View source for Cretan Muslims

{{Short description|Historical Muslim population of Crete}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}

{{Infobox ethnic group|
| group            = Cretan Muslims<br />{{Nobold|{{lang|el|Τουρκοκρητικοί}}}}<br />{{Nobold|{{lang|tr|Giritli Türkler}}}}
| native_name      = 
| native_name_lang = 
| image            = Cretan Turks.jpg
| caption          = Cretan Muslims in their traditional costume; 19th-20th century
| population       = est. 450,000 (1971 estimate)<ref name=Rippin>{{Cite book|last=Rippin|first=Andrew|year=2008|title=World Islam: Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies|publisher=[[Routledge]]|page=77|isbn=978-0-415-45653-1}}</ref>
| region1          = {{flagcountry|Turkey}}
| pop1             = 200,000 (1971)
| ref1             = <ref name=Rippin />
| region2          = {{flagcountry|Egypt}}
| pop2             = 100,000 (1971)
| ref2             = <ref name=Rippin />
| region3          = {{flagcountry|Libya}}
| pop3             = 100,000 (1971)
| ref3             = <ref name=Rippin />
| region4          = Other countries ([[Lebanon]], [[Syria]] etc.)
| pop4             = 50,000 (1971)
| ref4             = <ref name=Rippin />
| rels             = [[Sunni Islam]]
| related_groups   = 
| langs            = [[Cretan Greek]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]], [[Modern Standard Arabic|Arabic]]
}}
{{Turkish people}}

The '''Cretan Muslims''' or '''Cretan Turks'''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Şenışık |first=Pınar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HfmewgEACAAJ |title=Migration and Material World of the Cretan Muslims: A Profile From Rethymno Through the Liquidation of Property Documents in the Early Twentieth Century |date=2018 |publisher=Isis Press |isbn=978-975-428-612-0 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Morrow2019–28">{{Cite book |last=Morrow |first=John Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LTWEDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA28 |title=Finding W. D. Fard: Unveiling the Identity of the Founder of the Nation of Islam |date=2019 |publisher=[[Cambridge Scholars Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-5275-2489-7 |page=28 |language=en |quote=The island in question [Crete] was home to Cretan Muslims, descendants of ethnic Greeks who had converted to Islam after the Ottoman conquest in the seventeenth century. Although the language of administration and prestige was Ottoman Turkish, Cretan Muslims used Greek to express their Bektashi Islamic sentiment. After all, Islam in Crete was profoundly influenced by the Bektahi Sufi Order. Although they identified as Greek Muslims, Christian Greeks described them as Turkocretans since they had "betrayed" the Greek Orthodox Church. Some Cretan Muslims reportedly described themselves as "Turco-Romnoi," which means "European Turks," treating the term "Turk" as synonymous with "Muslim," or "Turkish Greeks," namely, Muslim Greeks or Greek Muslims.}}</ref> ({{langx|el|Τουρκοκρητικοί}} or {{lang|el|Τουρκοκρήτες}}, {{lang|el-Latn|Tourkokritikí}} or {{lang|el-Latn|Tourkokrítes}}; {{langx|tr|Giritli}}, {{lang|tr|Girit Türkleri}}, or {{lang|tr|Giritli Türkler}}; {{langx|ar|أتراك كريت}}) were the [[Muslim]] inhabitants of the island of [[Crete]]. Their descendants settled principally in [[Turkey]], the [[Dodecanese Islands]] under Italian administration (part of [[Greece]] since 1947), [[Syria]] (notably in the village of [[Al-Hamidiyah]]), [[Lebanon]], [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], [[Libya]], and [[Egypt]], as well as in the larger [[Turkish diaspora]].

