Russia being bound by her Peace Treaty with the Ottoman Turkey, the Russian Governor General and Commander-in-Chief in Caucasia had been held back in mounting military operations in Caucasia. The River Kuban had been agreed as the border line. Crossing the Kuban had, therefore, been prohibited, according to the terms of the treaty. 

            In practice, however, the terms of the treaty proved no more than empty words. The Cossack militia of Ataman Bursak continually violated the border on the pretext of hunting. The Adiğes retaliated the Cossack intransigence by counter-attacks across the river. The Adiğe attacks disrupted the life in the newly established Russian settlements and demoralized the Cossack colonizers. The Russian Military Command, which was responsible of arming the Cossacks and connived at the intnasigence of the Cossacks, was alarmed by worsening of the situation, and ordered operations along the Kuban Front be suspended. 

             This would explain the peaceful interval, which has been experienced in the area during the recent years. Besides, Russia was at war with France; it was indeed a prohibitive factor to Russian encroachments in the Caucasus. 

            The routing of the Russian forces fighting against Napoleon's army in June 1807, ushered a new phase. The Czar made peace with Napoleon; and in exchange of concessions he gave to France in Europe, the Russians were let free to deal with the Ottoman Empire. The Czar demanded the Ottoman possessions of Eflak and Boğdan¹ be surrendered top him. Upon his demands being turned down, he declared war against the Ottoman Empire.

            In the course of the War the Ottoman Empire faced with highly precarious situations. The Empire had also to fight against insurgencies in Serbia and in Edirne, which threatened the defense of the Turkish Straits. Kabakçı Mustafa committed mutiny in Istanbul. The Janissaries² , who protested a newly introduced reorganization of the Ottoman Armies, forced Sultan Selim-III to abdicate, and enthroned Mustafa-IV as the Ottoman Monarch. 

            Due such grave situations taking place at home, behind the war fronts, the soldiers had been seriously demoralized. Therefore, the Ottoman armies had to adopt a defensive rather than an offensive posture in the war with Russia. 

            At the Eastern Front, that is the Caucasian front, the situation was worst. No reinforcements were available. No fleet was put to sail in the Black Sea. Here too the Ottoman forces were in the defensive position. 

            In Caucasia, while General Gudovich advanced towards Ahıska, the Russian fleet commanded by Admiral Pustoshkin, blockaded the Black Sea harbors. 

            The Adiğe forces had forestalled Russian over-land offensive. Anapa coast was blocked by the Russians. The city could not be defended for long due to heavy naval bombardment. The Ottoman Garrison at Fort Anapa offered conditional surrender. 

            Admiral Pusroshkin’s fleet the approached Fort Soğucak. It was guarded by two Janissary unites, and had long lost its character as a military garrison. There was no option but to surrender in the face of the bombardment by e long range guns of the Russian Navy. The citadels was turned to ruins in two days. 

            The Russian Admiral, being assured that there was no trace of life left at the fort, landed his marines. 

            The Adiğe forces commanded by Geriyiko Şemız, Bastiko Pşımef and Batmazyiko Ali had taken position inside the forest beyond the quay to receive the landing Russian troops.

            The Russian Admiral did not expect such an encounter. He was caught by surprise as his marines were dumped in to the waters. Outraged as he was, he ordered to sustain the bombardment. The part of the Town of Tsemez close to the harbor also received its share of the volley of the gunfire.

            Successive waves of bombardment and amphibious operations were alternately launched several times. Each time the Russian marines retreated suffering heavy casualties. 

            The Admiral decided to try his had at the nearby Gelincik Quay. There too he was frustrated. The Russian landing forces were repulsed by the forces of the Ubıh, Şapsığ and Abhaz tribes. 

            A sort of general mobilization had been declared all over the coast and along the River Kuban. Everybody was seriously alarmed at the fall of Anapa. The enemy attempt at advancing to the hinterland was, therefore, met with fierce resistance. 

            The war was not a matter a day or a week. It went on for months and years. It required professional armies provided with sufficient logistic supplies, to fight it out. 

