Eleni Karinte ( el, Ελένη Καριντέ) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

woman of Aromanian descent, popularly known as the first love of the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Little is known of Mustafa Kemal's relationship with Eleni, who fell in love with him while he was a student in Monastir (today Bitola). According to the folk story, they exchanged glances while she watched him from her balcony, but her wealthy merchant father did not approve of this relationship, and locked her in the house when she tried to elope. Eftim Karinte later took her to

Florina Florina ( el, Φλώρινα, ''Flórina''; known also by some alternative names) is a town and municipality in the mountainous northwestern Macedonia, Greece. Its motto is, 'Where Greece begins'. The town of Florina is the capital of the F ...

, where he tried to marry her off to another man. No documents attest this other than a letter purportedly written by Karinte.

In popular culture

The love story inspired a play by Dejan Dukovski, later filmed by Aleksandar Popovski. It has also inspired a monodrama with Nikolina Vasilevska in the role of Eleni."Eleni's Great Love"
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karinte, Eleni People from Bitola Greek people of Aromanian descent Mustafa Kemal Atatürk