Bemat Kurghoqo was a Kabardian prince and grand prince of Kabardia from 1753 until his death. A leading figure of the Baksan political faction, he played a central role in the prolonged internecine struggles among the Kabardian princely elite during the first half of the 18th century. Bemat maintained close relations with the Russian Empire while simultaneously navigating alliances and conflicts involving the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire. His tenure was marked by ongoing rivalry with the Kashkatau faction, disputes over territorial control, and repeated interventions by external powers in Kabardian affairs.
Early life Qazy's Kabardia was divided into Hatokhshoqey, Jambotey, and Misostey. Then, during a further division, the Jambot estates were replaced by the Qeytuqo and Bechmirza estates. Speaking about Bemat, he belonged to the Baksan party, was married to the sister of Aslanbech Qeytuqo, and owned two large estates and two dozen villages. On March 20, 1718, the princes of Greater Kabardia—Hatokhshoqo, Yislambech Misost, Aslanbech Qeytuqo, Tatarkhan the Golden, Bemat Kurghoqo, and others—appealed to Peter the Great with a request for a salary, protection from external enemies, and the return of runaway peasants. The tsar's reply stated that the princes' requests had been satisfied on all points of their appeal. In the early 1720s, the rulers of Greater Kabardia split into two factions: the Baksan and the Kashkatau. The former was led by Bemat and Yislambech, the latter by Aslanbech. Both parties frequently shifted their foreign policy allegiances, relying in internecine clashes sometimes on Russian forces and at other times on the support of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire. The dismemberment of Greater Kabardia resulted from a power struggle among the senior princes and, naturally, did not bring peace and stability to the Kabardian lands. On one side, the Hatokhshoqo and Misost families, along with their children and nephews (the Baksan party), claimed supremacy; on the other, the Qeytuqo and Bechmirza families (the Kashkatau party).
Yet both princely factions remained formally loyal to the Russian state. On May 11, 1722, Aslanbech asked Peter the Great for military assistance to protect him from Bemat and Niyatshkha Kurghoqo, who, along with Crimean Tatars, intended to abduct him. Peter did not refuse outright, but gave the Astrakhan governor, A. P. Volynsky, a secret order: promise assistance and leave it at that. Aslanbech retreated to the Cherek Gorge and then, with his younger brother Jambolet and his son Hamirza Qeytuqo, crossed the Kuban to the Tatar camp. Even then, however, he did not oppose Russia or harm its interests, continuing instead his feud with his Kabardian rivals—Yislambech Misost, Bemat Kurghoqo, and Qasey Hatokhshoqo. In short, internecine conflicts that weakened and devastated Kabardia continued into the 18th century. In 1721, Bemat's uzdens, on his orders, killed Aslanbek Kaitukin's brother, Kanamet. In May 1729, the Crimean Kalga Bakhti Giray and his brother Murad Giray attacked Kabardia but were killed by Yislambech. In the spring of 1738, Princes Bemat and Karamirza Aliy wrote to the Don Ataman Danila Efremov about their campaign against Kuban and the conquest of the "Abaza Circassian" lands. They also took two hostages from the son of the Nogai murza Navruzov and escorted them to the Kizlyar Fortress. In her letter of July 1, 1738, Empress Anna Ioannovna expressed her satisfaction and gratitude to Prince Bemat for his active participation in the Kuban campaign and for bringing the Abazins under Kabardian control. The letter states:
And we, the great sovereign, our imperial majesty, accept this service and graciously hope that you, in accordance with your due loyalty to us, will continue to conduct searches for the Tatars remaining in the Kuban and bring them to utter ruin. You will not leave us, for which you will not be left without a reward in our imperial favor. As for the Abazins, about whom you wrote to us, the great empress, in your letter in 1732, and your Mukhamet-bek, who was here at our court, verbally represented that the Abazins had been in your possession since ancient times and until recently the Crimean and Kuban Tatars took them from you to Kuban.
At the end of the letter, the empress ordered that those Abazins be kept under close supervision so that they would not commit hostile acts or escape to the Kuban as before, nor be taken away again by the Tatars. In 1739, the son of Bemat, who had been held hostage in Kizlyar, was exchanged for the son of Qasey Hatokhshoqo. However, both princely factions—the Baksan and Kashkatau groups—continued to exist. On December 15, 1743, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna sent a salary of 2,000 rubles to Princes Bemat, Qasey, Karamirza, and others. In the summer of 1744, Brigadier Koltsov was ordered by Moscow to reconcile the warring parties, but he failed to do so. Chancellor Count A. P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin sent a letter to the Kashkatau party, complaining that the princes had not accepted Brigadier Koltsov's demands for reconciliation with the Baksan faction and strongly advised them to make peace "virtuously," which would be "more beneficial" for Kabardia.
