Karamanlides

The Karamanlides (Greek: Καραμανλήδες; Turkish: Karamanlılar), or simply Karamanlis are an Orthodox, Turkish-speaking people native to the Karaman and Cappadocia regions of Anatolia. Today, a majority of the population live within Greece, though there is a notable diaspora in Western Europe and North America.

Etymology

Karamanlides were all Greek-Orthodox Christians in Central Anatolia who had adopted Turkish as their primary language. The term is derived from the 13th century Beylik of Karaman. This was the first Turkish kingdom to adopt Turkish as its official language and originally the term would only refer to the inhabitants of the town of Karaman or from the region of Karaman. After the Christians in the area were exchanged with Muslim population of Greece in 1923, the title became a label for local Muslim inhabitants.

Language

Historically, the Karamanlides adopted and spoke a dialect of the Turkish language. Its vocabulary drew overwhelmingly from Turkic words with many Greek loan words. The language should not be confused with Cappadocian Greek, which was spoken in the same region during the same timeframe, but is derived from the Greek language. It should be noted while their spoken language was Turkish, they employed the Greek alphabet to write it.