The Sanjak of Dedeağaç (Ottoman Turkish: Liva-i Dedeağaç, Greek: Υποδιοίκησις Δεδέαγατς), originally in 1878–1884 the Sanjak of Dimetoka (Liva-i Dimetoka, Υποδιοίκησις Διδυμοτείχου), was a second-level province (sanjak) of the Ottoman Empire in Thrace, forming part of the Adrianople Vilayet. Its capital was Dedeağaç, modern Alexandroupolis in Greece.[1]

Sancak-i Dedeağaç
Sanjak of the Ottoman Empire
1878–1912

1907 Ottoman map of the Adrianople Vilayet, including the Sanjak of Dedeağaç in the lower middle
CapitalDimetoka (1878–1884), Dedeağaç (1878–1912)
History 
• Established
1878
1912
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Sanjak of Adrianople
Sanjak of Gallipoli
Kingdom of Bulgaria
Ottoman Empire
Today part ofGreece
Turkey

History and administrative division

edit

The sanjak was created in 1878 out of the territory of the sanjaks of Gallipoli and Adrianople, as well as the island of Samothrace, which had hitherto belonged to the Vilayet of the Archipelago.[1] The capital was originally at Dimetoka (Didymoteicho), but was moved to Dedeağaç (Alexandroupolis) in 1884. Dimetoka itself later returned under the sanjak of Adrianople.[2]

It comprised three sub-provinces or kazas,[2] which were further subdivided into nahiyes:[1]

Of these, the kaza of Dedeağaç and most of the kaza of Sofulu lie today in Greece, while the kaza of Enez with the parts of the kaza of Sofulu east of the Evros river lie in Turkey.[1]

The sanjak survived until it was occupied by Bulgarian troops in the First Balkan War (1912–1913), after which the portion west of the Evros became a Bulgarian (and after 1919, Greek) province, while the eastern remained under Turkish control (except for the period 1919–1922, when it was under Allied and then Greek control).[1]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d e Konortas, Paraskevas. Δεδέαγατς Σαντζάκι (1878 - 1912). Θρακικός Ηλεκτρονικός Θησαυρός (in Greek). Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  2. ^ a b Birken, Andreas [in German] (1976). Die Provinzen des Osmanischen Reiches [The Provinces of the Ottoman Empire]. Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients, 13 (in German). Reichert. p. 98. ISBN 3-920153-56-1.