Greek refugees
Encyclopedia
Greek refugees is a collective term used to refer to the Greeks
from Asia Minor
who were evacuated or relocated in Greece following the Treaty of Lausanne
and the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey
. Although the term has been used in various times to refer to fleeing populations of Greek descent (primarily after the Ionian Revolt
, the Fall of Constantinople
or the Greek Civil War
), the population strength and the influence of the Asia Minor Greeks in Greece itself, has attached the term to the Anatolian Greek population of the early 20th century.
simply Οι Πρόσφυγες (Oi Prosfyges, The Refugees). Alternative terms used are Οι Μικρασιάτες πρόσφυγες (Oi Mikrasiates prosfyges, The Asia Minor refugees) or Οι πρόσφυγες του '22 (Oi prosfyges tou '22, The refugees of ’22). Further distinctions are made to denote the refugees from various historic regions of Anatolia
: Πόντιοι πρόσφυγες (Pontioi prosfyges, Pontic refugees
), Καππαδόκες πρόσφυγες (Kappadokes prosfyges, Cappadocian refugees), Μικρασιάτες πρόσφυγες (Mikrasiates prosfyges, The refugees from Asia Minor), to refer to the Greeks from the geographic area of the peninsula; special reference is made for the Refugees from Smyrna (Oi prosfyges tis Smyrnis, Πρόσφυγες της Σμύρνης), since the core of the Greek population lived in the city of Smyrna
. The refugees from Eastern Thrace are also included.
was inhabited by Greeks as early as the 9th century BC. Aeolian
, Ionian
and Dorian colonies were established from the Dardanelles
to Caria
, with the most important being Miletus
, Phocaea
, Ephesus
and Smyrna
. The prominence of the Ionians gave to the region the name Ionia
. The Greeks of Asia Minor contributed significantly in the ancient Greek history, from the Ionian Revolt
, the Ionian League
and the conquests of Alexander the Great, to the Hellenistic
kingdoms of Pergamos and Pontus
. The Ionians were the first Greek-speaking people that Semitic, Turkic and Persian language speakers encountered, and the Arabic
, Turkish
, Persian
and Urdu name for Greece became Younan or Yunan (یونان), derived from the word "Ionia." The name spread throughout the Near East and Central Asia.
Following the spread of the Hellenistic civilization
, Greek became the lingua franca
of Asia Minor.
by Constantine the Great
in 330 Asia Minor, the major part of the Greek East
, eventually became the most important region of the Byzantine Empire
. For the centuries to follow, the area was the main manpower and wheat source of the state. Numerous invasions and epidemics (especially the Plague of Justinian
) devastated the area in various times. However, Asia Minor remained densely populated
, compared to the rest of the Medieval world. The Greek population began to decline rapidly with the invasions of the Seljuq Turks in the 11th century. The establishment of the Seljuk Empire deprived the Byzantines
of a large part of Anatolia. The Fall of Constantinople
on May 29, 1453, marked the end of Greek sovereignty in the area.
. Islamization
and gradual Turkification
continued. The ideas of The Enlightenment and the subsequent Greek War of Independence
, raised the hopes of the Asia Minor Greeks for sovereignty. Many Greeks from Anatolia fought as revolutionaries and faced the retaliations of the Sultan
.
s, massacres, expulsion
s, and death marches of the Asia Minor Greeks were renewed during the early 20th century by the Young Turk administration of the Ottoman Empire
and during the subsequent revolution of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
. The Ottoman Greek
population was severely affected; its misfortunes became known as the Greek Genocide. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, the Allies
granted Greece, with the Treaty of Sèvres
, the administration of Eastern Thrace (apart from Constantinople
) and the city of Smyrna
and its environs. The Pontic Greeks attempted to establish their own republic, the Republic of Pontus
. The defeat of the Greek army during the Greco-Turkish War led to what became known in Greece as the Asia Minor Catastrophe. A series of events, with the Great Fire of Smyrna
been their peak, diminished the 3,000 year old Greek presence in Asia Minor. The Treaty of Lausanne
, which was signed in 1923, anticipated the compulsory exchange of populations. The remaining Greek Orthodox population of Asia Minor and Eastern Thrace, as well as the Muslim population of Greece (the Greeks of Constantinople, Imbros
and Tenedos
and the Muslims of Western Thrace
were excluded) were denaturalized from homelands of centuries or millennia.
1914 Ottoman census, which followed the 1909 census, showed a steep decrease of the Greek population by almost 1 million between these years due to lost of lands (with their population) to Greece after the Balkan Wars
. The argument that Greeks constituted the majority of the population of Anatolia claimed by Greece during Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) has been contested by a number of historians. In their book about the British foreign policy of World War I and post war years, Cedric James Lowe and Michael L. Dockrill argued that: Greek claims were at best debatable, [they were] perhaps a bare majority, more likely a large minority in the Smyrna Vilayet, which lay in an overwhelmingly Turkish Anatolia. The estimations of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Greek state and various Western sources, place their number much higher. The number of Greeks excluded from the population exchange was about 300,000 (270,000 living in Istanbul
). There are not exact figures of the refugee population in Greece.
