from Edirne which is also a Romani area near present-day Bulgaria / former Yugoslavia .
Serkan : For me as well , my family lived in the Romani area of the city of Izmir , where I was born ; my mother ’ s family comes from Macedonia , which at that time was part of Yugoslavia .
Rabia : My family is from the Aegan Region .
What makes the Romani areas you grew up in different from the other areas of the city ?
Reyhan : In the area of the city where I grew up , it ’ s about 80 % Romani and 20 % non-Romani . These days there are a few mixed marriages , although this was less so in previous years , as in older days there was much less technology for youth to meet people from outside the community and keep in regular contact . For example , in our neighborhood , my aunt and one other person had a telephone ; that was it on our whole block of apartments ! But these days there is Facebook ( laughing ) and with that are coming more changes to everything . However , knowing what neighborhood someone is from is a marker of identity among Romani people themselves , and many people identify with what area of the city / neighborhood they were born and raised in .
Could you also tell me how Roma in Turkey want to be referred to ? In Europe , many people use the term “ Roma ” as it comes from our own language and means “ the people / people ” but how about in Turkey ?
Serkan : Yes , it ’ s a little bit different in Turkey . Within the community , the term that you use to refer to someone within the community can be “ Roman ” or “ Romani ” but we do not use the term Roma . The terms Roman / Romani are respectful terms to indicate that someone is Romani but also indicates they are educated or refined . There is also the term chingene which people within the community can use among each other to indicate status . However , if a person from outside the community uses the term chingene to refer to a Romani person is it considered a racial slur and everyone in the community would feel upset about that , whether the person being referred to is educated or not , the issue is that the term is inappropriate and designates a lower class / uneducated Romani person .
Can you talk a little about the relationship between the word çengi and chingene , or is there one ?
Serkan : Historically , you know we had the çengis and köçeks who were female and male entertainers who performed publicly . The majority of these public entertainers were Romani , but not all of them . Still , it is possible that the reputation for public performance and being less socially polished may have been projected onto the Turkish Romani people and this related term became applied to them . And there are so many different kinds of Romani peoples , from Turkey , those who went into Europe , groups who went into Egypt and everywhere are referred to as “ Gypsy ” since their mode of life and occupations were similar in each region that of performing singing and dancing and moving from place to place came to be associated with “ Gypsy ” peoples , even though there is a lot of diversity in Romani people everywhere and not all of them sing , dance or move periodically . The point being , the term may or may not actually represent the people or behavior it is implying , even if it was derived from the assumptions that outsiders made about the Romani .
Can you talk a bit about the present day status for Romani people in Turkey ? Can people openly and proudly claim a Romani identity or are there still tensions about being a Romani person in Turkish society ?
Serkan : I would say there still are some tensions but it is better than it used to be . For example , as we talked about the term “ Roman ” being the respectful term to refer to Romani people , it is the same term used to label Turkish Romani dance . This is implying a respect and cultural pride in this art form . We would never label Turkish Romani as “ Chingene dance ”. The other thing is that many Turkish Romani dancers and musicians are involved in the entertainment sector and have raised the profile of Turkish Romani dance as well , to be a respected form of art in its own right . The recognition of Turkish Romani as art hasn ’ t completely erased the social tensions but I hope it will continue to help and make them less .
Reyhan : Yes , you do feel it a bit . It can feel like an invisible wall at times . I did have to move to a new neighborhood at one point . At first I think others in my apartment building were hesitant to speak with me , they knew I was Romani , but over time I got to know all of them and now we are very close . Sometimes it takes a first step to reach out and I did that , then they did too .
Let ’ s talk a bit more about your background in Turkish Romani music and dance . Who is involved in dance in your family or who did you learn from ?
Reyhan : My husband is also a musician but when I
70 The Belly Dance Chronicles � July 2017