Turks of the Dodecanese "Adalı" is sometimes used (meaning "islanders"). The president of their association Mazlum Paizanoglou estimates the number in Rhodes as 2500 and in Kos as 2000. http://arsiv.ntv.com.tr/news/23898.asp 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
Italian colonists in the Dodecanese as a naval staging area for its invasion of Crete in 1940. After the surrender of Italy in September 1943, the islands briefly became a battleground between the Germans, British and the Italians (the Dodecanese Campaign). The Germans prevailed, and although they were driven out of mainland Greece in 1944, the Dodecanese remained occupied until the end of the war in 1945, during which time nearly the entire Jewish population of 6,000 was deported and killed. Only 1200 of these Ladino-speaking Jews survived, thanks to their lucky escape to the nearby coast of Turkey with some help from the Italian