Pub Date : 2023-11-21DOI: 10.1163/18775462-bja10060
Aytek Soner Alpan
İsmet Pasha’s visit to Athens in 1931 was a highlight of the diplomatic revolution between Turkey and Greece in the early 1930s. Thanks to press coverage of the visit, the Turkish public had the opportunity to observe Greece’s social landscape as shaken by the refugee issue for the first time since the Greco-Turkish war and population exchange. Whether Greek refugees could return to their former homelands was the focal point of the visit. A month later, the Turkish government granted Greek exchangees the freedom to travel. Prior to this decision, the cabinet had handled authorization requests individually and issued special permits as a palliative solution. The case of the appeal made by an exchangee monk for a mission to unearth hidden relics at Sumela Monastery is especially intriguing. This article focuses on the story of this mission and the historical context that facilitated its realization.
{"title":"Exchanging Holiness for Harmony, Bringing Pontus to Patria: The Refugee Panagia on the Move","authors":"Aytek Soner Alpan","doi":"10.1163/18775462-bja10060","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18775462-bja10060","url":null,"abstract":"İsmet Pasha’s visit to Athens in 1931 was a highlight of the diplomatic revolution between Turkey and Greece in the early 1930s. Thanks to press coverage of the visit, the Turkish public had the opportunity to observe Greece’s social landscape as shaken by the refugee issue for the first time since the Greco-Turkish war and population exchange. Whether Greek refugees could return to their former homelands was the focal point of the visit. A month later, the Turkish government granted Greek exchangees the freedom to travel. Prior to this decision, the cabinet had handled authorization requests individually and issued special permits as a palliative solution. The case of the appeal made by an exchangee monk for a mission to unearth hidden relics at Sumela Monastery is especially intriguing. This article focuses on the story of this mission and the historical context that facilitated its realization.","PeriodicalId":41042,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Historical Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138536012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-15DOI: 10.1163/18775462-bja10059
Efpraxia Nerantzaki
This article investigates the relationship between second- and third-generation descendants of Cretan Muslims in Turkey and their Cretanness. It takes the public manifestations of and heightened involvement with Cretanness that have recently been taking place in Turkey as a starting point and develops a framework to elucidate the contemporary dynamics of Cretanness. Through in-depth interviews and participant observation, this study reveals that Cretanness has undergone transformation for the current generations. It is characterized by the fading of certain cultural aspects, but by a parallel vocal identification with Cretanness. This dual pattern is unified under the concept “symbolic Cretanness,” inspired by Herbert Gans’ notion of “symbolic ethnicity.” The article argues that this current form of Cretanness encompasses the pursuit of visibility, an intermittent involvement with origins, and the precedence of symbols, the most significant of which is food.
{"title":"Symbolic Cretanness: Descendants of Cretan Muslims in Present-Day Turkey","authors":"Efpraxia Nerantzaki","doi":"10.1163/18775462-bja10059","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18775462-bja10059","url":null,"abstract":"This article investigates the relationship between second- and third-generation descendants of Cretan Muslims in Turkey and their Cretanness. It takes the public manifestations of and heightened involvement with Cretanness that have recently been taking place in Turkey as a starting point and develops a framework to elucidate the contemporary dynamics of Cretanness. Through in-depth interviews and participant observation, this study reveals that Cretanness has undergone transformation for the current generations. It is characterized by the fading of certain cultural aspects, but by a parallel vocal identification with Cretanness. This dual pattern is unified under the concept “symbolic Cretanness,” inspired by Herbert Gans’ notion of “symbolic ethnicity.” The article argues that this current form of Cretanness encompasses the pursuit of visibility, an intermittent involvement with origins, and the precedence of symbols, the most significant of which is food.","PeriodicalId":41042,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Historical Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138536015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-07DOI: 10.1163/18775462-bja10056
Alexandros Lamprou
Abstract This is a historiographical essay about the impact of the population exchange on the political sphere in Greece and Turkey. Notwithstanding the asymmetry in the literature produced in the two countries—excessive in Greece and limited in Turkey—there have been two seminal narratives regarding the impact of the exchange on interwar politics. In regard to Greece, the political cleavage between refugees and locals is shown as the basic factor shaping politics. In regard to Turkey, the exodus of the Christian bourgeoisie is seen as a major factor behind the authoritarianism of the interwar regime. Nevertheless, recent research on local communities that specifically explores refugee and exchangee agency in local and regional politics and studies the place of refugees and exchangees in state demographic projects goes beyond the limitations of macro perspectives, qualifying the prevailing theses on the impact of the exchange on politics in both countries.
