Ali Mezarcıoğlu

Roms, Gypsies, Commercial Nomads 18/01/2009

Cingeneyiz?.org has conduced to a variety of arguments since it was organized. It was very strange in Turkey that some use the word of Gypsy while the state of affairs was utterly different. Furthermore a great number of non-governmental organizations which were established in this period preferred to use the word of Romani instead of Gypsy. We clearly said: “I am a Gypsy”. We have taken both negative and positive reactions.
These reactions were not restricted with our country. We especially took different evaluations from the Balkans, from the heads of Romani associations, intellectuals and academicians. Sometimes some toughly said that we should change our name, otherwise Romani community in Balkans would not accept us as a part of the community. These expressions were moderated when our approach was understood in time. So the critics became considerate.

Today, the approach of Cingeneyiz.org is not understood completely. Sometimes some incorrect comments are made through the main texts of our site. We have written this article to prevent these incorrect comments and show our current position.
First of all, from to beginning we have asserted that being a Gypsy is a life style. Ethnic or racial forms cannot reflect the reality of Gypsies. This point has been one of the most misunderstood matters. Especially our Eastern European brothers and sisters have commented this evaluation as if we denied the Romani language and Romani history. However this is not the reality.

Being a Gypsy does not just mean being a Rom. This name (Gypsy, Tsigani or Çingene) was brought forward by Gacos to identify us. The Gaco (I use this word with its widest meaning) uses this word to identify some groups with some specific characteristics. Let’s think about what kind of characteristics these are.

A farmer who deals with farming in his field knows the nomads that tin his kitchen utensils or sell metal materials. These people pitch tents near his village in certain periods.
A pastoral nomad who breeds herds and wanders to find new grasslands for his animals knows the nomad who wanders with him but pitches his tent a little far from the camp area, produces metal materials, pots and pans, breeds horses and plays music in his wedding.

Both the farmer and the pastoral nomad name these people. This name may change according to the place: Gypsy, Çingene or Nawar… They do not know which language they speak or where they are coming from. The only thing that they know is that they sell those commercial products or services and take food or money as equivalent.
Then every of them becomes city-dwellers. However nothing changes. The memories cause that the people who were named as Gypsies are still named as Gypsies in the city.
Social sciences give another name to our people: Commercial nomads or Peripatetics. Are the commercial nomads an ethnic group? Of course not; the Scots, Germans, Turanians have commercial nomads as they have farmers and pastoral nomads too. Commercial nomadism is a kind of life style, a socio-economic category. The words like Gypsy, Çingene and Nawar are the ones which were chosen by the people who are not commercial nomads to identify commercial nomads.

Can we inference from this assertion any that we deny the existence of the history and language of Roms? No way, Roms have a history like the other commercial nomads. Probably a history that begins in North India and is shaped by the mixture with the European commercial nomads. And of course, a strong and established language that carries the signs of this history.

Likewise, the non-Rom commercial nomads have a history, too. Irish tinsmiths, Rudaris, Abdals and the others. We assert that although all these groups have a different story, they have a common characteristic which is commercial nomadism. The popular expression is that the people who are not commercial nomads leave aside all the differences and name all of us Gypsy, Nawar or Çingene-Çingan.

The second point which is misunderstood is the name of our side. It is always asked why we use the word of Gypsy although it does not belong to Gypsies and also does not exist in Romani language. Besides they add this argument: This word contains prejudices. Gacos use this word in order to humiliate us. Don’t use this word! We believe in the sincerity of these brothers and sisters who criticize us. But the other side of the coin should be considered, too.

Yes, the people who are not Gypsies use the word of Gypsy with prejudices. They say to us dirty Gypsy, thief Gypsy, groveling Gypsy. But without a doubt, unless we explain ourselves sufficiently and solve the problems born of us, the meaning of the word of Gypsy will be transferred to the new words, whatever we choose as a name. People, who call us as “dirty Gypsy” today, are going to say “dirty Rom” tomorrow.

We believe that it cannot be a solution to change the name. The solution is explaining ourselves to break the prejudices and building a communication bridge. The proper way is using the name what the Gaco choose to name you. Otherwise the problem continues cumulating and becomes an unsolvable one.

The strangest thing is that the difference of Roman and Gypsy becomes so funny if we put the approach of the intellectuals aside. Some of our brothers and sisters, who choose the word of Roman to identify themselves, do not completely refuse the word of Gypsy. They say: “I’m not a Gypsy, but my poor neighbor lives down this district is a Gypsy”. In one way, he regards a treatment that someone else deems proper to him as being fitting for another person in his community. This is an unmannerly circumstance and humiliates us.

We directly say against all these: “We are the Gypsies”. On the other hand, this is meaningful only in our conditions. If our European brothers and sisters think that the word of Rom becomes enough prevalent and Gacos remember them with this word, we of course respect to the insistence on this word. The Roms of Turkey share a similar historical process and the same language which is a product of this process with European Roms’. So sharing the Romani identity does not disturb us. Our stress is related with the character of the introduction to overcome the prejudices.
Let’s summarize.

- In ancient societies, just as the farmers deal with farming and the pastoral nomads breed herds, there were commercial nomads who sell commercial materials and services to these groups, too. The people who are not commercial nomads give different names to the commercial nomads in everywhere. Like Gypsy, Çingene and Nawar.
-Generally, being a Gypsy is not a sign of the state of belonging to an ethnicity (I use this word in its narrowest meaning). On the other hand, the different commercial nomads having a shared historical background have these characteristics. For example, Roms reached to their current identity through a history began in Northern India and Abdals in Middle Asia.
-We use the word of Gypsy, because we believe that the prejudices cannot be overcome through changing the name. Names change, but prejudices stay. We should introduce ourselves and correct the mistakes born of us. The prejudices can be overcome this way.
In conclusion, we respect to the efforts of our European brothers and sisters to overcome the prejudices which became concrete with the 1. World Romani Congress (1971) though stressing on our right of criticism. On the other hand, we expect that they evaluate us properly because of our different conditions. We believe that if we effort to understand each other mutually, we can sufficiently explain our society to others and be more effective to overcome the prejudices