Turks of the Dodecanese Turks of the Dodecanese The Turks of the Dodecanese are a community of 2,000 Turkish-speaking people and ethnic Turks living on the Dodecanese islands of Rhodes () and Kos () who were not affected by the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey, since the islands were under the rule of the Kingdom of Italy at the time (from 1912). All inhabitants of the islands became Greek citizens after 1947 when the islands became part of Greece. As a result of this incorporation into Greece and due to the situation following the Cyprus conflict and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus
Dodecanese territories, occupied all the present-day Dodecanese except for Kastellorizo. After the end of the war according to the Treaty of Ouchy, Italy maintained the occupation of the islands as guarantee for the execution of the treaty. The occupation continued after Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire (21 August 1915) during the First World War. During the war, the islands became an important naval base for Britain and France; Italy was allied with both nations during World War I. The Dodecanese were used as a staging area for numerous campaigns, most famously the one at Gallipoli. Some of the smaller