Cretan Muslims were descendants of [[Greeks|ethnic Greeks]] who had converted to [[Islam]] after the [[Ottoman conquest of Crete|Ottoman conquest of Crete in the seventeenth century]].<ref name="Morrow2019–28" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Psaradaki |first=Eleni |date=30 August 2021 |title=Oral Memories and the Cretan Identity Of Cretan Turks in Bodrum, Turkey |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1862586 |work=Stratejik ve Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi Türk-Yunan İlişkileri Özel Sayısı, C. 5 |pages=41–54 |format=PDF |quote=With the term “Cretan Turks” we refer to the descendants of Islamized Cretans during the occupation of the island of Crete by the Turks in 1669. A large number of Cretans (as it also happened generally in Greece) became Muslims in order to avoid the socioeconomic hardships of the Ottoman Occupation of Crete.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beckingham |first=C. F. |date=1956-04-01 |title=The Cypriot Turks |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/03068375608731569 |journal=Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=126–130 |doi=10.1080/03068375608731569 |issn=0035-8789 |quote=The Cretan "Turks" were not ethnically Turkish, or even Anatolian at all. They were Cretans whose ancestors had accepted Islam at some time after the Turkish conquest of the island in the middle of the seventeenth century.|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hyland |first=Tim |date=2020-05-18 |title=Uğur Z. Peçe Uncovers a Forgotten Part of the History of Crete |url=https://www2.lehigh.edu/news/ugur-z-pece-uncovers-a-forgotten-part-of-the-history-of-crete |access-date=2023-04-17 |website=Lehigh University|quote=the people known as the Cretan Turks—a Muslim people of Greek descent—ended up relocating, permanently, to Anatolia, Syria, Egypt, Libya and the Balkans [...] Though the island was home to both Christians and Muslims, both groups were of Greek origin.}}</ref> They identified as [[Greek Muslims]], and were referred to as "[[Turk (term for Muslims)|Turks]]" by some Christian Greeks due to their religion; not their ethnic background.<ref name="Morrow2019–28" /> Many Cretan Greeks had converted to [[Islam]] in the wake of the [[Cretan War (1645–1669)|Ottoman conquest of Crete]].<ref>Leonidas Kallivretakis, "A Century of Revolutions: The Cretan Question between European and Near Eastern Politics", p. 13''f'' in Paschalis Kitromilides, ''Eleftherios Venizelos: The Trials of Statesmanship'', Edinburgh University Press, 2009, {{ISBN|0748633642}}</ref> This high rate of local conversions to Islam was similar to that in [[Ottoman Bosnia#Religion|Bosnia-Herzegovina]], [[Ottoman Albania#Religion|Albania]], parts of western [[Greek Macedonia]] (such as the Greek Muslim [[Vallaades]]), and [[Ottoman Bulgaria#Religion|Bulgaria]];<ref>Malise Ruthven, Azim Nanji, ''Historical Atlas of Islam'', {{ISBN|0674013859}}, p. 118</ref> perhaps even a uniquely high rate of conversions rather than immigrants.<ref>{{cite book | author=Greene, Molly | title= A Shared World: Christians and Muslims in the early modern Mediterranean | url=https://archive.org/details/sharedworldchris00gree | url-access=limited | location=London | publisher=Princeton University Press | year = 2000 | isbn=978-0-691-00898-1 | page = [https://archive.org/details/sharedworldchris00gree/page/n26 39]''ff'', ''passim''}}</ref> The Greek Muslims of Crete continued to speak [[Cretan Greek]].<ref>Demetres Tziovas, ''Greece and the Balkans: Identities, Perceptions and Cultural Encounters Since the Enlightenment''; William Yale, ''The Near East: A modern history'' Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1958)</ref> European travellers' accounts note that the "Turks" of Crete were mostly not of Turkic origin, but were Cretan converts from Orthodoxy.<ref>Barbara J. Hayden, ''The Settlement History of the Vrokastro Area and Related Studies'', vol. 2 of ''Reports on the Vrokastro Area, Eastern Crete'', p. 299</ref><ref>Balta, E., & Ölmez, M. (2011). Between religion and language: Turkish-speaking Christians, Jews and Greek-speaking Muslims and Catholics in the Ottoman Empire. Istanbul: Eren.</ref>

Sectarian violence during the 19th century caused many Muslims to leave Crete, especially during the [[Cretan Revolt (1897–1898)]],<ref>[[Henry Noel Brailsford]] ([http://knigite.abv.bg/en/hb/hb_7_6.html full text]{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}), an eyewitness of the immediate aftermath, uses the term "wholesale massacre" to describe the events of 1897 in Crete.</ref> and after Crete's unilateral [[Greek annexation of Crete|declaration of union with Greece]] in 1908.<ref name=Ionian>{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Michael Llewellyn|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E4OuoSFztt8C&pg=RA1-PA86|title=Ionian Vision: Greece in Asia Minor, 1919–1922|date=1998|publisher=Hurst|isbn=978-1-85065-368-4}}<br />
Quote, p. 87: "In the eve of the [[Occupation of İzmir]] by the [[Greek army]] in 1922, there was in the city a colony of Turcocretans who had left Crete around the time that the island was united with the [[Greek Kingdom]]."
<br />Quote, p. 88: "Some effort was made by Greece prior to the war to win Turcocretans to the idea of Greek government in [[Anatolia]]. The Greek Prime Minister [[Venizelos]] dispatched an obscure Cretan politician by the name of Makrakis to [[İzmir]] in the early months of 1919, and his mission is qualified a "success", although the Greek mission set up İzmir, "presenting a naive picture of the incorrigible Turks", is cited as describing "the various [[Turkish revolutionaries|[Turkish] organizations]] which includes the worst elements among Turcocretans and the [[Laz people]] (...) as disastrous and inexpedient" in the same source."</ref>{{rp|87}} Finally, after the [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)|Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922]] and the [[Turkish War of Independence]], the remaining Muslims of Crete were compulsorily [[Population exchange between Greece and Turkey|exchanged for the Greek Christians of Anatolia]] under the terms of the [[Treaty of Lausanne]] (1923).

At all periods, most Cretan Muslims were Greek-speaking,<ref name="williams" /> using the [[Cretan Greek]] dialect, but the language of administration and the prestige language for the Muslim urban upper classes was [[Ottoman Turkish language|Ottoman Turkish]]. In the folk tradition, however, Cretan Greek was used to express Muslims' "Islamic—often [[Bektashi]]—sensibility".<ref name="williams" /> Today, the highest number of the Turkocretan descendants can be found in [[Ayvalık]].<ref>{{cite web|last=gazeteistanbul|date=2017-02-21|title=Anneanne dili "Giritçe"|url=https://gazeteistanbul.com/anneanne-dili-giritce/|access-date=2020-11-03|website=Gazete İstanbul|language=tr}}</ref> Those who left Crete in the late 19th and early 20th centuries settled largely along Turkey's Aegean and Mediterranean coast. Alongside Ayvalık and [[Cunda Island]], they settled in [[İzmir]], [[Çukurova]], [[Bodrum]], [[Side, Turkey|Side]], [[Mudanya]], [[Adana]] and [[Mersin]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348170787 |title=Cretan Turks at the End of the 19th Century: Migration and Settlement (19. Yüzyılda Girit Türkleri: Göç ve Yerleşim) |date=January 2021 |author=Tuncay Ercan Sepetcioglu |via=[[ResearchGate]]}}</ref>

== History ==
{{Main|History of Crete#Venetian and Ottoman Crete|Ottoman Crete}}{{More sources|section|date=July 2024}}
Starting in 1645, the [[Ottoman Empire]] [[Cretan War (1645–1669)|gradually took Crete]] from the [[Republic of Venice]], which had ruled it since 1204. In the [[Siege of Candia|final major defeat]], [[Heraklion|Candia]] (modern Iraklion) fell to the Ottomans in 1669 (though some offshore islands remained Venetian [[Turkish–Venetian War (1714–1718)|until 1715]]). Crete remained part of the Ottoman Empire until 1897.