{"title":"The Population Exchange and Politics in the Historiography of Turkey and Greece","authors":"Alexandros Lamprou","doi":"10.1163/18775462-bja10056","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18775462-bja10056","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This is a historiographical essay about the impact of the population exchange on the political sphere in Greece and Turkey. Notwithstanding the asymmetry in the literature produced in the two countries—excessive in Greece and limited in Turkey—there have been two seminal narratives regarding the impact of the exchange on interwar politics. In regard to Greece, the political cleavage between refugees and locals is shown as the basic factor shaping politics. In regard to Turkey, the exodus of the Christian bourgeoisie is seen as a major factor behind the authoritarianism of the interwar regime. Nevertheless, recent research on local communities that specifically explores refugee and exchangee agency in local and regional politics and studies the place of refugees and exchangees in state demographic projects goes beyond the limitations of macro perspectives, qualifying the prevailing theses on the impact of the exchange on politics in both countries.","PeriodicalId":41042,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Historical Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135539338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-02DOI: 10.1163/18775462-bja10051
Andreas Baltas
Abstract After the exodus from their homelands and the population exchange between Turkey and Greece, Greek Orthodox refugees from Asia Minor formed hundreds of associations in Greece’s refugee settlements. These associations served the purposes of recovery and cultural expression, with many among them also functioning as carriers and promoters of the memory of their members’ places of origin. Among these associations were hundreds of sports clubs that young refugees joined. The mnemonic practices that members of these sports clubs pursued included the repeated use of texts, images, and rituals which referred mainly to the geography and history of Asia Minor. Based on the archives of refugee sports clubs from all over Greece, this article analyzes these mnemonic practices and places them in the general context of collective refugee memory.
{"title":"The Refugee Sports Clubs in Greece as Carriers of Asia Minor Memory (1922–40)","authors":"Andreas Baltas","doi":"10.1163/18775462-bja10051","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18775462-bja10051","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract After the exodus from their homelands and the population exchange between Turkey and Greece, Greek Orthodox refugees from Asia Minor formed hundreds of associations in Greece’s refugee settlements. These associations served the purposes of recovery and cultural expression, with many among them also functioning as carriers and promoters of the memory of their members’ places of origin. Among these associations were hundreds of sports clubs that young refugees joined. The mnemonic practices that members of these sports clubs pursued included the repeated use of texts, images, and rituals which referred mainly to the geography and history of Asia Minor. Based on the archives of refugee sports clubs from all over Greece, this article analyzes these mnemonic practices and places them in the general context of collective refugee memory.","PeriodicalId":41042,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Historical Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135976048","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-01DOI: 10.1163/18775462-bja10052
Melis Cankara
Abstract The Greek-Turkish population exchange convention of 1923 had major effects on both countries in terms of politics, economy, society, and space. Some of the negative impacts were minimized over time. However, there are some long-term impacts, for instance on space, that are still observable in the cities we live in, even though a full century has passed since the exchange. This article focuses on both the local and broader spatial consequences of the population exchange from a comparative perspective.
{"title":"The Asymmetries of Displacement: The Spatial Aspects of the Greek-Turkish Population Exchange","authors":"Melis Cankara","doi":"10.1163/18775462-bja10052","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18775462-bja10052","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The Greek-Turkish population exchange convention of 1923 had major effects on both countries in terms of politics, economy, society, and space. Some of the negative impacts were minimized over time. However, there are some long-term impacts, for instance on space, that are still observable in the cities we live in, even though a full century has passed since the exchange. This article focuses on both the local and broader spatial consequences of the population exchange from a comparative perspective.","PeriodicalId":41042,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Historical Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135412197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-01DOI: 10.1163/18775462-bja10054
Gülen Göktürk Baltas
Abstract One hundred years after people were forcibly driven from their ancestral lands, this article traces the gender aspect of the Turkish-Greek population exchange from an ethnographic perspective. This aspect certainly differs with respect to the refugees’ place of origin, place of residence, social class, and the cultural capital they brought from their previous lives. The experiences were diverse, in some cases similar, and cut across religious boundaries. Based on memoirs, literary works, and oral history, this article draws a comparative picture of refugee lives before and after their displacement.
{"title":"A Gender Analysis of the Population Exchange Between Greece and Turkey","authors":"Gülen Göktürk Baltas","doi":"10.1163/18775462-bja10054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18775462-bja10054","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract One hundred years after people were forcibly driven from their ancestral lands, this article traces the gender aspect of the Turkish-Greek population exchange from an ethnographic perspective. This aspect certainly differs with respect to the refugees’ place of origin, place of residence, social class, and the cultural capital they brought from their previous lives. The experiences were diverse, in some cases similar, and cut across religious boundaries. Based on memoirs, literary works, and oral history, this article draws a comparative picture of refugee lives before and after their displacement.","PeriodicalId":41042,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Historical Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135412195","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-09DOI: 10.1163/18775462-bja10053
Ellinor Morack
Abstract This article compares the policies of compensation implemented after five cases of forced migration in the 20th century. Compensation for property left behind was discussed in all these cases, but only implemented in some. One might think that compensation may have been easier when “abandoned” property was available and some form of “exchange” was engineered, but the relative failure of the Greek, Turkish, Palestinian, and Israeli cases and the relative success of the German ones suggest that the opposite may be true. This may be due to compensation systems being based on the principle of redistributory justice, rather than restoration of pre-conflict levels of wealth. Moreover, I argue that unilateral compensation schemes worked better than multilateral ones. However, in the long run, the most important factor impacting the refugees’ successful integration does not seem to have been compensation, but economic development, the granting of citizenship, and civil rights.