            Caucasia did not have such an army. The forces that bore the brunt of the aggression of the Russian armies were comprised of voluntary militia. Every one in the force was required to manage his own food, weapons, ammunition and other needs by himself. 

            Bastiko Pşımef had devised the operational plans of his own unit, availing the resources at his disposal as efficiently as possible. He did not deploy all of his men at a time in action. Instead he left a part of them back in the Basti colony in Kutak, Tsemez.  Generally he was accompanied in action by Yaftale Famok, Biyenko Bital and Bjafe Pezad, or so he preferred. For the trio were good at using fire arms, and at protecting themselves in dangerous situations.  They would be readily available at any spot presenting imminent danger along with other groups. 

            Admiral Pustoshkin had been assigned to provide support for the Russian armies involved in action in Caucasia. The bombardment of the fortresses held by the Turks by his fleet intended to lighten the burden of General Gudavich, engaged with the Ottoman forces in Southern Caucasia. Having failed to capture Fort Soğucak, his fleet bombarded the fort-towns of Sohum, Poti, Batum and Trabzon.

            The Russian Admiral was not satisfied. His pride had been badly bruised by the setback he suffered at the Fort Soğucak. He was rancorous at the Adiğes defending the area. He wanted to take revenge at any cost. 

            He had understood that a successful landing at Tsemez and Soğucak was impossible. To him the Quoy of Gelincik seemed a more convenient place for the operation. He decided to try his luck there. 

            One midnight the Russian fleet, in total blackout, appeared before the Gelincik Quoy. The Ubih seamen on watch duty detected the Russian landing maneuver, and alarmed the defensive forces at the coast. 

            The Adiğe forces, having been alarmed sufficiently in advance of the impending Russian attack prepared in secrecy, positioned their snipers all along the shore at commanding points, and cleared the beach of the small boats and sails, before the start of the Russian landing. 

            The Adiğes fighters concentrated at the Tsemez area immediately set out to Gelincik in pitch darkness through the narrow trails. Pşımef and his group were included in the 500 strong cavalrymen, who farmed the advance Adiğe detachment to arrive at operations zone. 

            It may be recalled that Şemız and Psımef had formed their own strike units immediately after the resumption of hostilities. They intended to be in commanding position rather than being ordinary fighters. Indeed, pride was not the only decisive factor in that. Since the start they had been convinced that the war could not be won without a unified command structure made of disciplined smaller groups. The measures so taken by Şemız and Pşımef were approved by Şurukyiko Duğuj and Indaryiko Nogay also. 

            About ten units on a similar pattern had been formed along the coastal strip between Anapa and Pşat. Each unit comprised of seven to five hundred fighting-men.  These were amenable to rapid deployment and close coordination. 

            Indaryiko Nogay and his men, being domicile of Pşat himself, was the first to arrive and to take position in the woods beyond the beach. 

            By the time Pşımef and his team arrived the heights of Gelincik, skirmish had already begun; the Russians had established a bridgehead, beating off the defense there. 

            For some years now the Russian forces had been equipped according European standards. Swords were being replaced with bayonets. It provided superiority over the opponent using sword. 

            The same fact was amentably demonstrated in the bloody battle for the Gelincik Quoy . 

            It was sunrise, when the Tsemez fighters reached the beach. They shot out their guns at once, and before the resultant thick smoke that impaired visibility dispersed, pulled out their swords and charged against the enemy. 

            The fighters, who had confronted the enemy landing first, were peasants from the nearby villages. They were followed by Indaryiko Nogay and his men. 

            Nogay, though an experienced fighter himself, encountered Russians troops equipped with bayonets. Before he had any chance of using his sword, he received a wound at his left shoulder. The enemy bayonet had pierced through just blow his shoulder-blade bone. Thanks to the undaunted drive of his men that the Russian lines could be broken, and the young Indryiko could be rescued. 

            Şemız and Pşımef divided their men into two wings, and entered the battle ground at two different points. 

