Vallahaden

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Muslims from western Greek Macedonia, circa 1900

Vallahaden ( Greek Βαλ (λ) αχάδες Vallahades , Βαλαάδες Valaades ) was the name of a population group that was mainly resident in Western Macedonia . They were Greeks who converted to the Muslim faith under Turkish rule .

etymology

The name probably comes from the Arabic term Wallah (والله, DMG wa-llāh , Gr. Βαλαχί valachí , German , 'I swear by Allah' ) and is more of a mocking name related to their status as Greek Muslims . There are also connections to the folk name of the Wallachians . They call themselves Foutsides (Φούτσηδες). The largest part of Vallahaden is now found in the areas of Siatista , Kastoria and Grevena . However, the vast majority settled in the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923 Turkey over.

History & Culture

Ethnographic map of Macedonia (1892). Greek Muslims are represented in yellow color.

According to oral tradition, the Vallahaden converted to Islam in the 17th century and there are still families of Vallachaden and Christian Greeks who have the same surname and in individual cases so-called "Adelfomiria" plots (αδελφομοίρια - brotherless) are inherited jointly are managed jointly by the owners, so that a relationship is quite obvious. Under pressure from the Turkic Albanians and from Tepedelenli Ali Pascha , they established settlements in Christian-dominated regions. François Pouqueville reports (II., 509) that Neapoli Kozanis (Νεάπολη Κοζάνης - Lepsista i Anaselitsa Λεψίστα ή Ανασελίτσα), one of the Vallahadic villages, which were expelled or expelled by the Islamic Vardariots (Βώτεας) in the 14th century by the Islamic Vardariots (Βώτεδς) . References to the Muslim population can be found in the code of Zosima of Siatisti in the library of the diocese of Sisani (Σισάνι Κοζάνης), where in 1797 in the area of Viou (επαρχία Βοΐου) “Muslim” families appear. There are reports of purely Muslim and mixed villages. Also in the chronicle (Καλεντέρης) of the codex of the monastery “Moni Zavordas” (Μονή Ζάβορδας - Μονής Μεταμορφώσεως) there are 1692 donors who are known as Muslims. There is of Muslim residents of Venitzi (Κέντρο Γρεβενών, Βέντζι) Agaleï (Αγαλαίοι Γρεβενών) Pontini / Toritsa (Ποντινή Γρεβενών, Τόριτσα) Pigaditsa (Πηγαδίτσα Γρεβενών), and other reports. This makes it likely that most of the Islamization took place between 1692 and 1797.

The Vallachden themselves attribute their conversion to the activities of Greek Janissary Sergeants (Ottoman Turkish: çavuş) in the late 17th century. They were originally recruited from the same part of Macedonia and were later sent back by the Sultan to proselytize among the local Christians. Historians, however, consider it more likely that the Vallahaden adopted Islam at the time of Ottoman reprisals against landowners. One suspects this due to the historical events that influenced the Ottoman government towards the Greek community leaders. These events began roughly with the Russo-Turkish Wars (1768–1774). The riots in connection with the Orlov revolt in the Peloponnese , the period of Albanian dominance in Macedonia (called Albanokratia by the Greeks ) and the politics of Tepedelenli Ali Pasha had a particularly strong impact.

The culture of the Vallahaden was not very different from that of the Christian Greek Macedonians, with whom they also shared the same dialect and surname. De Jong shows that the self-designation Turk was often just a name for the religious status “Muslim”. But it remains questionable whether they are of purely Greek origin. It is more likely that there is a mixture of Muslim Greeks, Vlachs , Slavs and Albanians who used Greek as their first language. Even Ali Pasha promoted the Greek language during his reign. However, most historians agree with Hasluck and Vakalopoulos that most of the Vallahades are from Greek families. There is hardly any evidence of foreign influence on the Greek dialect and the cultural customs are more similar to Greek customs than to those of other peoples. Geographical names were also predominantly Greek.

However, the fact that Muslim converts from other ethnic groups easily had other groups that offered themselves as a home also speaks in favor of Greek ancestry. For example the Tscham Albanians in Epirus, the Pomaks , Torbeschen and Poturen .

