay people to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan on charges of collaboration; about a third died within two years, and they were allowed back only under Khrushchev. Russia's 2021 census counted 226,271 Karachays.

Karachay culture is that of a Caucasian highland people: transhumant sheep and cattle herding between valley villages and summer pastures, a code of hospitality and respect for elders shared with the Circassians, clan exogamy, and the Nart epic cycle. Dances and accordion music, felt and embroidery crafts and dishes such as khychin (thin flatbread stuffed with cheese or potato), ayran and dried meat mark gatherings. Weddings, with bride-taking customs and long feasts, and funerals carry the strongest traditions in the diaspora.

Karachays adopted Sunni Islam of the Hanafi school in the 17th and 18th centuries through Kumyks, Nogais, Crimean Tatars and Circassians, over an older layer of Tengri and nature beliefs and some medieval Alan Christianity. Soviet rule secularised many in Russia, and Islam revived there after 1991; the Qadiriya Sufi order is present in the region. In Türkiye their practice matches that of their Sunni Turkish neighbours.

The Karachay-Balkar New Testament, the JESUS Film and audio recordings exist in Cyrillic script. Islam is a core part of Karachay identity and conversion carries strong social cost. In Türkiye, Karachays read Turkish and can use Turkish Scripture and media.