Καραμανλήδες Karamanlılar | |
|---|---|
 Christian lady fromKaraman (Christiana Caramanica), depicted byLambert de Vos in 1574 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Greece | |
| Languages | |
| TraditionallyKaramanli Turkish, now predominantlyModern Greek | |
| Religion | |
| Greek Orthodox | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Cappadocian Greeks,Turks |
TheKaramanlides (Greek:Καραμανλήδες,romanized: Karamanlídes;Turkish:Karamanlılar), also known asKaramanli Greeks[1][2][3] or simplyKaramanlis, are a traditionallyTurkish-speakingGreek Orthodox people native to the region ofKaraman inAnatolia.[4][5]
Some scholars regard Karamanlides as the Turkish-speaking Greeks from Karaman,[1][6][7][8] though their exact ethnic origin is disputed; they could either be descendants ofByzantine Greeks who were linguisticallyTurkified, or ofChristian Turkic soldiers who settled in the region after the Turkic conquests, or even both.[9] The Karamanlides were forced to leave Anatolia during the1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Today, a majority of the population live inGreece and have fully integrated into Greek society.
Writers and speakers of Karamanli Turkish were expelled from Turkey as part of the1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Some speakers preserved their language in the diaspora, but the language is now extinct.
A fragment of a manuscript written in Karamanli was also found in theCairo Geniza.[10]
The origin of the Karamanlides is disputed; they are either descendants ofByzantine Greeks who were linguisticallyTurkified through a gradual process of assimilation by the Ottomans, or ofTurkic soldiers who settled in the region after the Turkic conquests and converted toChristianity.[11][12] Greek scholars incline to the view that the Karamanlides were of Greek descent and adopted Turkish as their vernacular, either by force or as a result of their isolation from the Greek-speaking Orthodox Christians of the coastal regions. Turkish scholars regard them as the descendants of Turks who had migrated to Byzantine territories before the conquest or had served as mercenaries in the Byzantine armies and who had adopted the religion but not the language of their new rulers.[13] Another theory supports that the Karamanlides may have been a mixture of Anatolian Greeks and Christian Turks.[9] There is not enough evidence to prove how the early Karamanlides identified themselves.[14]
Partial or full Turkification of Anatolian Greeks dates back to the early 1100s, as a result of living together with neighboring Turks.[15] Oriental and Latin sources indicate that Greek-Turkish bilingualism was common in Anatolia in the 13th and 14th centuries, and by the early 15th century it was very widespread. Furthermore, an anonymous Latin account from 1437 states that Greek bishops and metropolitans in Anatolia, were "dressed in the Muslim style and spoke Turkic"; "although the liturgy was still read in Greek the sermons were pronounced in Turkic."[16] Daniel Panzac elaborates that 'Karaman Greeks' became fully linguistically and culturally Turkified during the reign ofMurad III (r. 1574–1595), and some of them had also converted toIslam.[8] Karamanlides could be descendants of those Turkified Greeks.[17]
The Ottoman explorerEvliya Çelebi, who visited the Karamanlides and experienced their lifestyle, wrote that they spoke with an authentic Turkish accent but used Greek and Latin words as well. They printed books, particularly the bible, in Turkish language and chanted hymns in Karamanlidika, despite their neighborhoods also having Greek-speaking communities.[18][better source needed] The British historianArnold J. Toynbee (1889–1975) emphasized that there was no definite answer to the question of their origins.[19]
The German travelerHans Dernschwam (1494–1568/69) encountered the Karamanlides living inIstanbul during his travel throughout Anatolia in 1553–1555; he described them as "a Christian folk of the Greek faith whom Selim I had transplanted from the emirate of Karamania." TheArmenian historianEremia Chelebi (1637–1695), also stated that Karamanlides lived around and within the city walls of Istanbul, and despite beingGreek, they did not knowGreek and spoke only Turkish. A Karamanlis author named Mauromates (1656–1740) wrote that the Greek language was replaced by Turkish in Anatolia, and were thus unable to read the "masterpieces of Greek literature."[20] Another Karamanlis author named Iosepos Moesiodax, wrote in hisPaedagogy (1779) that "the need of our public demands good Turkish, because it is the dialect of our Rulers."[21] The English writerWilliam Martin Leake (1777–1860), who travelled inKonya in 1800, wrote:[22]
[...] the generality of the Cappadocian Greeks is ignorant of their own language and use the Turkish in the church service [...] at Konia we are comfortably accommodated in the house of a Christian belonging to the Greek church, but who is ignorant of the language, which is not even used in the church service: they have the four Gospels and the Prayers printed in Turkish. [...] it is an indisputable fact [...] that in a great part of Anatolia even the public worship of the Greeks is now performed in the Turkish tongue.
The German orientalist Franz Taeschner (1888–1967) observed that the Karamanlides were completely Turkified, with the exception of their religion. The British historianEdwin Pears (1835–1919), who lived in Turkey for approximately 40 years, wrote that the Karamanlides were originally Greeks, who had lost their native language and spoke Turkish.[23]Robert Pinkerton (1780–1859) stated that the Turkish oppression had made them adopt the Turkish language:[24]
[…] The result of my inquiry shows that there still remains much to be done by Bible Societies for the poor, ignorant, and oppressed Christians of Lesser Asia, the majority of whom, in the language in the present day, have almost entirely lost the knowledge of their native language, and speak and understand nothing but Turkish. The two Christian nations which I have particularly in view are the Greek and Armenian. The cruel persecution of their Mahomedan masters have been the cause of their present degraded state of ignorance, even in regard to their native tongue. For that there was a time when their Turkish masters strictly prohibited the Greeks in Asia Minor even from speaking the Greek language among themselves, and that they cut out the tongues of some, and punished others with death, who dared to disobey this their barbarous command. It is an indisputable fact, that the language of their oppressors has long since almost universally prevailed, and that in a great part of Anatolia even the public worship of the Greeks is now performed in the Turkish tongue.