The first national Greek census after 1923, conducted in 1928, showed the number of the Greeks of Asia Minor origin to be 1,164,267 (probably over 3 million). Some refugees had moved to Russia and the Middle East in previous years. Approximately 250,000 Greek American
s of Asia Minor descent had emigrated to the United States between 1866–1917, had American citizenship, and thereby would not become refugees; they would, however, be deprived from their property rights in their ancestral homeland, as well as from their right to return. It is usually estimated that the refugees in Greece numbered approximately 1.5 million people. Descendants of the refugees took part in the great Greek migrations of the Interwar period, as well as the large immigrations to the United States, Australia and Germany in the 1960s-1970s. Today, about 40% of the population of Greece claims full or partial descent from the Asia Minor refugees; as does an almost equal percentage of diasporan Greeks
.
and Macedonia
. The official refugee population per region
in 1928 was as follows (number of refugees and percent of the refugee population):
Numerous suburbs, towns and villages were established to house the additional population of Greece, which rose by about 1/3 in just a few months. In addition, to this day every town in Greece has a quarter named Προσφυγικά, The Refugees' (quarter). These new settlements were usually named after the place of origin of their inhabitants:
* denotes settlement that pre-existed, but acquired a large number or refugees
government decided on February 14, 1923 to further divide the arable land of Greece, in order the refugees and their descendants to be the owners of their own land. The income tax of the Greek state rose by about 400% within 4 years, mainly thanks to the refugees (from 319 million drachmas in 1923, to 1 billion 173 millions in 1927).
Greece managed to increase the homogeneity of the population, especially in Northern Greece (Macedonia
and Thrace
). The urban population increased by far, resulting in the creation of the modern Greek metropolises of Athens
and Thessaloniki
. New liberal ideas arrived along with the refugees, especially those coming from the cosmopolitan city of Smyrna
. The influence of the refugees was particularly important in the cultural field
.
The Greek trade and the exchange rates pushed the Greek economy into a new era of industrialization and development, partly due to the arrival of thousands of cheap hands, manpower of low cost. New industries were established in short time by the skilled refugee population (e.g. carpet
industries). In addition, many of them became later successful ship-owners (e.g. Aristotle Onassis
).
The Asia Minor Greeks became an inspiration for the native Greek population during the Interwar period, and fought along with their compatriots in World War II, as well, as they had an active role in the Greek Resistance
.
anywhere. They held much of the economic life and the trade of Anatolia in their hands. Their expulsion led to the abandonment of thousands of factories and shops in the hands of the newly established Republic of Turkey. According to the Treaty of Lausanne
, both states had the obligation to make reparations of the properties of the exchanged populations, an obligation that was never fulfilled, on the expense of mostly the Greek refugees (whose number was three times larger and were wealthier than the agricultural Muslim population of Greece). Unlike the Muslims of Greece, the Asia Minor Greeks were forced to leave without any of their possessions.
Rather severe were the demographic changes of the Anatolian Greek population, as well as the changes in the demography
of Greece herself. The Young Turks
revolution, the Asia Minor Expedition and subsequent Catastrophe, had as a result, apart from the 1.5 million refugees, the death of approximately 1 million ethnic Greek civilians (the most notable case being the Greek genocide) and the hostage of hundreds of thousands of Greek men, who were not allowed to leave Anatolia, but were send to labor battalions after the war (it is estimated that as many as 150,000 Greek men from Smyrna were not allowed to go to Greece). The demographic bleeding of the refugee population continued in Greece where thousands of people (especially women and children) died of diseases. The diseases had also an impact on the native population of the country. Apart from malaria, which caused the death of tens of thousands, diseases that had not appeared in Greece for years (cholera
, plague) increased the already high mortality rates.
The problem of the housing of the refugees was the most imminent. Within the first 10 days of October 1922, 50,000 Greeks mainly from Aivali arrived in Lesbos, creating a huge humanitarian problem. During the years 1923–1928, the Greek state built 25,000 houses for the refugees. The Institute for the relief of the Refugees (ΕΑΠ, EAP) built another 27,000 houses (11,000 only in Attica). The same institute spent an estimated 2,422,961 English pounds in order to house 165,000 refugees in Athens and Thessaloniki.
has been considered as the worst incident of modern Greek history, and as an incident of the same magnitude as the Fall of Constantinople
for the Greeks. The matters related to the refugees halted the Greco-Turkish relations for many decades. The issues concerning the missing Greeks were soon raised in the International Red Cross, without any success and cooperation from the Turkish side. To this day, the Greek citizens who were born in Asia Minor have to apply for a visa in order to enter Turkey (something that does not apply to Greek citizens born in Greece).
The descendants of the refugees have found hundreds of organizations and institutes in Greece and in the diaspora to promote their civilization and to keep in touch with their roots. Various museums in Greece (such as the Benaki Museum
) display artifacts from Asia Minor, Pontus, Cappadocia and Eastern Thrace to denote the Greek presence and emphasize the origins of about 40% of the population of modern Greece.
; 16 times in 1923, 2 in 1924 and 1 in 1930. The Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded in 1923 and 1924.
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
from Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
who were evacuated or relocated in Greece following the Treaty of Lausanne
Treaty of Lausanne
The Treaty of Lausanne was a peace treaty signed in Lausanne, Switzerland on 24 July 1923, that settled the Anatolian and East Thracian parts of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The treaty of Lausanne was ratified by the Greek government on 11 February 1924, by the Turkish government on 31...
and the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey
Population exchange between Greece and Turkey
The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey was based upon religious identity, and involved the Greek Orthodox citizens of Turkey and the Muslim citizens of Greece...
. Although the term has been used in various times to refer to fleeing populations of Greek descent (primarily after the Ionian Revolt
Ionian Revolt
The Ionian Revolt, and associated revolts in Aeolis, Doris, Cyprus and Caria, were military rebellions by several regions of Asia Minor against Persian rule, lasting from 499 BC to 493 BC...
