The Muslims’ exodus from Macedonia and the few exceptions

For many years, the narratives surrounding the mandatory population exchange remained predominantly nationalistic. On the one hand, this was a necessity due to the trauma inflicted on the refugees, but also their need to urgently tackle their new circumstances and integrate, when they often found themselves confronted with hostility both on behalf of the Greek state and the Greek society. On the other hand, this nationalism was also a central political choice, consciously made by the Greek state and opportunistically utilised both in response to wider diplomatic developments and in pursuit of narrower political objectives.

Over the past 20 years, however, another aspect of the exchange has been brought to light and new emphasis has been placed on the mutual character of the population exchange; a process which was naturally not experienced by all populations in the same way, but does retain one central common element: the forced abandonment of a place viewed as home. Lately, thousands of Greeks and Turks have been travelling to their ancestors’ villages, thus coming into direct contact with the ‘other’. Through books, exhibitions and discussions, the population exchange has been newly presented as a violent uprooting imposed on people who had not wanted to leave their villages or towns. So, while it is true that for many Christians, who had found themselves caught in the maelstrom of war, flight appeared as an inevitable solution, this was not the case for many Christians in Cappadocia or Muslims who had been living in Macedonia for generations.

The latter were recorded in the August 1924 Register. Until that point, a total of 203,925 people had departed from the port of Thessaloniki. The Register provides data on departure dates, ship names, ports of arrival and the total number of passengers who travelled on each boat. Motivated by ideology and for reasons of prestige, the Turkish government had decided that Muslims were to be transported exclusively by Turkish boats.^[1] For the August departures, the ports of arrival were Mersini, Raidestos, Tsesmes, Nikomideia (Ismid), Constantinople, Samsun, Kallipoli, Vourla (Ourla) and Attaleia. In the corresponding lists for the months of April and June, we also find the ports of Mudania, Kallikrateia, Smyrna, Myriofito (Mürefte) and Kerasounta (Giresun). In August 1924, Muslims departed from the following areas: 7,949 from Kastoria, 993 from Sidirokastro (Demir-Hissar), 57 from Giannitsa (Yenidje), 5,346 from Serres, 1,068 from Florina, 1,594 from Veroia, 5 from Fanos, Kilkis (Mayadag), 9 from Neapoli, Kozani (Nasellits), 45 from Lagkadas, 34 from Kilkis, 335 from Aridaia (Karadjova), 146 from Thessaloniki, 10 from Edessa (Vodena), 5,100 from Ptolemaida (Kayalar).

By the end of 1924, the departure of Macedonian Muslims (including those who had resided in Thessaloniki) had been completed. Several of the Muslims of Thessaloniki had attempted to remain in the city. Those who succeeded were mostly Muslims of other nationalities, mainly Albanians and Serbs, as well as some Circassians, who had either been living in Greece or had arrived in the country as fugitives after the end of the war, persecuted for dissent or collaboration with the Greek army. The items depict two lists of Muslims who remained in the city, compiled by the Police Directorate of Thessaloniki and found in the relevant archive of the General Governorate of Macedonia (GRGSA-IAM).

The first is dated 21/1/1925 and includes a total of 97 people, along with their professions and addresses. Of these, 50 were Serb nationals, 20 were Albanian nationals, 12 were exchangeable and 7 were of ‘unknown nationality’. This piece of evidence has been presented elsewhere in detail.^[2] It is noteworthy that most of the Serbs were roasted chickpea sellers, halvah makers, milk sellers, cooks and bakers, while most of the Albanians were guards and a few were land owners. Of the ‘exchangeables’, most were wealthy rentiers and merchants who had secured a permit to stay either from the Mixed Commission or from the General Governorate of Macedonia. ^[3] According to their addresses, the people on the list mostly resided in the centre and the eastern part of the city.

The second list is dated 4/2/1925 and includes 57 people in total, along with their professions and addresses. The list includes the Muslims who lived in Ano Poli (of the 57, one lived in the area of Mevlehane and one in Eski Delik). Of these, 42 were of Albanian nationality, 8 were Circassians, 4 were Serbs, 1 Ottoman, 1 French and 1 of unknown nationality. They all carried different documents from different authorities allowing them to remain in the city. Many of them were merchants and land owners, but there were also workers (mainly in tobacco), office workers, guards and tradesmen (2 bakers, 1 inn owner, 1 tobacco seller, 1 coachman, 1 farrier, and 1 watchmaker), 1 student, as well as 2 women.

According to the second list, Faik Moustafa, an Albanian national and land owner, lived at 2 Athinas Street with his seven-member family. A year later, on 5/2/1926, Athanasios Bitsaktsis, an exchangeable refugee from Aivali, was (also?) living at the same address.

^[1] Bruce Clark, Twice a Stranger: The Mass Expulsions that Forged Modern Greece and Turkey, trans. by Vicky Potamianou, Potamos, Athens 2007, pp. 211-212.

^[2] Evanghelos Ηekimoglou, ‘The last Muslims leave Thessaloniki’ in Evanghelos Chekimoglou, Thessaloniki, Turkish rule and the Interwar period. Essays on the history and topography of the city, Ekfrasi, University Studio Press, Thessaloniki 1995, pp. 377-385.

^[3] Ibid., pp. 381-384.