The Greek presence in Asia Minor dates back thousands of years, to antiquity. Greeks were one of the major ethnic groups and thriving communities across the Ottoman Empire. However, events in the early 20th century led to a drastic decline in the Greek population in Turkey.
A Brief History
Greeks have lived in Asia Minor since ancient times. By the early 20th century, there were around 1.8-2.5 million Greeks living in the Ottoman Empire. They formed a prosperous merchant class and were influential in culture and politics.
The Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922 and subsequent Population Exchange in 1923 significantly impacted the demographics. As part of the exchange, 1.2 million Greeks were forcibly expelled from Turkey to Greece. Meanwhile, around 400,000 Muslims moved from Greece to Turkey.
This population exchange aimed to create religiously homogenous nation-states. It succeeded in transforming both Turkey and Greece into more ethnically uniform countries.
Declining Greek Population
In 1906, nearly 20% of Turkey’s population was non-Muslim, predominantly Greek Orthodox Christians. However, by 1927, non-Muslims accounted for only 2.6% of Turkey’s population.
The Greek population in Istanbul declined substantially as well. In 1924, there were around 300,000 Greeks in Istanbul, comprising over 30% of the city’s population. Today, estimates suggest only 2,000-3,000 Greeks still reside in Istanbul.
Overall, the Greek population in Turkey has plummeted from around 110,000 in 1923 at the time of the population exchange to just 2,500 today. Discriminatory policies and continued emigration contributed to this drastic decline over the past century.
Current Greek Communities
The remaining Greek population is concentrated in Istanbul and the islands of Gökçeada (Imvros) and Bozcaada (Tenedos).
Istanbul is home to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the spiritual center of the Greek Orthodox Church. The dwindling Greek community struggles to maintain its heritage and identity.
On Gökçeada and Bozcaada, two small islands near the coast of Çanakkale, Greek villages and culture have persevered more intact. However, the populations on these islands have also shrunk considerably.
Some sources estimate around 300 Greeks live on Gökçeada and less than 200 on Bozcaada today. Greek is still widely spoken, especially by the elderly. But the communities’ future remains uncertain.
Reasons for the Decline
A combination of push and pull factors contributed to the Greek exodus from Turkey. Instances of discrimination and racist policies made life increasingly difficult for minorities.
The 1955 anti-Greek Istanbul pogrom escalated tensions and intimidation. Greek businesses and homes were attacked, prompting another wave of Greeks to leave the country.
At the same time, Greece provided better economic opportunities. Discrimination limited Greeks’ job prospects and career advancement in Turkey. Greece also encouraged and facilitated migration, welcoming ethnic Greeks.
Efforts to Preserve Greek Heritage
In recent years, there have been some efforts to recognize the Greek cultural legacy in Turkey. Preserving Greek Orthodox architecture and sites is one way to remember this long history.
Some steps have also been taken to improve conditions for the few remaining Greeks. In 2008, the Turkish government allowed the reopening of the Greek Orthodox Halki seminary, though restrictions still apply.
While the Greek population in Turkey has declined steeply, remnants of its heritage and culture endure. Ongoing efforts to preserve this important history remain vital. Though the community is small, ensuring its rights and freedoms is essential.
The exodus steadily persists
OUTSIDE a small chapel on Imbros, a windswept Turkish island on the Aegean Sea, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians relaxes under a canopy of oak trees, catches up with old friends and reminisces about his birthplace’s dark past. Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, born Dimitrios Arhondonis, left the island in the early 1960s to study abroad. By the time he returned a few years later, he could hardly recognise it. The vast majority of the island’s 6,000 Greeks were gone, replaced by settlers from Turkey. Convicted prisoners, also shipped in from the mainland, terrorised those Greeks who remained. Some women were raped; several men were killed. The government in Ankara closed the Greek schools, seized nearly all the arable land, and changed the island’s old Greek name, to Gokceada.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Future uncertain”
Europe September 9th 2023
What Happened to the Greeks of Asia Minor?
FAQ
How many Greek Orthodox live in Turkey?
How many Greeks were killed by Turkey?
Are most Turkish people ethnically Greek?
What percent of Istanbul is Greek?
How did the population exchange affect Turkey and Greece?
The population exchange made it legally possible for both Turkey and Greece to cleanse their ethnic minorities in the formation of the nation-state. Nonetheless, religion was utilized as a legitimizing factor or a “safe criterion” in marking ethnic groups as Turkish or as Greek in the population exchange.
How many Greeks lived in Eastern Thrace?
A revised count suggests 620,000 in Eastern Thrace including Constantinople (260,000, 30% of the city’s population at the time), 550,000 Pontic Greeks, 900,000 Anatolian Greeks and 60,000 Cappadocian Greeks.
Are Turkey’s Greeks on the verge of extinction?
But elsewhere in Turkey the picture is bleak. Some 2,700 years after their ancestors founded Byzantium on the shores of the Bosphorus, Turkey’s Greeks are on the verge of extinction. The Ottoman sack of Constantinople in 1453 turned them into strangers in their own lands.
How many Greeks died in the Ottoman era?
The most common estimates for Ottoman Greeks killed from 1914 to 1923 range from 300,000 to 900,000. For the whole of the period between 1914 and 1922 and for the whole of Anatolia, there are academic estimates of death toll ranging from 289,000 to 750,000. The figure of 750,000 is suggested by political scientist Adam Jones.