Hi Stacey !

We have to create a new topic like "cultural discussions "

Well I had to study the answer before writing you but anyway, I'll revert !!!

As you know , in contrary to the USA , where people gathered from all over the world identify themselves as "Americans" , nobody in the Ottoman Empire was calling himself as "Ottoman" . They were simply "Turks" , "Armenians" , "Jewish" , Tserkezi" , "Georgians", "Greeks" etc etc . Because it was a very large empire from Europe to Asia and Africa and everybody kept his own nationality . (Ottoman Empire = the kingdom before the Turkish State  )

From the ancient times we know that people from Finiki (how do I have to spell it ? ) , I mean Finikes from the eastern mediterranean coasts , embarked to find other lands to settle and went to Cyprus , Sicilly , Creta as well as to the Black Sea region : Pontos . That's why both the folclore and the sympathy to the ...knife is the same both in Pontos and in Creta !! On the other hand there have always been Greeks in Asia Minor ... The first Hellenic civilizations were in Ionia (the western part of Turkey , I mean the eastern side of Aegean : Smyrna etc) . You may recall Thales from Miletos for ex , Miletos is in Ioania , not far from Smyrni ..

All regions in Asia Minor  have greek names : Ionia (Smyrna and Aegean region) , Pamfylia (Attalia - Antalya in turkish from the name of the king Attalos- and the southern part of Asia Minor close to the Mediterranean ) ,Cappadocia (the middle of Asia Minor with the fairy chimneys , the carved churches with the first frescoes of christianity and the underground cities where the first christians used to hide themselves in the times of Roman attacks against  Christianity ) , Misia (upper part of Asia Minor) , Bithynia (close to Marmara region) , Lykia (south Anatolia), Paflagoneia (north) etc etc ... The seven churches (cities) St.Paul had visited were : Smyrna , Ephesos , Laodikeia , Philadelphia , Pergamos , Thyateira , Sardes all in western Anatolian part . (Anatolia = Asia Minor )

The first martyrs of Christianity , the first Saints are again from Asia Minor , Agios Nikolas for ex is from Myra , close to Attaleia , Agios Vasilios from Kaisareia (Kayseri in turkish) etc . And all these because Romans were ruling Asia Minor until the Seldjuki invasion . Then , the kingdom had been divided into small feodal parts , with one of them being in central Anatolia (Kaisareia , Cappadocia etc) and called  Karamanogullari (=sons of Karaman) . That's why the greeks who stem from the central part of Anatolia are still called "Karamanlides" ! And whenever you see a Greek whose family name ends with "..oglou" , do remember that this is the sign that his roots stem from Asia Minor and he actually is a Karamanlis ("oglou"=.."opoulos" = "...idhs" and "idhs " is the surname of people from Pontos ) !  Karamanlides used to speak turkish better than greek and in their tombstones you can read their story with turkish words written in greek alphabet . And as the Ottoman Empire conquered all these feodal regions as well as a huge land in three continents , there was free exchange of people everywhere . Plus : when Mohammed the Conqueror took Istanbul from Byzantium , he decided to "mix" people and have a more "homogeneous" population .. So , he brought people from Anatolia to Istanbul and sent people from Istanbul to other places of the empire . On the other hand , as today's Greece was also a part of the Ottoman Empire for long years , the ones who could not find a proper job in the islands or Hpeiros were moving to Istanbul or Asia Minor too .  Then the disaster of 1922 , the affairs of  Sept 1954 and the events with Cyprus made Greeks leave this land ... The immigration of 1922 (from Asia Minor to Greece) has inspired "rebetico" as you know ...

Do you know that all the regions that start with "Neo" in Greece bear the names of the places once greeks have lived in Asia Minor ? "Nea Makri" for ex is the place where people immigrated from Makri live and Makri is "Fethiye" in Turkey , close to Attaleia in Mediterranean . "Nea Moudania " may remind you that "Moudania" is a seaside in Asia Minor . Something also English people did while settling in America or Australia ... Pontos people went mostly to Kavala for ex as they have been given fields there against the lands they forced to abandon while leaving their places in 1922.

Too much for nothing eh ? I wrote what first came to my mind ....

Now we have to connect the whole composition (!!) to Anna and for me it is still simple :

Greeks living in Turkey as well as in Cyprus are ...not called Greeks by Turks but "Rum"  (=Rwmhoi)  .

Greece = Yunanistan (where Yunans = ? Ionans live) and Greek = Yunanli (like Misirlou !!) .

Diyar-i Rum = Thrace in old Ottoman times , that's why the Greeks living in places other than Greece (but not immigrated from Greece like you , you are still considered as Greek as all Greeks in America too ) are called Rwmhoi  . And if a "Rwmhos" immigrates even to Greece is still Rwmhos from Istanbul ! For  ex , Xaris Aleksiou had a "Rwmaihkh " family immigrated from Izmir ro Greece ...

... Aaaaand : Anna is a Cypriot "Rum" too !!!!

Star, Thankyou very much! ..... Οσο για το ρεμπετικο τραγουδι .... Η λατρεια μου. Το Ρεμπετικο και η Αννα Βισση...

Ρε παιδια, πολυ γουσταρω να κανει ρεμπετικο αλμπουμ η Αννα .... Μαλιστα μια απο τισ αγαπιμενες της τραγοθδιστριες ανδ δεν κανω λαθος ειναι η Σωτηρια Μπελλου....

Να βαλουμε ν'ακουσουμε λιγη Βενετια τωρα, και μετα τον δισκο Ρε.....

Καπου κει στα 30 και βαλε ..... Μελανχολιες .......

αχχχχχχχχχχχχχχχχχχ μερακλοθικα.........

Σ'ευχαριστω Σταρ ...... επεισης και σε σενα και σε ΟΛΑ τα Βισσακια !!!! Προσπαθησε αν μπορεις αποψε για καφε στου Πελιεκρινου!!!!

Σ'ευχαριστω και για τα χαιρετισματα προς την Μαζζ ...., Εχθες εφυγε για Singapore kai Malaysia, το πρωι ελαβα μηνημα πως φτασανε καλα... Τι θα κανω τωρα ολο-μοναχη χωρις το αδερφακι μου ? ..... Παρεα τα Βισσακια οπως παντοτε!!

Πολλα φιλα σε ολους, τα ξαναλεμε

stacey wrote:

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Σ'ευχαριστω Σταρ ...... επεισης και σε σενα και σε ΟΛΑ τα Βισσακια !!!! Προσπαθησε αν μπορεις αποψε για καφε στου Πελιεκρινου!!!!

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egw thelw ena frape metrio staceyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.....looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool