Syrian Circassians fly to freedom

Syrian Circassians who fled the ongoing violence have been brought to Turkey with a private plane. In the scope of protecting the Hejaz Railway, Circassians were placed in Syria during the Ottoman era and have been residing in the country for four generations. Syrian Circassians have been brought together in Lebanon's capital city Beirut via the Solidarity Committee of World Circassians (SCWC) after contacting the SCWC over the internet. Later on, 164 Syrian Circassians were transferred to Turkey via private plane. Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Kenan Kaplan, a board member of the SCWC, said, they made preparations for the transfer of Syrian Circassians for days. "We have contacted  over the internet 210 Syrian Circassians who reside in Damascus, Aleppo and Homs where fierce clashes continue and aimed to gather them all in Beirut. However, among those, 164 of them made it to Beirut. Some of them travelled for up to three days to reach the Lebanese capital," said Kaplan. He added, once 164 Circassians arrived Turkey, they were settled in the container city in Nizip town which is in Turkey's southeastern province of Gaziantep. Kaplan underscored, so far 400 Circassians were sent to the camp in Nizip. Mainly in Syria, Jordan and Egypt, there are about 150 to 200 thousand Circassians live  in the Middle East and sources say almost 2,000 of them had travelled to Russia. In the Nizip container city, among 4,800 people, about 500 Circassians live.