The Syrian Future Movement joins the Circassian people—its Circassian brothers and sisters in Syria and abroad—in commemorating this pivotal day in their historical memory, sharing with them feelings of pain and pride. Together, we remember the genocide and forced displacement committed against their ancestors by the Russian Empire on May 21, 1864—a tragedy that claimed the lives of half the Circassian people and forced the rest into exile across various Muslim countries, including Syria, which welcomed them as a second homeland.
The Syrian Future Movement views the Circassians’ ability—today and for the first time—to commemorate this painful memory on Syrian soil as a symbolic moment, reflecting the beginning of a new Syria that restores dignity to all its components. It ensures the freedom to express both suffering and hope and affirms that ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity is not a burden but a civilizational richness and a source of strength for a people who have stood firm against tyranny and fragmentation.
The Syrian Future Movement emphasizes that acknowledging such memories and allowing space to respect the distinctiveness of all components is a genuine step toward building national unity founded on justice, dignity, and equal citizenship.
The Syrian Future Movement reaffirms its commitment to building a free, democratic, and pluralistic Syrian state that embraces all its citizens without exclusion, guarantees everyone’s right to express their identity and history, and moves resolutely toward a future that unites rather than divides, that honors memory rather than denies it.
