I - 122 : The Fate of Cretan "Turks"

The Kùcùk Hasan Mosque in the old Harbor of Chania is now used as a Museum

2023 was a centennial that many people did not want to celebrate, specifically not the Greek and the Turks. 100 years earlier, Greece and Türkiye “exchanged” their minorities after Greece had lost the Greco-Turkish war. 1.5 million Greeks were evicted from Asia Minor and Istanbul, half a million Turks had to move in the other direction. The “exchange”, better called ethnic cleansing, was brutal. In the morning soldiers knocked on people’s doors with orders to be at lunch time at the harbor. Nobody was allowed to bring more than they could carry. By the evening, their steamer left and brought them to places they had never seen before. Nobody was ever able to return to their old homes.

The infamous "Population Exchange" 1923

The ”population exchange” was hard for the Greek and Turkish minorities. But at least they spoke the language of their new homelands. For Cretan Turks, however, it was devastating. They were Greek speaking people, who had converted to Islam after the island was taken by the Ottoman in 1669. In the 18th century, they constituted 30% of the 250’000 Cretans. They mostly lived in Heraklion, Rethymnon, Chania and the Central Mountains. During the many Cretan rebellions in the 19th century, their numbers dwindled. Besieged in their towns and villages by Christian rebels, they suffered from starvation and diseases. Many “voluntarily” emigrated. According to the Cretan census in 1900, their number had dropped to 25’000.

Muslims (red area) lived everywhere on Crete in 1897 - now nobody is left

The Cretan Turks – or far better – the Cretan Muslims, worked in trade, as merchants or for the Ottoman administration. They were a vital bridge between the Ottoman sovereign and their Greek subjects. Whilst they dressed in Turkish garb, their life style was very Greek. But in 1923, all this did not matter any longer. They were Muslims and had to pack. Ethnic cleansing became religious cleansing. Some of the Cretan Muslims were settled in areas where Greek minorities lived prior to 1923 like the Marmara Sea, Antalya or Bodrum. Others were shipped to completely unfamiliar territories.

Cretan Muslims in traditional Dresses

For a long time, the Cretan Muslims were able to preserve their strong cultural identity. The rapid economic development and urbanization of Türkiye though has undermined  their roots. Today's generation is now fully integrated – many do not speak Greek any more.

Neradje Mosque in Rethymnon's old town is also close to the Harbor

On Crete, there are only a few reminders of this once large religious community. In Chania and Rethymnon, there are a few mosques and the old quarters close to the harbor look like towns in Anatolia where once a mixed Greek-Turkish population lived.

The Church of San Salvatore, built in the 13th Century, was converted into a Mosque during Ottoman Rule. It was so run down it have to be demolished in 1970.

In Heraklion it is rather difficult to find the Muslim legacy. The Ottoman did not build new mosques but converted churches as they had done in Nicosia and Famagusta. In the 100 years since the Muslims were evicted, the old "oriental" neighbourhoods were replaced by aparment buildings made from the typical (and ugly) Mediterranean concrete.

The Agios Titos Church in Heraklion was also a Mosque during Ottoman Time

Add the fact that the government buildings Venice left behind were of such high quality that the Ottoman did not have to build anything. They could just move in. Their architectural foot print on Greece’s largest island is thus relatively small.  

The Shrine of Hadji Ibrahim Aga (1776) reminds us of the Turkish Time in Heraklion