Violent Uprooting and Forced Migration

This article systematically examines the historical demography of Greek refugees from Asia Minor, Pontus and Eastern Thrace from the beginning of the 1910s until the aftermath of the signing of the Convention of Lausanne and even later until 1928 when the first general census after the Asia Minor Disaster of 1922 took place in Greece. In this context, the article focuses firstly on a comparative examination of the available sources concerning the number of Greeks living in Asia Minor, Pontus and Eastern Thrace before the outbreak of the First World War, and secondly on the number of refugees pouring into Greece before and after the Asia Minor Disaster of 1922. It is argued that the Greeks of Asia Minor and Pontus suffered numerous losses because of the persecution by the Turkish authorities and because of their violent uprooting from their homelands. On the other hand, it is argued that the Greek population of Eastern Thrace was in general much less affected by the Turkish atrocities despite the fact that even this population was obliged to seek refuge in Greece after 1922. Notes1. For the full text of the Convention see League of Nations Treaty Series, Vol.32 (1925), pp.76–87. It has to be noted that according to article 2 of the Convention the Greek inhabitants of Constantinople (Istanbul) and the Muslim inhabitants of Western Thrace were excluded from the compulsory exchange of populations. For more details concerning the compulsory exchange of Greek–Turkish populations see Stephen P. Ladas, The Exchange of Minorities. Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1932), pp.333–588.2. In September 1922, after more than three years of war in Asia Minor, the Greek army was defeated by the Nationalist Turkish powers led by Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk). The atrocities on the part of the Turkish armed forces against the Greek (and other Christian, such as Armenian) populations of Asia Minor that followed the retreat of the Greek army resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of people as well as the destruction of much Greek (and other Christian) property. These tragic events, together with the consequent massive exodus of Greek population from Asia Minor, Pontus and Eastern Thrace, were called the Asia Minor Disaster (or Asia Minor Catastrophe).3. Asia Minor and Pontus are examined together not only because of the close geographical connection between the two regions, but also because the separation of demographic data concerning these regions are not always easy or safe. Moreover, it should be noted that the inhabitants of the Asian shore of Constantinople (Istanbul) are not included in the population of Asia Minor as they were an integral part of the population of the Ottoman capital city.4. Polybius [Dimitrios Kalapothakes], Greece before the Conference (London: Methuen, 1919), p.44. It is interesting that when he presented the territorial claims of Greece over Western Asia Minor before the Paris Peace Conference on 4 February 1919, the Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos claimed that the Greek population of Anatolia amounted to 1,700,000. Venizelos suggested that he had used statistics obtained by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and that ‘he could guarantee their accuracy’; see Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, The Paris Peace Conference 1919, Vol.III (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1943) [hereinafter FRUS 1919], p.870.5. J. McCarthy, Muslims and Minorities. The Population of Ottoman Anatolia and the End of the Empire (New York: New York University Press, 1983), pp.92–5.6. Ibid., p.92.7. Ibid., pp.110–12.8. Ibid., p.97.9. K.H. Karpat, Ottoman Population, 1830–1914. Demographic and Social Characteristics (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), pp.170–89. This figure does not include the Greeks of Syria, Beirut and Jerusalem about whom Karpat provides extensive