Victims' descendants demand Russian Olympics are moved

A MUSLIM diaspora is demanding the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics be cancelled or moved unless Russia apologises for the 19th century deaths of many of their ancestors in the games location.

The Circassian diaspora, Muslim indigenous people from the northwest Caucasus now scattered across the globe, join a swelling list of opponents to the Games – from Greenpeace to Amnesty International.

Circassians argue the Sochi Games are as insensitive as hosting a competition on the grounds of Nazi death camp Auschwitz.

In 2014 it will be 150 years since a tsarist military campaign wiped out 300,000 Circassians in and around Sochi. Deportations and turmoil led many Circassians south to Turkey and elsewhere, and their seven million or so descendants are spread across the world. About 700,000 remain in the north-west Caucasus.

US-born Lisa Jarkasi, co-founder of No Sochi 2014, a lobbying group comprising 30 Circassian organisations, said: "The games are part of Russia's policy of eradicating Circassian history."