![]() In the late Ottoman period, particularly after the Greco-Turkish War (1897), several communities of Grecophone Muslims from Crete and southern Greece were also relocated to Libya, Lebanon, and Syria, where, in towns like al-Hamidiyah, some of the older generation continue to speak Greek. ![]() In Greece, Greek-speaking Muslims are not usually considered as forming part of the Greek nation. Because of their gradual Turkification, as well as the close association of Greece and Greeks with Orthodox Christianity and their perceived status as a historic, military threat to the Turkish Republic, very few are likely to call themselves Greek Muslims. Sizable numbers of Grecophone Muslims, not merely the elders but even young people, have retained knowledge of their respective Greek dialects, such as Cretan and Pontic Greek. They are currently found mainly in the west of Turkey (particularly the regions of Izmir, Bursa, and Edirne) and the northeast (particularly in the regions of Trabzon, Gümüşhane, Sivas, Erzincan, Erzurum, and Kars).ĭespite their ethnic Greek origin, the contemporary Grecophone Muslims of Turkey have been steadily assimilated into the Turkish-speaking Muslim population. They consist primarily of the descendants of the elite Ottoman Janissary corps and Ottoman-era converts to Islam from Greek Macedonia (e.g., Vallahades), Crete ( Cretan Muslims), and northeastern Anatolia and the Pontic Alps ( Pontic Greeks). ![]() Greek Muslims, also known as Grecophone Muslims, are Muslims of Greek ethnic origin whose adoption of Islam (and often the Turkish language and identity) dates to the period of Ottoman rule in the southern Balkans. Turkish, Greek ( Pontic Greek, Cretan Greek, Cypriot Greek, Cappadocian Greek), Georgian, Russian, Arabic
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