role in the history of Turkey. Some of the exiles and their descendants gained high positions in the Ottoman Empire. Most of the Young Turks were of Circassian origin. Until the end of the First World War, many Circassians actively served in the army. In the period after the First World War, Circassians came to the fore in Anatolia as a group of advanced armament and organizational abilities as a result of the struggle they fought with the Russian troops until they came to the Ottoman lands. However, the situation of the Ottoman Empire after the war caused them to be caught between the different balances of power between Istanbul and Ankara and even become a striking force. For this period, it is not possible to say that Circassians all acted together as in many other groups in Anatolia. The Turkish government removed 14 Circassian villages from Gönen and Manyas regions in December 1922, May and June 1923, without separating women and children, and drove them to different places in Anatolia from Konya to Sivas and Bitlis. This incident had a great impact on the assimilation of Circassians. After 1923, Circassians were restricted by policies such as the prohibition of Circassian language, changing village names, and surname law Circassians, who had many problems in maintaining their identity comfortably, were seen as a group that inevitably had to be assimilated. Iran The diaspora of Circassians in Iran dates back to the end of the 15th century, when Jonayd of the Ak Koyunlu raided regions of Circassia and carried off prisoners. However, the real large influx of Circassians started by the time of Shah Tahmasp I of the Safavid dynasty, who in four campaigns deported some 30,000 Circassians and Georgians back to Iran. Tahmasp's successors, most notably Shah Abbas, all the way till the time of the Qajar dynasty continued to deport and import hundreds of thousands of Circassians to Iran, while a lesser amount migrated voluntarily. Following the mass expulsion of the native Circassians of the northwest Caucasus in 1864, some of them also migrated to Qajar Iran, where some of these deportees from after 1864 rose to various high ranks such as in the Persian Cossack Brigade, where every member of the army was either Circassian, or any other type of ethnos from the Caucasus. The Circassians in Iran played an important and crucial role in the army, civil administration,