Sefer Bey Zanuko


Sefer Bey Zanuko was a Circassian nobleman and independence activist. He took part in the various stages of the Russo-Circassian War both in a military and a political capacity. Advocating for the cause of Circassian independence in the west and acting as an emissary of the Ottoman Empire in the region. By the end of his life Zanuko had emerged as the leader of the Circassian independence movement.

Early life

Sefer Bey Zanuko was born near Anapa, the date of his birth is unknown. He descended from the Circassian noble family of Zan. His tribal affiliation is disputed, his ancestors are variously believed to be Kheaks, Shapsugs, Natukhajs, Haitukos or Halashukos. His father Mehmed Giray Bey died when he was young. In 1807, the fortress of Anapa was captured by Russian troops during the course of the Russo-Circassian War and Zanuko was given as a hostage to the Russians by the local population. He was then sent to Odessa, where he was educated in the Rishelevski Lyceum. His service in the Russian army ended abruptly when he fled to the mountains after a personal conflict with his regiment's commander. According to British adventurer James Stanislaus Bell he soon sailed to Egypt where he lived among the Circassian Mamluks until their fall from power. Whereupon he returned to his homeland and married a Nogai princess. At the time Anapa had been conquered by the Ottoman Empire, prompting Zanuko to travel to Constantinople where he entered into Ottoman service. He became the deputy of Anapa governor Hajji Hassan Pasha, receiving the rank of colonel. During the Russo-Turkish War Anapa was recaptured by the Russians and Zanuko was taken prisoner. He remained in Odessa until the end of the war, once he was freed he returned to Circassia, taking the role of an ambassador.

Ambassador in the Ottoman Empire

The Treaty of Adrianople marked the beginning of the Russian colonization of Circassia through the establishment of military outposts and stanitsas. An assembly of Circassian tribes declared Zanuko as their representative, dispatching him to Constantinople at the head of 200 man delegation in the spring of 1831. The Ottoman agreed to secretly supply the Circassians with weapons and ammunition, while Muhammad Ali of Egypt refused to provide any assistance. Zanuko settled in Samsun where he continued his advocacy. There he met David Urquhart, one of the first people to espouse the Circassian cause in the west and major contributor to the rise of Rusophobic attitudes in British society. In the summer of 1834, Urquhart visited Circassia where he received a petition signed by 11 chiefs requesting the British king to intervene into the conflict. Two more petitions followed in 1835 and 1836 respectively, both were reluctantly rejected by the British ambassador in Constantinople John Ponsonby, 1st Viscount Ponsonby. Lord Palmerston had previously blocked Ponsonby's initiative to include Circassia in the Eastern Question, on account of the feeble state of the Circassian resistance movement. A series of diplomatic protests by the Russian ambassador led to Zanuko's exile to Edirne. Encouraged by Urquhart a group of British adventurers unsuccessfully attempted to run the blockade of the Circassian coast, the Mission of the Vixen created a diplomatic scandal between Britain and Russia. Encouraged by Ponsonby, Zanuko continued to submit appeals to the British albeit to no avail. In the meantime, the militant Sufi Khalidiyya movement overtook the Adyghe Habze as the leading ideology behind the Circassian resistance. Envoys sent by Imam Shamil helped coordinate the activities of the insurgents across the Caucasus and established Sharia law.

Crimean War

On 4 October 1853, the Ottomans declared war on Russia launching the Crimean War. The Ottomans recruited Zanuko and other Circassians into their army in preparation for an offensive on the Caucasus front in spring of 1854. Zanuko was appointed as the Ottoman governor of Circassia, receiving the honorary title of pasha. On 29 October, two messengers carrying orders for Mohammed Amin Imam Shamil's naib in Circassia were dispatched from Trabzon to recruit fighters in preparation for his arrival. On 27 March 1854, Russia withdrew from its Circassian forts with the exception of Anapa and Novorossiysk as defensive measure due to the intervention of Britain and France into the conflict. In May, an Ottoman fleet carrying 300 Circassians including Zanuko, supplies and military advisors sailed to Sukhum Kale. Zanuko soon clashed with Mohammed Amin, when the latter refused to supply the Ottomans with recruits for fear that they will be pressed to fight outside of their homeland. In July, Amin was also elevated to pasha, exacerbating the power struggle between the two men. In March 1855, troops loyal to Zanuko clashed with Amin's supporters on the banks of the river Sebzh. Zanuko remained in Sukhum Kale until 10 June when he relocated to Anapa which had been recently abandoned by the Russians. In order to bridge the divide in the Circassian society created by Zanuko's rivalry with Amin, the Ottomans placed both under the command of their countryman Mustapha Pasha.
The Treaty of Paris ended the conflict, frustrating at the same time any hopes of Circassian independence. The Circassians remained politically divided and when Mohammed Amin replaced Zanuko as the new governor, the two sides fought a second battle this time on the Sup river. An intervention of tribal elders led to compromise, when the two leaders agreed to jointly travel to Constantinople and have the sultan settle the dispute. However Zanuko broke his oath and remained in Circassia. Zanuko was in fact following secret Ottoman orders as he was tasked with supervising the withdrawal of the Ottoman army from the region during the course of June. He then resettled to the Shapsykhua river, destroyed the port of Tuapse to prevent Amin's supporters from using it as a supply route and called for the latter's assassination. During the second half of the year Zanuko attempted to negotiate a peace treaty with the Russians. In January 1857, a sanguine battle between Zanuko's and Amin's forces took place in Tuapse, Zanuko's son Karabatir emerged victorious. Russian intelligence was well aware of the British and Ottoman involvement in the affairs of the Caucasus. In May 1857, Amin was invited to Constantinople and immediately arrested, and exiled to Damascus, a move previously planned by the imperial Majlis in an effort to improve relations with Russia. At the same time shipments of arms and ammunition to the rebels were halted. Zanuko died in Shapsugh on 1 January 1860, oblivious to the change in Ottoman policy. He was buried in the Vordobgach valley. Karabatir succeeded him as the leader of Circassian resistance. The Russo-Circassian War officially ended on 2 June 1864, the Circassian genocide was to follow.