The Turks of the Dodecanese ( tr, On İki Ada Türkleri, lit. ''Turks of the Twelve Islands'') are a community of 5,500 Turkish-speaking people and ethnic

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...

as well as

Greek Muslims 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. They consist primarily of th ...

living on the

Dodecanese The Dodecanese (, ; el, Δωδεκάνησα, ''Dodekánisa'' , ) are a group of 15 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Turkey's Anatolia, of which 26 are inhabited. ...

islands of

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

( tr, Rodos) and

Kos Kos or Cos (; el, Κως ) is a Greek island, part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese by area, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 36,986 (2021 census), ...

( tr, İstanköy) who were not affected by the 1923 population exchange, because the Dodecanese islands being under the rule of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

at the time. All inhabitants of the islands became Greek citizens after 1947 when the islands became part of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

History

As a result of this incorporation into Greece and due to the situation following the

Cyprus conflict The Cyprus problem, also known as the Cyprus dispute, Cyprus issue, Cyprus question or Cyprus conflict, is an ongoing dispute between Greek Cypriots in the south and Turkish Cypriots in the north. Initially, with the occupation of the island ...

and the

Turkish invasion of Cyprus The Turkish invasion of Cyprus began on 20 July 1974 and progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of Cypriot intercommunal violence, intercommunal violence between Greek Cypriots, Greek and Turkish ...

in 1974 many Muslim Turks were expelled from the islands and forced to settle in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. Many of them were deprived of their Greek citizenship and property. Some of those who stayed abandoned the Turkish language and their religion. The Turks in Kos are partly organized around the Muslim Association of Ko
Kos Müslüman
which gives the figure 2,000 for the population they bring together and represent for the Greek island. Those in Rhodes are organized around the Moslem Association of Rhode
Rodos Müslümanı
which gives the figure 3,500 for the population they bring together and represent for the island. The more general term ''Adali'' is sometimes used (meaning "islander" in Turkish). The president of their association Mazlum Payzanoğlu estimates the number in Rhodes as 2500 and in Kos as 2000.

References

Bibliography

* .

External links

Website of the association of Turks from the Dodecanese settled in Turkey (in Turkish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodecanese Turks in Greece *Dodecanese Middle Eastern diaspora in Greece Ethnic groups in Greece Muslim communities in Europe

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links