Dönme

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DöNME

A group in Turkey descended from followers of the mystical messiah Shabbetai Tzevi (1626–1676) who converted from Judaism to Islam.

By the mid-seventeenth century the apocalyptic events of the early modern era (expulsions, persecutions, the rise and fall of empires) inspired many to expect the messiah soon. Shabbetai Tzevi, a descendant of Iberian (Sephardic) exiles, was steeped in Kabbalistic beliefs that sought to hasten messianic redemption. In 1665 his followers proclaimed him the messiah. He eventually acquired a following greater than any other Jewish messianic movement since Christianity. In 1666 Shabbetai Tzevi tried to overthrow the sultan. Thwarted, to avoid execution, he converted. At this point most abandoned him, but a minority did not. His loyalists remained, at least outwardly, Jews, but a few converted. Those who converted still maintained contact with a larger support system of secret allies within the Jewish community. They also were close to an important Sufi order, the Bektashis, who promoted doctrines, notably taqiya (religious dissimulation), that provided an Islamic rationale for contradictory beliefs.

After Shabbetai's death, his followers flocked to the major Jewish center in the Ottoman Empire, Salonika. Outwardly good Muslims, with great secrecy they conducted Sabbatean prayers, initially in Hebrew and later in Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), until late the nineteenth century, when they adopted Turkish. The Dönme became a significant element in Salonika. They may have accounted for as much as half of its Muslim population.

During the twilight of the Ottoman Empire, Salonika was the birthplace of the Committee for Union and Progress (CUP) and of Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk). Cavit Bey, a direct descendant of an early disciple and a leader in his own right, was an important minister in the CUP government. Atatürk had studied in a progressive school founded by a Dönme educator. Although the claim that Atatürk was a Dönme is untrue, their complex and sophisticated values shaped the environment of his youth.

In 1924, following the Treaty of Lausanne, the entire Muslim population of Salonika—including the Dönme—was deported to Turkey. In 1925 all Sufi orders were abolished. Shorn of the Dönme support system, intermarriage and assimilation eroded the community. In 1924 Ahmed Emin Yalman, a prominent journalist, had publicly renounced all ties to the sect and called for its complete integration into Turkish national life. Although some are still identified as Salonikli (often a code for Dönme), there is no evidence that their distinctive beliefs and practices survive today.

See also Bektashis; Sufism and the Sufi Orders.