, the Fall of Constantinople
Fall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...
or the Greek Civil War
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...
), the population strength and the influence of the Asia Minor Greeks in Greece itself, has attached the term to the Anatolian Greek population of the early 20th century.
Usage of the term
The Greek refugees from Asia Minor are usually called in GreekGreek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
simply Οι Πρόσφυγες (Oi Prosfyges, The Refugees). Alternative terms used are Οι Μικρασιάτες πρόσφυγες (Oi Mikrasiates prosfyges, The Asia Minor refugees) or Οι πρόσφυγες του '22 (Oi prosfyges tou '22, The refugees of ’22). Further distinctions are made to denote the refugees from various historic regions of Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
: Πόντιοι πρόσφυγες (Pontioi prosfyges, Pontic refugees
Pontic Greeks
The Pontians are an ethnic group traditionally living in the Pontus region, the shores of Turkey's Black Sea...
), Καππαδόκες πρόσφυγες (Kappadokes prosfyges, Cappadocian refugees), Μικρασιάτες πρόσφυγες (Mikrasiates prosfyges, The refugees from Asia Minor), to refer to the Greeks from the geographic area of the peninsula; special reference is made for the Refugees from Smyrna (Oi prosfyges tis Smyrnis, Πρόσφυγες της Σμύρνης), since the core of the Greek population lived in the city of Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
. The refugees from Eastern Thrace are also included.
Antiquity
The eastern coast of the AegeanAegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
was inhabited by Greeks as early as the 9th century BC. Aeolian
Aeolians
The Aeolians were one of the four major ancient Greek tribes comprising Ancient Greeks. Their name derives from Aeolus, the mythical ancestor of the Aeolic branch and son of Hellen, the mythical patriarch of the Greek nation...
, Ionian
Ionians
The Ionians were one of the four major tribes into which the Classical Greeks considered the population of Hellenes to have been divided...
and Dorian colonies were established from the Dardanelles
Dardanelles
The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...
to Caria
Caria
Caria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there...
, with the most important being Miletus
Miletus
Miletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia , near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria...
, Phocaea
Phocaea
Phocaea, or Phokaia, was an ancient Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia. Greek colonists from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia in 600 BC, Emporion in 575 BC and Elea in 540 BC.-Geography:Phocaea was the northernmost...
, Ephesus
Ephesus
Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era...
and Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
. The prominence of the Ionians gave to the region the name Ionia
Ionia
Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements...
. The Greeks of Asia Minor contributed significantly in the ancient Greek history, from the Ionian Revolt
Ionian Revolt
The Ionian Revolt, and associated revolts in Aeolis, Doris, Cyprus and Caria, were military rebellions by several regions of Asia Minor against Persian rule, lasting from 499 BC to 493 BC...
, the Ionian League
Ionian League
The Ionian League , also called the Panionic League, was a confederation formed at the end of the Meliac War in the mid-7th century BC comprising twelve Ionian cities .These were listed by Herodotus as*Miletus, Myus, and...
and the conquests of Alexander the Great, to the Hellenistic
Hellenistic period
The Hellenistic period or Hellenistic era describes the time which followed the conquests of Alexander the Great. It was so named by the historian J. G. Droysen. During this time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its zenith in Europe and Asia...
kingdoms of Pergamos and Pontus
Pontus
Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...
. The Ionians were the first Greek-speaking people that Semitic, Turkic and Persian language speakers encountered, and the Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
and Urdu name for Greece became Younan or Yunan (یونان), derived from the word "Ionia." The name spread throughout the Near East and Central Asia.
Following the spread of the Hellenistic civilization
Hellenistic civilization
Hellenistic civilization represents the zenith of Greek influence in the ancient world from 323 BCE to about 146 BCE...
, Greek became the lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
of Asia Minor.
Byzantine Empire
After the founding of ConstantinopleConstantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
by Constantine the Great
Constantine I
Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...
in 330 Asia Minor, the major part of the Greek East
Greek East
"Greek East" and "Latin West" are terms used to distinguish between the two parts of the Greco-Roman world, specifically the eastern regions where Greek was the lingua franca, and the western parts where Latin filled this role...
, eventually became the most important region of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. For the centuries to follow, the area was the main manpower and wheat source of the state. Numerous invasions and epidemics (especially the Plague of Justinian
Plague of Justinian
The Plague of Justinian was a pandemic that afflicted the Eastern Roman Empire , including its capital Constantinople, in 541–542 AD. It was one of the greatest plagues in history. The most commonly accepted cause of the pandemic is bubonic plague, which later became infamous for either causing or...
) devastated the area in various times. However, Asia Minor remained densely populated
Population of the Byzantine Empire
After the reign of Emperor Heraclius and the loss of all of its overseas borders, Byzantine territories were pretty much limited to the Balkans and Anatolia. When Byzantium began to recover after a series of conflicts in the 8th century and its territories stabilized, its population began to recover...
, compared to the rest of the Medieval world. The Greek population began to decline rapidly with the invasions of the Seljuq Turks in the 11th century. The establishment of the Seljuk Empire deprived the Byzantines
Byzantine Greeks
Byzantine Greeks or Byzantines is a conventional term used by modern historians to refer to the medieval Greek or Hellenised citizens of the Byzantine Empire, centered mainly in Constantinople, the southern Balkans, the Greek islands, Asia Minor , Cyprus and the large urban centres of the Near East...
of a large part of Anatolia. The Fall of Constantinople
Fall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...
on May 29, 1453, marked the end of Greek sovereignty in the area.