The fall of Crete was not accompanied by an influx of Muslims. At the same time, many Cretans converted to Islam – more than in any other part of the Greek world. Various explanations have been given for this, including the disruption of war, the possibility of receiving a [[timar]] (for those who went over to the Ottomans during the war), [[Roman Catholic Church|Latin]]-[[Greek Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] dissension, avoidance of the head-tax ([[jizya|cizye]]) on [[dhimmi|non-Muslims]], the increased social mobility of Muslims, and the opportunity that Muslims had of joining the paid militia (which the Cretans also aspired to under Venetian rule).<ref>Greene, pp. 39–44</ref>

It is difficult to estimate the proportion which became Muslim, as Ottoman ''cizye'' tax records count only Christians: estimates range from 30 to 40%<ref>Greene, pp. 52–54</ref> By the late 18th century, as many as 30% of the islanders may have been Muslim. The Muslim population declined through the 19th century, and by the last Ottoman census, in 1881, Muslims were only 26% of the population, concentrated in the three large towns on the north coast, and in [[Monofatsi Province|Monofatsi]].

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|-
! Year<ref>Macrakis, p. 51</ref> !! 1821 !! 1832 !! 1858 !! 1881 !! 1900 !! 1910 !! 1920 !! 1928
|-
! Muslims
| 47% || 43% || 22% || 26% || 11% || 8% || 7% || 0%
|}

People who claim descent from Cretan Muslims are still found in several Muslim countries today, and principally in [[Turkey]].

Between 1821 and 1828, during the [[Greek War of Independence]], the island was the scene of repeated hostilities. Most Muslims were driven into the large fortified towns on the north coast and both the Muslim and Christian populations of the island suffered severe losses, due to conflicts, plague or famine. In the 1830s, [[Crete]] was an impoverished and backward island.

Since the Ottoman sultan, [[Mahmud II]], had no army of his own available, he was forced to seek the aid of his rebellious vassal and rival, Kavalalı [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Mehmed Ali Pasha of Egypt]], who sent troops to the island. Starting in 1832, the island was administered for two decades by [[Mustafa Naili Pasha]], whose rule attempted to create a synthesis between the Muslim landowners and the emergent [[Christians|Christian]] commercial classes. His rule was generally cautious, pro-[[British Empire|British]], and he tried harder to win the support of the Christians (having married the daughter of a priest and allowed her to remain Christian) than the Muslims. In 1834, however, a Cretan committee had already been founded in [[Athens]] to work for the union of the island with [[Greece]].

In 1840, Egypt was forced by [[Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|Palmerston]] to return Crete to direct Ottoman rule. [[Mustafa Naili Pasha]] angled unsuccessfully to become a semi-independent prince but the Cretans rose up against him, once more driving the Muslims temporarily into siege in the towns. An Anglo-Ottoman naval operation restored control in the island and Mustafa Naili Pasha was confirmed as its governor, though under command from [[Istanbul]]. He remained in Crete until 1851 when he was summoned to the capital, where at a relatively advanced age he pursued a successful career.

[[File:Crete - ethnic map, 1861.jpg|thumb|275px|An ethnic map of Crete, around 1861. {{legend|#4b8ab2|[[Greek Orthodox]]}} {{legend|#b43a3e|[[Cretan Muslim]]/[[Turkish people|Turkish]]}}]]
Religious tensions erupted on the island between Muslims and Christians and the Christian populations of Crete revolted twice against Ottoman rule (in 1866 and in 1897). In the [[Cretan Revolt (1866–1869)|uprising of 1866]], the rebels initially managed to gain control of most of the hinterland although as always the four fortified towns of the north coast and the southern town of [[Ierapetra]] remained in Ottoman hands. The Ottoman approach to the "Cretan question" was that, if Crete was lost, the next line of defense would have to be the [[Dardanelles]], as indeed it was the case later. The Ottoman Grand Vizier, Mehmed Emin Aali Pasha arrived in the island in October 1867 and set in progress a low profile district-by-district reconquest of the island followed by the erection of blockhouses or local fortresses across the whole of it. More importantly, he designed an Organic Law which gave the Cretan Christians equal (in practice, because of their superior numbers, majority) control of local administration. At the time of the [[Congress of Berlin]] in the summer of 1878, there was a further uprising, which was speedily halted through the adaptation of the Organic Law into a constitutional settlement known as the [[Pact of Halepa]].

