[Tsoriti] Emine Şahingöz Research Training Group ‘Nominal Modification’ Goethe University Frankfurt sahingoez@em.uni-frankfurt.de 1 The Glorification of Kosta Khetagurov in the Ossetian diaspora For more than 150 years, a diaspora of Ossetians exists in Anatolia in today’s Turkish Republic. The diaspora has managed to preserve their language and their culture. In the first half of the last century, Süleyman Kazmaz visited some villages in the Eastern region of Anatolia – among them were Ossetian villages as well. His notes were later published as a book. One of his informants told him an anecdote about the Ossetian poet Kosta Khetagurov. This information will be discussed in this paper. In the first chapter, Ossetians in Anatolia will be introduced briefly and the reasons of their migration as well as the current situation will be illuminated. The second chapter gives details about Süleyman Kazmaz and discusses the information that Kazmaz’ informant provided him with. Chapter three deals with the anecdote and the portrait of Kosta Khetagurov and provides a possible explanation of this portrait. Chapter four concludes. 1 Anatolian Ossetians During the last years of the Russian-Caucasian war in the 19 th century, when many Muslims from the Caucasus left their homeland and migrated to the Ottoman Empire, diasporas of the Caucasian peoples were established in various regions of Anatolia. This migrational process is called the muhajir 1 movement. Among these peoples were a number of Ossetians who managed to preserve their language and their traditions, as far as it was possible during and after the assimilation policy of the Turkish Republic. 2 Since Ossetian muhajirs usually used the route overland, most of them settled in the vilayet (‘province’) of Kars (40°36'25''N, 43°5'35''E). According to G. Chochiev “by the 1860s nearly all Ossetian muhajirs had settled in the area, creating about thirty separate villages” (2015: 106) . Due to various reasons these settlements were destroyed and a number of Ossetian muhajirs moved further into the regions of Central Anatolia. Since in Turkey there is no differentiation made between the North Caucasian peoples and they usally are all referred to as Circassian, the self-designation of Ossetians shifted and in the most cases they call themselves Circassians (‘Çerkes‘). Nowadays, the linguistic situation got worse and the younger generation that was born in bigger cities does not speak or does not even understand Ossetic anymore. Only three mono-ethnic Ossetian villages 1 The word muhajir is an Arabic term that is used to describe Muslims who emigrate to another country due to religious reasons, mainly to keep their religion. 2 Some of the laws that were introduced are: the Language Law (1923) - did not allow any other language than Turkish; the Hat Law (1925) - forbid traditional headgear and clothing styles; the Surname Law (1934) - enforced all citizens of the Republic to receive Turkish names and surnames.