Karamanlı Turkish: Medieval Turkish written in Greek letters

Turks and Greeks argue about many things: whether Hagia Sophia is a mosque or a church, whether it’s Istanbul or Constantinople, whether baklava is Turkish or Greek, and the list goes on.

However, in this video, I talk about something that both Turkish and Greek cultures have in common: Karamanlı Turkish (a.k.a Karamanlıca or Karamanlidika).

-Music

© Video created by turk chap

[Atabey]

I remember reading about the Karamanlides and their history as a whole. They seem to be very close to us while very far from us in the same time. You gained yourself a sub and i hope you continue to highlight out historical history and history of the others that lived under us.

[fidemporas]

Thank you for being objective, komsu. Greetings from Greece.

[sofiastefanidou]

My family from my fathers side was Karamanlides and they spoke turkish... but they didn't identify themselves as Turkish. From my mother side was pontic from Trabzon... and they spoke pontic greek and russian. In general in Greece existing even now a days many dialects...but as you said... the main criteria was the religion...

[asoulno.]

Just one comment to do mostly with the choice of a word. In the exchange of population, the people didn’t simply go back to Greece. They actually left their ancestral homes in Asia Minor to go to Greece. The Greeks lived in Asia Minor for centuries. It’s wasn’t as if they went back to where they came from, a few years earlier. In reality despite being Greek they went to the Greek State as refugees.

[frossostratigou]

Hi neighbor greetings from Greece 🇹🇷🇬🇷🍀

[georgedamis]

Fascinating. I have wandered about the people and their poor fate in the population exchange. I did not know they wrote in Turkish using Greek letters. I am travelling to Cappadocia in a weeks time and I hope to find some of their writing. Thank you for your videos

[worldvisitor-cbhl]

Very interesting video. Thankyou. Greetings from Greece🇹🇷🇬🇷♥️

[gbastile]

The Turkish of this ethnic group contains much older Turkish vocabulary which was no longer used by the Muslim Oghuz Turks. In this regard, there are also informative writings from that time. I strongly assume that this ethnic group are the descendants of those soldiers of Turkish origin who were in the service of the Byzantines. The Byzantines had contacts under the Göktürks from the 7th century. We know that in the united struggle against the Persians, a large delegation of Göktürk soldiers with wives and children settled in Byzantine Anatolia to serve in the Byzantine army. If Karamanlid is more of an Oghuz dialect, we can omit everything from the 11th century onwards, since the Turkish-speaking soldiers/mercenaries in Byzantine service from that time onwards tended to speak the Kypchak dialect and were settled there from Moesia. Thank you for the informative video.

[jfyvrjs]

It wasn't only the Karamanlides who they didn't speak any Greek. There were also from other regions like Western Pontus. The Pontic Greeks of this area were speaking also only Turkish.

They weren't only the Karamanlides that they had difficult time in Greece after the exchange. Most of the refugees had difficulties by the locals. The new settlers had huge difficulties in the beginning.
They were called Turkish seeds.

Similarly they were Turks who they went to Turkey and new only Greek. Most famous of them were from Crete.

Nice documentary.

[pavlingeorgiev]

very interesting video, may peace be upon all Balkan countrys, greetings from Bulgaria

[stefanoskolovouris]

Συγχαρητηρια, φίλε μου, έχουμε πολλα κοινά, ας προχωρήσουμε μαζί.

[auto]

Karamanlides are not the only Turkic-speaking Greeks, there are also the Urums, that can be found in Crimea and Georgia. Greeks in isolation from major Greek population centers, lost their language but kept their identity, religion, and culture. It can be compared to how the Jews in Europe spoke Yiddish, a Germanic language unrelated to Hebrew. Great channel, keep it up!

[mrv]

What a great video. Truly beautiful and most of all informative. My great great grandparents were Karamanlides, and they had pretty hard time here in Greece, as my Grandma said to me. Something intersting is that my ancestors were billingual ( they could also speak Greek ) but their daily language were Turkish. Nowadays, karamanlides are lost in history, almost all of them mixed with local Greeks or with other Asia minor Greeks. Me for example, I'm just 1/8 karamanlis. May we, the 2 nations, find peace among our similarities.

[onurdincer]

Thank you for the video. As someone who administers one of the biggest projects on the genetics of Anatolia, the Balkans and the Caucasus, I have seen many Anatolian Greek genetic results and also have read all the academic papers dealing with their genetics. So far I have never seen a fully Central Anatolian Greek genetic result with clear Turkic mix, and many of those tested have Turcophone (Karamanlides) origins. So, after seeing these genetic results, I have come to the conclusion that the theory of linguistic change of many Anatolian Greeks to Turkish is the only viable one to explain the Karamanlides origins.

[Demetrios]

I had recently read a DNA study of this group that showed Karaman group to be native anatolian. They are byzantine anatolian orthodox that adopted Turkish. We don't need to speculate given advances in biotechnology. Great video!! Love from Greece!

[levesd]

A very informative video. What about the Karamanids that were reported to have settled in Cappadocia during Seljuk times from the Black Sea?

[costasp]

Learning is a continuous process. I learned something new. A fascinating piece of history delivered in an unbiased and honest manner.

[georgeminasidis]

The Karamanli were not the only group that spoke only Turkish that came to Greece from Turkey during the exchange. For example, the people from Bafra also spoke only Turkish. We call them Bafrali. But in general we call everyone Turkophoni ( Turkish speakers) for simplicity sake.
But I personally always believed that the Karamanli were Turkish people who converted to Christianity. Now its hard to tell, because most Greeks have intermaried, but some of the people I knew from the older generations looked more Turkish than most people from Turkey. And I don't mean dark skin and middle eastern looking. I mean slanty eyes and mongolic looking.

[mrloda-Paraschos]

Congratulations for an excellent video. Great job. I am Greek from Athens. My grandfather was born in Smyrna. In 1922, to save himself, he crossed Chios.( Sakuz Island ) . We are waiting for more videos. You have our Respect. Greetings from Greece .

[EnginAtik]

Mother Kadinko speaks Turkish fluently and she says “we spoke Turkish in Cappadocia” at the end of the video. On top of it she recites a prayer which is part of Turkish folklore.