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Cretan Muslims of Lebanon
A brief historical introduction:

A big island in the Mediterranean Sea, Crete was characterized with its extremely important place as a link between three continents. It was the place of consecutive historical events, and witnessed many battles and crisis. It attracted many states and empires to fight strongly to conquer the island and get benefit from its beautiful and strategic geographical location. After being governed by the Byzantine Empire, Arabs managed to occupy the island in a period extending from 828 till 961 AD. Nikephoros Phokas succeeded to bring back the Byzantine sovereignty to the island in 961 AD. In 1204 AD, Benedicts defeated the Byzantium and ruled the island until the end of 1669 AD. It was the turn of Ottomans thereafter to have authority over the island. This started with the order of Sultan Ibrahim the first and continued with the Grand vizier Mehmet pasha Koprulu who defeated the Benedicts entirely and made an end to their control in 26 September 1669 AD.

The people of Crete:

Being governed by many nations for long periods, it is impossible to talk about a pure race in Crete. Logically, Cretan people are a hybrid of all of the above mentioned nations added to the native citizens. During the Ottoman period, many Christians converted to Islam to either benefit from the political and economic priorities given to Muslims by the new governors, or because they were convinced with the new religion. Crete Island was a unique model in the Ottoman Empire because of the great acceptance of different ethnic and racial groups to each other, as well as the intermarriages that gave rise to a new Cretan Muslim generation, who spoke the Greek language and belonged to different ethnic and racial conjunctions. This new generation had both Turkish and Cretan names and spoke only the Greek language while ignoring Turkish totally. A real integration happened in Crete between Turks, Greeks and other races in a way that classification of Cretans was possible only according to the religion they belonged to. This became the sole parameter of distinction between them. Actually, this was the policy of Ottomans who ignored ethnicity and racism on the behalf of religious connections. Therefore, Arabs, Turks, Albanians, Bosnians and other races in the Ottoman Empire used to call themselves Muslims simply instead of attributing themselves to the race they belonged to. On the other hand, Cretan Christians claimed that they are the real residents of the island and fought steadily and continuously for their independence from the Ottoman Empire to unite with the mother land Greece in accordance with the Hellenic principle of Enosis.

Cause of revolutions and uprisings in Crete:

One of the well known policies of the Ottoman Empire was to allow Non-Muslims to live freely and to practice their religious beliefs without any restriction and prohibition. Being under the Ottoman sovereignty, special courts and schools were allowed to Non-Muslims as well as to other minorities. Therefore, these groups succeeded to preserve their identity and even to gain lots of benefits from the freedom given to them by Ottomans. With the beginning of the 19th century, many racist and national movements started to raise and to demand independence of their territories from the rule of Ottomans. They regarded Muslims living among them as enemies that should be treated without mercy, though they shared with them similar race and origin of descent. The biggest uprisings against Ottomans started from Greeks, Bulgarians and Armenians. Ottomans were unable to protect Muslims living in remote areas. A horrible destiny was waiting for them, either death or exile. Ottoman records mentioned a backward religious movement of some Cretan Muslims towards Christianity, but such movements remained very limited and therefore of little value. Crete Island witnessed a reciprocal terrorist acts between Muslims and Christians especially after 1821, the date of Greek revolution and independence from the Ottoman Empire. Cretan Christians regarded Greece as their mother land. They demanded continuously the independence from Ottomans and union with Greece. Cretan churches stimulated such movements and encouraged killing Cretan Muslims as the sole way to get freedom from Ottomans. Germanos, one of the most famous Greek priests, used the following slogan: (Peace to Christians, respect to ambassadors, and death to Turks). This slogan encouraged revolutionists in other lands to eradicate Muslims by killing them or forcing them to migrate, therefore putting an end to their unwanted existence in Europe.