Ottoman Empire
The first centuries of the Ottoman rule were named The Dark centuries by the Greeks. The custom of the Janissaries and the various restrictions on the religious, economic and social lives of the non-Muslim inhabitants of the Empire constituted an imminent danger for the continuation of the Greek inhabitation of Asia Minor. Conditions were improved over the following centuries, but the Greeks remained in the status of DhimmiDhimmi
A , is a non-Muslim subject of a state governed in accordance with sharia law. Linguistically, the word means "one whose responsibility has been taken". This has to be understood in the context of the definition of state in Islam...
. Islamization
Islamization
Islamization or Islamification has been used to describe the process of a society's conversion to the religion of Islam...
and gradual Turkification
Turkification
Turkification is a term used to describe a process of cultural or political change in which something or someone who is not a Turk becomes one, voluntarily or involuntarily...
continued. The ideas of The Enlightenment and the subsequent Greek War of Independence
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...
, raised the hopes of the Asia Minor Greeks for sovereignty. Many Greeks from Anatolia fought as revolutionaries and faced the retaliations of the Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
.
20th Century
The persecutionPersecution
Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are religious persecution, ethnic persecution, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. The inflicting of suffering, harassment, isolation,...
s, massacres, expulsion
Population transfer
Population transfer is the movement of a large group of people from one region to another by state policy or international authority, most frequently on the basis of ethnicity or religion...
s, and death marches of the Asia Minor Greeks were renewed during the early 20th century by the Young Turk administration of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
and during the subsequent revolution of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey....
. The Ottoman Greek
Ottoman Greeks
Ottoman Greeks were ethnic Greeks who lived in the Ottoman Empire , the Republic of Turkey's predecessor...
population was severely affected; its misfortunes became known as the Greek Genocide. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, the Allies
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
granted Greece, with the Treaty of Sèvres
Treaty of Sèvres
The Treaty of Sèvres was the peace treaty between the Ottoman Empire and Allies at the end of World War I. The Treaty of Versailles was signed with Germany before this treaty to annul the German concessions including the economic rights and enterprises. Also, France, Great Britain and Italy...
, the administration of Eastern Thrace (apart from Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
) and the city of Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
and its environs. The Pontic Greeks attempted to establish their own republic, the Republic of Pontus
Republic of Pontus
The Republic of Pontus was a proposed Pontian Greek state in the north-eastern part of modern Turkey from 1917 to 1922. The Republic of Pontus was never officially proclaimed, but a central government of an embryonic state existed, though not occupying all the claimed areas...
. The defeat of the Greek army during the Greco-Turkish War led to what became known in Greece as the Asia Minor Catastrophe. A series of events, with the Great Fire of Smyrna
Great Fire of Smyrna
The Great Fire of Smyrna or the Catastrophe of Smyrna was a fire that destroyed much of the port city of Izmir in September 1922. Eye-witness reports state that the fire began on 13 September 1922 and lasted until it was largely extinguished on September 22...
been their peak, diminished the 3,000 year old Greek presence in Asia Minor. The Treaty of Lausanne
Treaty of Lausanne
The Treaty of Lausanne was a peace treaty signed in Lausanne, Switzerland on 24 July 1923, that settled the Anatolian and East Thracian parts of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The treaty of Lausanne was ratified by the Greek government on 11 February 1924, by the Turkish government on 31...
, which was signed in 1923, anticipated the compulsory exchange of populations. The remaining Greek Orthodox population of Asia Minor and Eastern Thrace, as well as the Muslim population of Greece (the Greeks of Constantinople, Imbros
Imbros
Imbros or Imroz, officially referred to as Gökçeada since July 29, 1970 , is an island in the Aegean Sea and the largest island of Turkey, part of Çanakkale Province. It is located at the entrance of Saros Bay and is also the westernmost point of Turkey...
and Tenedos
Tenedos
Tenedos or Bozcaada or Bozdja-Ada is a small island in the Aegean Sea, part of the Bozcaada district of Çanakkale province in Turkey. , Tenedos has a population of about 2,354. The main industries are tourism, wine production and fishing...
and the Muslims of Western Thrace
Western Thrace
Western Thrace or simply Thrace is a geographic and historical region of Greece, located between the Nestos and Evros rivers in the northeast of the country. Together with the regions of Macedonia and Epirus, it is often referred to informally as northern Greece...
were excluded) were denaturalized from homelands of centuries or millennia.
Population strength
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
. The argument that Greeks constituted the majority of the population of Anatolia claimed by Greece during Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) has been contested by a number of historians. In their book about the British foreign policy of World War I and post war years, Cedric James Lowe and Michael L. Dockrill argued that: Greek claims were at best debatable, [they were] perhaps a bare majority, more likely a large minority in the Smyrna Vilayet, which lay in an overwhelmingly Turkish Anatolia. The estimations of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Greek state and various Western sources, place their number much higher. The number of Greeks excluded from the population exchange was about 300,000 (270,000 living in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
). There are not exact figures of the refugee population in Greece.
