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82-503: During the first half of the 20th century, the island was popular with prosperous Greeks and Armenians as a refuge from the summer heat of Istanbul. Nowadays the island's demographics are more similar to a typical suburb of mainland Istanbul. Historically, many residents of Büyükada were fishermen. However, by the late 2010s tourism to Büyükada swelled enormously as it became a favourite day-trip destination for visitors from greenery-starved Arab countries in particular. The surge in tourism

164-463: A 1955 agreement granting unrestricted travel facilities to nationals of both countries. A number of Greeks caught outside Turkey when this suspension took effect and were unable to return to their homes at Turkey. Moreover, Turkey once again deported many Greeks. They were given a week to leave the country, and police escorts saw to it that they make the deadline. Deportees protested that it was impossible to sell businesses or personal property in so short

246-503: A dialect called "Romeyka" or "Ophitic", still live in the area around Of in north-eastern Anatolia. The Greeks of Turkey are referred to in Turkish as Rumlar , meaning "Romans". This derives from the self-designation Ῥωμαῖος ( Rhomaîos , pronounced ro-ME-os) or Ρωμιός ( Rhomiós , pronounced ro-mee-OS or rom-YOS) used by Byzantine Greeks, who were the continuation of the Roman Empire in

328-452: A few Jews still live on the island. At one time iron mining took place on the island in the area now called Maden (Mine). International tourism to the Princes' Islands was relatively slow to take off but by 2015 was becoming the dominant economic factor. Until 2020 the only transportation on Büyükada (as on the other inhabited Princes' islands) had been horse-drawn phaetons ( fayton ). However,

410-747: A more Turkish rendition. As from 1936, Turkish became the teaching language (except the Greek language lessons) in Greek schools. The Wealthy Levy imposed in 1942 also served to reduce the economic potential of Greek businesspeople in Turkey. When the Axis attacked on Greece during WW2 hundreds of volunteers from the Greek community of Istanbul went to fight in Greece with the approval of Turkish authorities. In 6–7 September 1955 an anti-Greek pogrom were orchestrated in Istanbul by

492-645: A mother language. This has made them hard to distinguish from the Arab Christians and some argue that they have become largely homogenized. Their majority doesn't speak Greek at all, the younger generation speaks Turkish, and some have Turkish names now. Their population is about 18,000, and they are faithful to the Patriarchate of Antiochia , although ironically it is now in Damascus . They reside largely in Antakya and/or

574-561: A new law was passed by the Turkish parliament to protect the minorities rights, because of Turkey's EU candidacy . With this new law, it prevented the Turkish treasury from seizing community foundations properties. On 15 August 2010, a ritual was held for the Assumption of Mary at the Sumela Monastery after an 88 years old ban. This annual ritual continues, although it often sparks debate in Turkey for “keeping foreign traditions alive on

656-452: A sleepy backwater until 1846 when the first ferry service made it easily accessible from mainland Constantinople / Istanbul whereupon it became an increasingly popular summer retreat for wealthier city residents. Most of its Greek residents left in the population exchange of 1923 or after the pogrom of 1955 and the expulsion order of 1966. Many of the Armenians were driven out in 1924. Just

738-540: A small population of Greek and Greek -speaking Eastern Orthodox Christians who mostly live in Istanbul , as well as on the two islands of the western entrance to the Dardanelles : Imbros and Tenedos ( Turkish : Gökçeada and Bozcaada ). Greeks are one of the four ethnic minorities officially recognized in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne , together with Jews , Armenians , and Bulgarians . They are

820-521: A time. Most of those deported were born in Turkey and they had no place to go in Greece. Greeks had difficulty receiving credit from banks. Those expelled, in some cases, could not dispose of their property before leaving. Furthermore, it forcefully closed the Prinkipo Greek Orthodox Orphanage , the Patriarchate 's printing house and the Greek minority schools on the islands of Gökçeada/Imbros and Tenedos/Bozcaada . Furthermore,