Indeed, before the 1923 population exchanges, Hasluk and other travelers in southwestern Greek Macedonia noticed a number of religious and cultural differences between Muslims of Greek origin and Muslims of "Turkish" origin. They described the appearance, way of life, behavior towards women and even the architecture as more "European", "open" and "inviting" in contrast to the Turks and Anatolians, who were characterized as "Asian", "closed" and "uninviting" . However, these attributions also reflect the attitude of Europeans in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Bulgarian geographer Vasil Kanchov gives the number of 14,373 Greek Muslims in southwest Macedonia at the end of the 19th century. According to Greek sources from 1904 there were at least 16,070 Vallahaden in the Kazas of Anaselitsa (Lyapchishta) and Grevena. The difficulty in establishing exact numbers is that the Greek identity is often equated with the Orthodox-Christian identity. Muslim Greeks were therefore probably often referred to simply as "Turks".

By the early 20th century, the Vallahaden had lost much of the status and wealth they had enjoyed in earlier periods of Ottoman government. For example, simple peasants now carried the hereditary title “Bey”, which earlier only the community elders had. Nevertheless, the Vallahaden were perceived as relatively wealthy and hardworking country people. Therefore, the governor of Kozani also resisted deportation in the population exchange. The Vallahaden also cultivated respect for Greek customs and Christian churches. This could also explain why most of them belonged to the Bektashi order .

Most Muslims regard this order as heretical, because it also maintains pre-Islamic customs and was therefore particularly close to the converts. As a result, the culture of the Vallahaden had a special character. Special characteristics were the non-canonical call to prayer (adhan / ezan) in the village mosques, which was carried out in Greek rather than Arabic, as well as their prayer in mosques without minarets, which also served as Bektashi houses or tekkes (which some travelers to the false assumption that they have no mosques at all!), as well as their ignorance of basic Islamic practices and beliefs.

Despite their ignorance of Islam and the Turkish language, the Vallahaden were viewed by the Christian Greeks as "Turkish in soul". Therefore, during the upheavals of the 20th century, they also experienced a lot of reprisals from the military, the press and refugees from the areas of Asia Minor, and as a result they were not spared from the resettlements of 1922–1923.

In Turkey, too, they continued to speak Greek, even though they were given a new Turkish identity. In contrast, many of the Pontic Greeks and Caucasus Greeks could speak Turkish fluently. Most of these communities, however, had either remained Christian Orthodox Greek through the centuries or they had graced themselves again in the mid-19th century after having superficially adopted Islam and remained crypto-Christians.

Even after the deportation, the Vallahaden retained Greek customs, such as celebrating New Year's Day with a Vasilopita , which is usually regarded as a Christian custom going back to St. Vasilios . The Vallahaden, however, renamed the cake “vegetable cake” and did not save a piece for the saint.

