[MGSA-L] May 10, 1956: The anniversary of the execution of two Greek freedom fighters

Aristide Caratzas acaratzas at gmail.com
Mon May 12 12:48:21 PDT 2014


The issue as to self designation-definition is a complicated, hence
interesting subject; Mr. Danforth is right, the terms Achaios, Hellen
(Έλλην), Romios (Ρωμηός or with an iota), Graecus (Γραικός) all have a long
history, and punctuate stations in the development or refractions of
identity.

The same cannot be said of the Turkic-speaking people, especially within
the Greek world; the original number of Ottomans that settled in Asia Minor
in the 14th century probably was not more than some tens of thousands
within a population base of some millions. Recent DNA studies confirm this
as about 3% of "Turks" have genetic imprints reflecting Central Asian
origins (another 1% has Gypsy imprints, i.e. north Indian).

Thus the vast majority of the population of Turkey has evolved from
multiple (?) identities, largely Greek- or Armenian- or even
Syriac-speaking all Christian, over the last seven hundred years, into
Turkic-speaking and Muslim. Speros Vryonis' monumental work on the subject
of the cultural transformation begins to outline the processes in question.

The point is that the primary identity for this group was Muslim and
Ottoman. The idea of a "Turkish" identity was linked either to rather
primitive Turcoman tribes during the Ottoman period, and then began to gain
definition under Kemal Ataturk (the name-title is not coincidental), with
German tutelage (i.e. late 19th century nationalist ideas, and 1920s-1930s
fascist formulations). Thus the issue of a "Turkish" identity is much more
fluid at present, given that Erdogan and Davutoglu have been trying to
position themselves as heirs of the Ottoman Caliphate, which included other
Sunni Muslims, mostly but not exclusively Arabs. Indeed Erdogan's political
success derives from this association.

By the way, and given Mr. Danforth's interests, an analogous phenomenon,
and certainly that should be studied, applies for (Slavo-) Macedonian
identity, which began to assume its present form under Ivan (Vancho)
Mihajlov's VMRO in the 1920s-1930s, again influenced by nationalist and
fascist constructs — it is not an accident that Georgievski and Gruevski,
that last two Skopjan prime ministers, referred to the "historic VMRO" as
their political and ideological (i.e. nationalist) starting points of
Macedonism. It would be interesting to hear your take on Mihajlov Mr.
Danforth, as you certainly have studied the identity issue of that group.

ADC


On Mon, May 12, 2014 at 10:16 PM, Loring Danforth <ldanfort at bates.edu>wrote:

> Mr. Caratzas attempts to justify his use of quotation marks around the
> term “Turkish” by noting that “there is a valid historical set of
> questions as to when a "Turkish" (vs. Ottoman, Muslim etc) identity
> developed.” I would emphasize that there is an equally valid set of
> questions as to when a “Greek” (vs. Romios, Christianos, etc.)
> identity developed. This does not, however, lead Mr. Caratzas to use
> quotation marks around the term “Greek” as he does around the term
> “Turkish.” The use of quotation marks by Greek scholars around terms
> of identity used by others (like “ “Macedonians,” ” ie. Macedonians in
> quotation marks) has a long history. (See the work of Evangelos
> Kofos.) In such cases quotation marks are used to deny that the people
> so designated are “really” what they claim to be. It is equivalent to
> the use of the phrases “so called” or “alleged” as in the expression
> “so called or alleged Macedonians” (legomeni or dithen in Greek). I
> agree with Mr. Caratzas that much scholarship has political edge, but
> as Clifford Geertz has observed, just because “a perfectly asceptic
> environmnent is impossible, does not mean one might as well conduct
> surgery in a sewer.”
> Like Prof. Allen, I am well aware of the 1974 Turkish invasion of
> Cyprus. It goes without saying that the invasion is a subject
> eminently worthy of scholarly attention. The implication that I am
> interested in censoring research on the topic is absurd.
> Loring Danforth
>



-- 
Aristide D.Caratzas
acaratzas at gmail.com
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