The Movement Toward a Monolingual Nation in Russia: The Language Policy in the Circassian Republics of the Northern Caucasus [Rusya’da Tek Dilli Ulusa Yönelim: Kuzey Kafkasya’daki Çerkes Cumhuriyetlerinde Dil Politikası]

Abstract

Rusya’nın kurumsallaşmış çok-ulusluluk ideolojisi çerçevesinde, ülkedeki dil politikaları Rusların anadili Rusça ile Rusya’nın Rus olmayan diğer yerli etnik gruplarının anadilleri arasındaki ayrıma dayanmaktadır. Bu ayrım, Rusya Federasyonu anayasası ve çeşitli federal ve bölgesel yasalara da yansımakta, aynı zamanda pratikte de Rusça diğer otokton anadillere göre ayrıcalıklı bir uygulamaya tabi tutulmaktadır. Bu makale, etnik çeşitlilik kavramına yönelik Rusya devlet politikalarının geçirdiği çarpıcı dönüşümü irdelemektedir. Sovyet döneminin ‘Halkların Kardeşliği’ sloganında sembolleşen Leninist /Stalinist yaklaşım, asimilasyoncu ulus inşası siyasetine yönelmiştir. Bu yeni yaklaşım, etnik çeşitliliği temelde tek dilli ve tek kültürlü bir ulus devletin folklorik bir öğesi haline indirgemektedir. Peki bu ayrımcı etnik ve dil politikaların uygulanma amacı nedir? Bu makalede irdelenen Kuzey Kafkasyalı bir etnik grup olan ‘Çerkesler’ vaka çalışmasının ortaya koyduğu bulgulara göre on yıllardır uygulanan bu politikalar, siyasi ve kültürel anlamda her iki tarafın da zararına olmuş, ve  Rus ve Rus olmayan halkların birbirlerine yabancılaşmasına neden olmuştur.  Bir taraftan, uygulanmakta olan asimilasyoncu dil politikaları Rusya devletinin hali hazırda Rus olmayan etnik azınlık gruplarla yaşadığı sorunlara ek problemler yaratmakta, öte yandan Rus olmayan etnik gruplar, henüz Rus kültürüne asimile olmadılarsa da, ulusal dillerini geliştirecek yasal hakları açısından ciddi bir kayba uğramışlardır. 

Keywords

• Language policy,Russia,Russian,Circassian,North Caucasus,Russification

The Movement Toward a Monolingual Nation in Russia: The Language Policy in the Circassian Republics of the Northern Caucasus

Abstract

In the context of an institutionalized multi-nationalist ideology, the language policy in Russia is based on the distinction of the native language of Russian people and the languages of all other non-Russians. Such a distinction is reflected in ‘The Constitution of the Russian Federation,’ federal and regional laws and policy practices that have given advantage to Russian over the other titular languages of the indigenous people in the Russian Federation. This article charts the grand "shift" in Russian state policy toward ethnic diversity. The Soviet-era multinational Leninist/Stalinist approach summarized in the slogan "druzhba narodov" (friendship of peoples) shifted toward a more assimilationist nation-building model. Such ideology reduced the ethnic diversity into just a cultural, folkloric feature of an otherwise monolingual, mono-cultural nation-state. What is the purpose of discriminatory ethnic and language policy? Our case study of Circassians, one of the ethnic groups in the North Caucasus, demonstrates that, after many decades, such a policy only caused political and cultural damages to all sides and alienation between them. On the one hand, the assimilationist language policy continues to cause problems with the non-Russian ethnic groups adding to the major challenges that the Russian state faces today. On the other hand, non-Russian ethnic groups, though not yet assimilated by Russian culture, have undergone significant decrease in terms of their rights to develop their languages.

Keywords

• Language-policy, Russia, Russian, Circassian, Russification

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