“Hıdır Baba Dervish Lodge” has been changed into “Agios Georgios Monastery”

Father Hıdır (Hıdır Baba) is one of the second alperen groups which came to the “Balkans to meet the people there with Turkishness and Islam” after the Simply Yellow (Sarı Saltuk). In the book named “History of Edirne and Memoirs of the Balkan Wars” written by Dağdevirenzâde Mustafa Şevket who was a mutasarrıf, the governor of a district, in Dedeağaç (Alexandropolis) and İskeçe (Xanthi) between 1898 and 1899- which was translated into Turkish by Dr. Ratip Kazancıgil- a dervish lodge had been named in Taşlık (Petrota) village within the Şapçı(Sapes) Prefecture. And there were stone quarries below the place where the dervish lodge was built. Vinegar was being produced from the stones which were made in those stone quarries and the millstone and it was being exported to other countries till Romania.

Today, the Father Hıdır Dervish Lodge in the Taşlık village which is mostly visited by the Muslim population of the region has been claimed by the Church with the name “Agios Georgios”. The name change of the Father Hıdır into Agios Georgios who was believed to have therapeutic mark has enacted reaction within the Minority. Had been devastated for the first time by the Bulgarians who invaded the Western Thrace, the dervish lodge in the Father Hıdır remained till the Greek military cunta in 1967. The dervish lodge in the Father Hıdır was completely destructed during the military cunta period and a monastery was built above the dervish lodge. But, the gravestone with turban still existed in that monastery. The marble over the door of the Church has recently been removed. And another room was built near the building. And a fring with tiles has been built upon the concrete files.

A declaration was made on the issue by Halit Habipoğlu, the President of the Federation of the Western Thrace Turks(ABTTF), and he stated his reaction as follows: “The cultural heritage of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority is being systematically destroyed by the Greek State. The Father Hıdır dervish lodge is the latest example to such destruction. Foundations and mosques belonging to the Minority has been confiscated and new enterprises have been opened there. Restoration of mosques and historical places which are part of our cultural heritage is not permitted by the Greek State, therefore building inherited from the Ottoman Empire have been ceased to exist. The cultural consciousness of the Minority and its links with the Turkish culture is thereby being tried to be destroyed. This is an indignity towards the Minority. We condemn this, and call upon the Greek state and the Government to apologize for that destruction of our cultural heritage”.