data.10. McCarthy, Muslims and Minorities, pp.10 and 96–7. For more details concerning the methodology used by McCarthy see pp.193–230.11. For more details see P.M. Kitromilides and A. Alexandris, ‘Ethnic Survival, Nationalism and Forced Migration. The Historical Demography of the Greek Community of Asia Minor at the Close of the Ottoman Era’, Δελτίo Kέντρoυ Mικρασιατικών Σπoυδών [Bulletin of the Centre for Asia Minor Studies], Vol.5 (1984–85), pp.23–30.12. Ibid., p.27.13. Ibid., p.22.14. The term Eastern Thrace refers to the part of Thrace that is situated east of the Evros (Maritsa) river, excluding Constantinople. As a result, in the calculation of the Greek population of Eastern Thrace the inhabitants of Adrianople (Edirne), Kirk Kilisse, Rodosto, Gallipoli and Chataldja are included, whereas the inhabitants of the European shore of Constantinople are not.15. Polybius, Greece before the Conference, p.41.16. Eλληνική Δημoκρατία, Yπoυργείoν Eθνικής Oικoνoμίας – Γενική Στατιστική Yπηρεσία της Eλλάδoς, Στατιστικά απoτελέσματα της απoγραφής τoυ πληθυσμoύ της Eλλάδoς της 15–16 Mαΐoυ 1928. I. Πραγματικός και νόμιμoς πληθυσμός – Πρόσφυγες [Hellenic Republic, Ministry of National Economy – General Statistical Service of Greece, Statistical Results of the Greek Census of 15–16 May 1928. I. Real and Legal Population – Refugees] (Athens: National Printing House, 1933 [hereinafter: Statistical Results. I]), p.46.17. H.J. Psomiades, The Eastern Question: The Last Phase. A Study in Greek–Turkish Diplomacy (Thessaloniki: Institute for Balkan Studies, 1968), p.46.18. Karpat, Ottoman Population, pp.170–89.19. According to this census, the total population of Eastern Thrace added up to 493,217, and was distributed to the following regions: Adrianople 148,041, Gallipoli 55,832, Rodosto 147,811, and Kirk Kilisse 141,533; see Bασίλειoν της Eλλάδoς, Yπoυργείoν Eθνικής Oικoνoμίας – Διεύθυνσις Στατιστικής, Πληθυσμός τoυ Bασιλείoυ της Eλλάδoς κατά την απoγραφήν της 19 Δεκεμβρίoυ 1920 [Kingdom of Greece, Ministry of National Economy – Direction of Statistics, Population of the Kingdom of Greece According to the Census of 19 December 1920] (Athens: National Printing House, 1921), p.14.20. See FRUS 1919, p.863.21. For more details on the subject see M. Bjørnlund, ‘The 1914 Cleansing of Aegean Greeks as a Case of Violent Turkification’, Journal of Genocide Research, Vol.10, No.1 (2008), pp.41–57.22. Y.G. Mourelos, ‘The 1914 Persecutions and the First Attempt at an Exchange of Minorities between Greece and Turkey’, Balkan Studies, Vol.26 (1985), pp.389–413. See also Ladas, The Exchange of Minorities, pp.20–23, and D. Pentzopoulos, The Balkan Exchange of Minorities and its Impact upon Greece (London: Hurst, 2002), pp.55–6. Several years later, however, Venizelos expressed his doubts as to whether the Greeks of Asia Minor would voluntarily agree to leave their domiciles and find refuge in Greece as the Greek–Ottoman Agreement of 1914 suggested; see Archives of Eleftherios Venizelos (Benaki Museum), 173/file 274, handwritten notes of Venizelos concerning the publication of a book written by Prince Nikolaos of Greece, [London (?)], [1927 (?)].23. Diplomatic and Historical Archives of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs [hereinafter DHAGMFA], 1923, KTE/5.4, Ministry of Relief to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, unnumbered, Athens, 12 Nov. 1922; [illegible signature] to the Greek Representation at Lausanne, No.12966, Athens, 12/25 Nov. 1922.24. Ladas, The Exchange of Minorities, 16.25. DHAGMFA, 1922, KTE/1.2, Yannopoulos [Minister of Relief] to Streit, No.65276, Athens, 9 Sept. 1922.26. DHAGMFA, 1923, KTE/5.4, Ministry of Relief to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, unnumbered, Athens, 12 Nov. 1922; [illegible signature] to the Greek Representation at Lausanne, No.12966, Athens, 12/25 Nov. 1922.27. League of Nations, Official Journal, Jan. 1923, p.133.28. DHAGMFA, 1922, KTE/1.2, Yannopoulos [Minister of Relief] to