Οι μουσουλμανικοί πληθυσμοί στην Ελλάδα (1912-1923): αντιλήψεις και πρακτικές της ελληνικής διοίκησης, σχέσεις με χριστιανούς γηγενείς και πρόσφυγες

Abstract

This present study aims at displaying the basic aspects of the Muslim population’s presence in the Greek state in the period from the Balkan Wars (1912) until the Population Exchange (1923). These two dates signal the incorporation into the Greek state of a large Muslim minority together with its immigration to Turkey, with the exception of the Muslims of the Western Thrace and the regions of Epirus. The aim that was set right from the start was to survey the interactions that resulted from two pairs of relations: between the Muslim minority and the Greek administration as well as between the Muslim minority and the Christian population, indigenous or refugee. The main question the research on the above-mentioned relations was to answer referred to the way the former heterodox “ruler”, synonymous to Hellenism’s enemy, was treated by the Greek central and local administration institutions, by the indigenous Christians, former “reaya”, and, finally by the Christian refugees, victims of the persecutions by the Young Turk or Kemal’s army. Moreover, what is investigated is the extent to which these two pairs of relations described above were influenced by the political events of a period full of alterations and tensions, such as several war conflicts (Balkan Wars, World War I and Minor Asia Expedition), the political dispute during the National Schism and the pursuits of the Greece foreign policy. The structure that was opted reflects the objectives that this dissertation sought to fulfill. In the first section, in a kind of introduction, the geographical allocation and the population of the Muslim minority in the Greek “New Lands” are presented. Simultaneously, the Muslims’ continuous immigration to the Ottoman Empire is thoroughly reported, while there is also an attempt to define the reasons that led to this phenomenon. The second section deals with the diverse aspects of the relations the Greek administration had with the Muslim population living in the Greek state. Specifically, the legal status of the Muslim minority in the Greek territory is presented, as this was shaped by the international treaties, while at the same time it is examined to which extent the conditions imposed for minority protection were implemented by the Greek state. The 719 second chapter of this section is dedicated to the policies adopted by the Greek governments towards the Muslim land property and especially towards the Muslim landowners. What is analyzed next is the electoral behaviour of the Muslim voters, the dynamics of this certain electoral body along with its role within the framework of the National Schism, as well as the activity of the Muslim deputies in the Greek parliament. The following chapter deals with issues related to the education of the Muslims, especially examining the extent to which the Muslim element was integrated into the state policies of language and, consequently, national assimilation. The image of the Muslim minority represented as being contended by the Greek administration had an exceptional role in the Greek propaganda apparatus, which was created to support the national claims; this constitutes the subject of the following chapter. The second section concludes with an assessment of the way the institutions of the Greek central and local administration conceived the position of the Greek Muslim subjects in the financial, political and social life of the country, the perception they had of them, as well as the political practices that were considered as appropriate towards the Muslim population of the Greek territory. The third section treats the relations of the Muslims with the “other”, namely the indigenous Christian residents and the refugees. In each of these chapters the factors that invoked tension in the relations of the above-mentioned population groups are evaluated, tension that in several cases led to conflict. Nevertheless, the coexistence of the Muslims with the indigenous or the refugee Christian neighbour was not only characterized by tensions, but also by harmonious coexistence, collaboration and mutual understanding, despite the war conflicts and the nationalist exaltation during the period 1912-1923. The last section constitutes an attempt to recompose the social life of the Muslims in Greece during this specific period, by presenting their professional activities as well as the organization and function of the Muslim communities as institutions that express collective identity. The subject of this last section, although it does not comply with the main aspirations of this study, was chosen to trace in a most broad way the Muslim presence within the borders of the Greek state in the period 1912-1923.