Consuls Theorize the State Society of Trabzon In 1796 Citizen
Beauchamp had noticed that the Muslims of Trabzon were
"different" from the Muslims of Istanbul: The inhabitants have a
wild look about them at first appearance. Their dress consists
of pants and coat of Capuchin cloth. They all walk about armed
with pistols and a rifle, even within the town itself. They are
not as fanatic as the Muslims of Constantinople. During the
three hundred years the [latter] have encountered Europeans,
they have always preserved the custom of insulting them and
mistreating them as unbelievers. During our stay at Trabzon, we
didn't hear a single bad word; we were not even an object of
curiosity for children. Beauchamp's comparison of the citizens
of the imperial and provincial capitals is an exceptional one.
Other French and British visitors usually found the Muslims of
Trabzon to be more fanatical and less polite than the Muslims of
Istanbul. Nonetheless, Beauchamp accurately points to a
characteristic for which the Laz are