In Anatolia after the Turkish conquests, some Turkmen tribes in Central Anatolia suddenly became Christian and their descendants are now called Karamanlides. Were Karamanlides' Turk ancestors muslim or pagan?

by Thephalanx23

If Muslim then how come they weren't exterminated for leaving Islam? In Islam if you convert to an another religion you will get killed according to the Islamic law. How come these people weren't just exterminated? And how did those Turkmens convert to Christianity? Were there Byzantine missionaries in Seljuk Anatolia?

edit: Meant to say "Were Karamanlides' Turk ancestors ex-muslim or ex-pagan?. Sorry I forgot to add.

minnabruna

There are two main theories of their origins, but both predate Muslim conquest to the Christian Byzantine Empire.

  1. They are the remnants of the Greek-speaking Byzantine population which, though it remained Orthodox, was linguistically Turkified.
  2. They were originally ethnic Turkish soldiers which the Byzantine emperors had settled in Anatolia who adopted the dominant religion of their new country.

source: Studies on Byzantium, Seljuks, and Ottomans