what nation do kapadokians belong to ?

[cypezokyli]

i ve heard this yesterday and it is deddicated to those who believe in nations... and for the language part to memo.

kapadokia (dont know the turkish name) is i believe in the centre of turkey.
during the ottoman empire they
were christians and spoke turkish
but
while speaking in turkish , they wrote, turkish, using greek characters !!
isnt that just beautiful ?

the question is, are these guys greeks or turks ?
if you have an answer, i would be really interested, since i dont have one..

(to end the story, they were exchanged, in the 1920s as "greeks" , and i guess they got greekfied by today )

[Birkibrisli]

Cypez...kapadokia is Goreme in Turkish.For me it is one of the wonders of the world...Well worth a visit,mate.
The original inhabitants of Cappadokia were the early Christians who were hiding from Roman soldiers. They built these underground cities,and lived entirely underground together with their animals.I am not entirely sure when they started it but by 5-600 AC they were well established.
given the history of that time,most of them were probably Jews with some Roman converts thrown in.If they wrote with Greek alphabet I can only assume they came into contact with Byzantines at a later date,and probably mixed with them ethnically as well.A most fascinating place for sure.You can still see where they ate,slept,prayed,and where they kept their animals.All in caves dug into steep mountains with elaborate airways for ventilation.
I am not surprised they were sent to Greece in the 20s,because all Christians (except Armenians) were classified as Greeks,whether they liked it or not.
In the novel "Birds Without Wings" there is a chapter which touches on the exchanges of the 20s.The Muslim Ottomans(as they were known then) were puzzled that the "Turks" which came from Greece to replace their Christian Ottomans were just like the "Greeks" who were expelled,only they spoke Greek...There is a scene in which the "Muslims" were uprising asking for their"Christians" to be returned because they could speak Turkish at least...Funny and sad at the same time

[Bullika]

that wasnt the Capadocians, they were called "Karamanlis" and their language "Karamanca" in Turkish.

Some historians believe they are direct descenedants of the pagan Proto-Bulgars or Cumans who settled in Anatolia during Byzantine rule, were used to Byzantium to attack the Armenians and other enemies or those who never paid tribute to the Byzantine emperor.

At this time of contact with Byzantium they were said to have converted to the Greek Orthodox rite. In Greek they are called 'Karamanlides'.

May I Just add that its not so unusual that they wrote in the Greek alphabet. Dont read into it too much. Remember that Byzantium was a Greek speaking Empire and the area was culturally and religiously influenced by Greek. When an alphabet was sought, they didnt consider using the Latin script because of religion; Latins are Catholics, they are Orthodox, hence the use of the Greek alphabet. Likewise the Ostragoths used the a similar aplhabet to the Greek alphabet as do the Copts of Egypt.

[Birkibrisli]

Thanks,Memo.
My knowledge of that area after the 600AD is a bit shakey...

Do you know what happened to those early Christians who lived in those underground cities???

So Constantine Karamanlis must've been a decendant of those "karamanlis" who settled in Anatolia during Byzantine times...How interesting

[Bullika]

http://www.turks.us/article.php?story=20040311155023460

[brother]

Excellent thread.

[cypezokyli]

[Bullika]