Population Policy from Empire to Nation State

Forced Deportation of Orthodox Turks to Greece under the Treaty of Exchange

In our last article, we examined how the Armenian deportation was carried out in order to resolve the issue of minorities, to prevent the establishment of an Armenian state in eastern Anatolia and for the Turkification of Anatolia. In this article, we will read about the expulsion of Greeks and Orthodox Turks to Greece with the Exchange and the expulsion of the Jews in Thrace to Jerusalem with the Thrace events of 1934 in the Turkification of Anatolia.

Exchange means the replacement of one thing with another. Specifically, and as per our subject matter, it is the name given to the deportation and forced migration of the citizens of their respective countries by the Republic of Turkey and the Kingdom of Greece on the basis of religion in accordance with the agreement concluded in 1923 as an annex to the Lausanne Peace Treaty.

As a result of the census completed in 1893, the Ottoman Empire had a total population of 17,388,694, including 12,587,137 Muslims, 2,332,197 Greeks, 1,001,465 Armenians and 817,801 people of other faiths.

In fact, at the very end of the Turkish War of Independence, most of the Greeks living in Turkey had left Turkey because they had participated in the war on the Greek side. Although not at the same rate, a significant number of Armenians and Jews had also left Anatolia.

In Lausanne, on 30 January 1923, the "Convention and Protocol on the Turkish-Greek Population Exchange" was adopted with the treaty signed between Turkey and Greece. With the exchange, 1,200,000 Orthodox Christians outside Istanbul were moved from Anatolia to Greece and 500,000 Muslim Turks were moved from Greece to Turkey. Since the basis of the distinction within the scope of the exchange was not race or language, but religion, among the Orthodox Christians there were also Turkish Orthodox Christian Gagauzians and Orthodox Turks from Karamanli , who did not speak or speak any language other than Turkish. The exchange took place within a period of seven years starting from 1 May 1923, according to the treaty

After the Armenian deportation, the problem of minorities lost its former impact with the population exchange. In addition, the intensive Turkification of the population within the country was ensured by bringing Turks from Greece to Turkey.

As a result of the mutual cultural and technological exchange and interaction of the immigrants brought to Turkey with the local population on many issues, an intensive cultural and technological exchange took place.

1934 Thrace Incidents and Jewish Exports to Israel

A brief history of Judaism

Prophet Abraham, whom the Jews regarded as a great ancestor, came from Urfa and settled in Canaan. He settled his son Ismail in Mecca with his mother Hâcer. Prophet Muhammad, our prophet, came from Ishmael's descendants in 570 BC. In the verses of the Qur'an in the Qur'an, Chapter 93 of Al-Imrân and Chapter 58 of Maryam, the son of Isaac, the other son of Abraham, is referred to as both Jacob and Israel. His sons are also called Benî Israel. Prophet Jacob (Israel) migrated to Egypt with his other 11 sons when his son Joseph became the ruler of Egypt. Prophet Joseph and his brothers multiplied in Egypt as 12 tribes of Jews. Prophet Moses was able to drive the Jews out of Egypt after a lot of struggle with Pharaoh. After the Torah was revealed in the Sinai desert, he died before reaching Jerusalem.

Hz. Dâvud, after defeating Jâlut (Goliath in the Old Testament) who invaded Israel from the Palestinians, was given both rulership and wisdom (prophethood) (Al-Baqarah, Verse 25). After taking the throne and uniting twelve tribes, David established Israel as a state in Jerusalem. When he died after reigning for forty years and six months, he was succeeded by Solomon and completed the Temple of Solomon that his father had started.

586-580 B.C. The Babylonians invaded Jerusalem with Nabuchadnezzar, captured around 10 thousand Jewish families and destroyed the Temple of Solomon.

In 66 - 73 AD, the "Great Jewish Revolt" against the Romans was suppressed by Vespasian and Titus. The Roman army killed many Jews in Jerusalem, about 100,000 were enslaved. These were distributed from Israel throughout the Roman Empire.