Crete became a semi-independent parliamentary state within the Ottoman Empire under a Greek Orthodox Governor. A number of the senior "Christian Pashas" including [[Photiades Pasha]] and [[Konstantinos Adosidis|Adossides Pasha]] ruled the island in the 1880s, presiding over a parliament in which liberals and conservatives contended for power. Disputes between these led to a further insurgency in 1889 and the collapse of the [[Pact of Halepa]] arrangements. The international powers allowed the Ottoman authorities to send troops to the island and restore order but the Sultan [[Abdulhamid II]] used the occasion for ruling the island by martial law. This action led to international sympathy for the Cretan Christians and to a loss of any remaining acquiescence among them for continued Ottoman rule. When a small insurgency began in September 1895, it quickly spiralled out of control and by the summer of 1896, the Ottoman forces had lost military control over most of the island. A new insurrection that began in 1897 led to [[Greco-Turkish War (1897)|a war between Greece and the Ottoman Empire]]. The Great Powers dispatched a multinational naval force, the [[International Squadron (Cretan intervention, 1897–1898)|International Squadron]], to Crete in February 1897, and by late March 1897 it brought Cretan insurgent and Greek Army operations against the Ottomans in Crete to a halt by forcing the Greek Army to abandon the island, bombarding insurgent forces, placing sailors and [[marines]] ashore, and instituting a [[blockade]] of Crete and key ports in Greece.<ref>McTiernan, pp. 13–23.</ref> Meanwhile, the International Squadron's senior admirals formed an "Admirals Council" that temporarily governed Crete pending a resolution of the Cretan uprising, and the Admirals Council eventually decided that Crete should become an autonomous state within the Ottoman Empire.<ref>McTiernan, p. 28.</ref> After a violent riot by Cretan Muslims against Cretan Christians and British occupation forces on 6 September 1898 (25 August according to the [[Julian calendar]] then in use on Crete, which was 12 days behind the modern [[Gregorian calendar]] during the 19th century), the Admirals Council ordered all Ottoman forces to leave Crete, and the last of them were evacuated on 6 November 1898. The 21 December 1898 (9 December according to the Julian calendar) arrival of [[Prince George of Greece and Denmark]] as the first [[High commissioner]] of an autonomous [[Cretan State]], although still under the [[suzerainty]] of the Sultan, effectively detached Crete from the Ottoman Empire.<ref>McTiernan, pp. 35–39.</ref>

The island's Muslim population dropped dramatically because of these changes, with many emigrating to other parts of the Ottoman Empire.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://refugeehistory.org/blog/2017/7/20/the-cretan-rebellion-of-1897-and-the-emigration-of-the-cretan-muslims |title=The Cretan Rebellion of 1897 and the Emigration of the Cretan Muslims — Refugee History |publisher=Refugeehistory.org |date=2017-07-21 |accessdate=2022-07-30}}</ref> From the summer of 1896 until the end of hostilities in 1898, Cretan Muslims remained under siege in the four coastal cities, where massacres against them took place. Subsequent waves of emigration followed as the island was united by stages with [[Greece]]. In 1908, the [[Cretan]] deputies declared union with [[Greece]], which was internationally recognized after the [[Balkan Wars]] in 1913. Under the [[Treaty of London (1913)|Treaty of London]], Sultan [[Mehmed V]] relinquished his formal rights to the island. The Cretan Muslims still remaining were forced to leave Crete under the [[population exchange between Greece and Turkey]] in 1923. In [[Turkey]], some descendants of this population continued to speak a form of [[Cretan]] [[Greek language|Greek]] [[Varieties of Modern Greek|dialect]] until recently.

== Culture ==
=== Literature ===
Turks in Crete produced a varied literary output, leading one researcher to define a "Cretan School" which counts twenty-one poets who evolved within Ottoman [[Divan poetry]] or [[Turkish folk literature]] traditions, especially in the 18th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hbektas.gazi.edu.tr/portal/html/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=541 <!--(full text)-->|title=Cretan Bektashi school in Ottoman Divan poetry|author=Filiz Kılıç|publisher=[[Hacı Bektash Veli]] and Turkish Culture Research Center|access-date=2007-04-30|language=tr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080130144921/http://www.hbektas.gazi.edu.tr/portal/html/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=541|archive-date=30 January 2008|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}} (abstract also in English) Aside from those cited in the article, the principal men of letters considered to compose the "Cretan school" are; 1. Ahmed Hikmetî Efendi (''also called Bî-namaz Ahmed Efendi'') (? – 1727), 2. Ahmed Bedrî Efendi (? – 1761), 3. Lebib Efendi (? – 1768), 4. Ahmed Cezbî Efendi (? – 1781), 5. Aziz Ali Efendi (? – 1798), 6. İbrahim Hıfzî Efendi (? – ?), 7. Mustafa Mazlum Fehmî Pasha (1812–1861), 8. İbrahim Fehim Bey (1813–1861), 9. Yahya Kâmi Efendi (? – ?), 10. Ahmed İzzet Bey (? – 1861), 11. Mazlum Mustafa Pasha (? – 1861), 12. Ahmed Muhtar Efendi (1847–1910), 13. Ali İffet Efendi (1869–1941).</ref> Personal, mystical, fantastic themes abound in the works of these men of letters, reflecting the dynamism of the cultural life in the island.

A taste and echo of this tradition can be perceived in the verses below by [[Giritli Sırrı Pasha]] (1844–1895);

''Fidânsın nev-nihâl-i hüsn ü ânsın âfet-i cânsın''<br />
''Gül âşık bülbül âşıkdır sana, bir özge cânânsın''<ref>Summary translation: ''A slender sapling you are, freshly shooting beauty and grace you are, an affection for one's mind you are! The rose is in love with you, the nightingale is in love you. An uncommon beloved one you are! (note that "fidân" can mean "sapling" as a [[noun]] and "slender" as an [[adjective]], and "âfet" has more than one meaning as its [[English language|English]] equivalent "affection".)''</ref>

which were certainly addressed to his wife, the poet-composer [[Leyla Saz]], herself a notable figure of [[Turkish literature]] and [[Turkish Classical Music]].

