Settlement of Circassians in Aleppo and its vicinity by the Ottoman Empire (1856-1914)

Both local and overall studies were made on Crimean and Caucasian muhajirs' (refugees) who took refuge in Ottoman territory (1856 -1914 ), which was an important issue for socio-economic life of Ottoman Empire. However, these performed studies were limited with Rumelian and Anatolian cities. The studies were again about overall muhajir settlement but studies on settlement issue of Caucasian nations such as Cherkess, Noghai, Chechen in a specific city were limited. In this period, great numbers of muhajirs settled in the cities located in Syria and Aleppo which were Arab cities under the rule of Ottoman Empire... In this context, this study aimed to reach two goals. The first goal is to make a regional study on Cherkess settlement in Aleppo and around Aleppo in 1856 to 1914, the second one is that what was the purpose of Ottoman Empire by settling Cherkesses in these territories. It can be said that settling Cherkesses in Aleppo was an example of resettlement policy of Ottoman Empire. This study explains arrangements on the process of settling cherkesses in aforementioned territories and encountered social and economic problems. resettlement of Cherkess refugees first in Rumelia, and then Aleppo after Crimean War ( 1853 – 1856 ) , Caucasian War ( 1862 – 1864 ) and the 93 War ( 1877 – 1878 ) till 1914 were discussed. Besides, Cherkesses' migration routes and difficulties faced in migration were tried to explain. In this study, locations of resettled Cherkesses in Aleppo and its vicinity, the purpose of Ottoman Empire on selecting these locations were explained In the process of resettlement, safety and health problems faced in resettlement of Cherkesses and Ottoman authorities and political solutions were discussed. Keywords: Migration, Muhajir, Resettlement, Aleppo.