Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 0 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
Expulsion of Greeks from Istanbul AI simulator
(@Expulsion of Greeks from Istanbul_simulator)
Hub AI
Expulsion of Greeks from Istanbul AI simulator
(@Expulsion of Greeks from Istanbul_simulator)
Expulsion of Greeks from Istanbul
The expulsion of Istanbul Greeks (Turkish: 1964 Rum Tehciri or 1964 Rum Sürgünü) in 1964–1965 was a series of discriminatory measures by the authorities of the Republic of Turkey, then governed by the CHP party, aimed at the forced expulsion of the Greek population of Istanbul (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις, romanized: Kōnstantinoúpolis). Though the Greeks of Istanbul were initially excluded from the Greek–Turkish population exchange of 1923 and were allowed to remain in their native city, the Turkish government enacted a series of measures that resulted in a dramatic decrease in their numbers, such as the "wealth" tax of 1942 and later the anti-Greek pogrom of September 1955.
Especially during the 1950s and 1960s, the Greek minority was used as an apparatus of pressure for the Cyprus issue as part of the Greek–Turkish relations. The anti-Greek measures of 1964–1965 resulted in a drastic reduction in the number of Greeks in Istanbul. As such, from a population of about 80,000 only about 30,000 remained in 1965. The measures also resulted in the appropriation of minority-owned properties by the Turkish state and were accompanied by restrictions in the fields of religion and education. The expulsion during this period was part of the final phase of state measures aimed at the Turkification of the local economic, social, and cultural life.
A long-term policy of ethnic cleansing and Turkification of the economy was implemented from 1908 by the local Ottoman authorities. Such tendencies continued after the Greek–Turkish population exchange of 1923 against the remaining Greek communities, exemplified in the "wealth" tax of 1942 and the pogrom of 1955.
Following the 1955 pogrom, the Turkish government used the local Greek minority in Istanbul as a tool of pressure for the Cyprus issue. As part of this context, Turkey decided again to use the Greeks of Istanbul in the early 1960s, while the government of İsmet İnönü and the local press launched a campaign for the justification of the premeditated expulsion of Istanbul Greeks.
From 1963 Turkey found itself in diplomatic isolation while NATO and CENTO, organizations in which it was a member, refused to support the Turkish claims for Cyprus. On 16 March 1964, Turkey unilaterally denounced the Greek–Turkish Convention of Establishment, Commerce and Navigation of 1930, marking the beginning of a massive Greek exodus. Though Turkish authorities initially claimed that the expulsions were directed towards specific individuals who displayed activities "dangerous to the internal and external security of Turkey", the Turkish government spokesperson, Mümtaz Soysal, later admitted that:
Unless the Greek government changed its attitude in regard to the question of Cyprus, all the Greek nationals in Istanbul might be expelled en masse.
The measures immediately affected more than 10,000 ethnic Greeks who held Greek passports and were allowed to remain in Turkey under the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), the subsequent Greek–Turkish population exchange, as well as the Greek–Turkish agreement of 1930. Those Greeks, though holding Greek passports, lived in Istanbul before 1918 and their descendants were born in Turkey but had acquired Greek citizenship; some of them had never been in Greece before. Nevertheless, with Turkey's unilateral abrogation, they were obliged to leave the country immediately. Since many had married co-ethnics who had Turkish citizenship, this exodus inevitably affected a much higher number.
The first wave of expulsion included businessmen and in general members of the community supposed to have conducted activities detrimental to the Turkish state. On 24 March 1964, the first list of Greek deportees was published in Turkish newspapers and five days later the expulsion of the first families took place. During the following months (April–August 1964), about 5,000 expulsions occurred, while another 10,000–11,000 Greeks were expelled after September 1964. On 11 October 1964, the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet reported that 30,000 Turkish nationals of Greek descent had also left permanently. In total, the Greek community of Istanbul was reduced from approximately 80,000 to about 30,000 in 1965 as a result of this state campaign of massive expulsion.
Expulsion of Greeks from Istanbul
The expulsion of Istanbul Greeks (Turkish: 1964 Rum Tehciri or 1964 Rum Sürgünü) in 1964–1965 was a series of discriminatory measures by the authorities of the Republic of Turkey, then governed by the CHP party, aimed at the forced expulsion of the Greek population of Istanbul (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις, romanized: Kōnstantinoúpolis). Though the Greeks of Istanbul were initially excluded from the Greek–Turkish population exchange of 1923 and were allowed to remain in their native city, the Turkish government enacted a series of measures that resulted in a dramatic decrease in their numbers, such as the "wealth" tax of 1942 and later the anti-Greek pogrom of September 1955.
Especially during the 1950s and 1960s, the Greek minority was used as an apparatus of pressure for the Cyprus issue as part of the Greek–Turkish relations. The anti-Greek measures of 1964–1965 resulted in a drastic reduction in the number of Greeks in Istanbul. As such, from a population of about 80,000 only about 30,000 remained in 1965. The measures also resulted in the appropriation of minority-owned properties by the Turkish state and were accompanied by restrictions in the fields of religion and education. The expulsion during this period was part of the final phase of state measures aimed at the Turkification of the local economic, social, and cultural life.
A long-term policy of ethnic cleansing and Turkification of the economy was implemented from 1908 by the local Ottoman authorities. Such tendencies continued after the Greek–Turkish population exchange of 1923 against the remaining Greek communities, exemplified in the "wealth" tax of 1942 and the pogrom of 1955.
Following the 1955 pogrom, the Turkish government used the local Greek minority in Istanbul as a tool of pressure for the Cyprus issue. As part of this context, Turkey decided again to use the Greeks of Istanbul in the early 1960s, while the government of İsmet İnönü and the local press launched a campaign for the justification of the premeditated expulsion of Istanbul Greeks.
From 1963 Turkey found itself in diplomatic isolation while NATO and CENTO, organizations in which it was a member, refused to support the Turkish claims for Cyprus. On 16 March 1964, Turkey unilaterally denounced the Greek–Turkish Convention of Establishment, Commerce and Navigation of 1930, marking the beginning of a massive Greek exodus. Though Turkish authorities initially claimed that the expulsions were directed towards specific individuals who displayed activities "dangerous to the internal and external security of Turkey", the Turkish government spokesperson, Mümtaz Soysal, later admitted that:
Unless the Greek government changed its attitude in regard to the question of Cyprus, all the Greek nationals in Istanbul might be expelled en masse.
The measures immediately affected more than 10,000 ethnic Greeks who held Greek passports and were allowed to remain in Turkey under the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), the subsequent Greek–Turkish population exchange, as well as the Greek–Turkish agreement of 1930. Those Greeks, though holding Greek passports, lived in Istanbul before 1918 and their descendants were born in Turkey but had acquired Greek citizenship; some of them had never been in Greece before. Nevertheless, with Turkey's unilateral abrogation, they were obliged to leave the country immediately. Since many had married co-ethnics who had Turkish citizenship, this exodus inevitably affected a much higher number.
The first wave of expulsion included businessmen and in general members of the community supposed to have conducted activities detrimental to the Turkish state. On 24 March 1964, the first list of Greek deportees was published in Turkish newspapers and five days later the expulsion of the first families took place. During the following months (April–August 1964), about 5,000 expulsions occurred, while another 10,000–11,000 Greeks were expelled after September 1964. On 11 October 1964, the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet reported that 30,000 Turkish nationals of Greek descent had also left permanently. In total, the Greek community of Istanbul was reduced from approximately 80,000 to about 30,000 in 1965 as a result of this state campaign of massive expulsion.