240 | The Province Goes to the Center
To use the position of an intermediary to make oneself almost indispensable in
the mechanics of Ottoman governance was not uncommon in the context of the
transition to the nineteenth century. What merits attention in the case of Had-
jiyorgakis are the institutional, social, economic, and political means he used to
create, negotiate, and project his power and authority.
Despite the wealth of information on Hadjiyorgakis, many aspects of his life
remain obscure, particularly before his appointment as dragoman around 1776
(see fig u re 17.1). His family came from a mountainous village in western Cyprus,
and his father broke the long-standing family tradition of priesthood to become
an affluent calico manufacturer and merchant in Nicosia. In a clear case of social
mobility, he was able to educate his son in Greek and Ottoman Turkish.
Figure 17.1 Portrait of Hadjiyorgakis Kornesios. (Reproduced by permission of Bank of
Cyprus Cultural Foundation, Department of Antiquities, Republic of Cyprus.)