Recently, a number of books written by descendants of Cretan Muslims in the form of novelized family souvenirs with scenes set in Crete and Anatolia have seen the day in Turkey's book market. [[Saba Altınsay]]'s ''"Kritimu"'' and [[Ahmet Yorulmaz]]'s trilogy were the first to set the example in this move. There has even been family souvenirs written by the Cretan Muslim writer [[Mustafa Olpak]], whose biographies in retrospect from the shores of Istanbul, Crete and [[Kenya]] follow his grandfathers who were initially brought to the Ottoman Empire as slaves to Crete. (''see below: Further reading'').

=== Music ===
A study by one Greek researcher counts six Cretan Muslims who engaged themselves into music in Cretan Greek dialect.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.muammerketencoglu.com/roportajlar/tr/ChristianandTurks.pdf <!--(full text)--> | title = Christians and Turks: The language of music and everyday life |author=Prof. Theodoros I. Riginiotis|publisher=<!--[http://www.cretan-music.gr/ www.cretan-music.gr],--> [[Rethimno]]| access-date=2007-04-30 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070927201744/http://www.muammerketencoglu.com/roportajlar/tr/ChristianandTurks.pdf |archive-date= 2007-09-27}}</ref> The Cretans brought the musical tradition they shared with the Cretan Christians to Turkey with them:
<blockquote>
One of the significant aspects of Giritli culture is that this Islamic—often Bektashi—sensibility is expressed through the Greek language. [There has been] some confusion about their cultural identity, and an assumption is often made that their music was somehow more "Turkish" than "Cretan". In my view this assumption is quite wrong....<ref name="williams">Chris Williams, "The Cretan Muslims and the Music of Crete", in Dimitris Tziovas, ed., ''Greece and the Balkans: Identities, Perceptions, and Cultural Encounters since the Enlightenment''</ref>
</blockquote>

But certain instruments were more often used by Christians: there are few cases of Muslim [[Cretan lyra]]-players compared to Christians: the very name for that instrument in [[Turkish language]] being ''Rum kemençesi'' – Greek [[kemenche]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cretan-music.gr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=251&Itemid=36 |title=A Greek point of view on Cretan Turks |publisher=Cretan-music.gr |access-date=2012-07-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929033950/http://www.cretan-music.gr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=251&Itemid=36 |archive-date=29 September 2007 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>{{better source|date=July 2012}}

=== Cretan Muslim popular culture in Turkey ===
Nuances may be observed among the waves of immigrations from Crete and the respective behavioral patterns. At the end of the 19th century Muslims fled reprisal to take refuge in the present-day territory of Turkey or beyond (see [[Al Hamidiyah]]). During the 1910s, with the termination of the [[Cretan State]] which had recognized the Muslim community of the island a proper status, many others left. The [[Greco-Turkish War (1919–22)]]<ref name=Ionian />{{rp|88}} and the ensuing [[Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations|population exchange]] is the final chapter among the root causes that shaped these nuances.

Among contributions made by Cretan Muslims to the Turkish culture in general, the first to be mentioned should be their particular culinary traditions based on consumption at high-levels of [[olive oil]] and of a surprisingly wide array of herbs and other plant-based raw materials. While they have certainly not introduced olive oil and [[herbs]] to their compatriots, Cretan Muslims have greatly extended the knowledge and paved the way for a more varied use of these products. Their predilection for herbs, some of which could be considered as unusual ones, has also been the source of some jokes. The Giritli chain of restaurants in [[Istanbul]], [[Ankara]] and [[Bodrum]], and Ayşe Ün's "Girit Mutfağı" (''Cretan Cuisine'') eateries in [[İzmir]] are indicative references in this regard. Occasional although intrinsically inadequate care has also been demonstrated by the authorities in the first years of the Turkish Republic for settling Cretan Muslims in localities where [[vineyards]] left by the departed Greeks were found, since this capital was bound to be lost in the hands of cultivators with no prior knowledge of [[viniculture]]. In the field of [[:Category: Maritime industries in Turkey|maritime industries]], the pioneer of [[gulet]] boats construction that became a vast industry in Bodrum in our day, Ziya Güvendiren was a Cretan Muslim, as are many of his former apprentices who themselves have become master shipbuilders and who are based in Bodrum or [[Güllük]] today.

An overall pattern of investing in expertise and success remains remarkable among Cretan Muslims, as attested by the notable names below. However, with sex roles and social change starting out from different grounds for Cretan Muslims,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kandiyoti |first1=Deniz |title=Sex Roles and Social Change: A Comparative Appraisal of Turkey's Women |journal=Signs |date=1977 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=57–73 |jstor=3173079|doi=10.1086/493439 |s2cid=144517389 }}</ref> the adaptation to the "fatherland"<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.lozanmubadilleri.org/ragip_zik.htm | archive-url = https://archive.today/20050311083434/http://www.lozanmubadilleri.org/ragip_zik.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2005-03-11 | title = Giritli Mübadillerde Kimlik Oluşumu ve Toplumsal Hafıza |author=M. Ragip Zik|publisher=[[Istanbul Bilgi University]], [[Istanbul]]| access-date=2007-04-30|language=tr}}</ref> did not always take place without pain, including that of being subjected to [[List of ethnic slurs|slurs]] as in other cases involving immigration of people.<ref>Yiannis Papadakis, ''Echoes from the Dead Zone: Across the Cyprus Divide'', 2005, {{ISBN|1-85043-428-X}}, p. 187;</ref> According to Peter Loizos, they were often relegated to the poorest land:
<blockquote>
They were briefly feted on arrival, as 'Turks' 'returning' to the Turkish heartland... like the Asia Minor Christians seeking to settle on land in northern Greece, the Muslim refugees found that local people, sometimes government officials, had already occupied the best land and housing.<ref name=Loizos>Peter Loizos, "Are Refugees Social Capitalists?" in Stephen Baron, John Field, Tom Schuller, eds., ''Social Capital: Critical Perspectives'', Oxford 2001, {{ISBN|0-19-829713-0}}, p. 133-5</ref>
</blockquote>
The same author depicts a picture where they did not share the "Ottoman perceptions of certain crafts and trades as being of low status",<ref name=Loizos /> so more entrepreneurial opportunities were open to them. Like others who did not speak Turkish, they suffered during the "[[Citizens Speak Turkish!]]" campaign which started in 1928. "Arabs, Circassians, Cretan Muslims, and Kurds in the country were being targeted for not speaking Turkish. In Mersin, for instance, 'Kurds, Cretans, Arabs and Syrians' were being fined for speaking languages other than Turkish.".<ref>Soner Cagaptay, "Race, Assimilation and Kemalism: Turkish Nationalism and the Minorities in the 1930s", ''Middle Eastern Studies'' '''40''':3:95 (May 2004) {{doi|10.1080/0026320042000213474}}</ref> In the summary translation of a book on [[Bodrum]] made by Loizos, it is stated that, even as late as 1967, the Cretans and the 'local Turks' did not mix in some towns; they continued to speak Greek and mostly married other Cretans.<ref>Fatma Mansur, ''Bodrum: A Town in the Aegean'', 1967, {{ISBN|90-04-03424-2}}</ref>

