Gurbeti (also Kurbet or Kurbat or غربتی in Persian) are a sub-group of the
Romani people
{{Infobox ethnic group
, group = Romani people
, image =
, image_caption =
, flag = Roma flag.svg
, flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress
, po ...
living in
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
,
Albania
Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
,
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
,
Kosovo
Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...
,
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
,
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
, and the former
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
whose members are
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...
and predominantly
Muslim Roma
Muslim Romani people or Muslim Roma are people who are ethnically Romani and profess Islam. They may also be known as Muslim Gypsies, with some Roma preferring to use the term, not perceiving it as derogatory. They primarily live in the Balkan ...
.
The Gurbeti make up approximately two thirds of the population of Roma in
Mačva
Mačva ( sr-Cyrl, Мачва, ; ) is a geographical and historical region in the northwest of Central Serbia, on a fertile plain between the Sava (river), Sava and Drina rivers. The chief town is Šabac. The modern Mačva District of Serbia is nam ...
, many of whom work in agriculture.
In Kosovo, other Romani groups viewed the Gurbeti negatively.
Muslim Gurbeti at Cyprus
In the 1960
Constitution of Cyprus
The Constitution of Cyprus is a document, ratified on August 16, 1960, that serves as the Supreme Law of the Republic of Cyprus (Suprema Lex Cypri) defining the system of government of the Cypriot Republic and the civil liberties for the Cypriot ...
they were considered as part of the
Turkish Cypriot
Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( or ; ) are so called ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots are mainly Sunni Muslims. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,000 Turkish settlers were given land onc ...
community.
Once the Gurbeti lived all over Cyprus. After 1975, with the
Third Vienna Agreement they migrated, along with the majority of the Turkish Cypriots to
Northern Cyprus
Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the Geography of Cyprus, island of Cyprus. It is List of states with limited recognition, recognis ...
. Immigration to the United Kingdom and Turkey has also taken place. They describe themselves as Turkish in terms of ethnicity and speak
Kurbet language and
Cypriot Turkish
Cypriot Turkish () is a dialect of the Turkish language spoken by Turkish Cypriots both in Cyprus and in the diaspora.
History
Emanating from Anatolia and evolved for four centuries, Cypriot Turkish is the vernacular spoken by Cypriots with Ot ...
.
In the 17th century, some migrated to Ottoman Rumelia.
[Helena Kanyar-Becker 2003: "In addition, in the XVIIth century, one begins to find mentions of nomadic Rroma, who were from Ottoman Cyprus - the ancestors of the present-day Gurbeti in Yugoslavia."] In the Republic of Cyprus most live in the area of
Agios Antonios in Limassol, and in the villages of
Makounta,
Stavrokonnou and
Polis-Chrysochou in Paphos.
Persons belonging to the Roma community remain social and economically marginalised despite some government efforts.
Gurbeti in the Balkans
In
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić's Serbian dictionary, the word ''Gurbet'' means "Gypsy foreign workers". The word is derived from Turkish ''gurbet'', meaning "emigrate". The first mentions of nomadic Roma attributed as Gurbeti ancestors, from
Ottoman Cyprus, is from the 17th century.
In 1941, most of the Yugoslav Roma settled permanently, with the exception of the Gurbeti in Montenegro.
However, other sources about the Gurbeti have said that their Ancestors once came from Moldova and Wallachia, at the end of the 1850s after
Slavery in Romania and settled in the Balkan, and speak a Vlax dialect.
In other parts at the Balkans like in Bulgaria, Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia and Greece, the Gurbet are called ''Pečalbarstvo''.
Anatolia
Ottoman sources from 16th century mentioned from Gurbet a
Turkoman Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...
clan who lived in
Dulkadiroğlu, Kahramanmaraş.
Culture
The Gurbeti in the Balkans share some cultural features with the
Kalderaš, but also with other
Xoraxane, who adopted Turkish culture since the Ottoman time. The majority of Gurbeti are
Cultural Muslims while others belong to the
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodox Church#Constit ...
, and partly assimilated into society. They speak
Kurbet language and
Cypriot Turkish
Cypriot Turkish () is a dialect of the Turkish language spoken by Turkish Cypriots both in Cyprus and in the diaspora.
History
Emanating from Anatolia and evolved for four centuries, Cypriot Turkish is the vernacular spoken by Cypriots with Ot ...
in Northern Cyprus, and
Vlax Romani language,
Albanian language
Albanian (Endonym and exonym, endonym: , , or ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language and the only surviving representative of the Albanoid, Albanoid branch, which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan group. It ...
,
Serbian language
Serbian (, ) is the standard language, standardized Variety (linguistics)#Standard varieties, variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of ...
and
Rumelian Turkish
Balkan Gagauz, Balkan Turkish or Rumelian Turkish (), is a Turkic language spoken in European Turkey, in Dulovo and the Deliorman area in Bulgaria, the Prizren area in Kosovo, and the Kumanovo and Bitola areas of North Macedonia. Dialects in ...
at the Balkans.
Diaspora
There is a Gurbeti diaspora, such as in Austria and Germany; these were recent migrants, mostly Gastarbeiter unskilled workers, and have since integrated into Austrian and German society. Some of the Gurbeti men married Austrian and German women. The Host population did not see them as Roma, only as Yugoslavian.
Language
Their
Kurbet is a variety of
Para-Romani.
In Kosovo, the Gurbeti speech have either a dominant Serbian substratum, or Albanian substratum. The Džambazi (Acrobatics and Horse trading) nomadic Muslim Romani group, speak a sub-dialect of
Kurbet. The origin of the Romani loan words in Croatian are most likely from Gurbeti, who settled predominantly from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Genetic
While the
Early Romani people traces back to the
Indian Subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
, also
Gene flow
In population genetics, gene flow (also known as migration and allele flow) is the transfer of genetic variation, genetic material from one population to another. If the rate of gene flow is high enough, then two populations will have equivalent ...
from the
Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks () were a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group in Anatolia. Originally from Central Asia, they migrated to Anatolia in the 13th century and founded the Ottoman Empire, in which they remained socio-politically dominant for the e ...
spilled over and established a higher frequency of the Y-haplogroups ''J and E3b'' in Balkan Roma Groups. The Greek Doctor A. G. Paspati made the statement in his Book, that Turks married often Roma Woman. Greeks and Slavs DNA also influenced the Balkan Roma people. Also, the genetics of
Peoples of the Caucasus
The peoples of the Caucasus, or Caucasians, are a diverse group comprising more than 50 ethnic groups throughout the Caucasus.
By language group
Language families indigenous to the Caucasus
Caucasians who speak languages which have l ...
influenced the Genetic impact of Roma people.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurbeti
Romani in Serbia
Romani groups
Romani in Kosovo
Romani in Cyprus
Para-Romani