Abdal people (West Asia)

The Abdals (Abdallar) are a largely Turkish-speaking ethnic group found in much of Anatolia and parts of the Balkans and Syria, who follow an itinerant lifestyle. This lifestyle is closely connected with the activity of music making at weddings and circumcision parties. Other occupations associated with the Abdal include tinning, basket making and sieve manufacture.

Names
Abdals use the endonym Teber. Abdals were registered in Ottoman records as Turkoman Gypsies (Turkmān Ḳibṭīleri), which denoted Abdals’ tribal affiliations with Turkomans but different ethnic or social origin.

History
According to Orhan Köprülü, Abdals of Turkey might be descended from the Hepthalites. Albert von Le Coq mentions the relation between Abdals of Adana and Äynus of East Turkestan, by them having some common words, and by both referring to themselves as Abdals and speaking an exclusive language among themselves.

The three most remarkable characteristics of the group are its close relationship with the Alevi sect, its use of a secret language (Abdoltili/Teberce) or argot and its wide distribution. It seems that the name Abdal was associated with Alevi dervishes of Central Anatolia, whose existence is first recorded in the 16th century. These Abdalan-ı Rum were extreme Alevis practising celibacy and withdrawal from the world. Their unorthodox behavior led to their suppression by the Ottoman authorities. According to the Abdal themselves, their ancestors once came from North India and went to Afghanistan-Iran-Central Asia and then to Ottoman Anatolia and intermarried with tribes of Turkmen. They say they are not like the Romani people in Turkey and distance themselves from them.

The Ottoman state started to collect Gypsy (Kıpti) poll tax (cizye) from Abdal communities they registered as Gypsy in Kastamonu, Çankırı-Tosya, Ankara, Malatya, Harput, Antep, and Aleppo no later than late 17th century. Abdals in Teke (Antalya) were affiliated with another fiscal category, ifraz-ı zulkadriyye, until 1858, when the Ottoman reformers incorporated the fixed tax of relevant groups into the Gypsy poll tax.

In the 15th century, the Abdals were gradually excluded from the process of centralization and transformation of the Ottoman Empire into a bureaucratic empire, and as a result of the establishment of Sunni Islam in Edirne and, from 1453, in Istanbul, they took on an irregular character. With the establishment of the Safavid State in Iran and the spread of the Qizilbash activity in Anatolia, the Abdals became integrated in the 17th century with the Shamlu Qizilbash movement.

Language
Abdals in Turkey mostly speak Turkish, specifically a dialect with additional vocabulary. The Abdal language consists of borrowing from Hindustani, Persian with some Rumelian Romani words with an essentially Turkish and Turkmen grammar.

Society and culture
Abdals would traditionally have a symbiotic relationship with Turkmen but also Kurdish tribes, playing a particular role as musicians, entertainers, minstrels, jewelers and magicians, whereas they would be accommodated by the people they were living together with. However, Abdals wouldn't intermarry with these people yet they would be allowed to stay within the larger community.