Expulsion of Greeks from Istanbul
Though the Greeks of Istanbul were initially excluded from the Greek-Turkish population exchange of 1923 and were allowed to remain in their native city, the Turkish government enacted a series of measures that resulted in a dramatic decrease in their numbers, such as the "wealth" tax of 1942 and later the anti-Greek pogrom of September 1955.
[4][5] The expulsion during this period was part of the final phase of state measures aimed at the Turkification of the local economic, social, and cultural life.
[2][9] From 1963 Turkey found itself in diplomatic isolation while NATO and CENTO, organizations in which it was a member, refused to support the Turkish claims for Cyprus.
[8] On March 16, 1964, Turkey unilaterally denounced the Greek-Turkish Convention of Establishment, Commerce and Navigation of 1930, marking the beginning of a massive Greek exodus.
[14] The first wave of expulsion included businessmen and in general members of the community supposed to have conducted activities detrimental to the Turkish state.
They were then transferred to the "Greek Department" at the police headquarters of Istanbul and forced to sign a document in which they had to admit to a number of charges as well as that they "...consented to leave Turkey of their own will".
[18] A Turkish ministerial decree prohibited all Greeks from conducting transactions involving their houses or any other property, and their bank accounts were blocked.
[20] Typical headlines in the Turkish press referred to Greeks as "genetically flawed and ruthless blood-shedders" and "the evil, historical enemy of Turks".
[19] Turkish newspapers frequently printed lists and charts with the names, professions, and personal details of those who were to be expelled, thereby making them open targets and victims of lynching campaigns by fanatical mobs.
In this period of economic warfare, if you do not wish to be the slaves of world nations, become a volunteer in this campaign.The Greek-Orthodox Church and in particular the local Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople were also targeted by the authorities and the press, being typically described as an "unwelcomed residue of Greek influence" in Turkey.
[26] On 21 April 1964, the local authorities forcibly occupied and closed the Greek Orphanage of Büyükada (Prinkipos), thus depriving 165 orphans of their lodgings and education.
[27] The British Consul in Istanbul reported that:[28] he [the Patriarch] and his hierarchy, his churches, schools and seminaries, were continually subjected to vexatious harassments, sometimes of a major kind.
None of his buildings are, for instance, allowed to be repaired or rebuiltAs the expulsion policy became wide-scale the Greek government asked for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council in September 1964.
[17] The exodus continued during the subsequent years with additional thousands of local Greeks leaving Istanbul in fear of losing their lives and property.
[4] As a result of such policies of Turkification, several parts of Istanbul that had been predominantly inhabited by minorities were evacuated during the 1950s and 1960s and were fully abandoned and filled with decaying buildings.