== Diaspora in Lebanon and Syria ==
{{Asof|2006}} there were about 7,000 Greek speakers living in [[Tripoli, Lebanon]] and about 3,000 in [[Al Hamidiyah]], [[Syria]],<ref name="gsels">[http://webs.uvigo.es/ssl/actas2002/05/08.%20Roula%20Tsokalidou.pdf Greek-Speaking Enclaves of Lebanon and Syria] by Roula Tsokalidou. Proceedings ''II Simposio Internacional Bilingüismo''. Retrieved 4 December 2006</ref> the majority of them Muslims of Cretan origin. Records suggest that the community left Crete between 1866 and 1897, on the outbreak of the last Cretan uprising against the Ottoman Empire, which ended the [[Greco-Turkish War (1897)|Greco-Turkish War of 1897]].<ref name="gsels" /> Sultan [[Abdul Hamid II]] provided Cretan Muslim families who fled the island with refuge on the [[Levant]]ine coast. The new settlement was named Hamidiye after the sultan.

Many Cretan Muslims of Lebanon somewhat managed to preserve their identity and language. Unlike neighboring communities, they are [[monogamy|monogamous]] and consider [[divorce]] a disgrace. Their community was close-knit and entirely [[endogamy|endogamous]] until the [[Lebanese Civil War]], when many of them were forced to migrate and the community was dispersed.<ref name="gsels" />

Cretan Muslims constitute 60% of [[Al Hamidiyah]]'s population. The community is very much concerned with maintaining its culture. The knowledge of the spoken Greek language is remarkably good and their contact with their historical homeland has been possible by means of satellite television and relatives.<ref name="gsels" />

