Problems of scientific discourse on the origin of the Cherkeso-Gai sub-ethnic group (Circassian Armenians)

The main aspects of the problem of the origin of the subethnic group of Cherkeso-Gai (Circassian Armenians) are considered in the article, the representatives of which played a significant role in the development of the economic and socio-cultural sphere of the Kuban. The authors analyze a wide range of opinions and approaches developed within the framework of the scientific and publicist discourse on the ethnogenesis of the mountainous Armenians. On the basis of the generalization of a large array of historiography, documentary, ethnographic, linguistic and other sources, the argument that a variety of opinions and hypotheses about the origin of the sub-ethnic community in question is a reflection of two basic concepts that can be conditionally called «migration» and «autochthonous» is argued. Adherents of the first approach consider the Circassians to be the descendants of the Armenian settlers who arrived to the Kuban from Byzantium, Armenia, the Crimea and other regions, and the supporters of the second approach, as the basis of the sub-ethnos, call part of the indigenous, mostly Adygeyan, population of the North-Western Caucasus, who accepted the Armenian-Gregorian faith. The article presents a comprehensive vision of the problem of the origin of the Circassian Armenians, taking into account the arguments of the representatives of the two indicated positions. The authors justify the conclusion that the migration of Armenians to the mountains of the North-Western Caucasus was a long and multi-vector process, and the most significant nucleus of the future subethnos was the people from the Crimean Khanate of the late 15th-17th centuries. At the same time, an important factor in the formation of the community of Circassian Armenians was the incorporation into its membership of numerous representatives of autochthonous mountain peoples, primarily the Adygs and Abazin.