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Cretan Turks (Turkish Giritli, plural Giritliler, Giritli Türkler, Türk Giritliler or Girit Türkleri) refers to the descendents of those Cretan Muslims who arrived in Turkey in 1924 and acquired a Turkish nationality. Cretan Muslims arrived in Turkey in successive waves after the 1896-1898 events, at the start of the Greek rule in Crete in 1908 and especially in the framework of the 1923 agreement for the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations and have settled on the coastline stretching from the Çanakkale to İskenderun in Turkey; while other waves of refugees settled in Syrian cities like Damascus, Aleppo and Al Hamidiyah; in Tripoli, Lebanon; Haifa, Palestine, and even as far south as Alexandria and Tanta in Egypt. While some of these peoples have integrated themselves with the hospitable populations around them over the course of the 20th century, the majority of them still live in a tightly knit communities preserving their unique culture, traditions, and Greek language. In fact many of them made reunion visits to distant relatives in Lebanon, in Crete and even other parts of Greece where some of the cousins may still share the family name but follow a different religion.

History

for the main article, see Cretan Muslims

Culture

Bektashi tradition

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Literature

The "Cretan School" within Ottoman Divan poetry is defined to count twenty-one poets who composed in Ottoman or vernacular Turkish, especially in the 18th century denoting the dynamism of the cultural life in the island.

A taste and echo of this tradition can be perceived in the verses below by Giritli Sırrı Pasha (1844 - 1895);

Fidânsın nev-nihâl-i hüsn ü ânsın âfet-i cânsın
Gül âşık bülbül âşıkdır sana, bir özge cânânsın

which were certainly addressed to his wife, the poetess-composer Leyla Saz (1845 - 1936), herself of Cretan roots and one of the first Turkish women to have stepped into the modern traditions of the Turkish literature. Her "Hymn to the Mediterranean" (Akdeniz Marşı), in praise of Mustafa Kemal Pasha and in reference to the Turkish War of Independence, had lasting popularity and is constantly being sung in our day in Turkey's schools, caserns and else, remaining instantly recognizable.

Yaslı gittim şen geldim,
Aç koynunu ben geldim,
Bana bir yudum su ver,
Çok uzak yoldan geldim

Cretan Turkish Culture in Turkey

Among contributions made by Cretan Turks to the Turkish culture in general, the first to be mentioned should be their particular culinary traditions based on consumption at high-levels of olive oil and of a surprisingly wide array of herbs and other plant-based raw materials. While they have certainly not introduced olive oil and herbs to their compatriots, Cretan Turks have greatly extended the knowledge and paved the way for a more varied use of these products. Their predilection for herbs, some of which could be considered as unusual ones, has also been the source of some jokes. The Giritli chain of restaurants in İstanbul, Ankara and Bodrum, and Ayşe Ün's "Girit Mutfağı" (Cretan Cuisine) eateries in İzmir are indicative references in this regard. Occasional although intrinsically inadequate care has also been demonstrated by the authorities in the first years of the Turkish Republic for settling Cretan Turks in localities where vineyards left by the departed Greeks were found, since this capital was bound to be lost in the hands of cultivators with no prior knowledge of viniculture. The pioneer of gulet boats construction that became a vast industry in Bodrum in our day, Ziya Güvendiren (Naim'in Ziya Usta), was a Cretan Turk, as are many of his former apprentices who themselves have become master shipbuilders and who are based in Bodrum or Güllük today.

Cretan perception of Muslims

The Greek perception of Muslims in Crete used the terms "Turk" and "Greek" in a religious rather than ethnic or racial meaning (Turks themselves would have more readily used the term "Muslim" at the time). A Greek observer remarks that we are acquainted with extremely few cases of Muslim Cretan lyra-players as against Cretan Greeks (the very name for that instrument in Turkish language being Rum kemençesi - Greek kemenche). . In the later novels by Nikos Kazantzakis, Cretan Turks also had to assume unflattering roles attributing, although in his earlier masterpiece, "a wise old Cretan Turk" forever affectionately recalled, Recep Efendi, teaches Zorba how to play the santuri, considered a less sophisticated cousin of qanun in Turkish classical music.