These two exiles are mentioned in the Qur'an in verses 4-7 of Isrâ. These two exiles are described in verses 4-7 of the Qur'an as " the two times the Children of Israel made mischief and the calamities that befell them because of it". It continues: "It is hoped that your Lord will pity you, but if you return to mischief again, We will repeat the punishment. We have made Hell a place of eternal punishment for the disbelievers."

The restoration of the Children of Israel to their homeland

On 2 November 1917, British Foreign Secretary A. James Balfour expressed to Lord Rothchild, the leader of the Zionist Movement, the British government's support for the establishment of a "Jewish State" in Palestine. The two drew a draft map of Israel, including the Gaza Strip, the Jordan and the West Bank, and the borders of the country they wished to establish. Subsequently, on 9 December 1917, British forces managed to enter Jerusalem. The British promised land to every Jew who would immigrate to Palestine. On 24 July 1922, the League of Nations accepted the establishment of a British Mandate Administration in Palestine. The British government considered a Jewish state essential for the security of the Suez Canal.

The immigration of Jews from all over the world to Palestine was encouraged. After 1930, the anti-Semitism that emerged in Europe and Turkey accelerated these migrations. Thus, hundreds of thousands of Jews migrated to Palestine between 1930-1936. Jews living in Thrace were also included in this migration from Turkey.

In 1912, there were 9,500 Jews living in Edirne province, 1,110 in Dimetoka, 400 in Mustafa Pasha, 880 in Kırk Kilis, 230 in Lüleburgaz, 2,500 in Rodosto, 1,300 in Çorlu, 1,850 in Gallipoli, 1,850 in Gallipoli, 230 in Dedeağaç, 20 in Sufli, 1,200 in Komotini and 80 in Xanti, totalling 19,300. At that time, the fact that the Jews in Thrace dominated the market in agriculture, animal husbandry and usury, and that they spoke Spanish did not cause a reaction in the society.

Nihal Atsız's appointment to Edirne and his activities

Nihal Atsız (12 January 1905-11 December 1975) was one of the rare intellectuals who defended Turkism. Atsız was one of the leading advocates of pure race. According to him, the most superior race was the Turkish race. Jews and Gypsies were the elements that corrupted the Turkish race. He was appointed as a literature teacher at Edirne Boys' High School. He served in this position between 11 September-28 December 1933. While he was in Edirne, Atsız started to publish Orhun magazine. In addition, through private conversations and conferences with his students and the public, he single-handedly formed a formidable public opinion in favour of Turkishness and against the Jews, like "Kürşad" in the novel Bozkurtlar. His writings criticising the Jews for not speaking Turkish and holding Turkey's commercial activities in their hands were also quoted by the magazine İnkılâp, later renamed Millî İnkılâp by Cevat Rıfat Atilhan, the Commander of the Militia Forces:

"The Jew, who spied for our enemies in the First World War and sucked our blood with his mendacity, has always been the hypocritical Jew of history. It was this stateless Jew who welcomed the Greeks with a huge Greek flag when they entered Bursa during the War of Independence, but when the Turks retook Bursa, he laid the same flag under the feet of our army. When an insane lunatic in Istanbul murdered a Jewish girl he loved, it was the same traitorous Jews who turned the funeral of the girl into a demonstration of enmity against the Turks, the "Murder of Elza Niyego", and who even shouted "Down with the Turks", even though they were in military uniform and were servants of the Turkish army (because a Jew can never be a soldier)!"

Cevat Rıfat Atilhan's writings fuelling Jew-hatred from Istanbul also increased the tension considerably. "Citizen Speak Turkish" campaigns soon turned into a boycott of Jewish shops. Jews spoke Spanish, not Turkish. They were also using an old expression from the Judeo Espanyol language: "There is no onion that does not burn the eye, no Turk that does not cause pain".

Cevat Rıfat Atilhan travelled to Germany at the invitation of Julius Streicher, the publisher of Der Stürmer magazine. After Adolf Hitler and the NSDAP came to power, Der Stürmer had been forming public opinion with antisemitic publications. As a result of his contacts in Germany, Atilhan received 80.000 Mark royalties for the translation of his book The Barrel with Needles into German. Most of his articles in Millî İnkilâp magazine were taken from Der Strümer.