For all questions related to internal relations in Kabardia, Bestuzhev advised contacting the Astrakhan governor, chamberlain and cavalier I. O. Brylkin. By the decree of the College of Foreign Affairs of July 18, 1746, the Astrakhan governor was charged with investigating the possibility of resettling the Kashkatau party and their people to the area of the Shalushka and Nalchik rivers. However, Aslanbech, as is clear from the document, declined the proposed settlement and requested permission to reside in Baksan or Chegem, which was opposed by representatives of the Baksan party, and consequently by Bemat, who repeatedly appealed to the Russian authorities with a request "not to allow" Aslanbech and his group to settle in Baksan. The decree of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna of April 15, 1747 to the Astrakhan governor I. O. Brylkin concerned complaints from the Ottomans that the Kabardians not only accepted fugitives from Kuban, including Circassians, Nogais, Abazins, and others, but also incited others to do so, and carried some off by force, conducting sudden raids on Kuban that brought destruction to the populations subject to the khan there. The decree does not contain any condemnation of the representatives of either faction or their actions, and instead instructs the governor to determine whether Crimea and the Ottomans had gone beyond normal diplomatic measures, whether the Crimean khan or the Kuban serasker had sent emissaries to Kabardia, and what responses they had received. In presenting the developments of the struggle between the two princely factions, one of its key figures was Bemat Kurghoqo, the ruler of the Baksan party. Extracting a coherent biography of any Kabardian prince from the available sources is often difficult, as it requires following the broader sequence of events connected to that individual. On June 28, 1747, A. P. Devits, commander of the troops in Kizlyar, reported to the College of Foreign Affairs on the presence of Captain Barkovsky in Kabardia with an escort to investigate Crimean complaints against the Kabardians. His report relied on the captain's account. On June 13, representatives of the Baksan and Kashkatau factions gathered in the Kyzburun region, where they assembled in formation. Barkovsky, Tatarov, Meshcheryakov, and other envoys from Devits also arrived. Batoqo and Bemat were the first to appear at the khasa, declaring that they were not subjects of the Ottomans but had long been subjects of Russia, and promising to adhere to this position, while rejecting Crimean claims. They also asserted that the Abaza had long been subjects of the Kabardian princes, not of the Kuban serasker.
On June 15, Barkovsky demanded a response from Prince Bemat regarding the complaint of the Crimean khan, specifically asking why the murzas Mantsir and Yusup were residing in his domain. Bemat replied that Mantsir had entered his domain through marriage after being driven out by the khan, who had confiscated his property and sought his death, while Yusup had come in search of horses stolen from him. On June 19, Prince Bemat presented letters to Governor I. O. Brylkin, one responding to the khan's complaint and another explaining the reasons for his dispute with Misost. On June 20, the captain visited Batoko, where all the princes had gathered, and requested a verbal report on the plans of the Turks and Tatars. On September 29, 1747, Chancellor A. P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin wrote to Bemat urging him to end his conflict with Kasai Atazhukin. Based on reports from Governor Brylkin and aware of Bemat's reconciliation with Batoko Bekmurzin and Zhambolat Kaitukin, the chancellor nevertheless expressed concern about the continuing feud with Kasai, who had taken refuge in Kizlyar. The remainder of the letter emphasized the need for unity among the Kabardian princes, warning that continued internal strife would further weaken Kabardia. According to the "Description of the Kabardian People" (May 1748), the forces of the Kabardian rulers were divided even within the Baksan faction.
on one side were Bemat Kurgokin and Zhambolat Kaytukin "with their children," on the other, Batoko with his and Aslanbek Kaytukin's "children." The quarrel between them arose because Bemat and Zhambolat, separately from the other rulers, wrote to the Crimean Khan that if Russia "attacked them" or Kasai returned to Kabardia, they hoped for support from Crimea, which "would defend them from the Russians and, upon their exit from Kabardia, order them to settle." However, the Khan did not promise military assistance.
The same source provides details on the military strength of Greater Kabardia: about twenty rulers, including Bemat and Aslanbech, could field more than 6,000 men. In Kizlyar, Qasey Hatokhshoqo, Karamirza Aliy, and Aliy Yislam with their brothers—twelve rulers and about 100 uzdens—remained in exile. Lesser Kabardia could muster just over 3,000 men. Regarding armament, the Kabardians possessed firearms, though most warriors carried sabres and other melee weapons, with armor also being common. The source characterizes the princes, including Bemat and Kasai Atazhukin, as courageous leaders and emphasizes the effectiveness of Kabardian forces.
On November 10, 1749, Chancellor A. P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin sent a letter to the princes Bemat Kurghoqo, Zhambolat Kaitukin, Qaramurza Aliyev, and Hamurza Aslanbekov informing them of the payment of their "salary" in the amount of 1,000 rubles, following reports from Governor I. O. Brylkin about their reconciliation with Kasai and his brothers.
Written sources from this period clearly demonstrate the damage inflicted on the Kabardian people by prolonged internecine strife. The danger of the final dismemberment of Kabardia was further intensified by the proximity of the Kuban Tatars, who supported the Kashkatau faction and participated in raids and plundering of the lands and villages belonging to Bemat Kurghoqo.