Acknowledgments xxiiiA Note on Transcription
Official modern Turkish orthography has been used in transcribing
Ottoman and Turkish words in the Latin script. Readers unacquainted
with Turkish should note the following: c = j as in John, ç = ch as in
church, gˇ = soft g lengthens the preceding vowel, ı = similar to the u in
radium, ö = French eu as in deux, ü = French u as in durée, and ş = sh as
in ship. Diacritical marks have been minimized. For some terms, modern
anglicized versions have been used.
The city known to modern Greeks as Thessaloníki was called Selânik
by the Ottomans. In this book, “Salonika” refers to the city during the
Ottoman era, while “Thessaloníki” is employed for the Greek period,
after 1912 – 13. The ancient Greek name of the city is transliterated as
Thessalonikē, however, and this form appears in book and article titles
that have been transliterated from Greek. The name of Constantinople
was not officially changed to Istanbul until after the founding of the
Turkish Republic in 1923. Nevertheless, “Istanbul” is used here to refer
to the city in both Ottoman and Turkish periods. The use of the names
“Salonika,” “Thessaloníki,” and “Istanbul” does not imply support of any
nationalist view.
Only in 1934 did citizens of the Turkish Republic adopt surnames.
Thus, in that year Mustafa Kemal became Atatürk, Ahmet Emin became
Ahmet Emin Yalman, and Mehmet Zekeriya and his wife Sabiha became
Mehmet and Sabiha Sertel. In order to avoid confusion, I have used sur-
names throughout the text, even for periods before the historical actors
went by these names.