Upon the declaration of war and onslaught of  Russian armies into the Ottoman territories, Osman was instinctively overwhelmed by anxiety.  He was highly agitated when word came that Czar Alexander II was at the war front, and had personally assumed command of the Russian forces.  His fear turned to rage.

                Skurun, his wife, was much more disturbed.  “Does that curse of God, who had banished us from the homeland, is still alive?”, she asked in a furious voice, when received the news.  She went on,

                -  God damn! He is not yet satisfied with that much of aggrandizement. He destroyed our comfertable homes, and scattered our people to all over the world.  And not sufficed with that he now turns up here too.  May God punish him! For days she sobbed.  She cursed Czar Alexander.  She expected a miracle that would destroy him and his armies. As her entreaties delayed to materialize, she lost patience.  The tempest of anger erupted in her soul turned to defiance, as it had once happened, long time ago.  She cried,

                - O God of the Muslims!   Tell us the truth:  Had the Adiğes erred right a the beginning? Did they take the wrong side in the war between the gods?  Is it you or the God of the Czar, who is more powerful?

                The women and the young girls in the Basti district had gathered around her while Skurun uttered the above at the top of her voice, as she cried.  All eyes were full with tears.  Most of the females could not figure out what she meant.  They were, however, certain that something was amiss.

                Her elder sister, Karej, had received all the instances of outbursts on Skurun’s part, that far, with understanding.  The last one, however, was beyond her forbearance.  “Stop it!” Karej vehemently interrupted. She went on:

                -  You might cause us untold miseries!  How do you dare  to question God’s wisdom!
Karej paused for a moment, and continued,

                -  I warn you:  Repent for what you have said.

                Skurun never again complain in the presence of others.  She did continue, however, persisted   murmuring by herself in solitude.

                Osman and Skurun had been together since their childhood.  Both had been brought up together in the same district.  In her early adulthood, she had been a focus of attention.  No one objected what she did or what she said.  Her personality had been molded in an atmosphere of forbearance and understanding.  She could not to be spiritually remolded any more.
Skurun’s husband and her sisters were not the only ones to condone her.  Everyone in the Basti district tried to show understanding to Skurun.

                In fact Osman had little time to attend to his wife. The war and the attending problems and the obligations preoccupied him.  He was totally absorbed in those matters day and night.He was very well aware that the Circassians formed a target of the Russians as much as the Turks did. The Russians had a long experience with Circassians.  They were aware what they had been doing since they had migrated to Bulgaria.

            The Circassians had played a significant role in the suppression of the two successive Bulgarian insurgencies in the highlands.

            During the last rebellion, in particular, the Circassians had wiped out all the men in the Bulgar village of Kilise.  The Bulgars would necessarily be planning to avenge the massacre.  The Circassians were not in a position to stand against the Russian army.  They could, however, be prepared to defend their own village against any attack by the Bulgarian bands.
With these fact in mind, Osman conferred with the leading persons of the three Adiğe villages.  He also alerted the Circassian villages to the left bank of the Yantra Stream, to be prepared against any possible Bulgar hostility.

              He activated Havuduko Bislan, Sinan Naur and Yeftale Hamız once again.  The veteran trio organized a joint cavalry force, and comenced exercising control in the upstream Yantra Basin.

            Osman insistently asked the trio to stay in defensive posture, and to refrain from any provocative actions.  He time and requested his brother-in-law, time and again, to be careful in that respect.  Osman’s assessments came true.
As word spread that the Russian forces had crossed Danube and had captured Maçin; the Bulgars in the Dobruca Region insurrected, and raided the Turkish, Circassian and Tatar villages. The incident caused a great chaos in the area.  The panicked Muslim population of the region began to move towards the south.  Sait Paşa, the Commanding Officer of the Ottoman forces in the region, did try to prevent the panic; but failed.  The Circassians, despite Sait Paşa’s  orders otherwise, rapidly organized themselves and  set up a defense line against the Bulgar insurgency.  The Russians opened a second front in the zone between Ruscuk and Nı?bolu, disrupted the navigation in the Danube waterway, crossed the river, and began advancing towards the south.  The Russian Army Corps commanded by General Gurko directly came upon Tirnova and captured the town.
General Gurko distributed all the fire arms he seized in Tırnova to the Bulgars, and allowed them to exercise control over the habitations all over the region.

