Politics
103 years on, memories of Turkish-Greek population exchange endure
More than a century after Türkiye and Greece signed a landmark agreement forcing hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, the trauma of the population exchange continues to echo across generations, according to a senior official from a foundation representing the descendants of those uprooted.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) reporters, Foundation of the Lausanne Population Exchange (Lozan Mübadilleri Vakfı) Secretary General Esat Halil Ergelen said the 1923 agreement, signed on Jan. 30 as part of the postwar settlement following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, left scars that remain deeply embedded in family histories on both sides of the Aegean.
Under the accord, Muslim populations living in Greece and Orthodox Christians living in Türkiye were compelled to relocate based on religious identity. About 1.5 million Orthodox Christians were sent from Anatolia to Greece, while roughly 500,000 Muslim Turks were moved from Greece to Türkiye.
“These people were not numbers,” Ergelen said. “The pain of forced migration did not end with the first generation. Their children and grandchildren continue to carry that trauma.”
Ergelen said the roots of the exchange predated the agreement itself, pointing to the Balkan Wars of 1912 and the Greco-Turkish War that followed World War I. After Turkish forces defeated the Greek army in August 1922, he said, nearly 1 million Orthodox Christians fled Anatolia alongside retreating Greek troops, initially seeking refuge on Aegean islands before moving to Athens.
At the time, Greece’s population stood at roughly 5 million, Ergelen said, making the sudden influx a major security and social challenge. Greek authorities, he added, dispersed the newcomers to northern regions inhabited by Muslim Turks, forcing local families to share their homes with refugees.
“This was the most sensitive issue heading into Lausanne,” Ergelen said. “Greece said, ‘These are your citizens, take them back.’ Türkiye agreed, but Greece also demanded that they not be prosecuted. Because of that dispute, many remained in Greece under refugee status until the exchange was formalized.”
Ergelen described the agreement as unprecedented, saying it marked one of the first times in modern history that an international treaty sanctioned what he called an “exchange of people,” a term traditionally used for goods.
Many of those expelled from Anatolia were Turkish-speaking Orthodox Christians from central regions such as Cappadocia, he said. Others departed to southern ports like Mersin before boarding ships for Greece. Muslim Turks from Greece, meanwhile, traveled by sea and rail to Anatolia and were resettled in areas vacated by departing Christians and Armenians.
Ergelen, himself a third-generation descendant of exchange migrants, said his family arrived by sea from Kavala and settled in Istanbul. As a child, he recalled hearing elders describe their former homes as paradise. When he later visited the area, he said he realized how the exchange had also spared his family from later conflicts, including World War II and Greece’s civil war.
He said descendants often travel to ancestral villages, guided by oral histories and archival research. Since 2000, the foundation has organized trips to Greece under the banner “Hello, My Birthplace,” helping families trace their roots.
Years of research culminated in the publication of an atlas documenting former Turkish place names in northern Greece, allowing many descendants, Ergelen said, to finally locate the villages their grandparents were forced to leave behind.
A Turkish court on Friday ruled to keep 17 defendants, including several mayors from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), in pretrial detention in the high-profile case against businessperson Aziz Ihsan Aktaş, who is accused of leading a large bribery and tender-rigging network.
The interim decision was announced after the 19th hearing of the case at the Istanbul 1st High Criminal Court. Among those whose detention will continue are suspended Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat and suspended Avcılar Mayor Utku Caner Çaykara. The court ordered the release of seven other defendants and adjourned the trial until April 20.
The case, which involves around 200 defendants, centers on allegations that Aktaş ran a criminal organization that secured lucrative municipal tenders and construction permits through bribery, particularly in municipalities governed by the CHP.
Aktaş, initially arrested in 2024, later cooperated with authorities and was released under house arrest. Prosecutors describe him as the “leader of the criminal ring” and are seeking up to 450 years in prison. Some defendants, including Akpolat, face potential sentences of more than 300 years on corruption-related charges.
According to the indictment, the network allegedly manipulated procurement processes at municipalities such as Beşiktaş and Avcılar, as well as at municipal companies linked to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, including public transportation and asphalt services.
Defense lawyers argued in the latest hearing that their clients had been detained for an extended period and that the evidence against them was insufficient, claiming the tenders were conducted in line with regulations. They requested release, citing no flight risk or risk of evidence tampering.
The trial began in January, and the court has so far heard testimony from dozens of defendants. Earlier sessions resulted in the release of several suspects, including some local officials.
The investigation into Aktaş marked the start of a broader series of corruption probes targeting CHP-run municipalities. The party has described the investigations as politically motivated and has organized public rallies calling for the release of detained officials, while the government maintains that the judiciary operates independently.
Prosecutors allege the network expanded its activities in recent years, securing numerous public contracts across Istanbul and other cities, in what they describe as a large-scale scheme that undermined public resources. The court is expected to continue examining financial records, tender documents and witness testimony in the coming hearings.
Türkiye’s foreign minister held a series of phone calls Friday with his counterparts from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to discuss recent developments between Islamabad and Kabul, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan spoke separately with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, the sources said.
The conversations focused on the latest tensions and diplomatic developments between Pakistan and Afghanistan, amid heightened regional attention to security and political dynamics between the two neighbors.
Pakistan and Afghanistan exchanged heavy cross-border fire on Thursday after Kabul launched retaliatory strikes against Pakistani military positions, prompting Islamabad to accuse the Afghan Taliban administration of “unprovoked action” and insisting its forces delivered an “immediate and effective response” across multiple sectors of the frontier.
Cross-border clashes intensified along the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier, with both sides reporting military operations and casualties in some of the most serious fighting since recent tensions began to escalate.
Türkiye, on the other hand, has in recent years sought to maintain dialogue with regional actors and position itself as a facilitator in efforts to ease tensions and promote stability in South and Central Asia.
