A painting featuring close-up detail of an Ottoman Muslimduring the period of the Greek Revolution
By Stylianos Kavazis, Researcher
Translated into English and republished with the author's permission
There are few people in history who have experienced the rot of power from within and dared to say “no” to it. Mustafa Geka was one of them. An Ottoman-Albanian Muslim by origin, he knew the tyranny and inhumanity of Ottoman rule, but instead of surrendering to the evil of the times, he listened to the voice of his conscience. His heart and sense of justice led him to the side of the Greeks, to stand in the fight for freedom, honor and truth.
In Livadia, at Gravia Inn next to Odysseas Androutsos, in Magouliana with Ioannis and Panoutsos Notaras, and in Piraeus, where he was wounded twice, his presence stood out. He did not just fight for a people, he fought for the concept of justice and morality. His contribution was officially recognized by the Greek Administration, while his sacrifices were inexhaustible, spending personal funds for the struggle, without asking for anything in return.
His leading moment during the Greek struggle was his leadership of the Ottoman Centurion, composed of a group of thirty-one Ottoman Muslims coming together from Himara, Ayvalik, Mytilene, Zagori, Smyrna, Livadia and Thebes, that united with the Fifth chiliarch (regiment) of Nikolaos Krieziotis and under the guidance of Dimitrios Ypsilantis. As its captain and leader, Mustafa led these men in conflicts in eastern Central Greece, Livadia and Thebes, showing that faith in justice can unite people even beyond ethnic origins and religions.
His letter to the Greek Parliament, which survives in the Greek archives, is a resounding testimony of his soul, a man who chose to stand with the oppressed, who fought alongside the Greeks, who paid with his body and property for freedom. “I too have decided to die with the Greeks,” he writes, and these words carry the eternity of an ethos that transcends time.
His letter to the Greek Parliament was as follows:
Translated into English and republished with the author's permission
There are few people in history who have experienced the rot of power from within and dared to say “no” to it. Mustafa Geka was one of them. An Ottoman-Albanian Muslim by origin, he knew the tyranny and inhumanity of Ottoman rule, but instead of surrendering to the evil of the times, he listened to the voice of his conscience. His heart and sense of justice led him to the side of the Greeks, to stand in the fight for freedom, honor and truth.
In Livadia, at Gravia Inn next to Odysseas Androutsos, in Magouliana with Ioannis and Panoutsos Notaras, and in Piraeus, where he was wounded twice, his presence stood out. He did not just fight for a people, he fought for the concept of justice and morality. His contribution was officially recognized by the Greek Administration, while his sacrifices were inexhaustible, spending personal funds for the struggle, without asking for anything in return.
His leading moment during the Greek struggle was his leadership of the Ottoman Centurion, composed of a group of thirty-one Ottoman Muslims coming together from Himara, Ayvalik, Mytilene, Zagori, Smyrna, Livadia and Thebes, that united with the Fifth chiliarch (regiment) of Nikolaos Krieziotis and under the guidance of Dimitrios Ypsilantis. As its captain and leader, Mustafa led these men in conflicts in eastern Central Greece, Livadia and Thebes, showing that faith in justice can unite people even beyond ethnic origins and religions.
His letter to the Greek Parliament, which survives in the Greek archives, is a resounding testimony of his soul, a man who chose to stand with the oppressed, who fought alongside the Greeks, who paid with his body and property for freedom. “I too have decided to die with the Greeks,” he writes, and these words carry the eternity of an ethos that transcends time.
His letter to the Greek Parliament was as follows:
"To the Parliament,
The tyranny and inhumanity of my fellow Muslims, and the great rights of the suffering Greek people, who, burdened by long-standing slavery, decided in the Christian year 1821 to throw off the yoke, and because they moved me to pity and sympathy, I too have decided to die with the Greeks.
[…] In short, I am in the service of Greece and have been working since the beginning of its struggle, meeting and fighting alongside its distinguished generals. In all the battles in which I participated, I was wounded twice, the most dangerous of which was the wound I received at Piraeus.
During the entire period, I did not receive a single groschen* from the Greek nation as a salary, except for the five hundred groschen given to me in advance for my medical care by the General Government.
And I spent eleven thousand groschen entirely from my own possessions, including Venetian coins that I kept in my vault since the time of Turkey [...] my exploits are proven and indisputable, let me be given indicative documents, that I have served Greece faithfully and as its adopted son […]
On October 5, 1827, in Aegina
The Philhellene
Mustafa Geka"
Mustafa Geka was not just a philhellene. He was the embodiment of the conscience that sees injustice and does not remain silent, that knows tyranny and condemns it with his example and action. His soul illuminates even today the darkness of injustice, reminding us that faith in truth, courage and justice can overcome every bond and every fear.
_____
* Note: Groschen (kuruş in Turkish) was a currency denominated in silver coins, based on weight.
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