                Henceforth it was impossible to restrain the Bulgars.  They pillages all the shops and the properties that belonged to the Turks, set the villages on fire, murdered the leading persons in the area, killrd whoever offered a slightest resistance, and molested the chastity of the young girls.

                When word came to Osman about the violence in and around Tırnova, his heart sank; his face turned pale.  “We can’t sit and watch this happen!” Osman groaned. He went on:

                -  For many years I have been advocating peace.  I attempted to prevent my people to arm themselves.  What a great mistake I have committed!

                He was sitting in the guest house with Yeftale Hamız and others.  Hamız regretfully smirked.  “It good that you have at last appreciated the truth,” he remarked.

                Notwithstanding Osman’s foot-dragging, people like Yeftale Hamız, Havoduko Bislan and Sinan Naur had armed up, and had encouraged the younger generation to do the same.

                Never was too late.  They had to contemplate what ought to be done from now on.
It was a  difficult job to defend the three villages at the same time.  At one point Osman thought it would be a good idea to have the inhabitants of the three villages converge.  At least the women and children could be moved to Bastihabl; Osman suggested. He assessed the available resources.  It being the summer season, the barns and hay stores could be vacated.  The guest houses in Bastihable could to allocated for the evacuees from the other two sister villages.  Nevertheless that were not all that needed to be done. Each of he groups of people to be evacuated had an established order, and a set of items they valued.  It could prove a trying job to move them out of their homes, which they had constructed and decorated through their own labor from scratch.Finally Osman gave up the idea.  He had not discussed the idea with anyone.  He set out to find another solution through consultation.  The Bulgar band of the Yantra Region was commanded by one called Yorgi.  Yorgi, accompanied by five armed escort    turned up in Bastihabl to have a talk with Basti Osman.

                They had thick woolen socks and shephered’s shoes on.  While stepping into the guest house Yorgi apologized,

               -  Excuse us; we don’t have longboats as you people do.

                “Never mind; go ahead.”  Osman replied, politely smiling.  Yorgi, to begin with, assured Osman that the visit was a friendly one, and then he came to the point:

                -  We know you.  You have tried very much to fuse together the people of this area.  But there are three persons whom we can’t forgive.  Should you surrender the ones responsible for the massacre of the males of Kilise, we would do no harm to you or to anyone in your group.

                Yeftale Hamız was sitting at a corner close to the door.  Osman gazed at him, as he said in Circassian, “Don’t utter a word!”To allay suspicion of the Bulgars, he ordered to boys clustered at the doorway to bring in something to eat, and told Yorgi that he asked for some food.

                “Don’t bother!” Yorgi smiled. “If I may have a some water first, to drink, please,” he added.
Koce Neov’s son Bekir, served water to the Bulgar chieftain.
The ones Yorgi wanted to have were Yeftale Hamız, Havuduko Bislan and Sina Naur.  No one of the Bulgars present there, including Yorgi, did not know Yeftale Hamız.  Yorgi satanically smirked, “I am told Hamız is your relative!” he said.

                    Osman allowed a benefit of doubt.  He replied,

                All the three persons you mentioned are my relatives.  I cant ask either one of them  to surrender themselves to you, as you wanted.  I must discuss the matter with the elders of the three villages.

                Basti Osman deliberately did not make a commitment either way.  Hamiz’s two sons and a few of the youth of the district had sensed something was amiss.  So they were on guard in the courtyard, with their rifles and pistols ready to fire.
Osman painfully smiled and addressed the Bulgar chieftain,

                - Listen! Two Big Powers are at war.  How the war would end is not certain.  Therefore, it would be too early to attempt to square the accounts.  It would prove disastrous to both of us, to you as well as to ourselves. Yorgi lightly coughed to prepare to answer Osman. In the meantime Pşılı Hakuk and Osman’s son Idris entered the room in sequence.

