Pope Eftim and His Significance in the National Struggle

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Turks, who believe in Islam, were not the only ones who raise their voice against the invasion of Anatolia that started after the Armistice of Mudros. Turks who had lived as non-moslem since Seljuk times, namely Christian Turks, also opposed to the invasion of Anatolia and gave full support to the national struggle. Undoubtedly, Pope Eftim played a great role in the organization of Christian Turks against patriarchate and struggles over against subversive activities that Fener Greek Patriarchate carried out opposing to the National Struggle. Although the efforts of Pope Eftim and Orthodox Turksin the National Struggle and those efforts were considerably important, this issue has been of interest to researchers for the last few years. We could say that the reason why researchers had not been interested in the importance of Orthodox Turks in the National struggle until recently might be their being counted in Greek population and included in population exchange and the decrease of their population in Anatolia, almost scarcely any. The purpose of this study is to investigate the efforts of Christian Orthodox Turks and reveal their significancein the National Struggle. To comprehend the importance of Orthodox Turks in Turkish National Independence War, it would be beneficial to start with Pope Eftim’s short biography reflecting his feelings and ideas during National Struggle.

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Pope Eftim , Orthodox Turks , Fener Greek Patriarchate National Struggle

Gaziantep University Journal Of Social Sciences

460

Gaziantep University Journal Of Social Sciences