THE KUBAN COSSACKS OF MANYAS TURKEY AND «THE COSSACKS» OF LEO TOLSTOY

The Kuban Cossacks that have lived for two hundred and fifty years in western Turkey around Lake Manyas to the South of the sea of Marmara is compared with the Terek Cossacks of Caucasia as described by Leo Tolstoy in his novel «The Cossacks». The similarities and differences between these two groups is discussed by the writer of this paper, who had a chance to study the Manyas Cossacks for a period of two months in 1954.. The community of Cossacks in Turkey, who were probable descendents of the Dnieper Cossacks, belonged to the Sect of Old Believers who refused to accept the obligatory reforms made in the Russian Orthodox Church approximating the customs of the Greek Orthodox Church in the seventeenth century. Having been persecuted and oppressed and finally excommunicated by the Head of the Official Church during the reign of Tsar Peter I, these deeply religious. people chose to immigrate to the Ottoman Empire of Sultan Ahmet the Third, probably around the year 1710. Under the protection of the Ottoman policy of religious liberty and tolerance their community was able to remain faithful to their way of life and to the Sect of Old Believers. Because non-Muslims were not called to military service during the Ottoman Empire the Kuban Cossacks flourished and concentrated all their energy in remarkably efficient economic management for themselves. Tolstoy's Cossacks were probably descendents of the Don Cossacks, who also belonged to the same Sect of OldBelievers, but in contrast to the Manyas Cossacks the Don Cossacks had been militarily organized by the Tsars and were given the duty to protect the Caucasian borders by fighting the rebel tribes around them. The implications of these differences and the similar determination of both communities to observe their Faith and to continue their colourful way of life for centuries is discussed