page_title: Turks of the Dodecanese
hierarchical_section_title: Turks of the Dodecanese
caption_attribution_description: English: Suleiman Mosque in the medieval city of Rhodes, Greece. This panoramic image was created with Photoshop's Photomerge(Stitched images may differ from reality.)
context_page_description: The Turks of the Dodecanese are a community of 5,500 Turkish-speaking people and ethnic Turks as well as Greek Muslims from Crete and the Dodecanese whose ancestors converted to Islam in the Ottoman period. They live on the Dodecanese islands of Rhodes and Kos, since they were not affected by the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey because the Dodecanese islands were under the rule of the Kingdom of Italy at the time. All inhabitants of the islands became Greek citizens after 1947 when the islands became part of Greece.
  As a result of this incorporation into Greece and due to the situation following the Cyprus conflict and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 many Muslim Turks left the islands and settled in Turkey. Many of them were deprived of their Greek citizenship and property. Some of those who stayed abandoned the Turkish language and their religion.
  The Turks in Kos are partly organized around the Muslim Association of Kos Kos Müslüman which gives the figure 2,000 for the population they bring together and represent for the Greek island.
context_section_description: The Turks of the Dodecanese are a community of 5,500 Turkish-speaking people and ethnic Turks as well as Greek Muslims from Crete and the Dodecanese whose ancestors converted to Islam in the Ottoman period. They live on the Dodecanese islands of Rhodes (Turkish: Rodos) and Kos (Turkish: İstanköy), since they were not affected by the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey because the Dodecanese islands were under the rule of the Kingdom of Italy at the time (from 1912). All inhabitants of the islands became Greek citizens after 1947 when the islands became part of Greece.
  As a result of this incorporation into Greece and due to the situation following the Cyprus conflict and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 many Muslim Turks left the islands and settled in Turkey. Many of them were deprived of their Greek citizenship and property. Some of those who stayed abandoned the Turkish language and their religion.
  The Turks in Kos are partly organized around the Muslim Association of Kos Kos Müslüman which gives the figure 2,000 for the population they bring together and represent for the Greek island.
  Those in Rhodes are organized around the Moslem Association of Rhodes Rodos Müslümanı, which gives the figure 3,500 for the population they bring together and represent for the island.
  The more general term Adali is sometimes used (meaning "islanders").
  The president of their association Mazlum Payzanoğlu estimates the number in Rhodes as 2500 and in Kos as 2000.
caption: Suleymaniye Mosque in Rhodes
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