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Muhacir (sometimes maacir in colloquial Turkish) is a term of Arabic origin (مهاجر, Muhajir or Mohajir) in Turkish language, used across ethnicities, and that corresponds to people whose ancestors migrated from formerly Muslim territories (Dar al-Islam in Islamic terminology), considered lost to the non-Muslims (Dar al-harb): the Balkans (Turks, Pomaks, Gajals, Albanians, Bosniaks), Caucasus (Abkhazians, Ajarians, 'Circassians', Lazs, Chveneburis, Chechens), Crimea (Crimean Tatar diaspora), Crete (Cretan Turks) or Africa (Sudanese Mahdists, Algerian partisans of Emir Abdelkader, Senussi insurgents from Libya).

After the end of Ottoman rule (especially after 1878 and 1912), a large portion of the Muslim populations of these geographies took refuge in Turkey.

Today, the word, having lost its original meaning ("an immigrant"), often refers specifically to someone who has Balkan ancestry, still employed regardless of ethnicity. Kemal Atatürk was born in Salonica and he was technically a muhajir from the Balkans.

Muhajir controversy of 2007

Mücahit Bilici, an academician from the University of Michigan presented a thesis in pro-AK Parti newspaper Yeni Şafak concluding that the ruling élite of the Republic of Turkey are descendants of Balkan muhajirs. He added that the current secularist-Islamist divide within the Turkish society is, in fact, a struggle for power between Rumelia and Anatolia. Ertuğrul Özkök, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Hürriyet whose parents came from Kardzhali, Bulgaria, harshly criticised Bilici, stating that it is not ethical to consider "a Kurd of the Southeast as the real child of this homeland" over a muhajir from the Balkans. The stance of Bilici was supported by some Kurdish nationalist circles who argue that opposition to Abdullah Gül's presidential candidacy is organised by the "devshirmeh". President Ahmet Necdet Sezer is of Balkan descent. The surname "Sezer" is a bastardisation of Serez, the hometown of his family. Two prominent jurists and key names on the secularist camp during the presidential debate are also of Balkan origins. Sabih Kanadoğlu is originally from Macedonia and Erdoğan Teziç is of Albanian ancestry.

References

1. İki Türkiye ve Cumhurbaşkanlığı seçimi by Mücahit Bilici, March 21 2007, Yeni Şafak Template:Tr icon
2. Bir örümcek kafalının hezeyanları by Ertuğrul Özkök, April 22 2007, Hürriyet Template:Tr icon
3. Türk devleti göçmen diktatörlüğüdür April 22 2007, Kerkûk Kurdistane website Template:Tr icon
4. Devşirmeler Abdullah Gül'e karşı April 26 2007, Kerkûk Kurdistane website Template:Tr icon
5. Her yönüyle Sezer by Serpil Çevikcan and Aydın Hasan, May 5 2000, Milliyet Template:Tr icon
6. Sahne Sırası Anayasacılarda by Tolga Tanış, May 6 2007, Hürriyet Pazar, p. 8

• Turkish society
• Ethnic groups in Turkey
• History of the Balkans