Papakha

[1][2][3] The word papak is also a component of the ethnonym of a Turkic group of uncertain relation: the "Karapapak" (literally "black papakh" in the Azerbaijani language).

During the Russian Civil War, many Bolshevik cavalrymen and officers (like Vasily Chapayev) wore papakhas or kubankas because many of them were Cossacks and the hat had been part of the cavalryman's uniform.

Much later, during Andrei Grechko's tenure as a Defence Minister, the Navy followed suit, introducing their own distinct version resembling a smallish "kubanka" with a visor, which was nicknamed "шапка с ручкой" ("the hat with a handle") by the troops.

The act of removing the papakhas was seen in some quarters as an attempt by the Boris Yeltsin regime to abandon earlier Soviet traditions and symbolically demonstrate the country's commitment to a new political course.

[citation needed] Papakhas have also been used by the Russian backed Luhansk People's Militia in both the War in Donbas[5] The Papakha's heritage comes from Central Asia and the Caucasus and is worn across the entire region, including Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, and North Caucasus, as well as Russia and Ukraine, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan (called telpek) and also Persia.