The Great Population Exchange

One decision can alter the ripples of time. One decision can radically change the lives of millions of people for generations to come. This was the case almost a century ago when a petty exchange led to the physical and spiritual displacement of individuals who had lived on their fatherland for decades. This historic blunder was a clause of the Treaty of Lausanne now dubbed as “The Great Population Exchange”. In this agreement, Greece and Turkey agreed to exchange two million of their own people under horrifying conditions. One survivor recalls that the soldiers “threw my younger sister into the sea”. Why did these exchanges occur in the first place? The situation after World War I was choleric and volatile. The Triple Alliance (including the Ottomans) had lost the war to the Triple Entente. As a result, the countries attempted to take advantage and divide the Ottoman Empire amongst themselves. This was a movement that was heavily resisted by Ataturk nationalists who wanted to keep the glory of the empire. After resisting the Treaty of Sevres, Turkey agreed to the Treaty of Lausanne which gave them some Greek islands. Turkey tried to impose its power on these newly acquired territories by increasing their presence by moving civilians around.

There were several factors that led to the tense situation that was Greeks and Turks living in the same region. One political reason was the Greek War of Independence from the 1800s that had caused strained relations between the Greeks and the Turks. Lack of community was also an issue as newly intermingled people could not identify with each other’s cultures. They could not even speak to each other, as there are a plethora of languages spoken in the empire. Language is used to communicate feelings, ideas and expressions; there is ineffective communication between the two groups, leading to increased misunderstandings and animosity. There are also questions about the mentality of each individual; such an uprooting is bound to lead to questions about identity that would shake an entire population, especially after such a forced uprooting.

For ninety years, people have only had small mementos and memories from their homeland: a handful of soil, a moral obligation, a dying wish. It is only now that there is a new cultural project in the midst supported by the European Union involving reciprocal visits between the Greek and Turkish villages. One descendant Evangelia Kiortci says, “I thought it was a debt of honor, a moral obligation to come and kiss the ground where my grandfathers were born”. A survivor’s grandson, Dimitri Dayiolgu says that his grandmother always wanted to go back to her village to die, but it did not happen. Today’s visits not only encourage a sense of understanding between the two ethnicities, but also lets descendants of survivors quench the anguish and live through their ancestors. 

By Nayiri Artounians