TBILISI. May 23 (Interfax) - The Georgian parliament on Friday adopted a resolution recognizing the genocide of the Cherkes people "by the Russian empire in the 18th and the 19th centuries."
All of the 95 deputies who were present in the meeting voted for the resolution.
The resolution also states that the Georgian parliament is calling on the international community to recognize the right of the Cherkes people to repatriation to their historical motherland.
The Georgian opposition earlier spoke against the prompt adoption of this resolution.
Among the meeting, participants were representatives of Cherkes diasporas from some countries, who applauded to the Georgian parliament's decision.
Georgia has become the first country to recognize the genocide of the Cherkes people, the Georgian parliament said.
The Cherkes genocide issue is associated with the so-called Chechen issue. In the Caucasus war, fought by Russia in the 19th century, Cherkes-Shapsugs left Kabarda and today's Cherkessiya, which is now part of the Kabardino-Cherkess Republic, and the contemporary Adygeya and Abkhazia.
"During the Russian-Caucasus War, the political and military leadership of Russia planned and perpetrated ethnic cleansing of the Cherkes territories and subsequently populated these regions with Cossacks and Russians," a report by Georgian historians says.
According to the Georgian "historians," "the Cherkes gene pool went down over 20%, which qualifies as genocide according to all definitions accepted in the world."
In the 19th century, Cherkes fled to the Ottoman Empire and on to the Middle East or settled in plains under the watch of the Cossacks.