14 Reasons for Opposing Sochi 2014

The Sochi Olympics of 2014 will be the 150th commemorative year of the Circassian Genocide. Choosing Sochi as the site of the Winter Olympics, in such an auspicious year for the Russians, represents the perpetual celebration of Imperial Russia’s oppression and systematic murder of the Circassian People. Building the Olympic Village over the mass graves of the victims symbolizes the virtual erasing of this atrocity!

  1. The Circassian Genocide, still unrecognized by Russia and hidden from the civilized World, was the intentional attempt to erase the indigenous people of Circassia. The Olympic Stadiums and village are being built upon the mass graves of the ruthlessly murdered Circassians during the Genocide.
  2. Krasnaya Palana (named “The Red Hill” by the Russian troops for the amount of Circassian blood spilled) will be the center of the 2014 Olympic Games and the place where, on May 21, 1864, Russian troops celebrated the end of the war with the Circassians which claimed the lives of 1.5 million men, women, and children – over 50% of the entire population of the time!
  3. Sochi, Circassia’s capital, is the point of the exile of over one million Circassians.
  4. Nearly 90% of the remaining Circassian population lives outside their homeland, which is the largest Diaspora proportionally of any nation in the world. Circassians do not have right of return.
  5. Circassians worldwide oppose Sochi as the site of the 2014 Olympics.
  6. In Circassia, people are still deprived of basic human rights and freedoms, virtues that are far more important than grand stadiums, gold medals, and the celebration of the Olympics.
  7. Dmitri Kozak, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, stated, “no money will be spent in the Caucasus.” Russia would rather spend billions in building stadiums instead of fixing infrastructure and boosting the economy of the North Caucasus. The indigenous people will not benefit financially.
  8. Four years before the Olympics, protestors are being detained, vocal demonstrators have disappeared, and local inhabitants have been forcefully removed without consent and given meager compensation.
  9. The Sochi region faces an ecosystem habitat catastrophe. Sochi venues would be built in the protective belt of the Caucasus Nature Reserve, which is part of a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  10. Circassians in the North Caucasus do not hold the same rights as ethnic Russians.
  11. Russia has never acknowledged the indigenous Circassians of Sochi in any of their Public Relations surrounding the Olympics. Moscow is deluding the global community of Sochi’s true history.
  12. Circassians within the borders of Russia, as well as the Diaspora, cannot freely visit Sochi. Everyone is invited to the Olympics except for the indigenous people.
  13. Archeological sites dating back to 10,000 BCE are being destroyed for Olympic venues, without any regard for their historical value.
  14. It is immoral to hold an Olympics that promote peace and international cooperation through sport in a hypocritical country like Russia. They have recognized the genocides committed against other peoples, but Russia continues to ignore the genocide they committed against Circassians.