            Şemız, having noticed his relative Nogay in difficulty, rushed forward. His colleagues followed him. For a moment, however, he found himself alone inside the Russian line, soon to receive a wound at his leg. 

            Nogay’s wound was more precarious. He was nearing exhaustion. He was incapacitated to move ahead fighting. He was on self-defense, trying to retreat to safety. 

            Pşımef and Yaftale Pamok and their teams were about a hundred meters away from him. Thanks to the timely intervention of the young Basti andhis comrades that the Russian troops were thrown back 

            Pşımef had asked his men not fire their pistols unless they faced a fatal danger. 

            The hem had obeyed him. They had been patient in using the pistols until the enemy was a couple of meters away. The close range pistol fire all together proved effective. There appeared breaches along the enemy lines and caused significant degree of confusion. 

            Pşımef and his men reached to Indaryiko’s rescue at the last moment. This flank attack changed the course of the battle.

            A little while later the enemy lines were broken, and was forced to retreat. 

            The chase up was a bloody affair. Several hundred Russian infantry men were rendered out of action over the beach by Pşımef’s cavalrymen. Those enemy soldiers, who managed to reach the shore, threw away their guns and dived into the sea. 

            Admiral Pustoshkin, who had been watching the battle through his binoculars, was mad at the sight of his troops being dumped into the sea. Ordered his gunmen to open fire. Most of the shots missed the beach and hit the Russian soldiers in the waters. Due to the panic caused by the situation so aggravated, most of the Russians, would otherwise swim to safety were drowned. 

            The gallantry and tact demonstrated by Pşımef was widely applauded at the Coast. It was talked about for a long time. Indaryiko Nogay praised the young Basti. “Had Pşımef not arrived at the spot in time, I could not have survived!” , he declared candidly. 

            As soon as Nogay recovered from his wounds, Nogay’s mother Hangoş invited Pşımef to their house. She embraced him and wept for a while. When she overcame her excitement, she told Pşımef , “From now on you are an Indaryiko!” she declared.

            - I take you as my son. You are one of them!

            It may be recalled that Nogay’s father Mehmet, had been mad at Pşımef and had described him as “a Şapsığ stranger” a few years ago because Pşımef had castigated the leading elders of the coast, including Mehmet. 

            The proud Indar had watched the last bloody battle at the spot. He had witnessed Pşımef in action with his own eyes. He warmly greeted the young Basti, and gave him presents, with no reference to his past censure. 

            The main clan of the Indars in Pşat arranged a big party in honor of Pşımef and his team. 

            Pşımef’s colleagues remembered what Hangoş had told them for many years. They too called Pşımef “Indaryiko!” as a sort of compliment; but not so often lest it should supersede his original family name “Basti”. 

            Nevertheless the words of Hangoş were engraved in the minds as part of the memory of the war. Pşımef was sometimes called “Pşı Indaryiko!”³

            Yet there were many at the coast who remembered his title of “Prince” on account of the story Trah had narrated.  Be it by way of humor or as a sign of reverence, many a people still called him the “Prince of Tsemez”. 
 
 

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            Goşemıd was seriously effected by the war. She was already past her middle age. She suffered insomnia due to anxiety and distress. She would visit the young brides, whose husbands had gone to fight. At times she would invite them to have meal together, and tried to console and boost up their moral.

            Her hairs grayed earlier than it was due. She was, nevertheless, vigorous and strong. She was courageous as ever. She used to have her daily stroll inside the colony, and instructed pşılı Marde and Ortan what they should or shouldn’t do. 

            Pşımef and his colleagues did not remain idle even after the Battle for Defense of Gelincik. They continually raided the Teman area as if to avenge the fall of Anapa.

            Goşemid could not afford to be indifferent in the face of the tension experienced all over the coast. She could not demand her son or his colleagues to stay home. Though she approved what they did, but she was tormented by the fear and anxiety as to their fate. 

