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From 1920-1924, the city of Thessaloniki faced a series of conflicts and policy decisions that changed the face of the city for all generations to come. As a result of the conflict between Greece and Turkey, the two nations agreed to exchange their minority populations in attempt to produce ethnic homogeneity. However, those most affected by the exchange were not involved in any of the decision-making processes, and their lives were irreconcilably changed. This paper seeks to describe the events that occurred leading up to the conflict, as well as the impact that it had on the future of the city.

Background & Causes of the Exchange

Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the once almighty Ottoman Empire was quickly disintegrating. At the same time, many eastern European nations were desperate to obtain the territory being lost by the Ottomans, which resulted in the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 (Mazower, 2003). In Greece, these wars were fought with the intention of fulfilling what was coined as the Megali Idea, the “Great Idea.” Essentially, this plan outlined Greece’s desire to expand the Greek nation state to include all areas with ethnic Greek inhabitants. This included parts of Bulgaria, Albania, and Turkey (Hirschon, 2003).

Throughout this period, Muslims in Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria were being victimized, suffering the loss of their homes, businesses, and sometimes even their lives. Although Greece was arguably less harsh toward the Muslims that remained after the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, they too perpetuated some of the same maltreatment (Mazower, 2004). Eventually, many Muslims were able to flee to Turkey, where they remembered the harsh treatment they faced at the hands of the Christians in Greece and began to act in revenge by perpetuating the same persecution toward their own (Mazower, 2004). In both eastern Europe and in Turkey, Christians and Muslims were harassing each other, which sparked the first cross-migrations between the two nations. However, despite the early displacements by Christians in Turkey and Muslims in Greece, the general sentiment in Thessaloniki did not call for a complete exodus or emigration for the remaining Muslims. In fact in 1920, after long-standing Greek nationalist political leader Eleftherios Venizelos was unexpectedly ejected from office, the Muslims enjoyed their first victory in a long time and prospered as a result of the new Muslim-supportive administration (Mazower, 2004).

In further pursuit of fulfilling the Megali Idea, Greece entered World War I in 1916 on the side of the Allies. Following the Allies’ victory, Greece’s desires were supported and fulfilled at the Paris Peace Conference through the Treaty of Sèvres (Hirschon, 2003). In this Treaty, Greece was granted the territory it desired, including Smyrna on the Anatolian coast of Turkey. Before the treaty was even signed, Greek troops entered Smyrna in celebration (Hirschon, 2003).

Meanwhile, the Ottoman Turks were extremely displeased by their lack of input or consideration in the Peace Conference. For that reason, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (the Turkish leader at this time) never accepted or implemented the Treaty of Sèvres. Thus, when Greek forces came to Smyrna, they were engaged by the Turkish army in a series of “hit and run” strikes meant to push the Greeks further into Turkey. Eventually, the Greek army was stranded deep in Turkey and troops quickly became demoralized without food or water. At this time, Kemal Atatürk organized his final attack. Although he could have used the Greek’s vulnerability to his advantage and killed them all, he instead left one single path leading all the way to Smyrna for the army to retreat through.

While the Greek troops retreated, Atatürk issued an order telling all Greeks to evacuate Smyrna within 24 hours or they would be killed. This caused a massive evacuation, with people leaving their homes as quickly as possible without even taking the time to gather their belongings. At first, they imagined they would someday be able to return to their homes, but the Turkish forces set the city aflame and destroyed their entire homes and neighborhoods. In the last months of 1922, an estimated 1 million or more refugees fled to all regions of Greece, with the population of Thessaloniki swelling to over 350,000 (Hirschon, 2003; Mazower, 2004).

Such a large displacement of people required reconciliation, which led the League of Nations to initiate peace talks in Lausanne in 1922. The Lausanne Convention resulted in a treaty outlining a compulsory exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey, on the basis of religion alone; Christians were to go to Greece and Muslims were to go to Turkey (barring some exceptions) (Hirschon, 2003). For those who had already made the migration, their new home was deemed permanent, meaning that they would not be permitted to return and retrieve their belongings. In Thessaloniki, departing Muslims were generally allowed to bring their belongings with them, but their homes were of course left behind. The vacated properties were then used to house the new arrivals from Turkey. Although the term was yet to be developed, the forced population exchange is considered by many to be the first complete instance of “ethnic cleansing,” whereby both Greece and Turkey forcefully removed their entire minority presence to produce homogeneous nations (Hirschon, 2008).

Impact of the Exchange on the Future of Thessaloniki

Throughout Greece, the departure of the Muslims meant the destruction of their places of worship (Mazower, 2004). Although the skyline of Thessaloniki was once characterized by minarets, only one still remains by the Rotunda. Muslim cemeteries were given the same treatment and used as building sites for new city architecture (Mazower, 2004). However, the abandoned homes and properties were left intact and used as accommodations for the Christian refugees in the city.

Initially, the refugees were treated with compassion and sympathy, knowing that they were forcibly evicted from their homes. This sentiment was short-lived, as refugees were soon resented and blamed for the economic difficulties the city faced after their arrival (Hirschon, 2003). Newcomers were thereby excluded from both identities - they were banished from Turkey because they were not Turkish, yet they were not accepted in Greece because they were not seen as Greek. Derogatory labels such as ‘Turkish-seeds’ and ‘yogurt-baptised’ were soon developed to describe them (Mazower, 2004). In a series of interviews of refugees impacted by the exchange, one woman explained: “When we were children playing, we’d hear people shout: ‘Come here you Turkish girl! Can’t you hear?’ Even today, now that I’m sixty years old, when I hear ‘Turkish girl,’ it still hurts” (mail2onur, 2013).

It took three generations for the Christian newcomers to stop referring to themselves as refugees and finally begin to feel acclimated to their new homeland. However, many still feel resentful about the circumstances that led to their displacement and see Asia Minor as their home (Stuckey, 2009). This exchange completely changed the lives of all those affected, and forever altered the cultural landscape of the once diverse city of Thessaloniki.