See also

literature

  • Peter Alford Andrews, Rüdiger Benninghaus (Ed.): Ethnic Groups in the Republic of Turkey Wiesbaden . Reichert, 1989. (cited by Friedman, not seen)
  • Frederick de Jong: The Greek Speaking Muslims of Macedonia: Reflections on Conversion and Ethnicity . In: Hendrik Boeschoten (ed.): De Turcicis Aliisque Rebus: Commentarii Henry Hofman dedicati . Institut voor Oosterse Talen en Culturen, Utrecht 1992, pp. 141-148 (cited by Friedman, not seen).
  • Victor A. Friedman: The Vlah Minority in Macedonia: Language, Identity, Dialectology, and Standardization . In: Juhani Nuoluoto, Martti Leiwo, Jussi Halla-aho (Eds.): University of Chicago Selected Papers in Slavic, Balkan, and Balkan Studies ( Slavica Helsingiensa , 21). University of Helsinki, Helsinki 2001, pp. 26-50.
  • Margaret M. Hasluck: The Basil Cake of the Greek New Year . In: Folklore , 38.2, June 30, 1927, p. 143
  • FW Hasluck: Christianity and Islam under the Sultans . Oxford 1929.
  • Speros Vryonis: Religious Changes and Patterns in the Balkans, 14th-16th Centuries . In: Aspects of the Balkans: Continuity and Change . The Hague 1972.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vakalopoulos, 'A History of Macedonia', S. 356th
  2. ↑ Konstantin Tsourkas (Τσούρκας Κωνσταντίνος), "Τραγούδια Βαλλαχάδων" (songs of the Vallachads), Μακεδονικά . Σύγγραμμα περιοδικόν της Εταιρείας Μακεδονικών Σπουδών, Β '(1941-1952), Thessaloniki, 1953, pp. 462-471
  3. ^ Gustav Weigand, Alan Wace, and Maurice Thompson.
  4. ↑ Souli Tsetlaka to Stavros Macrakis 2007
  5. ^ De Jong, 'The Greek-speaking Muslims of Macedonia'.
  6. ↑ Vakalopoulos, 'A History of Macedonia'.
  7. ^ Hugh Poulton, 'The Balkans: minorities and states in conflict', Minority Rights Publications, 1991.
  8. ↑ Васил Кънчов . Македония. Етнография и статистика, София 1900, с. 283-290 (Vasil Kanchov: Macedonia. Ethnography and statistics. Sofia, 1900, pp. 283-290).
  9. ↑ Κωνσταντίνος Σπανός. "Η απογραφή του Σαντζακίου των Σερβίων", in: "Ελιμειακά", 2001, pp. 48-49.
  10. ^ Population Exchange in Greek Macedonia by Elisabeth Kontogiorgi. Published 2006. Oxford University Press; P. 199
  11. ↑ Koukoudis, Asterios (2003). The Vlachs: Metropolis and Diaspora. Lemons. S. 198. “ In the mid-seventeenth century, the inhabitants of many of the villages in the upper Aliakmon valley-in the areas of Grevena, Anaselitsa or Voio, and Kastoria - gradually converted to Islam. Among them were a number of Kupatshari, who continued to speak Greek, however, and to observe many of their old Christian customs. The Islamicized Greek-speaking inhabitants of these areas came to be better known as “Valaades”. They were also called “Foutsides”, while to the Vlachs of the Grevena area they were also known as “Vlăhútsi”. According to Greek statistics, in 1923 Anavrytia (Vrastino), Kastro, Kyrakali, and Pigadtisa were inhabited exclusively by Moslems (ie Valaades), while Elatos (Dovrani), Doxaros (Boura), Kalamitsi, Felli, and Melissi (Plessia) were inhabited by Moslem Valaades and Christian Kupatshari. There were also Valaades living in Grevena, as also in other villages to the north and east of the town. It should be noted that the term “Valaades” refers to Greek-speaking Muslims not only of the Grevena area but also of Anaselitsa. In 1924, despite even their own objections, the last of the Valaades being Moslems, were forced to leave Greece under the terms of the compulsory exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey. Until then they had been almost entirely Greek speakers. Many of the descendants of the Valaades of Anaseltisa, now scattered through Turkey and particularly Eastern Thrace (in such towns as Kumburgaz, Büyükçekmece, and Çatalca), still speak Greek dialect of Western Macedonia, which, significantly, they themselves call Romeïka “the language of the Romii ”. It is worth noting the recent research carried out by Kemal Yalçin, which puts a human face on the fate of 120 or so families from Anavryta and Kastro, who were involved in the exchange of populations. They set sail from Thessaloniki for Izmir, and from there settled en bloc in the village of Honaz near Denizli. ”
  12. ^ Matthias Kappler (1996): "Fra religione e lingua / grafia nei Balcani: i musulmani grecofoni (XVIII-XIX sec.) E un dizionario rimato ottomano-greco di Creta." In: Oriente Moderno . 15, 76, p. 86. “ Accenni alla loro religosità popolare mistiforme ' completano ' questo quadro, ridotto, sulla trasmissione culturale di un popolo illetterato ormai scornparso: emigrati in Asia minore dalla fine del secolo scorso, e ancora soggetti allo scambio delle del 1923, i ' Vallahades ', o meglio i loro discendenti, sono ormai pienamente assimilati agli ambienti turchi di Turchia. ”