Persecution of Ottoman Muslims

Persecution of Ottoman Muslims refers to the persecution, massacre, or ethnic cleansing of Muslims (most prominently Ottoman Turks) by non-Muslim ethnic groups during the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The 19th century saw the rise of nationalism in the Balkans which resulted in the establishment of an independent Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria. Most of the local Muslims in these countries suffered as many died during the conflicts and others fled. The persecution of Muslims was continued during World War I by the invading Russian troops in the east and the Caucasus and during the Turkish War of Independence in the west, east, and south of Anatolia. After the Greek-Turkish war, a population exchange took place and most Muslims in Greece left. During these centuries many Muslim refugees, called Muhacir, settled in Turkey.

Turkish Muslims settled in the Balkans after it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. Some of them were Yörüks, nomads who quickly became sedentary, and others were from urban classes. They settled in almost all of the towns, but the majority of them settled in the Eastern Balkans. The main areas of settlement were Ludogorie, Dobrudzha the Thracian plain, the mountains and plains of northern Greece and Eastern Macedonia around the Vardar river.

Between the 15th and 17th centuries, large numbers of native Balkan peoples converted to Islam. Places of mass or at times forced conversion were in Bosnia, Albania, Crete, and the Rhodope Mountains. Some of the native population converted to Islam and became Turkified over time, mainly those in Anatolia.

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