Çağdaş Türkiye Tarihi Araştırmaları Dergisi

Öz

On 30 January 1923 the convention concerning the exchange of Turkish and Greek
populations was signed and it was decided to exchange Turkish nationals of the Greek
Orthodox religion settled in Turkish territory and Greek nationals of the Muslim religion
settled in Greek territory. This convention led to a sharp transformation in the lives of
hundreds of thousands of people. In addition to the obscurity they were heading towards,
being obliged to leave their homelands within the given period of time was a major trouble
for the refugees of both countries. In such cases of non-synchronism of the exchange process
on both sides, the refugees who had not yet left their lands, had to live along with the refugees
of the other country. As some of the refugees left their entire histories along with their goods
in their homelands, they reacted to the situation of being obliged to live together with the
refugees of the other country in the settlements which were promised to themselves. Contrary
to these examples of negative encounters, there had also been some refugees who acted
insightfully because of sharing the same destiny with the others and even advised each other
about their new homeland. In this study, the positive and negative results of these encounters
of the refugees of both sides will be discussed on the basis of oral testimonies and memories
of the refugees.