ΠΡΟΣ ΟΦΕΛΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡΙΑΣ: Η ΔΙΑΧΕΙΡΙΣΗ ΤΗΣ ΜΟΥΣΟΥΛΜΑΝΙΚΗΣ ΚΟΙΝΟΤΗΤΑΣ ΔΩΔΕΚΑΝΗΣΩΝ ΑΠΟ ΤΟΥΣ ΙΤΑΛΟΥΣ (1923-1939)

Abstract

The article aims to showcase how colonial administration, cultural policies, propaganda, military and diplomatic affairs led to the strategic use of the Muslim community in the Dodecanese to advance Italian political influence and expansion in the Eastern Mediterranean. From 1923, when the Dodecanese were annexed to the Kingdom of Italy, until 1939, the Italians sought to exploit the Muslims of both the Mediterranean and the Dodecanese for their imperial aspirations. In the Dodecanese, they preserved some of the privileges of the formerly dominant Muslim community, aiming to use it as a counterbalance to the overwhelmingly larger Greek Orthodox majority, which was supported by Greece. However, the Muslim community largely resisted these efforts, leading to their isolation, with some aligning themselves with Turkish propaganda. Gradually, the Muslims lost their legal and administrative privileges and became equal to the Greek Orthodox and Jewish communities. At the same time, the islands’ “Oriental” identity began to transform into a strictly Italian and fascist one. This change coincided with Mussolini’s proclamation as the protector of Islam (March 1937) during a grand ceremony in Libya, an Italian colony since 1912. The seemingly contradictory treatment of Muslims in the Dodecanese versus those in the wider Mediterranean was part of a unified plan: support for the latter strengthened Italy’s influence in Mediterranean, while cultural assimilation of the former was deemed essential for security reasons, isolating them from foreign interference, thus enabling the militarization of the islands and their conversion into Italy’s largest military base in the Eastern Mediterranean.