Turks of the Dodecanese

Greek diaspora Constantinople and Asia Minor: Africa: Other regions: Other groups: Other languages The Turks of the Dodecanese (Turkish: On İki Ada Türkleri) are a community of ethnic Turks, indigenous Greek Muslims and Cretan Muslims living on the Dodecanese islands of Rhodes (Turkish: Rodos) and Kos (Turkish: İstanköy).

The Dodecanese was gradually settled by Turks from the Anatolian mainland from the 1480s onwards, added to by the Greek Muslims whose ancestors on the islands converted to Islam in the Ottoman period and were consequently referred to as 'Turks' as a synonym for Ottoman Muslim rather than because of their actual ethnic origin.

The main island of Rhodes passed from Venetian to Ottoman rule in 1522.

After almost four centuries under the Ottoman Empire, control of the Dodecanese passed to Italy in the aftermath of the Italo-Turkish War of 1912.

[6] The president of their association Mazloum Paizanoglou has said that the communities number approximately 2,500 in Rhodes and 2,000 in Kos.