902-412: A total of 1,000 immovables of 81 Greek organizations as well as individuals of the Greek community. On the other hand, Turkish courts provided legal legitimacy to unlawful practices by approving discriminatory laws and policies that violated fundamental rights they were responsible to protect. As a result, foundations of the Greek communities started to file complaints after 1999 when Turkey's candidacy to

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984-579: Is accessible by Şehir Hatları ferries from Eminönü and Kabataş on the European side of Istanbul and from Kadıköy and Bostancı on the Asian side of the city. Büyükada is 4.3 km (2.6 miles) long and 1.3 km (0.8 miles) wide. The centre of the island is dominated by two peaks. The one nearest to the ferry landing is the Hill of Jesus ( Turkish : İsa Tepesi ), which is 164 m (538 ft) high. The second

1066-679: Is now Turkey continuously since the middle 2nd millennium BC. Following upheavals in mainland Greece during the Bronze Age Collapse , the Aegean coast of Asia Minor was heavily settled by Ionian and Aeolian Greeks and became known as Ionia and Aeolia . During the era of Greek colonization from the 8th to the 6th century BC, numerous Greek colonies were founded on the coast of Asia Minor , both by mainland Greeks as well as settlers from colonies such as Miletus . The city of Byzantium , which would go on to become Constantinople and Istanbul ,

1148-631: Is the Great Hill ( Turkish: Yücetepe ) which is 202 m (663 ft) high. The island has several small strips of sand and pebble beach too, the most popular being Yörük Ali Plajı near Dilburnu. Most development on the island is on its northern side with the south still largely wooded. During the period of Byzantine rule the Princes' Islands became a place where rulers founded churches and monasteries but where they also dumped their enemies to prevent them from plotting to harm them. The Byzantine Emperor Justin II

1230-546: Is why the Karamanlides ( Greek : Καραμανλήδες ; Turkish : Karamanlılar ), or simply Karamanlis , who were a Turkish -speaking (while they employed the Greek alphabet to write it) Greek Orthodox people of unclear origin, were deported from their native regions of Karaman and Cappadocia in Central Anatolia to Greece as well. On the other hand, Cretan Muslims who were part of the exchange were re-settled mostly on

1312-448: Is work of the mid-19th century. Also on İsa Tepesi is what should be the pride and joy of the island but is instead on its very last legs, the huge Greek Orthodox Orphanage ( Turkish : Rum Yetimhanesi) believed to be the largest wooden construction in Europe and the second largest in the world. Originally intended to be a casino, it was built for a French company in 1898 and was designed by

1394-805: The Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Seljuk Turks swept through all of Asia Minor . While the Byzantines would recover western and northern Anatolia in subsequent years, central Asia Minor was settled by Turkic peoples and never again came under Byzantine rule. The Byzantine Empire was unable to stem the Turkic advance, and by 1300 most of Asia Minor was ruled by Anatolian beyliks . Smyrna ( Turkish : İzmir ) fell in 1330, and Philadelphia ( Turkish : Alaşehir ), fell in 1398. The last Byzantine Greek kingdom in Anatolia,

1476-831: The Black Sea coast (the Pontic Greeks ) and the Aegean coast, the Gallipoli peninsula and a few cities and numerous villages in the central Anatolian interior (the Cappadocian Greeks ). The Greeks of Constantinople constituted the largest Greek urban population in the Eastern Mediterranean . In the first half of 1914, the Ottoman authorities expelled more than 100,000 Ottoman Greeks to Greece. Given their large Greek populations, Constantinople and Asia Minor featured prominently in

1558-707: The Empire of Trebizond , covering the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey to the border with Georgia , fell in 1461. Constantinople fell in 1453, marking the end of the Byzantine Empire. Beginning with the Seljuk invasion in the 11th century, and continuing through the Ottoman years , Anatolia underwent a process of Turkification , its population gradually changing from predominantly Christian and Greek-speaking to predominantly Muslim and Turkish-speaking. Ottoman Empire followed