== Notable people ==
{{hatnote|in chronological order}}
[[File:Ahmed Resmi Greek.JPG|thumb|right|[[Ahmed Resmî Efendi]] (1700–1783) an Ottoman statesman and historian, who was born into a Muslim family of [[Greek people|Greek]] descent in [[Crete]].<ref name=" Houtsma, Martinus T. 1987 1145 " />]]
* [[Ahmed Resmî Efendi]]: 18th-century Ottoman statesman, diplomat and author (notably of two [[sefâretnâme]]). First ever Ottoman ambassador in [[Berlin]] (during [[Frederick the Great]]'s reign).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tuerkischebotschaft.de/de/index.htm <!--List of Ambassadors-->|title=Tuerkische Botschafter in Berlin|publisher=Turkish Embassy, Berlin|language=de|archive-url=https://archive.today/20010602074614/http://www.tuerkischebotschaft.de/de/index.htm|archive-date=2 June 2001|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> He was born into a Muslim family of [[Greek people|Greek]] descent in the [[Crete|Cretan]] town of [[Rethymno]] in the year 1700.<ref name=" Houtsma, Martinus T. 1987 1145 ">{{cite book | author= Houtsma, Martinus T. |title=E. J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam: 1913–1936, Volume 9 |publisher=Brill |year=1987 |page=1145 |isbn=978-90-04-08265-6 |quote= RESMI, AHMAD Ottoman statesman and historian. Ahmad b. Ibrahim, known as Resmi, belonged to Rethymo (turk. Resmo; hence his epithet) in Crete and was of Greek descent (cf. J. v. Hammer, GOR, viii. 202). He was born in III (1700) and came in 1146 (1733) to Stambul where he was educated, married a daughter of the Ke is Efendi}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author= Müller-Bahlke, Thomas J. |title= Zeichen und Wunder: Geheimnisse des Schriftenschranks in der Kunst- und Naturalienkammer der Franckeschen Stiftungen : kulturhistorische und philologische Untersuchungen |publisher= Franckesche Stiftungen |year=2003 |page=58 |isbn=978-3-931479-46-6 |quote= Ahmed Resmi Efendi (1700–1783). Der osmanische Staatsmann und Geschichtsschreiber griechischer Herkunft. Translation "Ahmed Resmi Efendi (1700–1783). The Ottoman statesman and historian of Greek origin" }}</ref><ref name=" European studies review 1977 170 ">{{cite book|author= European studies review |title= European studies review, Volumes 7–8 |publisher= Sage Publications |year= 1977 |page=170 |quote= Resmi Ahmad (−83) was originally of Greek descent. He entered Ottoman service in 1733 and after holding a number of posts in local administration, was sent on missions to Vienna (1758) and Berlin (1763–4). He later held a number of important offices in central government. In addition, Resmi Ahmad was a contemporary historian of some distinction. }}</ref><ref name=" Sir Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb 1954 294 ">{{cite book |author=Sir Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb |title= Encyclopedia of Islam |publisher=Brill |year=1954 |page=294 |isbn=978-90-04-16121-4 |quote= Ahmad b. Ibrahim, known as Resmi came from Rethymno (Turk. Resmo; hence his epithet?) in Crete and was of Greek descent (cf. Hammer- Purgstall, viii, 202). He was born in 1112/ 1700 and came in 1 146/1733 to Istanbul }}</ref>
* [[Giritli Ali Aziz Efendi]]: Turkey's third ambassador in Berlin and arguably the first Turkish author to have written in novelistic form.
* [[Al-Husayn I ibn Ali at-Turki]] – founder of the [[Husainid Dynasty]], which ruled [[Tunisia]] until 1957.
* [[Salacıoğlu]]: (1750 [[Hanya]] – 1825 [[Kandiye]]): One of the most important 18th-century poets of [[Turkish folk literature]].
* [[Giritli Sırrı Pasha]]: Ottoman administrator, Leyla Saz's husband and a notable man of letters in his own right.
* [[Vedat Tek]]: Representative figure of the First National Architecture Movement in [[Architecture of Turkey|Turkish architecture]]. Son of [[Leyla Saz]] and [[Giritli Sırrı Pasha]].
* [[Paul Mulla]] (''alias [[Mollazade Mehmed Ali]]''): born Muslim, converted to Christianity and becoming a [[Roman Catholic]] priest and scholar of Islam.
* [[Rahmizâde Bahaeddin Bediz]]: The first Turkish photographer by profession. The thousands of photographs he took, based as of 1895 successively in Crete, [[İzmir]], [[Istanbul]] and [[Ankara]] (as Head of the Photography Department of [[Turkish Historical Society]]), have immense historical value.
* [[Salih Zeki]]: Turkish photographer in Chania<ref>{{cite web |url=http://anopolis72000.blogspot.com/2009/09/salih-zeki.html|title= Salih Zeki |publisher=Anopolis72000.blogspot.com |date= 19 September 2009 }}</ref>
* [[Ali Nayip Zade]]: Associate of [[Eleftherios Venizelos]], Prefect of [[Drama Prefecture|Drama]] and [[Kavala Prefecture|Kavala]], [[Adrianople]], and [[Lasithi]].
* [[Ismail Fazil Pasha]]: (1856–1921) descended from the rooted Cebecioğlu family of [[Söke]] who had settled in Crete<ref>{{cite web |title=Interview with Ayşe Cebesoy Sarıalp, Ali Fuat Pasha's niece |url=http://www.aksiyon.com.tr/aksiyon/haber-13538-37-ataturk-ile-pasalarin-arasini-acmak-istediler.html |publisher=Aksiyon.com.tr |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903144447/http://www.aksiyon.com.tr/aksiyon/haber-13538-37-ataturk-ile-pasalarin-arasini-acmak-istediler.html |archive-date=3 September 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> He has been the first Minister of Public Works in the government of [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey|Grand National Assembly]] in 1920. He was the father of [[Ali Fuat Cebesoy|Ali Fuad]] and [[Mehmet Ali Cebesoy|Mehmed Ali]].
* [[Mehmet Atıf Ateşdağlı]]: (1876–1947) Turkish officer.
* [[Mustafa Ertuğrul Aker]]: (1892–1961) Turkish officer who sank [[HMS Ben-my-Chree]].
*Writer [[Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı]], alias ''[[Halikarnas Balıkçısı]]'' ([[The Fisherman of Halicarnassus]]), although born in Crete and has often let himself be cited as Cretan, descends from a family of Ottoman aristocracy with roots in [[Afyonkarahisar]], and his father had been an Ottoman High Commissioner in [[Crete]] and later ambassador in [[Athens]].<ref>[http://www.lozanmubadilleri.org/2003_-.htm ''Yeni Giritliler''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070219215738/http://www.lozanmubadilleri.org/2003_-.htm |date=19 February 2007 }} Article on the rising interest in Cretan heritage {{in lang|tr}}</ref>
*[[Hüsamettin Cindoruk]]: Turkish politician, president of the Turkish Republic.
*[[Bülent Arınç]] (born 25 May 1948) is a [[Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey]] since 2009. He is of Cretan Muslim heritage with his ancestors arriving to Turkey as Cretan refugees during the time of Sultan [[Abdul Hamid II]]<ref>{{cite news |date=23 September 2012|title=Arınç Ahmediye köyünde çocuklarla Rumca konuştu|trans-title=Arınç spoke Greek with the children in the village of Ahmediye|url=http://www.milliyet.com.tr/arinc-ahmediye-koyunde-cocuklarla-rumca-konustu/siyaset/siyasetdetay/23.09.2012/1600667/default.htm |language=tr|newspaper=Milliyet|location=Turkey|access-date=8 May 2015}}</ref> and is fluent in Cretan Greek.<ref>{{cite AV media |year=2013 |title=Bülent Arınç anadili Rumca konuşurken|trans-title=Bülent Arınç talking to native speakers of Greek |language=tr, el |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWEdXDl_tv4|access-date=8 May 2015|format= video|publisher=You Tube}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead YouTube link|date=February 2022}}</ref> Arınç is a proponent of reconverting the [[Hagia Sophia]] into a mosque, which has caused diplomatic protestations from Greece.<ref>{{cite news |date=19 November 2013|title=Greece angered over Turkish Deputy PM's Hagia Sophia remarks|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/greece-angered-over-turkish-deputy-pms-hagia-sophia-remarks.aspx?PageID=238&NID=58153&NewsCatID=351|newspaper=Hurriyet Daily News|location=Turkey|access-date=8 May 2015}}</ref>
*[[Halil Berktay]] (born 27 August 1947) Turkish historian of Cretan Muslim origin.
*[[Tuba Büyüküstün]], Turkish actress
*[[Hülya Avşar]], Turkish actress (maternal Cretan Muslim-[[Yörük]] and paternal Kurdish)
*[[Ferdi Özbeğen]], Turkish singer
*[[Bennu Yıldırımlar]], Turkish actress
*[[Necip Fazıl Kısakürek]], Turkish Islamist poet (on mother side)
*[[Mustafa Fehmi Kubilay]], was a Turkish teacher and a lieutenant. He is considered a "Martyr of the Revolution" in Turkey.