                Hakuk spread a wide table-cloth on the floor, and Idris placed a low wooden tripod in the middle. The young Pşılı had his dagger and revolver neatly stuck to his belt.  The two young men then retreated towards the door in back steps, and stood there in attention, both hand clasped over the belly. Osman invited his visitors to help themselves with the meal first and then to talk.

                Yorgi and his aids involuntarily sat down around the tripod; Osman joined in to host them.
Short as the notice had been, the ladies prepared the best they could under the circumstance.  They had prepared Baste¹ , on top of which pieces of Circassian cheese were implanted. Then there came the soup. Osman cheerfully declared, “We call it Baste; had you ever tasted it?. ”

                “We have heard about it, but not tasted yet.” Yorgi replied, and added: “We people also make similar things from the corn flour.”  He tore off a piece from the cake, immersed it in the soup, and put it into his mouth.  He chewed briefly, and swallowed. “Not bad!” he remarked.

                They did not talk much during the meal.

                When the was meal over, Yorgi asked Osman’s permission to leave.  All went down to the courtyard together. The youth of the district had already made the horses of the Bulgar visitors ready.
Just before mounting his horse, Yorgi turned to Osman.  “Let me tell you my final word”, he said and went on,

                - I have chosen the Kilise village as my headquarters.  Send me the persons I have named down there.  Otherwise we shall come here and taken the away!

                Basti, convinced that it was of no use to be polite with the man, responded Yorgi in the same vein:

                -  Our fathers have fought against the Russians for hundred years.  That is how we happen to be here. Had we been a people readily yielding to threats and repression, we would not have come here.  We could have stayed in the homeland.
Osman paused for a moment and continued,

                -  Think over your decision once more!  Don’t demand from us something which we can’t give you! Yorgi took a deep breath, swelling his cheek-pouch, made a sharp move, jumped over his horse and rode out of the courtyard.  His men followed him.

           The Russians had trained the Bulgar insurgents to the mark in propaganda and violence.  They had based their plans on violence and terror, which they unleashed immediately upon the declaration of the war. 

           The Bulgars in the north and south of the Balkan Mountains went into action terrorizing the Turkish villages in the area, at the same time when General Gurko’s forces captured the mountain passes of Hain and Şıpka.  They murdered several thousand innocent people in the villages of Filibe, Eski Zağra and Tatarpazarcık.  The panicked survivors were for forced to seek refuge elsewhere. 

            The Turks formed majority of the population of Bulgaria.  The chaos caused by propaganda and violence, demoralized and  panicked the Muslim population.  The children of the conquerors who once had shaken Europe, today, were running away in fright and misery, yielded to their fate. 

            The collapse and rout were present everywhere.  The Turkish military authorities feared lest the chaos infect the soldiers too.  They did, therefore , try to check the flood of refugees; but failed. 

            The Bulgars were spreading the false news to the effect that the Russians had totally wiped out Ottoman army, and that soon the Russian army would enter Istanbul.

            The subversive propaganda, supported by terrorism, was so widespread and effective that a general exodus began. 

            That was exactly what Yorgi and his men designed to do in the Yantra Basin.  He planned to disrupt the established order by scaring the local popular leaders such as Basti Osman, and to exploit the confusion that would follow, to easily prey the   people, who would depart from their home in search for a more secure place. 

            Osman too was perturbed over the news of the exodus in other areas, and began to ponder whether it would be a good idea to start packing up.  The rush Osman had observed in Yorgi’s movement, however, induced him to forgo the idea. 

            One day Yorgi attempted to raid Bastihabl, approaching the village along the Yantra stream. With him there were about a hundred guerrillas, half of them mounted and half on foot. 

            As the Bastihable was guarded day and night by the village watchmen, the intruders were timely detected.

            Yeftale Hamız had vacated the houses at the northern fringes of   Bastihable, and in them had placed  some of  his best sharp-shooters.  The moment the Bulgars came within range, he ordered his boys to fire. 

