Traveling and Trading sion of capital into Salonika in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries enabled them to carve out a niche in the expanding global eco-
nomic system. This first wave of globalization allowed for overlapping
economic inflows. Capital, labor, and commodities moved easily across
frontiers.^74 The rise of the Dönme in economic, social, and political im-
portance in their transregional world was facilitated by the shifting spec-
trum of commercial activities, actors, and dynamic alliances.^75
Along with their location, the ethno-religious and legal status of the
Dönme put them in a position to promote change. Being on the religious
margins of society, yet also officially recognized as Muslims, they were able
to advance in the administration and military. Legally, Dönme were Mus-
lims in the eyes of the Ottoman bureaucracy. In the empire, once a person
converted to Islam, he or she and his or her descendants were considered
Muslims, and given all the rights of the group. Past affiliations did not
mark the future life chances of converts.^76 Living ostensibly as Muslims,
they were able to rise to top governmental and military positions at the
turn of the twentieth century, positions that Armenians, Jews, and Or-
thodox Christians could not attain. Christians and Jews could become
wealthy, but could not become mayors, generals, or governors. The Dönme
counted among their ranks pashas as well as mayors, along with numerous
customs agents and secretaries in government offices, and still later high
officials in the Post and Telegraph Department and foreign missions. From
this unique position, this group stood out from all others, transforming Sa-
lonika from a quiet town into a major node in the transregional economy
and a center of revolution.
The Dönme way ultimately caused others to turn against them. The
Dönme did not approach “those distinctly different from themselves hos-
pitably, with a willingness to get to know them, even to like them.”^77
They were not socially open to others. Although they crossed imperial
and what later became national boundaries, they did not become creoles,
crossing social boundaries by mixing with other groups, did not seek so-
cial interaction or contact, did not intermarry with local women wherever
trade took the men; nor did they like to fraternize or enter into business
partnerships with outsiders and strangers. They were not pursuing univer-
sal knowledge or a universal religion; nor did they allow outsiders to con-
vert and join their religion. They promoted their own form of religious
orthodoxy, morality, and ethics, and before 1923 , they cannot be labeled
secularists engaged in a struggle against the forces of intolerance, as one