Ottoman Greeks
Ottoman Greeks (
History
Introduction
In the Ottoman Empire, in accordance with the Muslim
The
19th century
The three major European powers, the United Kingdom,
20th century
On July 24, 1908, Greeks' hopes for equality in the Ottoman Empire brightened with the removal of Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid II (r. 1876–1909) from power and restored the country back to a constitutional monarchy. The Committee of Union and Progress (more commonly called the Young Turks), a political party opposed to the absolute rule of Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid II, had led a rebellion against their ruler. The pro-reform Young Turks deposed the Sultan and replaced him with the ineffective Sultan Mehmed V (r. 1908–1918).
Before World War I, there were an estimated 1.8 million Greeks living in the Ottoman Empire.[3] Some prominent Ottoman Greeks served as parliamentary deputies. In the 1908 Parliament, there were twenty-six (26) Ottoman Greek deputies but their number dropped to eighteen (18) by 1914.[4] It is estimated that the Greek population of the Ottoman Empire in Asia Minor had 2,300 community schools, 200,000 students, 5,000 teachers, 2,000 Greek Orthodox churches, and 3,000 Greek Orthodox priests.[5]
From 1914 until 1923, Greeks in
Patriarchate of Constantinople
After the
The position of the Patriarchate in the Ottoman state encouraged projects of Greek renaissance, centered on the resurrection and revitalization of the Byzantine Empire. The Patriarch and those church dignitaries around him constituted the first centre of power for the Greeks inside the Ottoman state, one which succeeded in infiltrating the structures of the Ottoman Empire, while attracting the former Byzantine nobility.
Identity
The Greeks were a self-conscious group within the larger Christian Orthodox religious community established by the Ottoman Empire.[7] They distinguished themselves from their Orthodox co-religionists by retaining their Greek culture, customs, language, and tradition of education.[7][8] Throughout the post-Byzantine and Ottoman periods, Greeks, as members of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, declared themselves as Graikoi (Greek: Γραικοί, "Greeks") and Romaioi or Romioi (Greek: Ρωμαίοι/Ρωμηιοί, "Romans").[9][10][11]
Notable Ottoman Greeks
- Aleksandro Karatodori (1833–1906).
- Basil Zaharoff (1850–1936), arms dealer and financier.
- Christakis Zografos (1820–1896), banker and benefactor.
- Elia Kazan (1909–2003), director, producer, writer and actor.
- Elias Venezis (1904–1973), writer from Ayvalık.
- Evangelinos Misailides (1820–1890).
- Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha (1855–1922), Grand Vizier.
- Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha (1494–1536), Grand Vizier to Suleyman the Magnificent.
- Ottoman sultan Ahmed I.
- Michael Vasileiou, 19th century merchant and benefactor.
- Nicholas Mavrocordatos (1670–1730).
- Prince Alexander Mavrocordatos(1791–1865), Greek statesman.
- Yorgo Zarifi(1810–1884), banker and financier.
- Aristotle Onassis (1906–1975), shipping magnate.
- Anton Christoforidis (1918–1985), Greek light heavyweight boxer.
- Sir Alec Issigonis (1906–1988), Greek-British car designer whose most famous work is the Mini.
- Adamantios Korais (1748–1833), Greek humanist scholar
- Roza Eskenazi (1890–1980), famous singer.
- Rita Abatzi (1914–1969), famous singer.
- Giorgos Seferis (1900–1971), Greek poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
- Marika Ninou (1918–1957), famous singer.
- Giannis Papaioannou (1913–1972), famous singer.
- Leonidas Paraskevopoulos (1860–1936) – Greek military man and politician.
- Kostas Skarvelis (1880–1942), famous singer.
- Matthaios Kofidis (1855-1921), businessman and politician.
Gallery
-
Ethnic map ofAsia Minorin 1917. Black = Bulgars and Turks. Red = Greeks. Light yellow = Armenians. Blue = Kurds. Orange = Lazes. Dark Yellow = Arabs. Green = Nestorians.
-
Map depicting the ethnic composition of Ottoman territories in 1911.
-
Declaration of theConstitution; Muslim, Greek and Armenian leaders together.
See also
- Asia Minor
- Greeks in Turkey
- Greek genocide
- Greek Orthodox Church
- Greek Muslims
- Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
- Millet (Ottoman Empire)
- Ottoman Empire
- Ottoman Armenians
- Phanar Greek Orthodox College
- Timeline of Orthodoxy in Greece (1453–1821)
- Pontic Greeks
- Greek Byzantine Catholic Church
- List of former mosques in Greece
References
Citations
- ^ Dawkins & Halliday 1916.
