A controversial question here, are native Turkish Cypriots mostly local converts or Turkic people settled by the sultans of the Ottoman Empire? If the former is the case, from which religion did they convert? Orthodox Christianity/ Latin Catholicism/ Maronite Christianity?
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By “native Turkish Cypriot” I exclude those settling in Cyprus after 1974
Dna studies show that they are mostly natives plus some minor ottoman influence. From both orthodoxy and Catholicism
Mostly converts from both Orthodox & Catholic communities.
There were people sent by the Ottomans to settle, but many left, and those who stayed eventually married into Greek Cypriot & Maronite families anyways.
Many Ottoman soldiers remained as well right after the invasion, and since Maronites had prominence in Venetian Cyprus, they usually took Maronite women as “prizes”. So basically the same point as above; Anatolians came but married into the local people; this one was just more of a fucked up way it happened.
The Ottomans also brought African slaves from the Horn of Africa. They didn’t form much of a separate community though, and in-time married themselves into non-existance.
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And I know this is suppose to be about TCs, but I like reminding people of their existence: The Ottomans also brought a balkan-Romani group known as Gurbeti. They actually have their rather unique language, a creole (basically a fusion-language) of Cypriot Turkish and Domari (of Indo-Aryan origin).
They’ve pretty much been oppressed into non-existance, since they’re not recognised as a minority group and so their language & culture isn’t under protection; legally they’re just Turkish Cypriots and are treated as such on both sides of the island.
“Turkic people” is also kind of misleading. Those that came in the Ottoman times where not all from real Turkic tribes, probably only a minority was real Turkic. The Ottoman empire, also Anatolia, was already quite mixed and the soldiers came from many different tribes/ethnicities.
Im someone who is mixed with Greek, Turkish, Italian and Maronite Cypriot. Upon research i found that the Turkish Cypriots in my family, were converts to Islam, thus becoming known as Turks over time. Most of my Turkic family come from Lourijina, which were once called ‘Lino Bambaki’ (the linen people), i believe they were Catholic Maronites but i could be wrong.
I wanted to confirm this research, thus had a dna test to check this out. My findings were that my Turkic blood, was 12% from the Caucus area, which is in line with my research. However my overwhelming bloodline, is Cypriot in origin.
People who converted to Islam during the ottoman empire paid less taxes. They are a product of the fiscal policies of that era.
what is taught in schools is that they were orthodox christians that converted to islam but i’ve never seen an academic study on it, if anyone has one tho i’d be more than glad for you to send it to me
My family was a Catholic conversation. They had Italian roots.