Notable Cretan Turks

• Ahmed Resmî Efendi: 18th century Ottoman statesman, diplomat and author (notably of two sefâretnâme). Ottoman ambassador in Berlin (during Frederick the Great's reign).
• Ali Baba Giritli: 18th century Bektashi mystic and author of several works of a Sufi nature.
• Leyla Saz (1845-1936): Poetess-composer issued from the Ottoman elite,
• Rahmizâde Bahaeddin Bediz: The first Turkish photographer by profession. The thousands of photographs he took, based as of 1895 successively in Crete, İzmir, İstanbul and Ankara (as Head of the Photography Department of Turkish Historical Society founded by Atatürk), have immense historical value.
• Ali Fuat Cebesoy: Close aide of Atatürk. His father İsmail Fazıl Pasha was Cretan, and his mother was a member of the Ottoman elite. İsmail Fazıl Pasha himself has been the first Minister of Public Works in the newly-constituted Ankara government in 1920, and by extension, for the republican Turkey.
• Mustafa Fehmi Kubilay: National hero who was lynched by a group of Naqshbandi rebels in 1930 in Menemen (called Kubilay incident or Menemen incident in Turkish history) that greatly influenced the direction of politics in Turkey in the thirties.
• Hüsamettin Cindoruk: Former Chairman of the Turkish Grand National Assembly who could have become the Prime Minister in 1993 if he had not opted for remaining in that seat, thus opening the path for Tansu Çiller. Cindoruk had kept the helm of the Turkey's traditional center-right in the eighties, during Süleyman Demirel's forced absence from politics.
• Simavi family: Former owners of the very prominent Hürriyet newspaper. Their roots are reportedly traced to the town of Simav in western Anatolia.
• Ekrem Pakdemirli: Prominent Turkish politician.
• Halil Berktay: Turkish historian.
• Ömer Kavur: Award-winning Turkish film director.
• Orhan Suda: Journalist and Turkish socialist thinker, Named after the town of Souda.
• Pakize Suda: Former singer, current columnist, the daughter of Orhan Suda.
• Ayla Algan: Turkish singer.

Among other notable Cretan Turks, highly nationalistic investigative journalist Emin Çölaşan, other notable names from the Turkish media such as İlhan Selçuk, his brother Turhan Selçuk, and Doğan Hızlan can be cited. Writer Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı, alias Halikarnas Balıkçısı (The Fisherman of Halicarnassus), although born in Crete and has often let himself be cited as Cretan, descends from an Ottoman family with roots in Afyonkarahisar, and his father had been an Ottoman High Comissioner in Crete and later ambassador in Athens. Likewise, as stated above, Giritli Mustafa Naili Pasha was Albanian/Egyptian.

See also

• Turkish people
• History of Crete
• Greek-speaking Muslims
• Cretan Muslims

References

1. Cretan Bektashi school in Ottoman Divan poetry by Filiz Kılıç, Research Center for the Turkish culture and Hacı Bektaş Veli (in Turkish, abstract also in English). The principal poets considered to compose the "Cretan school" are; 1. Ahmed Hikmetî Efendi (also called Bî-namaz Ahmed Efendi) (? - 1727), 2. Ahmed Bedrî Efendi (? - 1761), 3. Lebib Efendi (? - 1768), 4. Ahmed Cezbî Efendi (? - 1781), 5. Ahmed Resmî Efendi, 6. Ali Resmî Efendi (? - 1789)- also called Resmî Ali Baba, Ali Resmî-i Giridî, Resmî-i Giridî Ali Efendi, Resmî Baba Giridî Bektaşî, Giritli Resmî or Ali Baba Giritli-, 7. Aziz Ali Efendi (? - 1798), 8. İbrahim Hıfzî Efendi (? - ?), 9. Salacıoğlu Sheikh Mustafa Efendi (circa 1750 - 1825) -shortly called as "Salacıoğlu", he was one of the most important Sufi poets/writers of the 17th-18th centuries-, 10. Mustafa Mazlum Fehmî Pasha (1812 - 1861), 11. İbrahim Fehim Bey (1813 - 1861), 12. Yahya Kâmi Efendi (? - ?), 13. Ahmed İzzet Bey (? - 1861), 14. Mazlum Mustafa Pasha (? - 1861), 15. Giritli Sırrı Pasha (1844 - 1895) -aside from being a skillful poet and writer in his own right, he was also the husband of the poetess-composer Leyla Saz, another Cretan Turk-, 16. Ahmed Muhtar Efendi (1847 - 1910), 17. Ali İffet Efendi (1869 - 1941).
2. Summary translation: A slender sapling you are, freshly shooting beauty and grace you are, an affection for one's mind you are! The rose is in love with you, the nightingale is in love you. An uncommon beloved one you are! (note that "fidân" can mean "sapling" as a noun and "slender" as an adjective, and "âfet" has more than one meaning as its English equivalent "affection".)
3. Summary translation: Mournful I had left, joyful I come. Open your arms, it's me who come. Give me just a gulp of water! From a far away journey I come. For the lyrics in full, see Turkish Ministry of National Education web site
4. A Greek point of view on Cretan Turks
5. Yeni Giritliler Article at Hürriyet about the rising interest in Cretan heritage (in Turkish)

Sources

• Lozan Mübadilleri: The Association of Turks exchanged under Lausanne Treaty
• İzmir Life magazine, June 2003
• Kritimu; novellized souvenirs by Saba Altınsay

• Ethnic groups in Turkey
• Sunni Muslims
• Turkish people
• Demographics of the Ottoman Empire