Sanjak of Dedeağaç

The Sanjak of Dedeağaç, originally in 1878–1884 the Sanjak of Dimetoka, was a second-level province of the Ottoman Empire in Thrace, forming part of the Adrianople Vilayet. Its capital was Dedeağaç, modern Alexandroupolis in Greece.

History and administrative division

The sanjak was created in 1878 out of the territory of the sanjaks of Gallipoli and Adrianople, as well as the island of Samothrace, which had hitherto belonged to the Vilayet of the Archipelago. The capital was originally at Dimetoka, but was moved to Dedeağaç in 1884. Dimetoka itself later returned under the sanjak of Adrianople.
It comprised three sub-provinces or kazas, which were further subdivided into nahiyes:Kaza of Dedeağaç : Ferecik, Mekri, Sahinler, Samothrace, DoğanhišarKaza of Sofulu : Pitikli, Pessani|Pisman, Kamberler-i Bala, Dervent, Ede, IpsalaKaza of Enez: Enez or Koca Ali.
Of these, the kaza of Dedeağaç and most of the kaza of Sofulu lie today in Greece, while the kaza of Enez with the parts of the kaza of Sofulu east of the Evros river lie in Turkey.
The sanjak survived until it was occupied by Bulgarian troops in the First Balkan War, after which the portion west of the Evros became a Bulgarian province, while the eastern remained under Turkish control.