Mohammedan Immigrants
Ever since the establishment of Turkish authority in western Asia the policy of the Sultan’s officials has been directed towards attracting Mohammedan settlers from foreign countries to the unpopulated districts of Turkey. Particularly at the end of unsuccessful wars, special efforts are made to induce Moslem inhabitants of lost provinces to return within Turkish boundaries, where land often exempt from taxation is assigned to them. Widely distributed Circassian, Tatar and Turkoman settlements owe their origin to this Turkish method of increasing the Mohammedan element in the country. The Bithynian peninsula, where Cretaceous limestones and sandy Eocene beds provide excellent soils, is a region favored by immigrants.
Russia’s southwesterly spread of empire is responsible for the movement of some 500,000 Circassians from the Caucasus highlands to Asiatic Turkey. Lithe of figure, brilliant-eyed and nimble in mind, these immigrants are morally and physically far superior to their new countrymen. They bring with them the higher standard of living of their native land. Their dwellings are more solidly built than the customary shanties or hovels of the Anatolian table-land, and their food is of the average European quality. Wherever settled, they live in a degree of comfort unknown to the Turkish peasant. Flourishing farming communities have grown up around their villages. In cities they are distinguished by a natural aptitude for commerce, and many an able government official has been recruited from their numbers.
In race, language and religion the Circassians of Turkey present, according to tribal origin, the confusion existing in their cradle land. The Kabardian group of the Uzun Yaila are of western Caucasus extraction and speak an incorporative language. The Chechen settled in Syria are derived from Daghestani highlanders. In some cases Circassians bear Christian names, but worship in mosques. Representatives of central Asiatic, European and even Semitic races are found among them.
A colony of Noghai Tatar refugees was founded in the lower Jeihun valley after the Crimean War, at which time it consisted of some 60,000 individuals. Their numbers were speedily reduced, however, by the malaria and fevers of the unhealthful Cilician coast land. A decimated remnant is now engaged in farming the marshy lands originally bestowed on their fathers. They maintain excellent relations with the Turks, with whom they intermarry.
The Turkomans of Asia Minor are, according to their statements, refugees from Muscovite Christianity. In reality they seek escape from Russian pressure exerted to force them to abandon nomadism. This name is applied generally to immigrants coming from Turkestan who preserved their roving habits. The cruel Turki type of lineament and expression is observable on their faces. They are Sunnis, or orthodox Mohammedans, and a Turkish-speaking people, but have little intercourse with native Turks.
The Karapapaks, or Black Caps, known also by the name of Terekimans, are Shiites, or adherents of the eastern branch of Mohammedanism, from Russian Armenia, who have crossed the Turkish frontier and settled near Patnoz in the Van vilayet. The original seat of this people is between Chaldir and Daghestan. Racially they are of Turki stock. Tatar types predominate among them, although Circassian and Persian physiognomies are by no means uncommon.
The Lazis of northeasternmost Turkey, who are sometimes known by the name Tchan, form the connecting link between the Caucasian and Anatolian populations. Many of them have forsaken their Russian homes in the past thirty years for the land of their kinsmen on the Turkish side of the frontier. They occupy, in fairly dense communities, villages nestling on the forested seaward slopes of the Pontic Alps, as well as the narrow strip of coast east of Platana. Former generations looked on them as pirates or brigands. They now follow less irregular pursuits, but still bear the reputation of being daring smugglers. The Turkish navy recruits sailors from among them.
By race the Lazis are allied to the Georgian group of Caucasus peoples, and their intermixture with ancient Armenian populations is probable. Their adherence to Mohammedanism is lax. They speak a southern dialect of the Grusinian language closely allied to Mingrelian but mingled with Greek and Turkish words. In some localities Turkish entirely replaces their vernacular. The limits of their language in Turkey coincide with the western boundary of the sanjak of Lazistan. They extend thence eastward, in a belt fringing the southern base of the Caucasus, all the way between the Black and Caspian seas.[223]
Fig. 59—“Turkish” crowd in an Anatolian city (Trebizond). A gathering in these Turkish cities contains representatives of almost every race in the world.
Fig. 60—A group of Maronite women. Their sturdy appearance suggests their highland origin.