balklar

Balkars, also called the Balkars, are a Turkic ethnic group native to the North Caucasus region of Russia, primarily concentrated in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic. They are one of the two main components of the broader Karachay–Balkar ethnolinguistic group, alongside the Karachays. The Balkar language is a Turkic language closely related to Karachay and forms one of the two main speech varieties within the Karachay–Balkar language family; it is typically written in Cyrillic script. Most Balkars identify as Muslim, predominantly following Sunni Islam, though atheism and secular identities exist among younger generations.

Historically, Balkars inhabited valleys and highland communities in the central North Caucasus. In 1944, Stalin's regime deported Balkars and Karachays to Central Asia on charges of collaboration with Germany during World War II; their properties were redistributed and they faced years of displacement. The Balkars began returning to the region in the late 1950s, with large-scale rehabilitation occurring after 1957. Since that time, they have maintained cultural and linguistic institutions within the Russian Federation's Kabardino-Balkar Republic, which recognizes Kabardino-Balkar and Russian as official languages at the republic level.

Culturally, Balkar life centers on family, hospitality, and traditional crafts, music, and dress shared with other North Caucasus communities. Today, Balkars form a recognized minority within Russia, contributing to the region's diverse ethnic and linguistic landscape and participating in regional governance and cultural preservation efforts.