Neither Muslims nor Zimmis: The Gypsies (Roma) in the Ottoman State

This study explores the place of the Gypsies (kιptî) in Ottoman society as depicted inthe sicil, the records of the şeriat court, of eighteenth-century Salonica. I argue thatthe Gypsies are the salient example of a Salonican group that was fully segregatedfrom the other segments of local population, at least for administrative purposes.The Ottoman administration’s suspicious attitude toward the Gypsies was expressedin the general disapproval of the nomadic way of life. Drawing on the Balkan Gypsiesas an example of a group that was pushed to the margins of Ottoman society,I demonstrate what it meant to be part of such a group and describe the variousfeatures and techniques by which the marginal people were relegated to the fringes:stigmatization, segregation, exclusion and punishment. The various strategies andtechniques that were adopted by the Gypsies in order to alleviate their position arealso examined.