Parliamentary Republic of Circassia

Republic of Circassia
Circassia (Formally the Parliamentary Republic of Circassa) is a Rothiyan Protectorate state in the North Caucasus along the northeastern shore of the black sea, bordering the Ottoman Empire to the south and the Rothiyan Empire to the north. Established after the Protectorate Compromise of 1862 following the stalemate between the Grand Duchy of Kyiv and the Confederate Republic of Circassia, the Ruthenian and Circassian governments settled on a peace deal to avoid further casualties in the Ruthenian conquest of Circassia. Circassia kept it's status as a democratic republic with no monarch and regained it's autonomy to avoid Ruthenianization and Russification under the Rothiyan empire, in exchange for becoming a vassalized protectorate of the empire. The reason for this comparatively generous peace deal being accepted is disputed, though most sources cite the high Ruthenian losses and fear of losing Circassia to the Ottomans as the explanation why.

The 1862 protectorate compromise was highly controversial, and a wave of seperatist movements have spread across Circassia ever since. This has spiralled into the establishment of the Cherkessian Confederacy, a Circassian independence movement calling for the return of the Circassian Confederate Republic and the revocation of the 1862 peace deal, as well as a rejection of the Orthodox Christian faith and a return to the Circassian Muslim religion. The Confederacy currently occupies the Western Circassia region, but claims the entirety of Circassia as well as some Rothiyan territories with a majority population of Circassian-speaking ethnic Circassians.