Streit, No.65276, Athens, 9 Sept. 1922.29. League of Nations, Official Journal, Jan. 1923, pp.133-35.30. It has to be noted that during the first months after the Asia Minor Disaster the lives of hundreds of thousands of Greek refugees from Asia Minor, Pontus and Eastern Thrace were saved thanks to the splendid humanitarian initiatives of American charitable organizations, mainly the American Red Cross and the Near East Relief. For more details on the subject see A. Klapsis, ‘American Initiatives for the Relief of Greek Refugees, 1922–1923’, Genocide Studies and Prevention, Vol.6, No.1 (2011), pp.98–106.31. Bασίλειoν της Eλλάδoς, Yπoυργείoν Yγιεινής, Πρoνoίας και Aντιλήψεως – Tμήμα Στατιστικής, Aπoγραφή πρoσφύγων ενεργηθείσα κατ’ Aπρίλιoν 1923 [Kingdom of Greece. Ministry of Health and Relief – Department of Statistics, Census of Refugees Carried Out in April 1923] (Athens: National Printing House, 1923), p.9.32. A.A. Pallis, ‘The Greek Census of 1928’, The Geographical Journal, Vol.73, No.6 (1929), p.546.33. DHAGMFA, 1923, 18.4 [Unsigned and undated memo]. Taking into account certain phrases from this memo, it can be ascertained that this document was drafted before 30 June 1923 and definitely after the signing of the Lausanne Convention for the Exchange of Populations. By interrelating this document with another that can be found in the same file, one can come to the conclusion that it was almost certainly drafted in mid-April 1923. It is also interesting that the number of refugees according to the statistics of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs is almost identical with the one given in 1932 by Ladas who argued that up to April 1923 847,931 refugees had poured into Greece; see Ladas, The Exchange of Minorities, p.643.34. Ladas, The Exchange of Minorities, pp.420–21, 424–8.35. The creation of the Mixed Commission and its sub-commissions was provided by article 11 of the Lausanne Convention which read as follows: ‘Within one month from the coming into force of the present Convention a Mixed Commission shall be set up in Turkey or in Greece consisting of four members representing each of the High Contracting Parties [i.e. Greece and Turkey], and of three members chosen by the Council of the League of Nations from among nationals of Powers which did not take part in the war of 1914–1918. The Presidency of the Commission shall be exercised in turn by each of these three neutral members. The Mixed Commission shall have the right to set up, in such places as it may appear to them necessary, Sub-Commissions working under its order. Each such Sub-Commission shall consist of a Turkish member, a Greek member and a neutral President to be designated by the Mixed Commission. The Mixed Commission shall decide the powers to be delegated to the Sub-Commission.’36. Charles Howland, who served as President of the Greek Refugee Settlement Commission from February 1925 to September 1926, concluded that the total number of refugees after the Asia Minor Disaster amounted to approximately 1,000,000; see C.P. Howland, ‘Greece and Her Refugees’, Foreign Affairs, Vol.4 (1925–26), p.613.37. Statistical Results. I, p.46. These figures do not include a total number of 38,358 Greeks from Constantinople (Istanbul) of whom 4,109 had sought refuge in Greece before and 34,349 after the Asia Minor Disaster.38. This explanation is also given by Pallis, ‘The Greek Census’, p.546.39. Foreign Office (Public Record Office), 371/10675, Fourth Quarterly Report of the Refugee Settlement Commission, p.4.40. McCarthy, Muslims and Minorities, p.133.41. A. Bryer, The Empire of Trebizond and the Pontos (London: Variorum Reprints, 1980), p.189

Ancient history · Archaeology · Bosnian · Context (archaeology · Convention · Geography · Greeks · Minor (academic · Persecution · Political science · Politics · Population · Refugee · Sociology · Treaty · Turkish · Demography · Health and Conflict Studies · History · Law

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