1640-570: The Greek Orthodox Church . 73 churches and 23 schools were vandalized, burned or destroyed, as were 8 asperses and 3 monasteries . The pogrom greatly accelerated emigration of ethnic Greeks from Turkey, and the Istanbul region in particular. The Greek population of Turkey declined from 119,822 persons in 1927, to about 7,000 by 1978. In Istanbul alone, the Greek population decreased from 65,108 to 49,081 between 1955 and 1960. In 1964 Turkish prime minister İsmet İnönü unilaterally renounced

1722-717: The Greek language in formal ecclesiastical settings ". In this sense, the Greek Orthodox Churches are the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and its dependencies, the Patriarchates of Alexandria , Antioch and Jerusalem , the Church of Greece and the Church of Cyprus . The third meaning refers to the Church of Greece , an Eastern Orthodox Church operating within the modern borders of Greece . Historically,

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1804-590: The Hatay province , but a few are also in Adana province . The Greek minority continues to encounter problems relating to education and property rights. A 1971 law nationalized religious high schools, and closed the Halki seminary on Istanbul's Heybeli Island which had trained Orthodox clergy since the 19th century. A later outrage was the vandalism of the Greek cemetery on Imbros on October 29, 2010. In this context, problems affecting

1886-459: The Human Rights Watch the Greek population in Turkey is estimated at 2,500 in 2006. The Greek population in Turkey is collapsing as the community is now far too small to sustain itself demographically, due to emigration , much higher death rates than birth rates and continuing discrimination. Since 1924, the status of the Greek minority in Turkey has been ambiguous. Beginning in the 1940s,

1968-455: The Slavic and other Eastern Orthodox churches as part of their peoples' national awakenings , beginning as early as the 10th century A.D. Thus, by the early 21st century, generally only those churches most closely tied to Greek or Byzantine culture and ethnicity were called "Greek Orthodox" in common parlance. Greek Orthodoxy has also been defined as a religious tradition rooted in preserving

2050-576: The Turkish military 's Tactical Mobilization Group , the seat of Operation Gladio 's Turkish branch; the Counter-Guerrilla . The events were triggered by the news that the Turkish consulate in Thessaloniki , north Greece—the house where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born in 1881—had been bombed the day before. A bomb planted by a Turkish usher of the consulate, who was later arrested and confessed, incited

2132-611: The Varlık Vergisi , the Istanbul Pogrom and the 1964 expulsion of Istanbul Greeks ), emigration of ethnic Greeks from the Istanbul region greatly accelerated, reducing the Greek minority population from 119,822 before the pogrom to about 7,000 by 1978. The 2008 figures released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry places the current number of Turkish citizens of Greek descent at the 3,000–4,000 mark. However, according to

2214-509: The 1923 population exchange because at that time the Hatay province was under French control. The majority of the Antiochian Greeks moved to Syria and Lebanon at 1939, when Turkey took control of the Hatay region, however a small population remained at this area. After a process of Arabization and Turkification that took place in the 20th century, today almost their entirety speaks Arabic as

2296-479: The 1964 expulsion of Istanbul Greeks which led to thousands of Greeks fleeing the city, eventually reducing the Greek population to about 7,000 by 1978 and to about 2,500 by 2006. According to the United Nations, this figure was much smaller in 2012 and reached 2,000. As of 2023, according to The Economist , "Turkey's Greeks are on the verge of extinction". A minority of Muslim Pontic Greek speakers, using

2378-543: The 1st century BC. Asia Minor was one of the first places where Christianity spread, so that by the 4th century AD it was overwhelmingly Christian and Greek-speaking. For the next 600 years, Asia Minor and Constantinople , which eventually became the capital of the Byzantine Empire , would be the centers of the Hellenic world, while mainland Greece experienced repeated barbarian invasions and went into decline. Following

2460-531: The 20th century and only 200 elderly Greeks have remained there, less than 2%. In the 1950s, an estimated 98% of the island was Greek. In the last years the condition of the Greek community in these islands seems to be slightly improving. The Antiochian Greeks ( Rum ) living in Hatay are the descendants of the Ottoman Levant's and southeast Anatolia's Greek population and are part of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch . They did not emigrate to Greece during

