There is a particular appeal of the extent of Armenian mobility and dispersion to non-Armenian audiences – including someone like me who does not come from one of those Euro-American powerhouses where ‘fascination’ with the rest of the world often emerges as another way of reiterating a history of superiority (of the self) and disconnection (of the other). On the contrary, as a person who bears this particular surname, which roughly translates as “genuine Turk,” I have a more direct pe
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In the 1950’s 10% of the population of Instanbul was Greek . Then the Turkish government organised the pogroms against the Greeks similar to “ Crystal Night” of Nazi Germans with rapes smashing Greek shops and 100,000 Greek bread winners deported. The same occurred in 1965.
The population of Instanbul is now $15m with only 4000 Greeks .
Such is the mindset of the Turks. The Turkish population is made up of the remnants of others who went crypto underground to survive against the majority of Turks. This minority from Bulgaria , Ukraine, Greece Armenia , Kurdistan , Romania, etc mixed ethnic characteristics can be seen to not resemble the Turkoman . Turkey has now secured its North Western borders with the pit down of Armenia. The push is now definitely South West into Syria and into Hellenic Mediterranean territory as the Treaty of Lausanne ends in 2023 . It is clear that Turkey is building up a war machine that exceeds defense requirements and is for the invasion of little Greece . Greece is preparing for a defensive war against this aggressor . It will be the war that Turkey initiates against Greece that will reset the geopolitical region of a fractured Turkey.
You are absolutely right.
In 1821, 47% of Crete was Turkish, in 1900 it was %11, in 1920 0%. In Dodecanese Islands as well, Turks were over 10% and this is decades after population exchange. When Italy gave islands to Greece, through harassment, not giving citizenship, and denying them basic rights Greeks forced them to leave their homes, events which led to the reaction in the 50s. Now there are barely any Turks in the Dodecanese. Not even mentioning Tripolitsa. Oh and also, during the failed invasion of Asia Minor, Greeks burnt down dozens of towns almost entirely, killing over 600.000 mostly civilian Turks during the process. This was intentional, and their strategy, they knew they could not hold and annex the land since it was overwhelmingly Turkish. Moreover, in the Balkans, Turks constituted anywhere between %10 to 50% of the population in every single state, but they are also gone. Makes me wonder what happened to them.
One final note, remember 1919. With the help of Britain and the Allies, you could not defeat Turkey that didn’t even have a proper army. At the time the population of Turks was also almost the same as Greeks. Now Turkey is many times larger than Greece economically, has a flourishing defense industry, and an eight times larger population. What makes Greeks think they can actually fight Turkey and win? Don’t trust your allies so much, we may as well have something secret in the store for them. Greece’s hope is that the war will be quick and stopped by NATO. I’d say don’t bet on it. Attack Turkey and you will have to negotiate hard later to get back islands, Selanik and Western Thrace.
Aykut, an interesting piece. Just one question since you are an expert on the topic and said that Armenians are excluded in Turkey. I can think of at least a dozen Armenian celebrities, academics, parliamentarians, journalists, and artists who are very well known in Turkey. In fact, some are household names. But I guess you made your comment because the number in Turkey isn’t high enough compared to Armenia. Which led me to wonder how many prominent Turks are there in Armenia? I know there used to be a large Turkish population in Yerevan and Armenia overall. Surely there must be some Turks left there despite WW1 and politics just as it has been the case in Turkey. Any comments on that? How is the Turkish community of Armenia faring?