BALKAR
(Own name: Malkarli)

A Caucasian people, closely related to Karachai, who speak a Western Turki (Kipchak) language. Today they live in Kabardino-Balkaria, where they constitute an absolute minority of 10 per cent. Ethnically descendent from a tribal mixture, maybe the Khazars, they have been known in the Caucasus region since the fourteenth century. Living in the high glacier regions, they were, until this century called Mountain Tatars or Mountain Kabards. Balkars turned to Islam in the eighteenth century under Nogai and Tatar influence, and were incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1827. On 8 March 1944 the entire Balkar population was deported and spread throughout the Kazak and Kirgiz republics. In 1957 they were permitted to return to their former republic, but not always their original homes. Originally a herding people, they were mainly settled in collective and state farms. Since their return they have felt discriminated against regarding admission to higher education. In 1991 the First Congress of the Balkar People met with the aim of obtaining equal political participation and to restore their homeland, by demanding their territorial rights and full rehabilitation for losses during the years of deportation.

Note: This information is taken from "The North Caucasus: Minorities at a Crossroads" written by Helen Krag and Larsh Funch.