The first national Greek census after 1923, conducted in 1928, showed the number of the Greeks of Asia Minor origin to be 1,164,267 (probably over 3 million). Some refugees had moved to Russia and the Middle East in previous years. Approximately 250,000 Greek American
Greek American
Greek Americans are Americans of Greek descent also described as Hellenic descent. According to the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimation, there were 1,380,088 people of Greek ancestry in the United States, while the State Department mentions that around 3,000,000 Americans claim to be of Greek descent...
s of Asia Minor descent had emigrated to the United States between 1866–1917, had American citizenship, and thereby would not become refugees; they would, however, be deprived from their property rights in their ancestral homeland, as well as from their right to return. It is usually estimated that the refugees in Greece numbered approximately 1.5 million people. Descendants of the refugees took part in the great Greek migrations of the Interwar period, as well as the large immigrations to the United States, Australia and Germany in the 1960s-1970s. Today, about 40% of the population of Greece claims full or partial descent from the Asia Minor refugees; as does an almost equal percentage of diasporan Greeks
Greek diaspora
The Greek diaspora, also known as Hellenic Diaspora or Diaspora of Hellenism, is a term used to refer to the communities of Greek people living outside the traditional Greek homelands, but more commonly in southeast Europe and Asia Minor...
.
Areas of settlement
The core of the refugee population settled in AtticaAttica
Attica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...
and Macedonia
Macedonia (Greece)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...
. The official refugee population per region
Regions of Greece
The traditional geographic divisions of Greece were also the official administrative subdivisions of Greece until the 1987 administrative reform )...
in 1928 was as follows (number of refugees and percent of the refugee population):
- MacedoniaMacedonia (Greece)Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...
: 638,253 52.2% (with 270,000 in ThessalonikiThessalonikiThessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
alone) - Central GreeceCentral GreeceContinental Greece or Central Greece , colloquially known as Roúmeli , is a geographical region of Greece. Its territory is divided into the administrative regions of Central Greece, Attica, and part of West Greece...
and AtticaAtticaAttica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...
: 306,193 25.1% - ThraceWestern ThraceWestern Thrace or simply Thrace is a geographic and historical region of Greece, located between the Nestos and Evros rivers in the northeast of the country. Together with the regions of Macedonia and Epirus, it is often referred to informally as northern Greece...
: 107,607 8.8% - North Aegean IslandsNorth Aegean islandsThe North Aegean islands are a number of disconnected islands in the north Aegean Sea, also known as the Northeast Aegean islands, belonging to Greece and Turkey. The islands do not form a physical chain or group, but are frequently grouped together for tourist or administrative purposes...
: 56,613 4.6% - ThessalyThessalyThessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
: 34,659 2.8% - CreteCreteCrete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
: 33,900 2.8% - PeloponnesePeloponneseThe Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...
: 28,362 2.3% - EpirusEpirus (periphery)Epirus , formally the Epirus Region , is a geographical and administrative region in northwestern Greece. It borders the regions of West Macedonia and Thessaly to the east, West Greece to the south, the Ionian Sea and the Ionian Islands to the west and the country of Albania to the north. The...
: 8,179 0.7% - CycladesCycladesThe Cyclades is a Greek island group in the Aegean Sea, south-east of the mainland of Greece; and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The name refers to the islands around the sacred island of Delos...
: 4,782 0.4% - Ionian IslandsIonian IslandsThe Ionian Islands are a group of islands in Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, i.e...
: 3,301 0.3% - Total: 1,221,849 100%
Numerous suburbs, towns and villages were established to house the additional population of Greece, which rose by about 1/3 in just a few months. In addition, to this day every town in Greece has a quarter named Προσφυγικά, The Refugees' (quarter). These new settlements were usually named after the place of origin of their inhabitants:
List of settlements
This is a list of refugee settlements in Greece (the place of origin is in parentheses)
|
Preveza Prefecture Preveza is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Epirus region. Its capital is the town of Preveza.-Geography:The regional unit of Preveza is located northwest of the Ambracian Gulf. The Ionian Sea lies to the west. The terrain is mostly hilly. The mountains of Xerovouni are in... (Sinopi Sinop, Turkey Sinop is a city with a population of 36,734 on İnce Burun , by its Cape Sinop which is situated on the most northern edge of the Turkish side of Black Sea coast, in the ancient region of Paphlagonia, in modern-day northern Turkey, historically known as Sinope... ) Anatoli Anatoli is a town and a former municipality in the Ioannina peripheral unit, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Ioannina, of which it is a municipal unit. The population was 7,198... , Ioannina Ioannina Prefecture Ioannina is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Epirus region. Its capital is the city of Ioannina. It is the largest regional unit in Epirus, and one of the largest regional units of Greece.-Geography:... (Asia Minor)
Nea Ionia, Magnesia Nea Ionia is a city and a former municipality in Magnesia, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Volos, of which it is a municipal unit. It borders the city of Volos. The population at the 2001 census was 31,929 inhabitants. Its land area is... (Ionia Ionia Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements... ) Mandra Larissis Mandra Larissis is a small village just outside Larissa, Greece. Inhabited by Misthiotes deriving from the Greek city of Misthi south of Caesarea .... , Larissa Larissa Prefecture Larissa is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Thessaly. Its capital is the city of Larissa. -Geography:... (Misthi Misthi Misthi also Mistí, Mysty; Misli; Misti, Greek Μισθεία, Μισθί; Μιστί; Μισθή; Μυστή; Μισθίον; Μίσθια, in Turkish Mišti, Misti, Muštilia, Konaklı , was a Greek city in the region of Cappadocia, nowadays Turkey... , Cappadocia Cappadocia Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine... ) Cappadocia Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine... )
Nea Sinasos Nea Sinasos is a town in the northern part of the island of Euboea in Greece. It is situated in a mountainous and hilly area. Nea Sinasos is by the Pagasetic Gulf and is north of Istiaia. It is linked with the road south of Istiaia and the GR-77... , Euboea Euboea Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to... (Sinassos) Nea Artaki Nea Artaki is a town and a former municipality on the island Euboea, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Chalcis, of which it is a municipal unit. Nea Artaki is located north of Chalcis. The Greek National Road 77 links it with Chalcis and northern Euboea... , Euboea (Artaki Erdek Erdek is a town and district of Balıkesir Province in the Marmara region of Turkey. The population is 20,693 .Located on the north coast of Gulf of Erdek at the south of the Sea of Marmara, Erdek is known as a friendly holiday destination that is popular among domestic tourists... )
