Al-Hamidiyah Explained

Al-Hamidiyah
Native Name:الحميدية
Χαμιδιέ
Settlement Type:Town
Pushpin Map:Syria
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Pushpin Mapsize:250
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Syria
Coordinates:34.7167°N 91°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Type1:Governorate
Subdivision Name1:Tartus
Subdivision Type2:District
Subdivision Name2:Tartus
Subdivision Type3:Subdistrict
Subdivision Name3:Al-Hamidiyah
Unit Pref:Metric
Population Total:7,404
Population As Of:2004
Timezone:EET
Utc Offset:+2
Timezone Dst:+3

Al-Hamidiyah (Arabic: الحميدية|al-Hamidiyya, Χαμιδιέ) is a town on the Syrian coast. The town was founded in a very short time on the direct orders of the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamit II around 1897, to serve as a refuge for the Greek-speaking Muslim Cretan community, forced to leave Crete during the 1897–98 Greco-Turkish War and resettled by the Sultan in Hamidiyah and other coastal areas of the Levant and as far as Libya. The majority still speak Cretan Greek in their daily lives. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Hamidiyah had a population of 7,404 in the 2004 census.[1]

The town has remained under Syrian Government control during the Syrian Civil War.

Cretan community

See also: Cretan Turks, Greek Muslims and Greeks in Syria. Cretan Muslims constitute 60% of the population, numbering about 3,000. Records suggest that the community left Crete between 1866 and 1897, on the outbreak of the last Cretan uprising against the Ottoman Empire, which ended the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. Sultan Abdul Hamid II provided Cretan Muslim families who fled the island with refuge on the Levantine coast. The new settlement was named Hamidiye after the sultan. The community is very much concerned with maintaining its culture. The knowledge of the spoken Greek language is remarkably good and their contact with their historical homeland has been possible by means of satellite television and relatives.[2]

Today, the Grecophone residents identify themselves as Cretan Muslims, and not as Cretan Turks as is the case with some in Tripoli.[3]

Notes and References

  1. https://archive.today/20130112120459/http://www.cbssyr.org/new%20web%20site/General_census/census_2004/NH/TAB10-3-2004.htm General Census of Population and Housing 2004
  2. http://webs.uvigo.es/ssl/actas2002/05/08.%20Roula%20Tsokalidou.pdf Greek-Speaking Enclaves of Lebanon and Syria
  3. http://www.orsam.org.tr/en/enUploads/Article/Files/2010110_sayi11_eng_web.pdf The forgotten Turks: Turkmens of Lebanon