2542-467: The Aegean coast of Turkey, in areas formerly inhabited by Christian Greeks. Populations of Greek descent can still be found in the Pontos , remnants of the former Greek population that converted to Islam in order to escape the persecution and later deportation. Though these two groups are of ethnic Greek descent, they speak Turkish as a mother language and are very cautious to identify themselves as Greeks, due to

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2624-737: The Empire. The most severe atrocities occurred in Constantinople, in what became known as the Constantinople Massacre of 1821 . The Orthodox Patriarch Gregory V was executed on April 22, 1821 on the orders of the Ottoman Sultan, which caused outrage throughout Europe and resulted in increased support for the Greek rebels. By the late 19th and early 20th century, the Greek element was found predominantly in Constantinople and Smyrna , along

2706-704: The European Union was announced. Since 2007, decisions are being made in these cases; the first ruling was made in a case filed by the Phanar Greek Orthodox College Foundation, and the decision was that Turkey violated Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which secured property rights. A government decree published on 27 August 2011, paves the way to return assets that once belonged to Greek, Armenian, Assyrian, Kurd or Jewish trusts and makes provisions for

2788-658: The Greco-Turkish Treaty of Friendship of 1930 and took actions against the Greek minority that resulted in massive expulsions . Turkey enforced strictly a long‐overlooked law barring Greek nationals from 30 professions and occupations. For example, Greeks could not be doctors, nurses, architects, shoemakers, tailors, plumbers, cabaret singers, iron-smiths, cooks, tourist guides, etc. Many Greeks were ordered to give up their jobs after this law. Also, Turkish government ordered many Greek‐owned shops to close leaving many Greek families destitute. In addition, Turkey has suspended

2870-712: The Greek occupation of Smyrna in May 1919 and continued until the Great Fire of Smyrna in September 1922, atrocities were perpetrated by both the Greek and Turkish armies. For the massacres that occurred during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, British historian Arnold J. Toynbee wrote that it was the Greek landings that created the Turkish National Movement led by Mustafa Kemal : "The Greeks of ' Pontus ' and

2952-432: The Greek irredentist concept of Megali Idea (lit. "Great Idea") during the 19th century and early 20th century. The goal of Megali Idea was the liberation of all Greek-inhabited lands and the eventual establishment of a successor state to the Byzantine Empire with Constantinople as its capital. The Greek population amounted to 1,777,146 (16.42% of population during 1910). During World War I and its aftermath (1914–1923),

3034-506: The Greek minority on the islands of Imbros and Tenedos continue to be reported to the European Commission . In July 2011, Istanbul's Greek minority newspaper Apoyevmatini declared that it would shut down due to financial difficulties. The four-page Greek-language newspaper faced closure due to financial problems that had been further aggravated by the economic crisis in Greece, when Greek companies stopped publishing advertisements in

3116-677: The Levantine architect Alexander Vallaury . After Sultan Abdülhamid II refused to allow its use as a casino, it was bought by a woman who donated it to the Patriarchate to serve as an orphanage which it did until 1964 except during the First World War when it was used by the Kuleli Military School . The building was given back to the Patriarchate by the state in 2010 but nothing was done to protect it from decay. In 2021 plans to restore

3198-585: The Mizzi Köşkü. Opened in 2010, the Museum of the Princes' Islands ( Turkish: Adalar Muzesi) tells the story of the islands' people as much as of its buildings. In the 19th century the island had several well known hotels. The most conspicuous survivor is the Splendid Palace Hotel (1911) which still lords it over the waterfront with its two domes which once covered water cisterns. The pretty ferry terminal

3280-625: The Orthodox subjects (the Rum Millet, or the "Roman nation") of the Empire, often acting as archontes of the Ecumenical See . For all their cosmopolitanism and often western (sometimes Roman Catholic ) education, the Phanariots were aware of their Hellenism ; according to Nicholas Mavrocordatos ' Philotheou Parerga : "We are a race completely Hellenic". The first Greek millionaire in the Ottoman era

3362-708: The Sharia rules and there were restrictions regarding the building and restoration of churches. Ottoman documents display that restriction on non-Muslims applied differently depending on the regions. After the Tanzimat reforms in 1839, the Christians could get a permission to repair an old church easier, but still they had to follow specific procedures and were supervised by the local Muslim authorities and population. A class of moneyed ethnically Greek merchants (they commonly claimed noble Byzantine descent) called Phanariotes emerged in

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3444-471: The Turkish government has denied the rights of the Greek community on Imbros and Tenedos in violation of the Lausanne Treaty and international human rights laws and agreements. In 1997, the Turkish state seized the Prinkipo Greek Orthodox Orphanage which had been forcefully closed in 1964. After many years of court battles, Turkey returned the property to the Greek community in 2012. In August 2002,

3526-636: The Turks of the Greek occupied territories, were in some degree victims of Mr. Venizelos 's and Mr. Lloyd George 's original miscalculations at Paris." After the end of the Greco-Turkish War, most of the Greeks remaining in the Ottoman Empire were transferred to Greece under the terms of the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey . The criteria for the population exchange were not exclusively based on ethnicity or mother language, but on religion as well. That

3608-488: The archipelago. Ernest Mamboury recorded the sites of the island in his Les Iles des Princes, published in 1943 and Jak Deleon updated his work in 2003 in his Büyükada: A Guide to the Monuments. After leaving the island in 1933 Trotsky wrote an essay called Farewell to Prinkipo . In 1997 Çelik Gülersoy , who had worked to restore some of the island's buildings, published Büyükada Dün (Büyükada Yesterday) . In 2007 John Freely 's The Princes' Islands exhaustively listed

3690-428: The building were finally announced. In the meantime it is off-limits to visitors. There are several churches on the island although they are not always accessible to visitors. These are the Greek Orthodox Churches of the Panagia (Virgin Mary) and Hagios Demetrios (St Dimitri), the Franciscan Church of San Pacifico and the Armenian Church of Surp Astvadzadzin Verapolium. One synagogue, Hesed Le Avram , still survives on

3772-411: The city and its surroundings under cover of the Greek, French, and British navies. Legal justifications for the landings was found in the article 7 of the Armistice of Mudros , which allowed the Allies "to occupy any strategic points in the event of any situation arising which threatens the security of Allies." The Greeks of Smyrna and other Christians greeted the Greek troops as liberators. By contrast,

3854-461: The day Trabzon was captured by the Turks.”. Today most of the remaining Greeks live in Istanbul. In the Fener district of Istanbul where the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is located, fewer than 100 Greeks live today. A handful also live in other cities of Anatolia. Most are elderly. Another location where the Greek community lives is the islands Imbros and Tenedos near the Dardanelles , but this community diminished rapidly during

3936-642: The east. The ethnonym Yunanlar is exclusively used by Turks to refer to Greeks from Greece and not for the population of Turkey. In Greek, Greeks from Asia Minor are referred to as Greek : Μικρασιάτες or Greek : Ανατολίτες ( Mikrasiátes or Anatolítes , lit. "Asia Minor-ites" and "Anatolians"), while Greeks from Pontos ( Pontic Greeks ) are known as Greek : Πόντιοι ( Póntioi ). Greeks from Istanbul are known as Greek : Κωνσταντινουπολίτες ( Konstantinoupolítes , lit. " Constantinopolites "), most often shortened to Greek : Πολίτες ( Polítes , pronounced po-LEE-tes). Greeks have been living in what

4018-401: The eve of the Greek War of Independence the three most important centres of Greek learning, schools-cum-universities, were situated in Chios , Smyrna and Aivali , all three major centres of Greek commerce. The outbreak of the Greek War of Independence in March 1821 was met by mass executions, pogrom -style attacks, the destruction of churches, and looting of Greek properties throughout

4100-443: The events. The Turkish press conveying the news in Turkey was silent about the arrest and instead insinuated that Greeks had set off the bomb. Although the mob did not explicitly call for Greeks to be killed, over a dozen people died during or after the pogrom as a result of beatings and arson . Jews , Armenians and others were also harmed. In addition to commercial targets, the mob clearly targeted property owned or administered by

4182-434: The explosion of tourism on the island had made this increasingly unsustainable and, under pressure from animal-rights activists, the decision was made to replace the horses with electric vehicles, bringing to an end a tradition that had made the islands unique in Turkey. The introduction of electric buses on the island prompted protests from local residents who see them as a threat to the island's pedestrianized areas. By far

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4264-424: The farm property of the Greeks on the islands were taken away from their owners. Moreover, university students were organizing boycotts against Greek shops. Teachers of schools maintained by the Greek minority complained of frequent "inspections" by squads of Turkish officers inquiring into matters of curriculum, texts and especially the use of the Greek language in teaching. In late 1960, the Turkish treasure seized

4346-416: The foot of the rocky path leading up to the monastery but these ceased to operate in 2020. The panoramic view back to mainland Istanbul from the monastery is reason enough for a visit. A second, less frequently visited Greek Orthodox monastery dedicated to Sotiros Christou.(Christ the Saviour) stands on the top of İsa Tepesi. Although it, too, dates back to Byzantine times, most of what a modern visitor sees

4428-412: The government instituted repressive policies forcing many Greeks to emigrate. Examples are the labour battalions drafted among non-Muslims during World War II, as well as the Fortune Tax ( Varlık Vergisi ) levied mostly on non-Muslims during the same period. These resulted in financial ruination and death for many Greeks. The exodus was given greater impetus with the Istanbul Pogrom of September 1955 and

4510-405: The government of the Ottoman Empire and subsequently the Turkish National Movement , led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk , instigated a violent campaign against the Greek population of the Empire. The campaign included massacres, forced deportations involving death marches, and summary expulsions. According to various sources, several hundreds of thousand Ottoman Greeks died during this period. Some of

4592-566: The government to pay compensation for any confiscated property that has since been sold on, and in a move likely to thwart possible court rulings against the country by the European Court of Human Rights. Greek Orthodox Church Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek : Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία , Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía , IPA: [elinorˈθoðoksi ekliˈsia] ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity , Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly

4674-462: The historic mansions on the island. In 2009 the poet and translator Joachim Sartorius published an exquisite short travelogue called The Princes' Islands: Istanbul's Archipelago which mainly focused on Büyükada. In 2023, Yapı Kredi Yayınları published Büyükada – The Moris Danon Collection by Büke Uras , which documents a period from the second quarter of the 19th century to the middle of 20th century with photographs and supporting text. The island

4756-471: The hospital remained unscathed from the fire. In 1965 the Turkish government established on Imbros an open agricultural prison for Turkish mainland convicts; farming land was expropriated for this purpose. Greek Orthodox communal property was also expropriated and between 1960 and 1990 about 200 churches and chapels were reportedly destroyed. Many from the Greek community on the islands of Imbros and Tenedos responded to these acts by leaving. In addition, at

4838-426: The hostility of the Turkish state and neighbours towards anything Greek. Due to the Greeks' strong emotional attachment to their first capital as well as the importance of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for Greek and worldwide orthodoxy, the Greek population of Constantinople was specifically exempted and allowed to stay in place. Article 14 of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) also exempted Imbros and Tenedos islands from

4920-411: The island although it is only open in the summer. The Hamidiye Mosque was built for Abdul Hamid II in 1893. The island is still home to many beautiful 19th-century mansions especially along Çankaya Caddesi, which has been described as "one of the most beautiful streets in the world". Among the best known mansions are the Con Pasa Köşkü, the Yelkencizade Köşkü, the Hacopolo Köşkü, the Fabiato Köşkü and

5002-622: The island to take part in a pilgrimage to the monastery of Hagios Georgios Koudanas on Yücetepe. Both Christians and Muslims take part in arcane rituals such as winding thread all the way along the path leading to the monastery. Since the date coincides with Turkey's Children and National Sovereignty Day public holiday (and sometimes with the Easter tourism period) the crowds attending can be enormous. Greeks in Turkey Greek diaspora Constantinople and Asia Minor : Africa : Other regions : Other groups : Other languages The Greeks in Turkey ( Turkish : Rumlar ) constitute

