Misthi, Cappadocia

Administratively, it was a part of the nearby city of Niğde, situated 26 kilometres north-northwest at an altitude of 1380 metres above sea level.

For instance, according to Koimisoglou some sources trace the origin of Misthi to 401 BC when Greek mercenaries came to work for the Persian king Cyrus in the battle against his brother Artaxerxes II.

Another version is that of Anastasiades (1995:16) who argues that the city was built by Greek mercenaries that were part of Alexander the Great's army.

As it happens, the connotation of the word ‘Misthii’, although originally meaning mercenary, transformed during Byzantine times to denote labour-work, i.e. paid labour.

The city was inhabited purely by Greeks practicing the orthodox religion and wrongfully described as being turcophonic (speakers of the Turkish language).

Many of the Misthiotes would simply not believe that they would be forced to leave their homeland and continued to conduct their daily duties as traders, farmers and handicraftsmen after the news had arrived.

The Mistiotes were among the last identified Greeks to leave Turkey, their exodus ended permanently a period of over 2500 consecutive years of Hellenic presence in Asia Minor.

If true then the Misthiotes arriving by foot in the 1920s probably adopted the name from the village's previous inhabitants which are known to have been of Slavic origin and forced to move north due to the various wars the region was faced with resulting in the territory becoming annexed by Greece.

By the end of the 1990s the organizing committees of the descendants from the cities of Misthi and the towns of Tsaricli, Dela (Dilion), Tseltek and Cavaclou agreed to a first Annual Panhellenic Meeting in Mandra, Larissa (Greece).

In reality, the Annual Panhellenic Meeting is a cultural festival with activities ranging from art, music and dance exhibitions, academic lectures (often concerning history), gastronomical tours as well as book exposition.

As a result, the Gavoustema has spurred several individuals to engage in layman investigations or professional academic research about the history, culture and language of the Misthiotes.

The Yaserli surname for instance was originally in Greek (and Latin) Caesarius/Kaisarios [Καισάριος or plural Καισάριοι], denoting a person from Caesaria (Kayseri).

Some members continued however to pronounce the name "Yaserli", and due to the civil war that broke out in Greece following WWII with the loss of the village archives, they were recorded as "Gaserli" or "Gaserlidis" [Γάσερλη, Γασερλίδης] during their entrance to Greek army service.