- ^ Akçam 2006, p. 24.
- ^ Alaux & Puaux 1916.
- ^ Roudometof & Robertson 2001, p. 91.
- ^ Lekka 2007, p. 136: "At the start of the war, the Greeks were a thriving community in Asia Minor, a land they had inhabited since the time of Homer. But things deteriorated quickly. Before the Turkish implementation of a nationalist policy, the Greek population was estimated at around 2.5 million, with 2,300 community schools, 200,000 pupils, 5,000 teachers, 2,000 Greek Orthodox churches, and 3,000 Greek Orthodox priests."
- ^ International Association of Genocide Scholars (December 16, 2007). "Genocide Scholars Association Officially Recognizes Assyrian, Greek Genocides" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 June 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
- ^ a b Harrison 2002, pp. 276–277: "The Greeks belonged to the community of the Orthodox subjects of the Sultan. But within that larger unity they formed a self-conscious group marked off from their fellow Orthodox by language and culture and by a tradition of education never entirely interrupted, which maintained their Greek identity."
- ^ Volkan & Itzkowitz 1994, p. 85: "While living as a millet under the Ottoman Empire they retained their own religion, customs, and language, and the 'Greeks became the most important non-Turkish element in the Ottoman Empire'."
- ^ Kakavas 2002, p. 29: "All the peoples belonging to the flock of the Ecumenical Patriarchate declared themselves Graikoi (Greeks) or Romaioi (Romans - Rums)."
- ^ Institute for Neohellenic Research 2005, p. 8: "The people we have named as Greeks (Hellenes in the Greek language) would not describe themselves as such – they are generally known as Romioi and Graikoi – but according to their context the meaning of these words broadens to include or exclude population groups of another language and, at the same time, ethnicity."
- ^ Hopf 1873, "Epistola Theodori Zygomalae", p. 236: "...ησάν ποτε κύριοι Αθηνών, και ενωτίζοντο, ότι η νέων Ρωμαίων είτε Γραικών βασιλεία ασθενείν άρχεται..."
Sources
- Alaux, Louis-Paul; Puaux, René (1916). Le Déclin de l'Hellénisme. Paris, France: Librairie Payot & Cie.
- Bator, Robert; Rothero, Chris (2000). Daily Life in Ancient and Modern Istanbul. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Runestone Press. ISBN 0-8225-3217-4.
- Dawkins, Richard McGillivray; Halliday, William Reginald (1916). Modern Greek in Asia Minor: A Study of Dialect of Silly, Cappadocia and Pharasa with Grammar, Texts, Translations and Glossary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Harrison, Thomas (2002). Greeks and Barbarians. New York, New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-93958-5.
- Hopf, Carl Hermann Friedrich Johann (1873). Chroniques Gréco-Romanes Inédites ou peu Connues. Berlin, Germany: Librairie de Weidmann.
- Institute for Neohellenic Research (2005). The Historical Review. Vol. II. Athens, Greece: Institute for Neohellenic Research.
- Kakavas, George (2002). Post-Byzantium: The Greek Renaissance 15th-18th Century Treasures from the Byzantine & Christian Museum, Athens. Athens, Greece: Hellenic Ministry of Culture. ISBN 960-214-053-4.
- Lekka, Anastasia (2007). "Legislative Provisions of the Ottoman/Turkish Governments Regarding Minorities and Their Properties". Mediterranean Quarterly. 18 (1): 135–154. .
- Roudometof, Victor; Robertson, Roland (2001). Nationalism, Globalization, and Orthodoxy: The Social Origins of Ethnic Conflict in the Balkans. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313319495.
- Volkan, Vamik D.; Itzkowitz, Norman (1994). Turks and Greeks: Neighbours in Conflict. Huntingdon, United Kingdom: The Eothen Press. ISBN 0-906719-25-9.
Further reading
- Gondicas, Dimitri; Issawi, Charles Philip, eds. (1999). Ottoman Greeks in the Age of Nationalism: Politics, Economy, and Society in the Nineteenth Century. Princeton, New Jersey: Darwin Press. ISBN 0-87850-096-0.
- Clogg, Richard (2004). I Kath'imas Anatoli: Studies in Ottoman Greek History. Istanbul, Turkey: The Isis Press. ISBN 9789754282740.