Karamanlides

Greek Orthodox Turkish-speaking ethnic group

Not to be confused with Karamanids, one of the Anatolian beyliks, centered in South-Central Anatolia.

Ethnic group

Karamanlides

Καραμανλήδες
Karamanlılar

Christian lady from Karaman (Christiana Caramanica), depicted by Lambert de Vos in 1574

Regions with significant populations
Greece
Languages
Originally Karamanli Turkish, now predominantly Modern Greek
Religion
Greek Orthodox
Related ethnic groups
Cappadocian Greeks, Turks

The Karamanlides (Greek: Καραμανλήδες, romanized: Karamanlídes; Turkish: Karamanlılar), also known as Karamanli Greeks[1][2][3] or simply Karamanlis, are a traditionally Turkish-speaking Greek Orthodox people native to the region of Karaman in Anatolia.[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 of Byzantine Greeks who were linguistically Turkified, or of Christian Turkic soldiers who settled in the region after the Turkic conquests, or even both.[9] The Karamanlides were forced to leave Anatolia during the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Today, a majority of the population live in Greece and have fully integrated into Greek society.

## Language

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An inscription in Karamanli Turkish on the entrance of the former Greek Orthodox church of Agia Eleni in Sille, near Konya.

Main article: Karamanli Turkish

Writers and speakers of Karamanli Turkish were expelled from Turkey as part of the Greek-Turkish population exchange of 1923. Some speakers preserved their language in the diaspora.[citation needed]

Karamanlidika inscription found on the door of a house in İncesu, Turkey

A fragment of a manuscript written in Karamanli was also found in the Cairo Geniza.[10]

## Origins

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The region where Karamanlides were concentrated in the past.

The origin of the Karamanlides is disputed; they are either descendants of Byzantine Greeks who were linguistically Turkified after being pressured through a gradual process of assimilation by the Ottomans, or of Turkic soldiers who settled in the region after the Turkic conquests and converted to Christianity.[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 of Murad III (r. 1574–1595), and some of them had also converted to Islam.[8] Karamanlides could be descendants of those Turkified Greeks.[17]

The Ottoman explorer Evliya 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 historian Arnold J. Toynbee (1889–1975) emphasized that there was no definite answer to the question of their origins.[19]

The German traveler Hans Dernschwam (1494–1568/69) encountered the Karamanlides living in Istanbul 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." The Armenian historian Eremia Chelebi (1637–1695), also stated that Karamanlides lived around and within the city walls of Istanbul, and despite being Greek, they did not know Greek 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 his Paedagogy (1779) that "the need of our public demands good Turkish, because it is the dialect of our Rulers."[21] The English writer William Martin Leake (1777–1860), who travelled in Konya 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 historian Edwin 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 scholar David George Hogarth (1862–1927) attributed the Turkification of the Karamanlides to oppression; in 1890 while visiting Lake Eğirdir, he wrote that "the Moslems were eating them up."[25]

British Archaeologist Richard MacGillivray Dawkins traveled between the Karamanlides[26] and Bithynia between 1909–1911. Dawkins came to İzmit and Bursa 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 in İznik as well as Bursa, İzmit and Yalova, and they left Turkish inscriptions written in Greek letters.[28][29][30]

## Population exchange between Greece and Turkey

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Many Karamanlides were forced to leave their homes during the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. 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 the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate would eventually undercut efforts to consolidate state control in the poor and underdeveloped region of Karaman.[33] Only Papa Eftim (born Pávlos Karahisarídis), who was an ardent Turkish nationalist and the creator of the Turkish Orthodox Church 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]

## Culture

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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 both Greek and Turkish governments, and the confusion which they felt as a Turkish-speaking people with a Greek Orthodox religion.[36][37][38]

## See also

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* Turcopole

## Footnotes

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1. ^ a b Ilıcak & Varjabedian 2021, p. 23: "Turkophone Greeks are called Karamanli Greeks or Karamanlides, and their language and literature is called Karamanli Turkish or Karamanlidika, but the scholarly literature has no equivalent terms for Turkophone Armenians."
2. ^ Erol, Merih (2015). Greek Orthodox Music in Ottoman Istanbul: Nation and Community in the Era of Reform. Indiana University Press. p. 6\. ISBN 978-0-253-01842-7. "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."
3. ^ Yildirim, Onur (2007). Diplomacy and Displacement: Reconsidering the Turco-Greek Exchange of Populations, 1922–1934. Routledge. p. 62\. ISBN 978-1-136-60010-4. "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."
4. ^ Stauning Willert, Trine (2019). The New Ottoman Greece in History and Fiction. Modernity, Memory and Identity in South-East Europe. p. 41\. ISBN 978-3-319-93849-3. "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."
5. ^ Onayli, Kutay (2024). ""The State Will Always Pursue You": A History of Greeks in the Republic of Turkey". In Christofis, Nikos; Deriziotis, Anthony (eds.). A Century of Greek–Turkish Relations: A Handbook. Transnational Press London. p. 93\. ISBN 978-1-80135-264-2. "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."
6. ^ Nagel Publishers (1968). Turkey. Nagel. p. 615\. OCLC 3060049. "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."
7. ^ Daly, Michael (1988). "The Turkish legacy: an exhibition of books and manuscripts to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk". Bodleian Library: 40. ISBN 978-1-85124-016-6. "… 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."
8. ^ a b Panzac, Daniel (1995). Histoire Économique et Sociale de l'Empire Ottoman et de la Turquie (1326–1960): Actes du Sixième Congrès International Tenu à Aix-en-Provence du 1er au 4 Juillet 1992. Peeters Publishers. pp. 345–6\. ISBN 978-90-6831-799-2. "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."
9. ^ a b Mackridge, Peter (2010). Language and National Identity in Greece, 1766-1976. OUP Oxford. p. 64\. ISBN 978-0-19-959905-9.
10. ^ Julia Krivoruchko Karamanli – a new language variety in the Genizah: T-S AS 215.255 http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Taylor-Schechter/fotm/july-2012/index.html Archived 2016-10-27 at the Wayback Machine
11. ^ Vryonis, Speros. Studies on Byzantium, Seljuks, and Ottomans: Reprinted Studies. Undena Publications, 1981, ISBN 0-89003-071-5, p. 305. "The origins of the Karamanlides have long been disputed, there being two basic theories on the subject. According to one, they are the remnants of the Greek-speaking Byzantine population which, though it remained Orthodox, was linguistically Turkified. The second theory holds that they were originally Turkish soldiers which the Byzantine emperors had settled in Anatolia in large numbers and who retained their language and Christian religion after the Turkish conquests..."
12. ^ Baydar 2016, p. 21
13. ^ Clogg, Richard (1968). "The Publication and Distribution of Karamanli Texts by the British and Foreign Bible Society Before 1850, I". The Journal of Ecclesiastical History. 19 (1): 57–81\. doi:10.1017/S0022046900059443. ISSN 1469-7637. S2CID 247323232.
14. ^ Travlos, Konstantinos (2020). Salvation and Catastrophe: The Greek-Turkish War, 1919–1922. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 322\. ISBN 978-1-4985-8508-8.
15. ^ Shukurov 2016, p. 360
16. ^ Shukurov 2016, pp. 361–362
17. ^ Shukurov 2016, p. 362
18. ^ Hayati Develi, Osmanlı'nın Dili, Kesit Yayınları, İstanbul 2010, s. 26. ISBN 978-605-4117-33-8
19. ^ Baydar 2016, pp. 15–16
20. ^ Baydar 2016, pp. 13–14
21. ^ Baydar 2016, p. 16
22. ^ Baydar 2016, p. 14
23. ^ Baydar 2016, p. 15
24. ^ Baydar 2016, pp. 17–18
25. ^ Baydar 2016, p. 17
