more entrepreneurial opportunities were open to them. Like others who did not speak Turkish, they suffered during the "Citizens Speak Turkish!" campaign which started in 1928. "Arabs, Circassians, Cretan Muslims, and Kurds in the country were being targeted for not speaking Turkish. In Mersin, for instance, 'Kurds, Cretans, Arabs and Syrians' were being fined for speaking languages other than Turkish.". In the summary translation of a book on Bodrum made by Loizos, it is stated that, even as late as 1967, the Cretans and the 'local Turks' did not mix in some towns; they continued to speak Greek and mostly married other Cretans. Diaspora in Lebanon and Syria Today there are about 7,000 living in Tripoli, Lebanon and about 3,000 in Al Hamidiyah, Syria. The majority of them are Muslims of Cretan origin. Records suggest that the community left Crete between 1866 and 1897, on the outbreak of the last Cretan uprising against the Ottoman Empire, which ended the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. Sultan Abdul Hamid II provided Cretan Muslim families who fled the island with refuge on the Levantine coast. The new settlement was named Hamidiye after the sultan. Many Cretan Muslims of Lebanon somewhat managed to preserve their identity and language. Unlike neighboring communities, they are monogamous and consider divorce a disgrace. Their community was close-knit and entirely endogamous until the Lebanese Civil War, when many of them were forced to migrate and the community was dispersed. Cretan Muslims constitute 60% of Al Hamidiyah's population. The community is very much concerned with maintaining its culture. The knowledge of the spoken Greek language is remarkably good and their contact with their historical homeland has been possible by means of satellite television and relatives. Notable people Ahmed Resmî Efendi: 18th-century Ottoman statesman, diplomat and author (notably of two sefâretnâme). First ever Ottoman ambassador in Berlin (during Frederick the Great's reign). He was born into a Muslim family of Greek descent in the Cretan town of Rethymno in the year 1700. Giritli Ali Aziz Efendi: Turkey's third ambassador in Berlin and arguably the first Turkish author to have written in novelistic form. Al-Husayn I ibn Ali at-Turki – founder of the Husainid Dynasty, which ruled Tunisia until 1957. Salacıoğlu: (1750 Hanya – 1825 Kandiye): One of the most important 18th-century poets of Turkish folk literature. Giritli Sırrı Pasha: Ottoman administrator, Leyla Saz's husband and a notable man of letters in his