@article{article_369161, title={The Islamic Balbals of Ayyios Andronikos: Sociolinguistic Notes on Some Tombstones Found in Yeşilköy / Cyprus}, journal={Journal of Turkish Language and Literature}, volume={57}, pages={179–196}, year={2017}, DOI={10.26561/iutded.369161}, url={https://izlik.org/JA45KT82KS}, author={Yükselen Peler, Gökçe}, keywords={Yeşilköy / Aya Androniko,mezar taşları,balballar,din değiştirme,dil kaybı,dil kaybı}, abstract={The Turkish population of the village of Yeşilköy / Ayyios Andronikos were claimed in late 1950’s by C. F. Beckingham to be descendants of Cypriots, who converted to Islam, as they were Greek-speaking at the time. However, some tombstones present in the Muslim cemetery of the village points into the opposite direction. Particularly effigy-like tombstones resembling the balbals of Eurasia, which are also found in the Turkish village of Balalan / Platanissos and the Christian cemetery of Poli / Polis, are mind provoking. Comparison of the tombstones found in the village cemetery with those found in cemeteries located in various parts of modern-day Turkey produces some rather interesting results. The tombstones found in the village of Yeşilköy / Ayyios Andronikos display striking similarities with those found in cemeteries in Turkey. It is clear that this tradition was carried to the village by Turkish settlers, who settled to the island during the Ottoman period. Therefore the historical linguistic situation of the Turkish population of the village was a result of language loss rather than that of religious conversion.}, number={57}