Nea Kios Nea Kios , is a village and former municipality in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Argos-Mykines, of which it is a municipal unit. It was founded by refugees from Cius in Bithynia after the expulsion of the Greeks from Asia... , Argolis Argolis Argolis is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula.-Geography:... (Cius Cius Cius or Kios , later renamed Prusias ad Mare after king Prusias I of Bithynia, was an ancient Greek city bordering the Propontis , in Bithynia , and had a long history, being mentioned by Aristotle, and Strabo. It was colonized by the Milesians and became a place of much commercial importance... ) Patras Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens... *, Achaia
Nea Alikarnassos Nea Alikarnassos is a former municipality in the Heraklion peripheral unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Heraklion, of which it is a municipal unit. Population 12,542 . It is located on the north coast of the island and is served by the Nikos... , Heraklion Heraklion Prefecture Heraklion is one of the four regional units of Crete. The capital is the city of Heraklion.-Geography:The regional unit of Heraklion borders on the regional units of Rethymno to the west and Lasithi to the east. Farmlands are situated in the central and the northern parts, at the coast and in... (Halicarnassus Halicarnassus Halicarnassus was an ancient Greek city at the site of modern Bodrum in Turkey. It was located in southwest Caria on a picturesque, advantageous site on the Ceramic Gulf. The city was famous for the tomb of Mausolus, the origin of the word mausoleum, built between 353 BC and 350 BC, and... )
Kallithea Kallithea is the 8th largest municipality in Greece and the 4th biggest in the Athens urban area... (Pontus Pontus Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος... ) Pontus Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος... ) Drapetsona Drapetsona is a suburb and a former municipality in the western part of Piraeus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Keratsini-Drapetsona, of which it is a municipal unit.-Geography:... (Pontus Pontus Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος... ) Pontus Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος... ) Nea Chalkidona Nea Chalkidona is a suburb in the northern part of Athens, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Filadelfeia-Chalkidona, of which it is a municipal unit.... (Chalcedon Chalcedon Chalcedon , sometimes transliterated as Chalkedon) was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari . It is now a district of the city of Istanbul named Kadıköy... ) Nea Erythraia Nea Erythraia , is a suburb in the northeastern part of Athens, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Kifisia, of which it is a municipal unit.... (Krini Çesme Çeşme is a coastal town and the center-town of the district of the same name in Turkey's western-most end, on a promontory on the tip of the peninsula which also carries the same name and which extends inland to form a whole with the wider Karaburun Peninsula... ) Nea Filadelfeia Nea Filadelfeia is a suburb in the northern part of Athens, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Filadelfeia-Chalkidona, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit.... (Philadelphia Alasehir Alaşehir, in Antiquity and the Middle Ages known as Philadelphia , i.e. " brotherly love" is a town and district of Manisa Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. It is situated in the valley of the Kuzuçay , at the foot of the Bozdağ... ) Nea Smyrni Nea Smyrni is a southern suburb of Athens, Greece. Nea Smyrni is located about 5 km SW of downtown Athens, about 5 km SW of Kifissias Avenue, W of Vouliagmenis Avenue, about 6 km E of Piraeus, and NE of Poseidonos Avenue.... (Smyrna Smyrna Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey... ) Ionia Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements... ) Phocaea Phocaea, or Phokaia, was an ancient Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia. Greek colonists from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia in 600 BC, Emporion in 575 BC and Elea in 540 BC.-Geography:Phocaea was the northernmost... ) Nikaia, Attica Nikaia is a suburb in the northern part of Piraeus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Nikaia-Agios Ioannis Rentis, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit.-Geography:... (Asia Minor Asia Minor Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey... ), (Pontus Pontus Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος... ) Keratsini Keratsini is a suburb in the western part of Piraeus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Keratsini-Drapetsona, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit.-Geography:... (Asia Minor Asia Minor Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey... ) Nea Ionia Nea Ionia is a northern suburb of Athens, Greece, and a municipality of the Attica region. It has a surface train station . The suburb was named after Ionia, the region in Anatolia from which many Greeks migrated in the 1920s following the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey. It is... (Pisidia Pisidia Pisidia was a region of ancient Asia Minor located north of Lycia, and bordering Caria, Lydia, Phrygia and Pamphylia. It corresponds roughly to the modern-day province of Antalya in Turkey... , Cilicia Cilicia In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire... , Isparta Isparta Isparta is a city in western Turkey and the provincial capital of the Isparta Province. The city's population is 222,556 and elevation from sea level is 1035 m. Another name of the city is "City of Roses".... , Cappadocia Cappadocia Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine... ) Constantinople Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:... ) Nea Makri Nea Makri is a town located in the northeastern part of Attica, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Marathon, of which it is a municipal unit.- Town layout :... (Makri Makri Makri is a Greek island, one of the Echinades, in the Ionian Islands group. It is administered by the municipality of Ithaca and is northeast of the island... , Fethiye Fethiye Fethiye is a city and district of Muğla Province in the Aegean region of Turkey with about 68,000 inhabitants .-History:... ) Nea Ionia Nea Ionia is a northern suburb of Athens, Greece, and a municipality of the Attica region. It has a surface train station . The suburb was named after Ionia, the region in Anatolia from which many Greeks migrated in the 1920s following the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey. It is... (Safranbolu Safranbolu Safranbolu is a town and district of Karabük Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is about two hundred kilometers north of Ankara and about a hundred kilometers south of the Black Sea coast, or more precisely about 9 kilometers north of the city of Karabük... ) Nea Ionia Nea Ionia is a northern suburb of Athens, Greece, and a municipality of the Attica region. It has a surface train station . The suburb was named after Ionia, the region in Anatolia from which many Greeks migrated in the 1920s following the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey. It is... (Inebolu Inebolu İnebolu is a town and district of the Kastamonu Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is from Istanbul by road and north of Kastamonu. It is a typical Black Sea port town with many fine examples of traditional domestic architecture. According to the 2000 census, population of the... ) |
* denotes settlement that pre-existed, but acquired a large number or refugees
Positive effects
The arrival of the Asia Minor Greeks resulted in the rise of the agricultural production of the state by 400%. The arable land increased by 55%. The Nikolaos PlastirasNikolaos Plastiras
Nikolaos Plastiras was a Greek general and politician, who served thrice as Prime Minister of Greece. A distinguished soldier and known for his personal bravery, he was known as "O Mavros Kavalaris" during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922...
