294            One of the most significant outcome of the Küçük Kaynarca Peace Treaty  concluded between the Ottoman and the Russian empires, was the  pledge declared by each signatory power to honor the independence of  Crimea.

            There was no Ottoman forces left in Crimea.  The Russians had pulled their armies as well.  The peninsula was vacated of alien forces entirely.

            This, however, was part of a secret Russian design. They deployed all the forces they pulled out from Crimea in Northern Caucasia; and set up their headquarters inYekatarinograd, a Russian settlement on the bank of River Kuma.  From here they organized the battle fronts along the rivers Terek and Kuban.

            Yekatarinograd was in the middle of the old Kıpçak steppes.  The roads to both the fronts converged here.  It had strategic advantages in controlling both the Volga basin and Caucasia.

            Prince Potemkin took up residence in the town of Yekatarinograd as the Regent (or Viceroy) for Tzarina Catherina.  The Prince concurrently carried the titles of Governor Caucasia and the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Forces.

            General Yakobi was assigned to command the Terek front, and General Suvarof to command the Kuban front.  General Suvarof was a ruthless tyrant.  Just like all the other  Russian generals, there was no atrocity he would hesitate to commit in order to win the favor his Tzarina.

            Prince Potemkin had been invested with extensive powers right at the beginning.  While he brought the entire Caucasia under  his military control, he was also very careful to take extensive security measures in the neighborhood of his General Headquarters.  To this end, he assigned specific areas  for the  Kalmuks and Nogays to settle down per force..

            The Kalmuks in the Volga basin were threatened by a strong Russian military presence.  Upon the occupation of Crimea in the summer of 1771, they concluded that the balance had been disturbed, and they were no more secure. The Kaman Khan, Ubaşi, opted to migrate out of the region fearing an imminent disaster. At the end of the year, accompanied by his followers he escaped to the east, to Cungarya¹ , crossing the Volga when the waters were frozen.

            Half of his two hundred thousand strong followers, who accompanied him, parished en route.  He reached Cungaria with great difficulty.

            A small group of Kalmuks,  however, stayed back in Caucasia.

            The newly formed General Command of the Russian Forces in Caucasia took care of the same group, trained them under rigid  discipline, as an auxiliary force to be used in contingencies.

            As the Russian Commander-in-Chief was implementing his plans of colonizing Caucasia, there occurred a development which disrupted his plans.

            Sahip Giray and Şahin Giray brothers, soon lost  favor with the people of Crimea.  Devlet Giray, the pro-Ottoman former Khan of Crimea in exile,  attempt to exploit the popular  discontentment against the ruling Giray brothers.

            Devlet Giray was related by marriage to one of the leading families of western Caucasia, the Zanikos.  He organized a small force with the help of Zaniko Mehmet, crossed the Kerç Strait into Crimea and marched onto Bahçesaray. The people welcomed Devlet Giray with much enthusiasm.

            Sahip Giray and Şahin Giray brothers escaped from Crimea in the aftermath of this event.

            Devlet Giray was inaugurated as the Khan by the Beys of the five clans that made up the Crimean people.  The new Khan promptly declared allegiance to the Ottomans.

            Everything was well planned.  The new situation was treated as an internal affair of Crimea.  Neither the Russian nor the Ottoman empire  was called upon to intervene.

295.            However, Prince Potemkin, the clever agent of the Tzarina, responded this stratagem skillfully and in no time. A Nogay Khanate was declared established outside of Crimea. Şahin Giray was appointed as its chief; and one of the Nogay Beys, Can Membet, was selected as his regent

            It was the first phase of the plan.  Then, on the pretext that Devlet Giray had formally declared allegiance to the Ottomans, the Russian forces were deployed.  Or-kapi was held by General Prozorovsky; Şahin Giray with his cavalry went over to the Kerç Strait and entered Crimea.

            Devlet Giray didn't have an army as yet.  He had a small corps composed of the sons of the Mirzas.  He couldn't venture to confront the Russians.  Left with no option, he vacated Bahçesaray, and took refuge in Istanbul with his family and supporters.

            Potemkin’s plan was successfully concluded.  Crimea was merged with the Nogay Khanate outside the peninsula.  After formation of the puppet government headed by Şahin Giray, the function  of the Nogays also came to an end.

            The forces under the command of Generals Suvarof and Yakobi were mobilized. Under a new immigration policy, most of the Nogays were driven to out of the Volga basin. Majority of the Nogays, who resisted were put to sword.  A small  Nogay groups, who had escaped the deportation and survived the massacre, took shelter south of the River Kuban.

            Hence, the only power that Şahin Giray could relay on  outside of Crimea was eliminated.  He was thus reduced to total servitude to the Russians.

            Şahin Giray, because of his leadership of the secessionist  movement, was at odds with Istanbul. His rivals were present everywhere in Caucasia.  Under the circumstances, he had no choice but align himself with and seek protection of the Russians, who  pretended to  support him.

            In the western Caucasia,  the Russians had come down to the Black Sea coast.  In the east, in the old Kıpçak steppes between the Azov Sea and the Caspian Sea, the Russians were the only dominant power. The weak Crimean Khanate of Şahin Giray was thus partially isolated.

            Now it was time to organize colonization of the vast areas extending between the Kuban and Terek rivers.

