The 1st International Conference of Karamanlidika Studies will be held from 11 to 13 September 2008 at the "Axiothea" Cultural Centre of the University of Cyprus. It is organised by the Department of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies/University of Cyprus, Nicosia with the support of the Holy Monastery of Kykkos, Cyprus Airways and Lithotechnic Printers, Larnaca. The Conference brings together scholars from Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Belgium, France, Italy, and Norway with the aim to explore the always plural and complex stories of the Turkish-speaking Orthodox Christian population and its cultural product, the Karamanlidika printed matter.
Karamanlidhes are the Turkish-speaking Orthodox Christian inhabitants of Anatolia, in a geographical area, which is defined today as "Cappadocia" , promoted by art history, in the region of the troglodytic ecclesiastical and monastic communities of the Byzantine Empire. From the mid-nineteenth century until to the Exchange of
Populations, the term "Cappadocia" was applied to the region that reached as far as Yosgat in the north, Karaman in the south, just beyond Kayseri in the east and no further than Isparta in the west.
In the early eighteenth century the Ecumenical Patriarchate sped to protect these Turcophone Orthodox Christians from conversion to Islam, and some one hundred years later, from the proselytisation of Protestants and other missionaries. The appeal of the propaganda of the various Western Churches in these populations caused the
leadership of the Orthodox Church to worry about its flock in Anatolia, and the bourgeoisie of Constantinople to deliberate on the unity and the stability of their economic networks in the Asia Minor hinterland. Metropolitans and monks, such as Zacharias the Athonite and Seraphim of Pisidia translated into Turkish and published in Greek characters, that is in Karamanlidika, Catechisms, Psalms and other religious texts, with the aim of teaching the doctrine of the Orthodox Church and the religious duties of an Orthodox Christian to the Christians of Asia Minor, "since they have forgotten their Greek language, cannot understand what is read in Church and thus are led far from the way of God."
From the mid-nineteenth century, expatriate Karamanlis played a decisive role in the publication of Karamanli books and, of course, in the turn towards the secularization of Karamanli printed works. The expatriates bore the expenses, organized and participated in disseminating and distributing the books in the interior of Anatolia, with subscriptions, because they had a network of mutual support and their own active rules of communication. Some clerics, but mainly
laymen – teachers, doctors, journalists – who had studied in Athens, Izmir and Western Europe, supported economically and assumed responsibility for processing the material, that is translating works from Greek, but mainly from Western languages, or transcribing works from Ottoman script into Greek characters. Cappadocians residing in Constantinople and others living in their native Anatolia participated
in Karamanli book production. They translated French novels, vade-mecums on medicine and agriculture, manuals on epistolography, legal codes and interpretations of laws, calendars and almanacs, as well as composing works on local history. The Karamanli book served the needs of the Turcophone Orthodox Christian society in the face of
the challenges of Tanzimat. Committed clergymen in the patriarchal milieu and militant laymen undertook the campaign to enlighten the Orthodox Christians of Anatolia. This was mainly the circle of Evangelinos Misailidis, publisher of "Anatoli", the Karamanli newspaper with the greatest longevity.
A document of Ottoman sovereignty, the Karamanli script transmits elements of the Ottoman world and of Orthodoxy during the first, the pre-national stage of long duration, under the aegis of the Patriarchal printing press initially, and with the activity of missionary organizations subsequently. From the mid-nineteenth century
onwards, it functioned as a vehicle for transporting cultural goods produced in Europe, or, more rarely, it built bridges between the Ottoman world and Greek education.
For more information, please contact the organisers of the conference: Matthias Kappler, University of Cyprus / Nicosia (mkappler@ucy. ac.cy) and Evangelia Balta, National Hellenic Research Foundation / Athens (evabalta@eie. gr)
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
Thursday, 11th September 2008
20.00 Opening Ceremony
Welcome addresses:
Anastasia Nikolopoulou (Dean School of Humanities)
Martin Strohmeier (Chairman Department of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies)
Evangelia Balta
Introductory speech
Thomas Korovinis & Ensemble, Salonika
Greek and Turkish Songs from Cappadocia
A reception will follow
Friday, 12th September 2008
Chairperson: Evangelia Balta
10.00 Aspects of History
Christos Hadziiossif, University of Crete & Institute for Mediterranean Studies / Rethymno
The Ambivalence of Turkish in a Greek-speaking community of Central Anatolia
Irini Renieri, Institute for Mediterranean Studies / Rethymno
`Xenophone Nevşehirlis… Greek-souled Neapolitans' : the persistent yet hesitant dissemination of the Greek language in the Turcophone environment of Nevşehir
Anna Ballian, Benaki Museum of Islamic Art / Athens Villages, churches and silver liturgical vessels: the case of Karamanlı patronage in the 18th-19th c.
11.30 Coffee Break
Chairperson: Martin Strohmeier
12.00 Aspects of History
Sia Anagnostopoulou, Panteion University / Athens
Greek perceptions of the Turkish-speaking Cappadocians: the Greek
diplomatic sources
Stefo & Foti Benlisoy, Istanbul Technical University & Boğaziçi
University / Istanbul
Reading the identity of Karamanlides through the pages of Anatoli
Şehnaz Şiş manoğ lu, Sabancı University/ Istanbul
The Anatoli newspaper: the heyday of the Karamanlı press
Michalis Michail, University of Cyprus / Nicosia
From Cilicia to Cyprus: Turcophone Orthodox pilgrims during the
Ottoman period
14.00 Lunch
Friday, 12th September 2008
Chairperson: Christos Hadziiossif
16.00 Sources
Giampiero Bellingeri, University Ca' Foscari / Venice
Venetian sources and significations of `Caramania'
Ioannis Theocharidis, University of Cyprus / Nicosia
Unexploited sources on Serafeim Pissidios
Stavros Anestidis, Centre for Asia Minor Studies / Athens
The Centre for Asia Minor Studies and books printed in Karamanlı . A
contribution to the compilation and the bibliography of a significant
literature
Saturday, 13th September
Chairperson: Giampiero Bellingeri
09.00 Literature
Johann Strauss, University Marc Bloch / Strasbourg
Karamanlı literature – part of a `Christian Turkish literature'?
Anthi Karra, Brussels
From Polypathis to Temaşa- i Dünya, from the safe port of translation
to the open sea of creation....
Julia Chatzipanagioti- Sangmeister & Matthias Kappler, University of
Cyprus / Nicosia
Thoughts on the Turkish verses in Phanariote anthologies (1750-1821)
M. Sabri Koz, Yapı ve Kredi Yayınlar& #305; / Istanbul
Türk Halk Hikâyelerinin Karamanlı ca Baskılar& #305; Üzerine Karşı laşt& #305;rmal& #305;
Bibliyografik Notlar / Comparing bibliographical notes on Karamanlı
prints of Turkish folk tales
11.00 Coffee Break
Chairperson: Matthias Kappler
11.30 Linguistic Topics
Eftychios Gavriel, University of Cyprus / Nicosia
Τranscription Problems of Karamanlidika texts
Bernt Brendemoen, University of Oslo
An 18th century Karamanlidic codex from Soumela Monastery in Trabzon
Ceyda Arslan Kechriotis, Boğaziçi University / Istanbul
Some syntactic issues in Karamanlidika texts
Xavier Luffin, Université Libre / Brussels
Religious vocabulary in Karamanlidika texts
13.30 Concluding Discussion – Prospects
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