Karamanlılar, 1924 Nüfus Mübadelesi’ne kadar Anadolu’da Trabzon- Fırat-Toros- Silifke hattından batıya düşen kısmında, yoğun olarak Kayseri, Nevşehir, Niğde, Konya bölgesinde, Karadeniz'in sahil şeridinde ve İstanbul’da yaşamış Türkçe konuşan, Grek alfabesi kullanarak Türkçe yazan Ortodoks Hristiyan bir topluluktur. 1923 yılında Türkiye ile Yunanistan arasında imzalanan “Türk-Yunan Ahali Mübadelesi”ne ilişkin protokol gereği İstanbul dışında yaşayan diğer Ortodoks Hristiyanlar gibi Karamanlı Türkleri de Rum sayılarak, Yunanistan’a gönderilmişlerdir. İlk kuşak pek çok zahmet çekmiş, ancak onların çocukları ve torunları yeni yaşam alanlarına uyum sağlamışlardır. Bugün çoğunluğu Yunanistan’da yaşamaktadır ve birincil dil olarak Yunancayı benimsemişlerdir. Karamanlıların kökeniyle ilgili iki görüş vardır. İlk görüşe göre Karamanlılar, sosyal, ekonomik ve siyasi şartları nedeniyle zamanla Türkleşmiş Rumlardır. İkinci görüşe göre Karamanlılar, Selçuklular zamanında Bizans ordusunda görev alan ve zamanla Hristiyanlığı benimseyen Türklerin torunlarıdırlar. Karamanlıların yazı dili ve edebiyatı üzerine yapılan çok fazla araştırma yoktur. Daha önce yayımlanmış araştırmaların çoğunda Karamanlıların tarihleri ve coğrafi dağılımı ele alınmış; kökenleri tartışılmıştır. Bu çalışma Karamanlıların dil ve edebiyatları üzerine Türkiye’de ve yurt dışında yayımlanmış araştırmaları kısaca tanıtmak ve bu alanda çalışacak araştırmacılara alan bilgisi sunarak fikir vermek ve yeni yapılacak araştırmaların önemini vurgulamak üzere kaleme alınmıştır. Tanıtılan yayımlar bibliyografyalar, kitaplar, bildiri kitapları, makaleler ve tezler olmak üzere beş grup olarak tasnif edilmiştir.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief overview of previously published studies on Karamanlides’ language and literature in both Turkey and abroad, highlight potential researchers with a comprehensive background for understanding current knowledge and stress the significance of new research. The material related with this topic was broken down to five sections: Bibliographies and catalogues, books, as well as proceedings books, articles published in journals, dissertations and theses. The current research on Karamanlides’ language and literature is sparse and they mostly focus on Karamanlides’ history, their settlings and their social life before and after the exchange. Karamanlides were Orthodox Christian Turkish-speaking people, who inhabited west of the Trabzon- Fırat-Toros- Silifke line, mostly in the areas of Kayseri, Nevşehir, Niğde, Konya which are in the central Asia Minor, as well as İstanbul and İzmir until the Exchange of Populations in 1924. They wrote Turkish using Greek alphabet. Karamanlides were first recorded as living Yedikule quarter of İstanbul by German speaking traveler Hans Dernschwam who visited İstabul and Anadolu betwen the years 1553-1555 He was called them as Caramanos. According to the aforementioned protocol signed between Turkey and Greece in 1923, Karamanlides were sent to Greece as the other Orthodox Christians who had lived outside Istanbul. Although the first generation of the exchange experienced many difficulties, the next generations got used to this new environment and they adopted Greek as their primary language. There are two major theories about their origins. First argument is that they were of Byzantine descent who later blended into the Turkisk culture because of the social, economical and political circumstances and their mother tongue shifted from Greek to Turkish in time. Second one is that they were descendants of Turkish soldiers who paid millitary service to Byzantine armies and in time they converted to Christianity. They had been speaking Turkish from the very beginning. In general, European scholars go by the first opinion and Turkish scholars regard them as Turkish. The scholars refer to them variously; such as Karamanlilar, Karamanli Turkleri, Karamanli Turkish, Turcophones, Turcophone Orthodox Christians. Karamanlides refer to themselves as “Anatolian Christians”, “Anatolian Orthodox Christian”. Besides, they refer to their spoken and written language as Turkish. Various scholars have attempted to define the Karamanlides’ literature. In a nutshell, it is the literature written and printed in Turkish using Greek alphabet for Karamanlidikas. The body of their literature mainly consisted in the translations and compilations from other languages. The first text written in Turkish using Greek alphabet is a summary exposition of Christian faith composed by Patriarch Gennadios Scholarios at the behest of Sultan Mehmet II The Conqueror, in late 1455 or early 1456. It was called as “Gennadios İtikadnamesi” in Turkish. However it wasn’t written by Karamanlides and it wasn’t addressed to them. Therefore it is not considered as the item of Karamanlidika literature. The first published text in Karamanlidika literature was emerged in 1718: Gülizar-ı İman-ı Mesihi “Rosegarden of Messianic Beliefs”. It was a translation from Greek. It set forth all the basic tenets of the Christian faith. Later it was reprinted. According to some scholars, the last book of Karamanlidika was the reprint of Papa İonnikos’s Guide Book to Jerusalem. It was published in 1933. The linguistic features of their literature has not been investigated thoroughly. The lack of analytical studies are the main problems of research in Karamanlidika. We can say that the printed available material linguistically shows almost no variation from standard Ottoman Turkish which was written in the Arabic alphabet during the Ottoman Empire until the Turkish Republic’s alphabet reform of 1928. Howeve