«Русские эмигранты в Сирии»: М.И. Самсонов о положении выходцев с Кавказа в начале ХХ в.

Abstract

The history of Caucasian diasporas formation outside Russia has been studied in our country since the 19th century, but even today it is one of the topical areas of scientific research. However, it still remains poorly studied, first of all due to the lack of a sufficient number of primary sources. The available information about the early period of the history of Caucasian communities abroad is incomplete and contradictory. Meanwhile, at the beginning of the 20th century there was a new wave of Muhajirism from the Caucasus to the Ottoman Empire. This article introduces to scientific community a new primary source — a memorandum of the Russian consulate secretary in Damascus M.I. Samsonov “Russian emigrants in Syria” (1906). It contains information about the number, settlements, peculiarities of the legal status, moods of muhajirs from the Caucasus who settled in Syria and Trans-Jordan. This data, collected during Samsonov’s trips around the consular district and his communications with emigrants, are accompanied by his own reflections on the reasons for the emigration of Caucasians from Russia and their status in the Ottoman Empire as well as assessment of their desire and opportunities to return back. In this article, the information and conclusions made by the author of the memorandum are compared with other known data on Russian Muslims who emigrated to Syria. Despite the fact that the memorandum of M.I. Samsonov gives the most general answers to some questions, it contains new information about the life of the muhajirs and their status, which significantly supplements present scientific knowledge in this area.