1934 Thrace Events

Cevat Rıfat Atilhan started to publish the magazine Millî İnkılâp on 1 May 1934, and through this magazine he started to publish intensive anti-Semitic publications and prepared the social infrastructure of the Trakya Events.

In his writings on Jews, Cevat Rıfat Atilhan, on the one hand, like Nihal Atsız, accused Jews of betraying the homeland, on the other hand, he criticised Jews for not speaking Turkish and went even further and did not refrain from showing Hitler's anti-Semitic policy against Jews in Germany as a policy that should be taken as an example.

Mustafa Nermi, Orhan Seyfi Orhon, Yusuf Ziya Ortaç contributed to the spread of anti-Semitic ideas with their writings and Cemal Nadir with his cartoons.

From the beginning of June 1934 onwards, Jews were warned to leave their homes and workplaces, and threatening letters began to be sent to Jews asking them to leave the city, stating that this was the wish of the Government and İsmet Pasha. During Atatürk's visit to the city on 25 June 1934, when the issue was brought to his attention, Jewish shops and houses were taken under the protection of security forces upon his order and the events calmed down for a while. After the end of Atatürk's visit, houses and shops were systematically looted. The fact that the security forces did not leave the police stations and garrisons for two days despite the beatings and harassment suggests that they "received orders". All these incidents also took place in Edirne, Çorlu, Lüleburgaz, Babaeski, Uzunköprü, Çanakkale, etc. As a result, Jews emigrated first to Istanbul and then to Palestine with the support of Zionist organisations.

After Çanakkale, the incidents spread to Gallipoli, Edirne, Keşan, Uzunköprü, Kırklareli, Babaeski, Tekirdağ, Lüleburgaz, Çorlu and Silivri, and as a result, according to local sources, 3,000 Jews, and according to foreign sources, 7-10 thousand Jews left their cities. Affected by these events, Izmir Jews decided to read their prayers in Turkish instead of Hebrew in synagogues.

There was no news in the newspapers between 21 June 1934, when the events started in Çanakkale, and 4 July 1934, when they spread all over Thrace.

Mishon Ventura and Gad Franko went to Ankara on 3 July and met with Atatürk, and after this meeting, with Atatürk's intervention, the incidents against Jews in Thrace on 4 July were prevented. On 17 July, the magazine Millî İnkılâp was closed down. Three of those arrested were sentenced to three months to one year in prison and six to six months or more.

While some of the Jews returned to their homes in Thrace, others were influenced by the Zionist movements that started to operate in Istanbul during this period. Thus, 521 Jews emigrated to Palestine in 1934 and 1,445 Jews in 1935.

The number of Jews, who constituted 1.88% of the total population of the province of Edirne before World War II, decreased to 2,000 in 1943 in Edirne, and with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 and the acceptance of mass immigration, it decreased further to 438 in 1960 and to 3 in 1998, and as a result, the resident Jewish community in Thrace completely disappeared.

Between 1934 and 1939, Turkish families migrating from the Balkans were settled in Thrace in place of the Jews who had left Turkey. The Muslim population multiplied and replaced the Jewish merchants and tradesmen.

Conclusion

The fact that the incidents started at the same time or one after the other in different provinces and districts after the establishment of the General Inspectorate, the absence of any criminal sanctions against Nihal Atsız and C. Rıfat Atilhan, who were anti-Semitic, and those who were involved in the incidents, the absence of the trial records of the persons who were involved in the incidents and tried, and the fact that all kinds of facilities were shown for the Jews to be sent to Jerusalem suggest that the possibility of a policy of 'cleansing Thrace of Jews' may be high.

Rıfat Bali, 1934 Trakya Olayları, T.R. Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Istanbul, 2008. Rıfat N. Bali, 1934 Trakya Olayları, 3rd Edition, Libra Publishing, Istanbul, 2012, pp. 339-341

Erol Haker, Once upon a time Jews lived in Kırklareli. İletişim Publishing House, Istanbul 2002

Rıfat N. Bali, "Official Ideology and Non-Muslim Citizens", Birikim, January/February 1998, issue 105-106, pp.170-171.

Kemal Arı, Büyük Mübadele Türkiye'ye Zorunlu Göç 1923-1925, Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınlan, İstanbul, 1995.