The Abdal ( tr, Abdallar or ) are a Turkish-speaking with much

Turkmen grammar Turkmen grammar ( tk, Türkmen diliniň grammatikasy) is the grammar of the Turkmen language, whose dialectal variants are spoken in Turkmenistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia (in Stavropol krai), China (Salar Turkmens), Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and oth ...

socio-cultural

Indo-Turkic people The group of Turkic people who are of Indo-Aryan descent are commonly known as the Indo-Turks or Indo-Turkic. They are sometimes categorised as Romanis, but this claim is largely false. Many Indo-Turks live in Central Asia and Russia. Indian ...

group found mainly in central and western

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, and some live in Istanbul, who follow an

itinerant An itinerant is a person who travels habitually. Itinerant may refer to: *"Travellers" or itinerant groups in Europe *Itinerant preacher, also known as itinerant minister *Travelling salespeople, see door-to-door, hawker, and peddler *Travelling sh ...

lifestyle. This lifestyle is closely connected with the activity of music making at weddings and circumcision partys. Other occupations associated with the Abdal include tinning, basket making and sieve manufacture.

Origin

In Ottoman Archives from the 18th century and 19th century, they are mentioned of Turkman Kıptileri in the Balkans, who are different as the Romani people in Rumelia. They spoke only Turkish with only few Romani words in their jargon. The

Turkification Turkification, Turkization, or Turkicization ( tr, Türkleştirme) describes a shift whereby populations or places received or adopted Turkic attributes such as culture, language, history, or ethnicity. However, often this term is more narrowly ...

of this subgroup was already completed at the time of the Ottoman Empire, who once migrated at the 16th century from

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

and finally settled in the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, and also in the

Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate ( crh, , or ), officially the Great Horde and Desht-i Kipchak () and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary ( la, Tartaria Minor), was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to ...

. The three most remarkable characteristics of the group are its close relationship with the

Alevi Alevism or Anatolian Alevism (; tr, Alevilik, ''Anadolu Aleviliği'' or ''Kızılbaşlık''; ; az, Ələvilik) is a local Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Alevi Islamic ( ''bāṭenī'') teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, w ...

sect, its use of a secret language (Abdoltili/Teberce) or

argot A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argot ...

and its wide distribution. It seems that the name

Abdal Abdāl () ''lit'': substitutes, but which can also mean "generous" 'karīm''and "noble" 'sharīf'' is a term used in Islamic metaphysics and Islamic mysticism, both Sunni and Shiite, to refer to a particularly important group of God's saints. ...

was associated with Alevi dervishes of Central Anatolia, whose existence is first recorded in the 16th Century. These ''Abdalan-ı Rum'' were extreme Alevis practising celibacy and withdrawal from the world. Their unorthodox behavior led to their suppression by the Ottoman authorities.Marginal Groups and Itinerants by Ingvar Savanberg pages 602 to 612 in Ethnic groups in the Republic of Turkey / compiled and edited by Peter Alford Andrews, with the assistance of Rüdiger Benninghaus (Wiesbaden : Dr. Ludwig Reichert, 1989) The Abdal language consists of borrowing from

Hindustani language Hindustani (; Devanagari: , * * * * ; Perso-Arabic: , , ) is the '' lingua franca'' of Northern and Central India and Pakistan. Hindustani is a pluricentric language with two standard registers, known as Hindi and Urdu. Thus, the lan ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

with some

Rumelian Romani Rumelian Romani is a dialect of Southern Romani of strong Turkish pronunciation with Turkish and Greek loanwords, once was spoken by the Turkish-Muslim Roma (Xoraxane) in Ottoman Rumelia, especially by the Sedentary Rumelian Romani people of var ...

words with an essentially Turkish and

. According to the Abdal themselves, there Ancestors once came from

North India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

and went to Afghanistan-Iran-Central Asia and then to Ottoman Anatolia, and are intermarried with tribe's of Turkmen. They say they are not like the

Romani people in Turkey The Romani people in Turkey ( tr, Türkiye'deki Romanlar) or Turks of Romani Background ( tr, Roman kökenli Türk) are Turkish citizen and the biggest subgroup of the Turkish Roma, they are Sunni muslims, mostly of Sufism branch,https://acikbi ...

and distance themselves from them.Abdal by Peter Alford Andrews pp. 435 to 438 in Ethnic groups in the Republic of Turkey / compiled and edited by Peter Alford Andrews, with the assistance of Rüdiger Benninghaus (Wiesbaden : Ludwig Reichert, 1989) In southwestern Turkey, the Abdal play a particular role as musicians, minstrels, jewelers and magicians to the nomadic Barak Turkmen, as a dependent group. Abdal encampments are found at the edges of the

Yörüks The Yörüks, also Yuruks or Yorouks ( tr, Yörükler; , ''Youroúkoi''; bg, юруци; mk, Јуруци, ''Juruci''), are a Turkish ethnic subgroup of Oghuz descent, some of whom are nomadic, primarily inhabiting the mountains of Anatolia ...

camps. A similar relationship also exists with the

Tahtacı Tahtacı ( tr, Tahtacılar, lit=woodworkers) are Alevi Turkomans living mainly in the forested areas of Aegean and Mediterranean regions of Turkey. Tahtacıs engage woodworking since the Ottoman periods. They are thought to be descendants of t ...

and

Turkmen tribes The major modern Turkmen tribes are Teke, Yomut, Ersari, Chowdur, Gokleng and Saryk. The most numerous are the Teke. The origin of all of these tribes is traced to 24 ancient Oghuz tribes, among which the Salur tribe played a prominent role as ...

. In the area north of Ankara, many Abdal are sedentary, but associated with certain activities as

circumcision Circumcision is a surgical procedure, procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin ...

(a sacred Muslim tradition) and barbering.

References

{{Demographics of Turkey Abdal (caste) Ethnic groups in Turkey Dom in the Middle East Dom in Europe Modern nomads Romani in Turkey Turkish people Ethnic groups in the Middle East

Origin

See also

References