Greek refugees is a collective term used to refer to the more than one million Greek Orthodox natives of Asia Minor, Thrace and the Black Sea areas who fled during the Greek genocide (1914-1923) and Greece's later defeat in the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922), as well as remaining Greek Orthodox inhabitants of Turkey who were required to leave their homes for Greece shortly thereafter as part of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, which formalized the population transfer and barred the return of the refugees. This Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations was signed in Lausanne, on January 30, 1923 as part of the peace treaty between Greece and Turkey and required all remaining Orthodox Christians in Turkey, regardless of what language they spoke, be relocated to Greece with the exception of those in Istanbul and two nearby islands. Although the term has been used in various times to refer to fleeing populations of Greek descent (primarily after the Ionian Revolt, the Fall of Constantinople or the Greek Civil War), the population strength and the influence of the Asia Minor Greeks in Greece itself, has attached the term to the Anatolian Greek population of the early 20th century. At least 300,000 Greek refugees were from Eastern Thrace, whereas at least 900,000 were from Asia Minor. At least 150,000 were from Istanbul, who left the city in three years before 1928.
Usage of the term
The Orthodox Christian refugees from Asia Minor are usually called in Greek simply Οι Πρόσφυγες (Oi Prosfyges, The Refugees). Alternative terms used are Οι Μικρασιάτες πρόσφυγες (Oi Mikrasiates prosfyges, The Asia Minor refugees) or Οι πρόσφυγες του '22 (Oi prosfyges tou '22, The refugees of 1922). Further distinctions are made to denote the refugees from various historic regions of Anatolia: Πόντιοι πρόσφυγες (Pontioi prosfyges, Pontic refugees) from the Black Sea coast, Καππαδόκες πρόσφυγες (Kappadokes prosfyges, Cappadocian refugees) from central Turkey, Μικρασιάτες πρόσφυγες (Mikrasiates prosfyges, The refugees from Asia Minor), to refer to the Greeks from the geographic area of the peninsula; special reference is made for the Refugees from Smyrna (Oi prosfyges tis Smyrnis, Πρόσφυγες της Σμύρνης), since Smyrna was then the second largest Turkish city, and many of the affected Greeks lived there. The refugees from Eastern Thrace are also included.
Historical background
Antiquity
The eastern coast of the Aegean was inhabited by Greeks as early as the 9th century BC. Aeolian, Ionian and Dorian colonies were established from the Dardanelles to Caria, with the most important being Miletus, Phocaea, Ephesus and Smyrna. The prominence of the Ionians gave to the region the name Ionia. The Greeks of Asia Minor contributed significantly in the ancient Greek history, from the Ionian Revolt, the Ionian League and the conquests of Alexander the Great, to the Hellenistic kingdoms of Pergamos and Pontus. The Ionians were the first Greek-speaking people that the Persians encountered, and the Persian name for Greece became Younan or Yunan (یونان), derived from the word "Ionia." The name spread throughout the Near East and Central Asia.
Following the spread of the Hellenistic civilization in the 3rd century BC, Greek became the lingua franca of Asia Minor, and by the fifth century AD, when the last of the Indo-European native languages of Anatolia ceased to be spoken, Greek became the sole spoken language of the natives of Asia Minor.