            In the first instance about thirty of the intruders fell. 

           Yorgi and his men were confused.  Instead of retreating, they kept on mowing forward, and all were within the range of rifle fire.  Most of the ones in the front line were decimated. 

           Yorgi was on horseback, moving back and forth, giving orders.  He positioned his remaining men in the cornfield.  The plants had grown pretty tall. 

           In the meantime the sound of exchange of fire was heard in Havudukohabl and Sinanhabl.  Not long before, Bislan and Naur appeared at the scene with about a hundred fighters.

           The Bulgars, who were now under cross-fire, attempted to escape; but failed.  Most of them, including Yorgi, were hit.  About ten managed to creep out of the fire range to shelter in a nearby wood.

           The fighters of the three villages suffered nineteen casualties, one killed and eighteen wounded. 

           The Bulgars left behind six horses and more than one hundred rifles and pistols.  The spoils were apportioned to the three sister villages. 

           About fifteen horses had been wounded.  Ten of the wounded animals were treated on the spot. 

           Doing away with the Bulgar dead bodies presented a problem.  Finally the bodies were dumped into a narrow dry creek and were covered by earth. 

           It took one whole day for the village boys to conceal the bodies of the Bulgar intruders. 

                                                    O0O
 

             In fact the panic had been caused by the administration.  The Commander of the Ottoman Forces in the European Sector, Abdulkerim Paşa, had issued a standing order to all the military garrisons and county officers in advance of the commencement of the hostilities, to be communicated to the public in appropriate time, to the effect that in the event of crossing of the River Danube by the Russian forces, all private stocks of hay and forage be destroyed, and the domestic animals be evacuated to safer places.  The order was binding on the Ottoman subjects, irrespective of religion and nationality. 

           The order, issued without due consideration of its ramifications,  undermined the morale of the masses. No sooner a column of the Russian forces crossed Danube at Tulca, the chaos, which the enemy had planned to create, touched off. 

            Sait Paşa tried to organize local councils and militia forces in the villages and towns; so that the psychological aspect of the war could be taken care of. 

           Nevertheless he was too late to act.  The County Officers were ineffective.  No one listened to them.  The Turks were afraid of the Russians, the Bulgars were afraid of the Tatars and Circassians.  It was difficult to achieve cooperation among the Turks, Tatars and the Circassians; what to speak of seeking the Bulgars to join in such a cooperation. 

           The Bulgars took up arms against the Ottoman authority immediately upon the Russian onslaught; attacked the villages in the neighborhood inhabited by the Turks, Tatars and Circassians.  The people caught up in the bleak whirlpool of  uncertain developments, began running away in fright towards the sea coast and towards the south. 

           The masses of refugees from the Dobruca Region arrived Şumnu during the middle of June. 

          Turkish military units had been deployed in Şumnu.  A part of the refugees continued moving further to the south, and part of them  camped  in the neighborhood, assured of protection of the Turkish garrison. 

          The refugees included a contingent of Circassians.  They established contact with their compatriots in the Yantra Basin.  Soon afterwards they moved their camps closer to the Circassian villages along the Yantra Stream. 

          Among the Refugees arriving from the Dobruca Region there were a number of  Tatar groups.  They opted to settle down to the west of the town of Popova, on the slopes overlooking the Yantra plains. 

           The area where the refugees camped, were bordered by forests;  hence were easier to defend. In the event of a threat, the refugees could move eastward for a hideout. 

           The Refugees had  little problem relevant to their sustenance; because they had with them a large amount of food grain and domestic animals pillaged and herded away from the Bulgar villages on their way, in retaliation of the treatment meted out to them by the Bulgars of  Dobruca Region. 

           Within a short time they built timber dwellings; and firmly settled down in a manner as if they had been in the area since a very long time.  Then they began pillaging the Bulgar habitations in the neighborhood of  the towns of Popova and Levski.