{"title":"Compensation Schemes Following Forced Migration Movements in the 20th Century: A Comparative Perspective on Ottoman Greeks, Greek Muslims, East Germans, Palestinians, and Iraqi Jews","authors":"Ellinor Morack","doi":"10.1163/18775462-bja10053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18775462-bja10053","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article compares the policies of compensation implemented after five cases of forced migration in the 20th century. Compensation for property left behind was discussed in all these cases, but only implemented in some. One might think that compensation may have been easier when “abandoned” property was available and some form of “exchange” was engineered, but the relative failure of the Greek, Turkish, Palestinian, and Israeli cases and the relative success of the German ones suggest that the opposite may be true. This may be due to compensation systems being based on the principle of redistributory justice, rather than restoration of pre-conflict levels of wealth. Moreover, I argue that unilateral compensation schemes worked better than multilateral ones. However, in the long run, the most important factor impacting the refugees’ successful integration does not seem to have been compensation, but economic development, the granting of citizenship, and civil rights.","PeriodicalId":41042,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Historical Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135094992","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-05DOI: 10.1163/18775462-bja10055
Richard C. Dietrich
Abstract The information in the Cairo Geniza documents has contributed greatly to our understanding of medieval Jewish and, to a lesser degree, Islamic social and economic life. In addition, these documents have also furthered understanding of the development of Arabic, the language of the majority of the Geniza collection. However, for various reasons the Geniza’s possible contribution to the field of Turkish history has largely been ignored. This survey of documents from the Cairo Geniza which mention or allude to the Turks shows that the Geniza collection not only sheds light on aspects of Turkish history in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, but may also indicate new paths of inquiry into the presence and roles of the Turks in the Mediterranean in this period.
{"title":"The Cairo Geniza as a Source for Turkish History","authors":"Richard C. Dietrich","doi":"10.1163/18775462-bja10055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18775462-bja10055","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The information in the Cairo Geniza documents has contributed greatly to our understanding of medieval Jewish and, to a lesser degree, Islamic social and economic life. In addition, these documents have also furthered understanding of the development of Arabic, the language of the majority of the Geniza collection. However, for various reasons the Geniza’s possible contribution to the field of Turkish history has largely been ignored. This survey of documents from the Cairo Geniza which mention or allude to the Turks shows that the Geniza collection not only sheds light on aspects of Turkish history in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, but may also indicate new paths of inquiry into the presence and roles of the Turks in the Mediterranean in this period.","PeriodicalId":41042,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Historical Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135483843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-22DOI: 10.1163/18775462-bja10050
Tilman Lüdke
Abstract For Pan-Turkists, the Nazi German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 seemed to offer a chance for the liberation of Turkic peoples from Soviet domination. Consequently, they attempted to win over both the Turkish and the Nazi German governments to support their aims. Although active Pan-Turkist policies—entailing entry into the war on the German side—were intensively debated during 1941 and 1942, Turkey ultimately suppressed the Pan-Turkist movement for fear of alienating the Soviet neighbour and provoking Soviet retaliation. The Germans saw themselves confronted with collaboration offers by Pan-Turkist activists from the Soviet Union. Such collaboration provided the increasingly hard-pressed Germans with large numbers of volunteers, but indecision and the clashes of racist and imperialist Nazi ideologies with the interests of the peoples living under Soviet authority ultimately rendered this cooperation ineffective.
{"title":"Pan-Turkism in Action? Turkic Nationalists, Nazi Germany and Turkey During World War ii","authors":"Tilman Lüdke","doi":"10.1163/18775462-bja10050","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18775462-bja10050","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract For Pan-Turkists, the Nazi German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 seemed to offer a chance for the liberation of Turkic peoples from Soviet domination. Consequently, they attempted to win over both the Turkish and the Nazi German governments to support their aims. Although active Pan-Turkist policies—entailing entry into the war on the German side—were intensively debated during 1941 and 1942, Turkey ultimately suppressed the Pan-Turkist movement for fear of alienating the Soviet neighbour and provoking Soviet retaliation. The Germans saw themselves confronted with collaboration offers by Pan-Turkist activists from the Soviet Union. Such collaboration provided the increasingly hard-pressed Germans with large numbers of volunteers, but indecision and the clashes of racist and imperialist Nazi ideologies with the interests of the peoples living under Soviet authority ultimately rendered this cooperation ineffective.","PeriodicalId":41042,"journal":{"name":"Turkish Historical Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136061356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}