government decided on February 14, 1923 to further divide the arable land of Greece, in order the refugees and their descendants to be the owners of their own land. The income tax of the Greek state rose by about 400% within 4 years, mainly thanks to the refugees (from 319 million drachmas in 1923, to 1 billion 173 millions in 1927).
Greece managed to increase the homogeneity of the population, especially in Northern Greece (Macedonia
Macedonia (Greece)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...
and Thrace
Western Thrace
Western Thrace or simply Thrace is a geographic and historical region of Greece, located between the Nestos and Evros rivers in the northeast of the country. Together with the regions of Macedonia and Epirus, it is often referred to informally as northern Greece...
). The urban population increased by far, resulting in the creation of the modern Greek metropolises of Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
and Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
. New liberal ideas arrived along with the refugees, especially those coming from the cosmopolitan city of Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
. The influence of the refugees was particularly important in the cultural field
Culture of Greece
The culture of Greece has evolved over thousands of years, beginning in Mycenaean Greece, continuing most notably into Classical Greece, through the influence of the Roman Empire and its Greek Eastern successor the Byzantine Empire...
.
The Greek trade and the exchange rates pushed the Greek economy into a new era of industrialization and development, partly due to the arrival of thousands of cheap hands, manpower of low cost. New industries were established in short time by the skilled refugee population (e.g. carpet
Carpet
A carpet is a textile floor covering consisting of an upper layer of "pile" attached to a backing. The pile is generally either made from wool or a manmade fibre such as polypropylene,nylon or polyester and usually consists of twisted tufts which are often heat-treated to maintain their...
industries). In addition, many of them became later successful ship-owners (e.g. Aristotle Onassis
Aristotle Onassis
Aristotle Sokratis Onassis , commonly called Ari or Aristo Onassis, was a prominent Greek shipping magnate.- Early life :Onassis was born in Karatass, a suburb of Smyrna to Socrates and Penelope Onassis...
).
The Asia Minor Greeks became an inspiration for the native Greek population during the Interwar period, and fought along with their compatriots in World War II, as well, as they had an active role in the Greek Resistance
Greek Resistance
The Greek Resistance is the blanket term for a number of armed and unarmed groups from across the political spectrum that resisted the Axis Occupation of Greece in the period 1941–1944, during World War II.-Origins:...
.
Negative effects
The Asia Minor Greeks constituted one of the wealthiest groups of the ethnic GreeksGreeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
anywhere. They held much of the economic life and the trade of Anatolia in their hands. Their expulsion led to the abandonment of thousands of factories and shops in the hands of the newly established Republic of Turkey. According to the Treaty of Lausanne
Treaty of Lausanne
The Treaty of Lausanne was a peace treaty signed in Lausanne, Switzerland on 24 July 1923, that settled the Anatolian and East Thracian parts of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The treaty of Lausanne was ratified by the Greek government on 11 February 1924, by the Turkish government on 31...
, both states had the obligation to make reparations of the properties of the exchanged populations, an obligation that was never fulfilled, on the expense of mostly the Greek refugees (whose number was three times larger and were wealthier than the agricultural Muslim population of Greece). Unlike the Muslims of Greece, the Asia Minor Greeks were forced to leave without any of their possessions.
Rather severe were the demographic changes of the Anatolian Greek population, as well as the changes in the demography
Demography
Demography is the statistical study of human population. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space...
of Greece herself. The Young Turks
Young Turks
The Young Turks , from French: Les Jeunes Turcs) were a coalition of various groups favouring reformation of the administration of the Ottoman Empire. The movement was against the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Sultan and favoured a re-installation of the short-lived Kanûn-ı Esâsî constitution...
revolution, the Asia Minor Expedition and subsequent Catastrophe, had as a result, apart from the 1.5 million refugees, the death of approximately 1 million ethnic Greek civilians (the most notable case being the Greek genocide) and the hostage of hundreds of thousands of Greek men, who were not allowed to leave Anatolia, but were send to labor battalions after the war (it is estimated that as many as 150,000 Greek men from Smyrna were not allowed to go to Greece). The demographic bleeding of the refugee population continued in Greece where thousands of people (especially women and children) died of diseases. The diseases had also an impact on the native population of the country. Apart from malaria, which caused the death of tens of thousands, diseases that had not appeared in Greece for years (cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
, plague) increased the already high mortality rates.