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5084-428: The latter half of the 16th century and went on to exercise great influence in the administration in the Ottoman Empire 's Balkan domains in the 18th century. They tended to build their houses in the Phanar quarter of Istanbul in order to be close to the court of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople , who under the Ottoman millet system was recognized as both the spiritual and secular head (millet-bashi) of all

5166-407: The local Greeks are afraid to express their feelings, to protest against certain actions of the authorities or the Turkish settlers, or even to allow anybody to make use of their names when they give some information referring to the violation of their rights, fearing the consequences which they will have to face from the Turkish authorities. The same year the Human Rights Watch report concluded that

5248-404: The majority of the Muslim population saw them as an invading force. Subsequently, the Treaty of Sèvres awarded Greece Eastern Thrace up to the Chatalja lines at the outskirts of Constantinople , the islands of Imbros and Tenedos , and the city Smyrna and its vast hinterland, all of which contained substantial Greek populations. During the Greco-Turkish War , a conflict which followed

5330-404: The most important attraction for tourists on Büyükada is the Greek Orthodox monastery of Hagios Georgios Koudonas (St George of the Bells) on Yüceptepe, which was probably founded in the 10th century although what remains on the site now dates from the mid-18th to 19th centuries. The monastery's name recalls an early 17th-century legend according to which a shepherd boy watching his flocks heard

5412-437: The newspaper and the offices have already been shut down. This ignited campaign to help the newspaper. Among the supporters were students from Istanbul Bilgi University who subscribed to the newspaper. The campaign saved the paper from bankruptcy for the time being. Because the Greek community is close to extinction, the obituary notices and money from Greek foundations, as well as subscriptions overwhelmingly by Turkish people, are

5494-473: The non-Muslim employees and replace them with Muslim Turks. In addition, a 1932 parliamentary law, barred Greek citizens living in Turkey from a series of 30 trades and professions from tailoring and carpentry to medicine , law and real estate . In 1934, Turkey created the Surname Law which forbade certain surnames that contained connotations of foreign cultures, nations, tribes, and religions. Many minorities, including Greeks, had to adopt last names of

5576-532: The only sources of income. This income covers only 40 percent of the newspaper expenditures. That event was followed in September 2011 by a government cash grant of 45,000 Turkish liras to the newspaper through the Turkish Press Advertisement Agency, as part of a wider support of minority newspapers. The Turkish Press Advertisement Agency also declared intention to publish official government advertisements in minority newspapers including Greek papers Apoyevmatini and IHO. As of 2007, Turkish authorities have seized

5658-469: The population exchange and required Turkey to accommodate the local Greek majority and their rights. For the most part, the Turks disregarded this agreement and implemented a series of contrary measures which resulted in a further decline of the Greek population, as evidenced by demographic statistics. In 1923, the Ministry of Public Works asked from the private companies in Turkey to prepare lists of employees with their religion and later ordered them to fire

5740-414: The properties of the Balıklı Greek Hospital . The hospital sued the treasury on the ground that the transfer of its property was illegal, but the Turkish courts were in favor of the Turkish treasure. On August 4, 2022, a fire broke out on the roof of the Balıklı Greek Hospital. The roof was completely destroyed and the upper floor was also destroyed except for the exterior walls. However, the ground floor of

5822-448: The remnants of the estimated 200,000 Greeks who were permitted under the provisions of the Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations to remain in Turkey following the 1923 population exchange , which involved the forcible resettlement of approximately 1.2 million Greeks from Anatolia and East Thrace and of half a million Turks from all of Greece except for Western Thrace . After years of persecution (e.g.