Finland wants to deepen cooperation with Türkiye by partnering with its strong construction sector to support Ukraine’s rebuilding efforts while expanding their already close defense ties, Finnish Ambassador to Ankara Pirkko Mirjami Hamalainen said.
Hamalainen told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Finland expects to expand the two countries’ collaborative efforts into new areas, particularly in the construction industry.
She noted that joint projects are possible bilaterally and in third countries and that Helsinki is eager to collaborate with Ankara on the reconstruction of Ukraine.
She stated that Türkiye’s support for Finland’s NATO accession is important in the face of European security risks.
Hamalainen said the two countries’ NATO memberships will allow them to collaborate more closely and work together.
She noted that Türkiye has the largest land forces in Europe, making it an important partner for Finland, particularly on NATO’s southern flank.
She added that the signing of a defense cooperation deal between the two countries last year prompted corporate cross-promotion and bilateral defense efforts to ramp up even further.
Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş received the final decision of the Gaza Tribunal from the head of the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF) during a meeting at Parliament, officials said Thursday.
According to a statement from the speaker’s office, ICYF President Taha Ayhan briefed Kurtulmuş on the findings of the independent initiative and formally presented the tribunal’s final ruling, announced in Istanbul on Oct. 26, 2025.
The tribunal’s conscience jury concluded that Israel and those supporting its actions were responsible for ongoing genocide and serious international crimes in Gaza.
The ruling highlighted alleged violations, including the use of starvation as a weapon, widespread destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure, environmental devastation, attacks on health facilities and personnel, and the targeting of journalists and educational institutions.
Evidence and witness testimonies collected during the proceedings were compiled by legal experts and are set to be submitted to relevant international bodies, including the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, for use in ongoing or potential legal cases.
The Gaza Tribunal was established in London in November 2024 as an independent people’s court initiative led by global civil society in response to what organizers described as insufficient enforcement of international law.
Chaired by former U.N. special rapporteur Richard Falk, the process included hearings in Sarajevo in May 2025 and final sessions in Istanbul attended by thousands of participants and dozens of experts and victim witnesses.
Officials said the initiative aims to strengthen international accountability efforts and raise global awareness of alleged violations in Gaza.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s chief adviser Akif Çağatay Kılıç on Wednesday received Igor Khovayev, Moscow’s special representative for the normalization process between Azerbaijan and Armenia
Kılıç said on the social media platform NSosyal that he received Khovayev along with the Russian delegation at the Presidential Complex in the capital Ankara.
The meeting addressed the bilateral relations between Ankara and Moscow, the ongoing Baku-Yerevan normalization process aimed at establishing lasting peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as the latest developments in the South Caucasus, he noted.
On Aug. 8, 2025, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met in Washington under U.S. mediation and signed a joint declaration reaffirming their commitment to ending decades of conflict. On the same occasion, the foreign ministers of both countries initialed a peace agreement, underscoring a shared determination to advance toward full normalization.
Türkiye and Armenia have held five rounds of normalization talks in recent years, seeking to restore diplomatic ties and reopen borders closed since the early 1990s.
The two countries share a complex history. Armenia, for a long time, has accused Türkiye, or rather, the Ottoman Empire, of committing “genocide” against the Armenian population in the country during World War I. Türkiye has repeatedly denied the claims, although it has acknowledged a high number of deaths among Armenians due to isolated incidents and diseases.
Borders have remained closed since 1993 following Armenia’s illegal occupation of the Azerbaijani territory of Karabakh. Relations began to thaw after the 2020 Karabakh war, with both sides appointing special envoys to pursue normalization talks and negotiating the reopening of their land border. So far, limited agreements have allowed third-country citizens and diplomats to cross, but a full reopening remains elusive.
Despite the hurdles, there have been tentative gestures toward cooperation. The Margara border crossing has been used twice in recent years for humanitarian purposes: in February 2023 to deliver Armenian aid trucks following a devastating earthquake in southeastern Türkiye, and in March 2024 for humanitarian aid shipments to Syria via Türkiye. Armenia has also upgraded the crossing in anticipation of future use.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement on Thursday to commemorate the victims of the Khojaly Massacre in Azerbaijan, on the anniversary of the tragic incident.
Soon after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Armenian forces took over the town of Khojaly in Karabakh on Feb. 26, 1992, after battering it with heavy artillery and tanks.
The town was the site of a two-hour Armenian offensive that killed 613 Azerbaijani civilians, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly people, and seriously injured 487 others, according to Azerbaijani figures.
Some 150 of the 1,275 Azerbaijanis that the Armenians captured during what has now been called the Khojaly Massacre remain missing, while eight families were completely wiped out.
The Karabakh region was the site of mass killings and burials since the First Karabakh War in the early 1990s, during which the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions, including Khojaly.
In the fall of 2020, in 44 days of fighting, Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages and settlements in Karabakh from some 30 years of Armenian occupation.
In September 2023, the Azerbaijani army initiated a counterterrorism operation in Karabakh to establish a constitutional order, after which illegal separatist forces in the region surrendered.
Türkiye was among the first countries to recognize the Khojaly incident as a massacre and has called for justice for its victims.
The ministry said it condemned the massacre against innocent civilians and noted that it remained a dark stain on humanity’s conscience.
“We carry the pain of 613 Azerbaijani brothers and sisters, those who went missing, those who were held in captivity, those who were injured,” the ministry said.
On Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed his sorrow over the tragedy, saying on X: “On the 33rd anniversary of the Khojaly Massacre, a tragedy we will never forget, I remember with deep sorrow our Azerbaijani brothers who lost their lives.”
He also extended his condolences to the people of Azerbaijan, emphasizing the unity between the two, saying: “We stand united in both good times and bad.”
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