The problem of the housing of the refugees was the most imminent. Within the first 10 days of October 1922, 50,000 Greeks mainly from Aivali arrived in Lesbos, creating a huge humanitarian problem. During the years 1923–1928, the Greek state built 25,000 houses for the refugees. The Institute for the relief of the Refugees (ΕΑΠ, EAP) built another 27,000 houses (11,000 only in Attica). The same institute spent an estimated 2,422,961 English pounds in order to house 165,000 refugees in Athens and Thessaloniki.
Impact on the Greek psyche
The Asia Minor Expedition and Catastrophe, as well as the uprooting of the ethnic Greek population from Anatolia after three thousand years of presence, had an enormous impact on the Greek psyche. The Smyrna CatastropheGreat Fire of Smyrna
The Great Fire of Smyrna or the Catastrophe of Smyrna was a fire that destroyed much of the port city of Izmir in September 1922. Eye-witness reports state that the fire began on 13 September 1922 and lasted until it was largely extinguished on September 22...
has been considered as the worst incident of modern Greek history, and as an incident of the same magnitude as the Fall of Constantinople
Fall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...
for the Greeks. The matters related to the refugees halted the Greco-Turkish relations for many decades. The issues concerning the missing Greeks were soon raised in the International Red Cross, without any success and cooperation from the Turkish side. To this day, the Greek citizens who were born in Asia Minor have to apply for a visa in order to enter Turkey (something that does not apply to Greek citizens born in Greece).
The descendants of the refugees have found hundreds of organizations and institutes in Greece and in the diaspora to promote their civilization and to keep in touch with their roots. Various museums in Greece (such as the Benaki Museum
Benaki Museum
The Benaki Museum, established and endowed in 1930 by Antonis Benakis in memory of his father Emmanuel Benakis, is housed in the Benakis family mansion in downtown Athens, Greece...
) display artifacts from Asia Minor, Pontus, Cappadocia and Eastern Thrace to denote the Greek presence and emphasize the origins of about 40% of the population of modern Greece.
Nobel Peace Prize nominations
For its efforts concerning the relief of the refugees The Greek Red Cross (Croix-Rouge Hellénique) was nominated a total of 19 times from 1923 to 1930 for the Nobel Peace PrizeNobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
; 16 times in 1923, 2 in 1924 and 1 in 1930. The Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded in 1923 and 1924.
In popular culture
- The Greek refugees and their tragedy was depicted in the Closing ceremony of the 2004 Olympic GamesOlympic GamesThe Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
in AthensAthensAthens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. - Various successful Greek singers have sung songs about the refugees and the Asia Minor Catastrophe (mainly Haris AlexiouHaris AlexiouHaris Alexiou is a Greek singer. She is considered one of the most popular singers in Greece and has been commercially successful since the 1970s. She has worked with important Greek songwriters and composers, has performed at top musical theatres all over the world and has received several awards...
, George DalarasGeorge DalarasGeorge Dalaras , also possibly spelled as Yorgos or Giorgos Dalaras, is a Greek singer. He is of international fame and has recently been selected as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. He was born in Nea Kokinia, Piraeus. His father was Loukas Daralas, a singer of rebetiko.-Early...
, Eleftheria ArvanitakiEleftheria ArvanitakiEleftheria Arvanitaki is a Greek folk singer. She originates from the island of Icaria...
, Nikos XilourisNikos XilourisNikos Xylouris , nicknamed Psaronikos , was a Greek composer and singer from thevillage of Anogeia in Crete and also the older brother of two other great musicians of Cretan music, Antonis Xylouris or Psarantonis and Yiannis Xylouris or...
, GlykeriaGlykeriaGlykeria is a Greek singer active in Greece and Cyprus, while also gaining fame in Israel, France, Turkey and England. Her career has spanned over 30 years and is marked by several multi-platinum releases...
). - The refugees have been the main theme of many Greek movies, since the 1920s, and especially during the Golden Age of the Greek cinema in the 1960s and 1970s.
- The film America, AmericaAmerica, AmericaAmerica, America is a 1963 American dramatic film directed, produced and written by Elia Kazan, from his own book.-Plot:...
by Elia KazanElia KazanElia Kazan was an American director and actor, described by the New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history". Born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, to Greek parents originally from Kayseri in Anatolia, the family emigrated...
presents the harsh situation and the uprooting of Asia Minor Greeks in the years preceding World War I.
Further reading
- Heirs of the Greek Catastrophe: The Social Life of Asia Minor Refugees in Piraeus, Renee Hirschon
- The Exchange of Minorities: Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, Stephen-Pericles Ladas
- Greek-Turkish Population Exchange: An Analysis of the Conflict Leading to the Exchange, Safiye Bilge Temel
- Population Dilemmas in the Middle East: essays in political demography and economy, Gad G. Gilbar
External links
- Greek refugees settled in Macedonia as of 1928 - the statistic includes the old and new names of settlementsFormer toponyms of places in Drama PrefectureMany settlements in Macedonia region in Northern Greece had Greek and non-Greek forms.Most of those names were in use during the multinational environment of the Ottoman Empire...
, number of refugee families and family members and a marker indicating whether the settlement was inhabited only by refugees.