            The Leçi Cossacks, who had rebelled during the war, were deported to the north into the Jane and Bjedug territories.  Subsequently, the hungry Cossacks,  the landless mujiks² , prison escapees, the nomads of the Don basin were enticed to settle down in the Caucasian territories opened up for Russian colonization. So there was a great exodus of  Russian settlers to this fertile land.

            The Russian colonizers of the fertile Caucasian soil also included the remnants of the Russian insurgents, who had revolted against the Tzarina during the war with the Ottomans.  The rebellion, which had spread over a large area, including the basins of the rivers Volga and Yayık, was   led by  a Don Cossack called Pugachev, alias Pedro-III.  He was non but the former husband of Catherina-II. Soon after the end of the war, the rebellion was crushed,  and Pugachev was hanged along with other leading rebels by the order of Catherina-II.  The surviving ex-rebels were running for their lives in search of shelter, in hunger and misery, when the offer for settlement along Kuban and Terek banks reached them.

            Potemkin deliberately encouraged such mobs with shadowy background to colonize the Caucasian territory.  Everything evolved the way Potemkin and his associates the wished.  The events unfolded almost on their own momentum.

            The dreams of Tzar Peter, also known as  “Peter the Great”, who lived in the beginning of the 18th century,  finally became true.  New towns and villages were set up with great speed in the vast plains of northern Caucasia under the diminution of the Russian army.

            The real owners of the land were only watching the developments. The Lezgis and Keberteys in the east, and the Janes and Bjedugs in the west, were furious at the sight of their land being occupied by strangers. The Hatukoy, Şapsığ and Natuhay tribes were distressed  at the possibility that the same  wild flood of Russian colonizers would one day sweep the entire  Caucasia.  But alas! they were unable to do anything to change the course of  the painful events.

296            Everything was  conspicuous and frightful.  The Caucasians  were face to face with a great power with endless resources.  They were in direct confrontation with such a might.  No buffer zone had remained in between.

            Presence of the Ottomans and Crimeans in Caucasia was reduced to almost nil.  The only fortress left under the control of Istanbul was the one at Soğucak. There was only a small detachment of troops of no military significance in the fortress.  All other fortresses had been over-run by the Russians.

            Northern Caucasia, though considered an Ottoman territory, there existed no Ottoman  administrative structure.  The Centuries old Ottoman sovereignty was  partially manifest in the coastal regions, only at specific sites.

            In the next encounter, entire Caucasia could turn into a battle field.  Neither Crimea nor the Nogay shield as a barrier existed any more on the path of Russian invasion of Caucasia. The Ottoman fortresses, the symbols of power, however feeble, were lost to the enemy.  In another war to come, the northern skirts of the Caucasus mountain ranges could be the first target of the Russians invasion. Caucasian towns and villages with no fortresses, bastions, and dug-outs, would have to face cannon bombardment.

            The Russian objective was quiet conspicuous.  The Russian preparations were directed at Caucasia.  The goal was to occupy the entire northern Caucasia.  The Russians were self-assured of their imminent success.  This was evident in the way they set up colonies along the communication zone of the advancing Russian armies.

            The latest military and diplomatic success they achieved erased any fear in the minds of the Russians that had been rooted for centuries.  Within a few years they had came out of the cold and wet forests of the north, and had descended to the warm waters and the fertile lands in the south.  They were mad with euphoria for having opened up to a brand new world,  asserting themselves all over the world.  They were prepared to do everything in their power not to loose it.

            The Russian occupation stirred up mixed reactions south of Kuban.  In certain regions the people were waiting silently to see what was to come; the Hatukoys, with their villages destroyed,  Janes and Bjedugs, with their lands occupied by the Russians, were furious.  While the nobles were debating what should be done, the people were boiling in rage.

             The dominant elements of the Caucasian communities were further divided rather then being united under the impact of the disastrous day to day developments.  The tribal leaders, who used to be independent and free, were agitated.

            At the meeting held to discuss future strategies, two of the principal families fell out in dispute.  They forced the nobles attending the meeting to take side.

            Both families were defending their positions obstinately.

            The Zanikos  contended that:

            -Russians will not stop at the north of Kuban. They will take consolidate on the territories they have already occupied, and  at the first available opportunity they will march on us.  Unfortunately, we don't have the means to stop them.  Therefore, we should ask help from the Ottoman Empire.  We should stop the Russian incursions into our land.

            Kalubatiyikos took the opposite stance. They argued,

            -The Ottomans are not as powerful as they used to be.  They have lost the war because of that.  They cannot possibly come to our help.  We should be neutral and look for ways to make peace with the Russians, as the Crimeans did

            The basic premise of both the views were logical superficially.  But both relied on outside powers, these were ideas with dubious consequences.

            According to the third opinion, there was no help to come by  readily from outside. Caucasia had to remedy its own injuries. Everybody must  accept it.

            The third view was that of the common people, though expressed in whispers. While the nobles inconclusively debated at their farms houses and comfortable mansions on what ought to be done, the holders of the third view were the first to act.

            The groups, who crossed the Kuban river, set on fire and destroyed the timber huts of  the Russian colonizers. They put to sword everyone that showed up, and pillaged their animals.  They chased the surviving Russians up to River Maniç.

¹Or  “Jungaria”. The northern part of Eastern Turkistan or Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, within the present political borders of China.
²The Russian  peasant.