== See also ==
*[[Al Hamidiyah]]
*[[Cretan State]]
*[[Emirate of Crete]]
*[[Greek Muslims]]
*[[History of Crete]]
*[[International Squadron (Crete intervention, 1897–1898)]]
*[[Massacre of Phocaea]]
*[[Turks in Lebanon]]

== References ==
=== Notes ===
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

=== Bibliography ===
* [https://www.academia.edu/10428584/A_Very_Bad_Place_Indeed_For_a_Soldier._The_British_involvement_in_the_early_stages_of_the_European_Intervention_in_Crete._1897_-_1898 McTiernan, Mick, ''A Very Bad Place Indeed For a Soldier. The British involvement in the early stages of the European Intervention in Crete. 1897–1898,'' King's College, London, September 2014.]

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}

* {{cite book |last=Chidiroglou |first=Pavlos |chapter=Εξισλαμισμοί στην Κρήτη |trans-chapter=Islamizations in Crete |pages=336–350 |title=Πεπραγμένα του Δ' Διεθνούς Κρητολογικού Συνεδρίου, Ηράκλειο, 29 Αυγούστου{{snd}}3 Δεκεμβρίου 1976. Τόμος Γ' Νεώτεροι χρόνοι |location=Athens |language=Greek |publisher=University of Crete |year=1980 |url=https://anemi.lib.uoc.gr/metadata/0/6/1/metadata-1643884844-836717-19947.tkl}}
* {{cite book|title = Kritimu: Girit'im benim – novellized souvenirs |isbn=978-975-07-0424-6|author=Saba Altınsay|publisher=Can Yayinlari|year= 2004|author-link=Saba Altınsay}}
* {{cite book|title = Savaşın çocukları (''Children of the war'') – novellized souvenirs |isbn=975-14-0847-4|author=Ahmet Yorulmaz|publisher=Remzi Kitabevi|year= 2002|author-link=Ahmet Yorulmaz}}
* {{cite book|title = Kenya – Girit – İstanbul Köle Kıyısından İnsan Biyografileri (''Human biographies from the shores of slavery of Kenya, Crete and Istanbul'') |isbn=975-7891-80-0|author=Mustafa Olpak|publisher=Ozan Yayıncılık|year= 2005|author-link=Mustafa Olpak}}
* {{cite book|title = Kenya'dan İstanbul'a Köle Kıyısı (''Shores of slavery from Kenya to Istanbul'') |isbn=978-975-01103-4-4|author=Mustafa Olpak|publisher=Ozan Yayıncılık|year= 2005}}
* İzmir Life magazine, June 2003
*'Fethinden Kaybına Girit'' (Crete from its conquest to its loss)'', Babıali Kültür Yayıncılığı, 2007
* [[Michael Herzfeld]], ''A Place in History: Social and Monumental Time in a Cretan Town'', Princeton University Press, 1991
* Michael Herzfeld, "Of language and land tenure: The transmission of property and information in autonomous Crete", ''Social Anthropology'' '''7''':7:223-237 (1999),
* [[Richard Clogg]], ''A Concise History of Greece'', Cambridge University Press, 2002
* [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition]] (1911), ''s.v.'' Crete; [[La Grande Encyclopédie]] (1886), ''s.v.'' Crète
* [[Kemal Özbayri]] and [[Emmanuel Zakhos-Papazahariou]], "Documents de tradition orale des Turcs d'origine crétoise: Documents relatifs à l'Islam crétois" ''Turcica'' VIII/I (5), pp.&nbsp;70–86 (not seen) <!-- looks like good source for oral tradition and popular culture-->
* [[Molly Greene]], ''A Shared World: Christians and Muslims in the Early Modern Mediterranean'', Princeton, 2000. {{ISBN|0-691-00898-1}}
* [[A. Lily Macrakis]], ''Cretan Rebel: Eleftherios Venizelos in Ottoman Crete'', PhD Dissertation, Harvard University, 1983.
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}

{{refbegin}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070704082242/http://www.benimgiritlilimonagacim.com/default.asp?page=1 Project film: Benim Giritli limon ağacım – My Cretan lemon tree]
* [http://www.lozanmubadilleri.org.tr/ Lozan Mübadilleri: The Association of Turks exchanged under Lausanne Treaty]
* [http://www.fhw.gr/films/index.php?view=details&erg_id=5 Testimonials by Greeks from Ayvalık and Turkish Cretans from Rethymno]
{{refend}}

{{Ethnic groups in Greece}}
{{European Muslims}}
{{Authority control}}


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[[Category:Greek Muslims]]
[[Category:Turks in Greece]]
[[Category:Muslim communities in Europe]]
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