26. ^ XIX. yüzyıla kadar genel olarak iç ve güneybatı Anadolu'da yaşayan Hristiyan Türkler olan Karamanlı Rumlar olarak adlandırılmışlardır. Karamanlılar için bkz. Baykurt, a.g.e., s. 22; Ferruh Ağca, "Hıristiyan Karamanlı Türkleri ve Karamanlı Ağzı Üzerine", Türkbilig, Sayı: 11, Ankara 2006, s. 3; Eröz, a.g.e., s. 30; Aydın, "a.g.m.", s. 13; Vryonis, a.g.e., s. 452–455.
27. ^ R.M. Dawkins, Modern Greek In Asia Minor, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1916, s. 37.
28. ^ Semavi Eyice, "Anadolu'da Karamanlıca Kitabeler (Grek Harfleriyle Türkçe kitabeler II)", Belle- ten, C. XLIV, S. 176, Ekim 1980, s. 683; Semavi Eyice, "Anadolu'da Karamanlıca Kitabeler (Grek Harfleriyle Türkçe Kitabeler)", Belleten, C. XXXIX, S. 153, Ocak 1975, s. 25–56.
29. ^ Anastasios Iordanoglou, "A Karamanlidic Funerary Inscription (1841) In Nicea (İznik) Museum", Balkan Studies, Cilt: 19, Selanik 1978, s. 185–191
30. ^ Yalvar, Cihan (January–February 2021). "ANADOLU'DA SON TÜRK İSKÂN İZNİK İMPARATORLUĞU'NDA KUMAN-KIPÇAKLAR: XIII. YÜZYILDAN XX. YÜZYILA KADAR YALOVA KAZIMİYE (YORTAN) İLE ELMALIK (SARUHANLI) KÖYLERİNDEKİ VARLIKLARI". Türk Dünyası Araştırmaları. 127 (250): 11–36.
31. ^ Blanchard, Raoul. "The Exchange of Populations Between Greece and Turkey." Geographical Review, 15.3 (1925): 449–56.
32. ^ a b c Mackridge, Peter (18 November 2010) [2009]. Language and National Identity in Greece, 1766-1976. Oxford University Press (published 2010). p. 305\. ISBN 978-0-19-959905-9.
33. ^ Fabbe, Kristin (2019). Disciples of the State?: Religion and State-Building in the Former Ottoman World. Cambridge University Press. p. 155\. ISBN 978-1-108-31751-1.
34. ^ Çetintaş, Cengiz (2019-11-18). Cumhuriyet'in Kuruluş Yılı 1923: TBMM Tutanakları Yıllığı (in Turkish). Cengiz Çetintaş. ISBN 978-605-81170-6-8.
35. ^ Clogg 2010, p. 410: "A nativist reaction of this type was perhaps predictable, and, after the passage of some sixty years, these Karamanlı refugees are well integrated into Greek society. Until recently, however, and perhaps even now, cinemas in predominantly refugee quarters of Athens such as Nea Smyrnē would show Turkish-language films for the benefit of those who retained a knowledge of Turkish, a poignant reminder of a chapter in the history of the Greek people that is now effectively closed."
36. ^ Aytac, Selenay; Constantinou, Constantia (15 August 2016). Discovery of Karamanlidika Cultural Artifacts via Social Media Tools: Towards a Digital Repository for Karamanli Memories. IFLA WLIC 2016. Columbus, Ohio, United States of America. S2CID 52060689.
37. ^ Ekin, Cemal (2017). "Karamanlıların Soy Kütükleri: Karamanlıca (Grek Harfli Türkçe) Kitabeli Mezar Taşları". Sanat Tarihi Dergisi (in Turkish). 26 (2).
38. ^ Irakleous, Stelios (2013). "On the development of Karamanlidika Writing Systems Based on Sources of the Period 1764–1895". Mediterranean Language Review. 20.

## References

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* Baydar, Ayça (2016). "Chapter One – Introduction". The Turcophone Orthodox Christians from Coexistence to Ethno-religious Homogenisation: A study of the 'Karamanlidhika' Press during the Greek-Turkish War and the Population Exchange (Thesis). University of London. pp. 9–33.
* Clogg, Richard (2010) [1992]. "A Millet Within A Millet: The Karamanlides". I Kath'inas Anatoli: Studies in Ottoman Greek History. Piscataway: Gorgias Press. pp. 387–410\. doi:10.31826/9781463225872-016. ISBN 978-1617191343.
* Ilıcak, H. Şükrü; Varjabedian, Jonathan, eds. (2021). My Dear Son Garabed, I Read Your Letter, I Cried, I Laughed: Kojaian Family Letters from Efkere/Kayseri to America (1912–1919) (in English and Turkish). London: Gomidas Institute. ISBN 978-1909382657.
* Shukurov, Rustam (2016). Andrews, Frances; Herzig, Tamar; Magdalino, Paul; Simon, Larry J.; Smail, Daniel L.; Steenbergen, Jo Van (eds.). The Byzantine Turks, 1204-1461. Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-30775-9.

*[r.]: reigned