Muslim's last days in Crete and the massive emigration:

The French ministry of exterior declared that the main problem in Crete was between Athens and Istanbul, each of them playing role in the provocation of Cretans against each others. The Ottoman-Greek conflict turned very rapidly to be between two different religions in Crete. While the Ottoman rule in Crete was in full retreat, an international force, set up in March 1897, ruled the island. Christians said that until Ottoman troops were removed from the island, they would cut the throats of Muslims rather than allow them to go home. Around 10 February 1897 Greek Christians murdered around 1000 Muslim in Sitia / Istiye in the east of the island. There were around 2000 refugees from Sitia / Istiye living in Candia. These people were an important factor in the later uprising of September 6, 1898. Muslims of Sitia were slaughtered by Christians without mercy. It was clear that the revolution against the Ottoman presence in Crete took the figure of forcing the Turks, or in other words Cretan Muslims, to quit the island toward an unknown land or exile. Being aware of the predictable end of Ottoman rule in Crete, Sultan Abdulhamid the second observed despondently the scenes of Muslims massacred in Sitia and other places in Crete. He ordered building shelters to accommodate the expected big emigration of Cretan Muslims toward other Ottoman territories. Hence, Hamidiye was built promptly in 1897 on the Syrian coast, approximately 3 km away from the current Lebanese border, in an area suitable for commerce, fishing and agriculture. Most of the emigrant Cretan Muslims settled in Hamidiye were from Sitia. My grandfather Abdulhamid Bekraki (Crete 1862) with his wife Veliye Makralaki and elder son Ali (Crete 1891) were among the Cretan Muslims who emigrated to Hamidiye. They were told that their residence in Hamidiye is only temporary until uprisings in Crete quells. Therefore, they left behind with their houses and lands all the other belongings and money. Very few women carried some of their jewels, whereas some men hided their gold within their waist belts. On the other side, Ottomans were sure that this emigration will be permanent, and therefore they ordered the governors of provinces to which Cretan Muslims were settled to provide them with the necessary accommodation and financial help and to keep them away from any kind of hurt or humiliation, in other words, to facilitate their integration with the new societies. The Ottoman order as found in their archive stated the following: (Cretan Muslims will be settled in Adana, Konya, Ankara, Aleppo, Beirut, Bingazi and Karahisar. We insist that these emigrants find the suitable accommodation and comfort. Otherwise, we order our governors to give them appropriate lands for agriculture and to supply them with grain, seeds and necessary tools, instruments and animals for the same purpose. Ottoman state has ordered a regular salary to keep their maintenance and will provide more financial aid as necessary. We hereby suggest founding special national and local committees to take care of the Cretan emigrants and to organize them in their new locale). B.O.A. Y.A. Res, no: 101-29, 20 Haziran / June 1899.

Story of the massive evacuation of Cretan Muslims narrated by Ibrahim Bekraki (1939-1993) as he was told by his grand father Abdulhamid Bekraki (1862-19…):

It was one of the hottest nights in Crete. The children of our neighbors decided to sleep outdoors at the gable roof of the house. We woke up in the middle of the night with the sound of rain. We were surprised…is it raining in the summer?! We were shocked to see the blood of the slaughtered children flooding down the ground. Not very far away, our uncle Hasan Agha Bekiraki was recently killed in Balalimno village, probably by the same murderers. All the neighbors decided to leave the village after being that much insecure against the attacks of Christian mercenaries. We left all our belongings behind and went to Candia. It was clear that the Christian militia is performing a well organized ethnic cleansing against the disarmed Muslims in Crete. Men were so angry against the Ottoman emperor, Sultan Abdulhamid the second, leaving us to face death without any defense. They repeated those proverbs in deep sorrow and sadness: Sultan Hamit vasila, halifi tu profiti Dhen di ti lipase ti Turcha, pu cheyete stin kriti?!! Lipume ti che klego ti, ma ida boro na kano?!! Pende vasilya stekunde, stin jefalim apano

(Hey Sultan Abdulhamid the Khalif of the prophet, aren't you hurt or feeling pain to what is happening to the Turks in Crete?!! What can I do if five kingdoms are stepping on my head other than crying and screaming?!!)

We didn't stay long in Candia. Ottomans took us away not to Anatolia but towards Syria and Lebanon. The reason was that we participated in the attack against the British counselor as they said. We were told that we will be hidden for a while until Britain stops asking for the head of the revolutionists who participated in the massacre of the British counselor and his wife and children. That date was our last day in Crete, we never returned back there. In Syria and Lebanon, Ottomans granted us houses and lands. We understood later the hopeless situation the Sultan was facing. We appreciated him because he saved our lives and substituted the money and belongings we left in Crete with lands and money in our new home. I remember that when our ship reached seaside, the Governor of Tripoli was waiting with his officers welcoming the Cretan emigrants. When we went down, one of the officers was recording our names, while the treasurer was offering every emigrant one golden ottoman lira immediately in the seaport. We were never humiliated and didn't face any kind of trouble or harm from the real habitants. After all, we were the sultan's beloved people as everyone said there, and desperately we kept the hope that we will return back to Crete, but this never happened.

Cretan emigrants in Syria and Lebanon:

After the end of the First World War and the defeat of ottomans in 1918, Middle East was totally under the control of the allies, and very soon later the whole area was divided into new sates and countries. After the declaration of the Big Lebanese Republic in 1920, another destiny was waiting for the Cretan emigrants who were furthermore separated between the recently born states, Lebanon and Syria. While Hamidiye remained totally in the Syrian side, most of the Cretan emigrants who settled in Tripoli/Trablus, a neighbor city on the sea side, became Lebanese citizens. Most of the Cretan families were divided into Syrians and Lebanese. Their belongings and lands were also separated accordingly. At the same time, Turkey was giving its independence war and was unable to give the Cretan emigrants any further support or help. It was very difficult for Cretan emigrants in that historical period to preserve and maintain connections with the other emigrants who settled in the Turkish republic and became Turkish citizens. Cretan emigrants were not recognized in Lebanon and Syria as a different ethnic group and were treated fully as Arabs. This was another factor forcing them to become assimilated more and more with their Arabic surrounding. Many of the Cretan emigrants preserved their original surnames as it was used in Crete, as Bekiraki, Kokolaki, Melisorgaki, Zivacki, Kilanaki, Cizmezaki, Kabadaki. Some others preferred to change it either to an easier version by dropping the suffix (-aki) meaning (Son), and keeping the root, as Kasapaki converted to Kasap. Others ignored the Cretan surname totally and used the name of their father or grand father instead, as Mourad, Huseyin, Abidin Baba, Sherif etc. In Tripoli-Lebanon, more than 65 major Cretan families live among the native habitants and still named (Mouhager i.e. Emigrant) until now. They count between 5000 and 10000 person, despite the fact that the exact number is unknown because no real population count happened in Lebanon since 1932. On the other hand, the number of Cretan emigrants living in Hamidiye in Syria is estimated to be around 8000 person in addition to a minority living in Tartous and other Syrian cities.

Cretan emigrants' language:

It was quiet clear that Cretan emigrants were fluent in Greek language as a native and mother tongue, and ignored other languages totally. It was only a spoken language because most of the emigrants were illiterate. This posed further challenge in avoiding the loss of their spoken tongue. It was the case also of all Cretan emigrants who settled elsewhere. The famous Cretan emigrant Tahmiscizade expressed this fact in his book (Girit hatiratim/My Cretan memories) and stated that Cretan emigrants of Turkish origin who settled in Turkey suffered from being unable to express themselves in Turkish, a condition that put them in front of many accuses of being not real Turks.

Conclusion:

Ottoman Empire considered the Cretan Muslims as an indicator of the Ottoman presence in Europe. The famous Cretan lawyer Venizelos over expressed his sorrow for the killing between Muslims and Christians in Crete. He declared that descendants of the same race should not fight each other because of differences in religious beliefs (Zoi Mitcotakis). On the other hand, the Cretan battle was simply the battle of Ottoman existence. Ottomans tried to revenge for the murder of thousands of Muslims and Turks in Europe by fighting strongly the Greeks and suppress any independence trial by force. They were not fighting to keep the Ottoman sovereignty on foreign lands or against different religious or ethnic groups, but instead, they recognized that their empire was falling slowly and slowly, and that they will leave behind thousands of Turks and Muslims to be killed without sympathy. Cretan emigrants to Lebanon and Syria were lucky being saved and settled in other Ottoman territories by the Ottomans themselves. Though assimilation was their sole destiny, because the story of their emigration was forgotten totally, and their existence in Lebanon and Syria was left unrecognized for more than hundred years.

References: 1.	Death to Turks. W. Alison Phillips, 1897: 48 2.	Documents diplomatiques, Affaires d'orient, Affaires de Crete, Fevrier – Mai 1897, Ministere des affaires etrangers, Paris 1897. A lettre sent from the french ambassador M.Cambon to the French minister of exterior M. Hanotaux. 3.	Zoi Mitchotakis a.g.e. S. 233 4.	Girit hatiratim. Tahmiscizade 5.	Death or exile. 6.	A. Nukhet Adiyeke 7.	Girit gocmenleri (1821-1924). Turk kulturu incelemeleri dergisi. S. Beyoglu

Category:History