5904-519: The rite used in the Eastern Roman Empire . The broader meaning refers to "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity , sometimes also called 'Eastern Orthodox', 'Greek Catholic', or generally 'the Greek Church ' ". A second, narrower meaning refers to "any of several independent churches within the worldwide communion of (Eastern) Orthodox Christianity that retain the use of

5986-450: The same year the first mosque was built in the island. It was named Fatih Camii (Conqueror's Mosque) and was built on an expropriated Greek Orthodox communal property at the capital of the island. In 1991, Turkish authorities ended the military "forbidden zone" status on the island of Imbros. In 1992, Panimbrian Committee mentioned, that members of the Greek community are "considered by the authorities to be second class citizens" and that

6068-651: The sound of bells coming from underground, dug down into the earth and uncovered an icon of St George that had been buried to protect it from the Fourth Crusaders in 1204. A copy of the icon can be seen in the monastery church although the original is now in the Ptriarchate church in Fener. The monastery now consists of half a dozen buildings spread across three levels and is he focus of an annual pilgrimage every April. Traditionally standard phaeton tours used to bring visitors to

6150-841: The survivors and refugees, especially those in Eastern provinces, took refuge in the neighbouring Russian Empire . Following Greece's participation on the Allied side in World War I, and the participation of the Ottoman Empire on the side of the Central Powers , Greece received an order to land in Smyrna by the Triple Entente as part of the planned partition of the Ottoman Empire. On May 15, 1919, twenty thousand Greek soldiers landed in Smyrna, taking control of

6232-550: The term "Greek Orthodox" has been used to describe all Eastern Orthodox churches, since the term "Greek" can refer to the heritage of the Byzantine Empire . During the first eight centuries of Christian history, most major intellectual, cultural, and social developments in the Christian Church took place in the Byzantine Empire or its sphere of influence , where the Greek language was widely spoken and used for most theological writings. The empire's capital, Constantinople ,

6314-514: Was Michael Kantakouzenos Shaytanoglu , who earned 60.000 ducats a year from his control of the fur trade from Russia ; he was eventually executed on the Sultan's order. It was the wealth of the extensive Greek merchant class that provided the material basis for the intellectual revival that was the prominent feature of Greek life in the second half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. Greek merchants endowed libraries and schools; on

6396-517: Was a major factor in bringing to an end the tradition of using phaetons as the only transport on the island in 2020. Visitors have been writing about Büyükada since the Turkish travel writer Evliya Çelebi recorded in his Seyahatname (Book of Travels) that there were 200 Greek houses on the island in 1640 and that it was ringed with dalyan fishermen. In 1884 the French historian Gustave Schlumberger published Les Iles des Princes, describing his visit to

6478-408: Was an early important center of Christianity, and its liturgical practices, traditions, and doctrines were gradually adopted throughout Eastern Orthodoxy , still providing the basic patterns of contemporary Orthodoxy. Thus, Eastern Orthodox came to be called "Greek" Orthodox in the same way that Western Christians came to be called "Roman" Catholic . However, the appellation "Greek" was abandoned by

6560-598: Was designed by Armenian architect Mihran Azaryan in First National Architectural style in 1899 and started service in 1915. It once housed the island's cinema. Not far inland is a clock tower erected in 1923, the year of the founding of the Turkish Republic. Beside it is Fayton Meydanı which was, until 2020, filled with phaetons and their horses waiting to take visitors on a tour of the island. Every year on St George's Day (23 April) visitors flock to

6642-539: Was founded by colonists from Megara in the 7th century BC. Following the conquest of Asia Minor by Alexander the Great , the rest of Asia Minor was opened up to Greek settlement. Upon the death of Alexander, Asia Minor was ruled by a number of Hellenistic kingdoms such as the Attalids of Pergamum . A period of peaceful Hellenization followed, such that the local Anatolian languages had been supplanted by Greek by

6724-506: Was the first of the rulers who is known to have built a convent (as well as a palace) on Prinkipo in C.E. 569. This was expanded by Empress Eirene and soon began to serve as a place of exile for the Byzantine empresses Irene , Euphrosyne , Theophano , Zoe and Anna Dalassena . Prinkipo was one of the last places that the Ottomans managed to seize from the Byzantine. It then settled down as

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