The town suffered greatly from repeated plague epidemics, which led to entire villages being abandoned, but recovered in the 19th century. During the Greek War of Independence Komotini's inhabitants contributed substantially with Ioannikios (later bishop), Aggelis Kirzalis and Captain Stavros Kobenos (members of the Filiki Eteria organisation).They imposed sanctions against the Turkish population and there were mass killings. During the following decades Komotini progressed financially due to the processing and trade of tobacco. Greeks took advantage of the religious liberty granted by the Ottomans and completely controlled the economic activity of the city. They also forced local Ottoman Turks to adopt Greek names and to adopt Greek as mother tongue which was protested by local Turks.