From linguistic and ethnogenetic point of view karaims belong to the oldest Turkish tribes - Kipchaks. The history of Karaims is connected with Lithuania since 1397-1398. The Great Duke of Lithuania Vytautas, had to bring from Crimea several hundreds of Karaims and settle them in the Great Duchy of Lithuania. Karaims were settled in Trakai between two castles of The Great Duke, present Karaim Street. Trakai has always been the community’s administrative and spiritual centre in Lithuania. Karaims themselves began to hold it not only a homeland, but as fatherland, too. “Karaims - wrote 19th c. Polish writer Wladyslaw Syrokomla, - ipso iure were as half-noble, considered true citizens of the land in its full meaning, not a foreign tribe”.