Similarly, the British scholarDavid George Hogarth (1862–1927) attributed the Turkification of the Karamanlides to oppression; in 1890 while visitingLake Eğirdir, he wrote that "the Moslems were eating them up."[25]
BritishArchaeologistRichard MacGillivray Dawkins traveled between the Karamanlides[26] andBithynia between 1909–1911. Dawkins came toİzmit andBursa regions after this trip and stated that there are Turkish-speaking Greek villages here. According to him, the Greek spoken here was very close to the language spoken by the Karamanlides. Even Dawkins stated that their language was Asiatic and showed different features from Greek.[27] It is known that some Karamanlides lived inİznik as well as Bursa, İzmit andYalova, and they leftTurkish inscriptions written inGreek letters.[28][29][30]
Many Karamanlides were forced to leave their homes during the 1923 population exchange. Estimates place the number of Turkish-speaking Orthodox Christians expelled from central and southern Anatolia at around 100,000.[31]
The Turkish government considered cutting a deal for Turkish-speaking Christians to be exempt from the population exchange.[32] At the end however, it was decided that religion would be the only criterion of the exchange.[32] Greek political elites saw no harm in taking in more Greek Orthodox Christians, but Turkish political elites remained fearful that the Karamanlides' loyalty to theEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople would eventually undercut efforts to consolidate state control in the poor and underdeveloped region ofKaraman.[33] OnlyPapa Eftim I (bornPávlos Karahisarídis), an ardentTurkish nationalist and the creator of theAutocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate, was allowed to remain in Anatolia.[34] Upon their arrival in Greece, Karamanlides faced many instances of discrimination by the local Greek population "because they spoke the language of the age-old enemy of Hellenism"; sometimes even taunted with the allegation that they were of Turkish background.[32] By the 1980s, they were well integrated into Greek society.[35]
The distinct culture that developed among the Karamanlides blended elements of Orthodox Christianity with a Turkish-Anatolian culture that characterized their willingness to accept and immerse themselves in foreign customs. From the 14th to the 19th centuries, they enjoyed an explosion in literary refinement. Karamanlides authors were especially productive in philosophy, religious writings, novels, and historical texts. Their lyrical poetry in the late 19th century describes their indifference to bothGreek andTurkish governments, and the confusion which they felt as a Turkish-speaking people with a Greek Orthodox religion.[36][37][38]
In the bilingual and bi-musical song anthologies published by the Karamanli Greeks of Anatolia, Turkish melodies were transcribed in the reformed Byzantine notation, and Turkish texts were printed in Greek script.
Here the term "Christians" should be read as referring specifically to the remaining Armenian groups and perhaps Karamanli Greeks in the interior of Anatolia, who had not yet been displaced.
In 2008, 2010, and 2013, three international conferences about the 'Karamanlides' (Turkish-speaking Greek Orthodox subjects of the Ottoman Empire) were co-organized between Greek, Cypriot, and Turkish universities.
Perhaps most odious on the religious front to the remaining Greeks in Turkey was the government-sponsored rise in the 1920s of a "Turkish Orthodox Church", led by a breakaway, rather fanatical anti-Phanar cleric who went by the name "Papa Efthim". Recognized by a governmental decree in 1921, it seems that this "Turkish Orthodox Church", based in Kayseri/Caesaria in Central Anatolia, was initially conceived to serve as a state-controlled spiritual home for the Turkophone Greek Orthodox community known as Karamanlılar, or Karamanlides in Greek. The Karamanlı, though most concentrated in their central traditional homeland in Central Anatolia, were dispersed across Asia Minor (including the Ottoman capital) by the early 20th century; and had arguably enjoyed a less contentious relationship with the Empire's final Unionist masters. Their official recognition as members of a Turkish – as opposed to Greek – Orthodox community was a possible path to this culturally syncretic community's integration into the Turkish nationalist project (and a convenient way to weaken Phanar by revoking its authority over an important faction of the Greek Orthodox). Indeed, many expected the Karamanlı to be spared in the Greco-Turkish population exchange; but they were finally included amongst the exchangeable Greeks, rendering the "Turkish Orthodox Church" project stillborn and leaving "Papa" Efthim a state-recognized "patriarch" without a flock.
The Karaman region was for a long time inhabited by Turkish-speaking Orthodox Greeks who wrote Turkish in the Greek script. These Greeks are called Karamanians.
… a large number of works were printed in Turkish using the Greek and Armenian alphabets. These were intended for those ethnic Greeks and Armenians who, while retaining their religious allegiance to their respective churches, had lost all knowledge of their own languages and had been assimilated linguistically by their Muslim Turkish neighbours. Turcophone Greeks were known as Karamanlides, after the province of Karaman where many of them lived, although there were also large communities in Istanbul and in the Black Sea region, and printed or manuscript works in Turkish using the Greek alphabet are known as Karamanlidika.
They were known as Karaman Greeks (Karamanlilar or Karamaniyari) and had latterly been turcificated in culture and language during the reign of Murad III. A good number of them had been converted to Islam.