            Each raid they mounted was a nightmare to her. She was afraid that one or more of her sons would be killed. Her sleep, therefore, used to be interrupted. She used to wake up in fever and sweat. She would, in such instances, get up, wash up, offer prayer, and supplicated for hours for the safety of her sons.

            It was not only the events at the coast that tormented her. Bad news had been pouring in from the east too since the beginning of the war. She couldn’t help worrying about her relatives in the Psıfabe Valley. 

            In 1807 a plague epidemic breakout in Astrakhan. Soon it spread in the Terek Basin, and spilt over to Kabardey; and through valleys it reached as far as to the lands of the Çeçens and Ossets. 

            The epidemic caused such a great panic that every valley and every village feared it would suffer more than what had been suffered in the war. Defense lines against the Russians were abandoned in the central and eastern Caucasia. 
 

            To ward off the risk of the epidemic all sorts passages through the borders of the tribal regions of Besleney, Kenguy and the Eastern Şapsığ was prohibited. No stranger was regarded reliable to be admitted in to the said regions. They hermitically isolated themselves from the rest of the world for over two years. 

            The Russian fortresses and the Cossack settlements also had been hit by the epidemic. The Russian Headquarters at Stavropol was short of men for deployment at the fronts in the Southern Caucasia. 

            Nevertheless the Russian General Staff did manage to effect troop dispositions to fill up the gape. It did not take long before fresh reinforcements arrived at the front lines. They took the advantage of the woes of the epidemic in Kabardey and Çeçen regions, and subdued the Kabardey aristocrats, who had been successfully defending their territories for the last eight years. 

            General Bulgakof, having finished with Kabardey, attacked the Çeçen and the Osset territories; while General Tsatugonof marched into Daghistan along the coast. He captured Derbend. 

            Goşemid though was not informed of the developments in such details, was only told about the plague. He had been apprehensive lest the epidemic should spread in the Psıfabe Valley too. 

            The war lasted for four years. The Russians, though wavered at the start, later achieved the upper hand. They stormed the Dnieper Basin in the west and captured Anapa, Ahıska, Poti and Sohum forts in the east. The Turks were in the retreat in all fronts. 

            The Russians gained more territories in the Caucasus front rather than in the European theater of the war. The rebellion of the Muslim Georgians was crushed, the Turkish and Iranian armies were thrown back, and the Khanates of Azerbaijan were annexed to Russia. 

            Only two regions continued resisting the Russian onslaught: The highlands of Daghistan and Çeçenistan in the east, and the Adiğey and Abhazya in the west.

            Napoleon’s invasion of Russian halted the adversity. The Czar of Russia alarmed by the advance of the French armies towards the east, made peace with the Ottman Government.  The Peace Treaty signed in Bucharest in May 1812 restored a partial quiet in the Balkans as well as in Caucasia.

            The Russians vacated the forts of Anapa, Ahıska, Sohum and Poti. Returned the prisoners of war. The Ottoman Garrisons reestablished in the forts surrendered by the Russians. The River Kuban once again accepted as the frontier line between Russian and the Ottoman empires.

            The Russian Governor General for Caucasia, now turned an apostle of peace, had his seat in Tiflis ⁴. He continually preached the Russian Fort Commanders and the Cossack Atamans to put up well with the native population. This abrupt change in the Russian behavior in Caucasia was dictated by circumstances. Russia had withdrawn the bulk of its forces from Caucasia to be deployed in the western front against Napoleon’s armies. 

            The new situation restored a considerable degree of peace and security in the Caucasus. No one, however, was sure how long it would last. It was a trying period for those who anticipated a gloomy future. 

            Pşımef distinctly was one who was in distress for not being sure of what was in store for his people in the near future. He called his people: “ Let us avail ourselves of the advantage of the peaceful period! Let us take serious measures!” His proud friends, the loyal custodians of the traditions, however, sufficed by boastfully smiling at him.

            The famous Basti was no more a youthful man. He was a mature gentleman, an esteemed leader by then. He could not stand his words being taken lightly. He got offended and distressed. For days he wouldn’t go out of the Basti enclave.