             Basti Osman, accompanied by the leading members of the three sister villages, visited the new Circassian refugees. He went round the refugee camps, and inquired about Selim and other relatives left behind at home.  There was not one who had seen or known them. 

            Most of the refugees belonged to the Şapsığ tribe.  Osman was delighted to find among them a Basti, nicknamed “Föye”.  The young Basti was an orphan.  Osman picked him up, and brought along with himself to Basihabl. 

           Basti Osman was not the only one to have found a relative among the new arrivals.  A number of other families in the Yantra Basin enjoyed the happiness of meeting with their missing relatives. 

            Hamız too found a member of the Yaftale family. 

            Most of them were distant relatives, who did not know one another.  Nevertheless it did not take long time before they fused together² . 

            The events and circumstances helped emergence of new leader.  So new leaders emerged among the Circassian refugees from the Dobruca Region in consequence of the social and political upheaval. 

            Turkov Hamit was a healthy person.  He was in his early sixties. Şirmitiko Ahmet and Alaşko Jankat were in their fifties.  The three refugee leaders came to terms with Osman and his companions.  They agreed to cooperate. But in due course they  took over the mandate.

            The new Circassian leaders had reconnoitered  movement of  the Russian forces, discovered the intention of the Bulgars, and assessed the disaster that woul follow the collapse of the Turkish defense of Plevne.  Therefore they advocated that it would be wrong to stay idle in the meantime. 

             In agreement with Havuduko Bislan, Sinan Naur and Yeftale Hamız; they organized a strike force, and began hitting the rear of the Russian siege force at Plevne. 

             Turkov Hamit was conscious that a frontal attack at the Russian army was out of question.  They were concerned primarily with harassing the Russian and Cossack cavalry, who  disrupted the  supply lines of the defenders of Plevne. Besides they were the relentless foe of the Bulgar bands that harassed the Muslim population in the area. 

             Turkov Hamit had participated in many of the actions mounted against the Russians in Caucasia. He was experienced in the Russian tactics and combat methods.  On several occasion he routed the mobile Russian and Cossack teams; hence provided invaluable support to the Turkish  units assigned to restore the supply lines. 

               Besides such services he rendered on voluntary basis, Turkov did not neglect pillaging the Bulgars in retaliation to the atrocities committed by the Bulgars against the Muslim inhabited villages. He pillaged  the target villages  first, and then destroyed them by setting them on fire.

              Osman, though heartily approved the actions of Turkov Hamit and his associates against the Russians, Cossacks and  Bulgars; could not help voicing his concern as to possible retaliations by the regular Russian army with superior fire power. 

             The Circassians did of course suffer casualties, be it less than that of the enemy.  Each time there was mourning in the one family of the other, a situation which undermined the morale of the Circassians in general. 

             The females and the children were in constant fright.  They were troubled all the time in anticipation of an enemy attack any time. 

              Skurun was not crying any more as she used to do earlier. She was determined to quell  the fright settled in the village.  She concentrated on things that would boost the morale of the females and children, and would encourage them to take greater interest in their daily routine.   237

              She performed her regular daily prayer.  Often late at night she would sit on the prayer rug for a quite a long time, and prayed for the victory of the Turkish army.  She could not help cursing the Czar.  She implored God to punish and  destroy him and his army. 

             At such moments she would listen to outside; on and off she would lent ear to the barking dogs.  Once sure that nothing particular was taking place outside, she would return to her spiritual world.  She would talk by herself.  She would ponder about the size and might of Russia. 

             There lay a vast sea between Caucasia and Bulgaria.  Skurun tried to visualize the size of Russia by length of the long voyage she had from Tsemez to Varna, when  the Czar of Russia had invaded Caucasia fifteen years ago.  And now he was invading Bulgaria to  once again ruin her people at their new asylum, she conjectured. 

           -  O God! Save us from this calamity.  Damn the tyrant, who has murdered thousands of innocent people.  Destroy him, together with all his potential successors, so that it presents thy precept to everyone.  You are Almighty.  Please do not spare your power in penalizing the tyrants. 

              So Skurun earnestly prayed till she was sleepy.