Balkars - ethnic groups of the Caucasus
The Balkars (in
Karachay-Balkar: sg. малкъар - malqar, pl. малкъарла - malqarla) are a
Turkic people of the Caucasus, "holder" of the Republic of
Kabardino-Balkaria region. The language
Karachay-Balkar belongs to the subgroup of ponto-Caspian of the
Northwestern (kripchak or Turkish cumanus) Group of Turkic languages. Related to Crimean Tatar language and the kumyk. It
is also stated that the Balkars are remnants of a branch of a tribe of
the Bulgarians who were interned in the Caucasus after the movement west
of the wave of Huns started in the 4th century BC.
Ethnic groups of the Caucasus. Dark pink colour, with the number 23 on the map, the Balkars.
About 105,000 Balkars in 2002 they lived in the Russian Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.
The
term "Balkar" is claimed to be derived from Bolgar or Bulgar, assuming
that the Balkars were Bulgarians who lived in Onoghur and great Bulgaria
and who remained in the Caucasus while others migrated to the Balkans
and middle Volga.
In
1944, Stalin accused the Balkars of Kabardino-Balkaria of collaborating
with Nazi Germany and deported the entire population. The
territory was renamed autonomous socialist Soviet Republic of Schleswig
until 1957, when the balkar population was allowed to return, the name
was restored.