"Local legends" of the Black Sea

The Globe and Mail's Jeff Parker travels to Gelendzhik - a city on the Black Sea coast of Krasnodar Krai.

Image from weather-forecast.com.
Notice the proximity to Anapa, Maykop, Tuapse, and Sochi.

His guide gives him a tour- sharing some truths and some tall tales. "Doughy beachgoers" are lying on the grounds that used to be concentration camps while Circassians were herded onto boats for the often fatal journey to the Ottoman Empire and a proud mountain that sheltered Circassians in battles from the invading Imperial Russian army has been renamed after a Russian mobile phone company- "MegaFon Mountain".

However, its the last lines of this article that really struck a cord with me:

"Eventually, Igor's uncle admits the meteor stories are nonsense, just local legends. Then he tells us the name Gelendzhik is derived from a Turkish word meaning “little bride.” It originated as a slave market where Turks sold Circassian women.

I ask if this, too, is a nonsense local legend. But he assures me that this one is true."

So the question to my fellow Circassians is-  What honor is there to allow the history of Circassian women being sold to Turks be questioned as a "local legend" or used to spice up a conversation? 

The events that happened during the Circassian Genocide is tragic. But its even more terrible when we do not join in telling the truth.

There are 797 days till the Sochi Winter Olympics are set to completely erase the entire history of Circassians from the world. Stand up, say No Sochi 2014. Demand respect and the right to exist as a nation, so that our history and culture will not become local legends.