Fleeing the Empire: The Experience of Armenian Refugees in Greece

27 feb 2024 · 18 min. 6 sec.

Descrizione

Welcome back to "Crossing the Aegean: A Century of People on the Move"! We are embarking on another leg of our journey tracing the footsteps of migrants and refugees whose...

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Welcome back to "Crossing the Aegean: A Century of People on the Move"! We are embarking on another leg of our journey tracing the footsteps of migrants and refugees whose stories have left an indelible mark on the Aegean landscape. In this episode, together with Merih Erol, we explore the Armenians who sought refuge in Greece during the 1920s, following the Armenian Genocide. She was interviewed by Noémi Lévy-Aksu. Ece Koçak summarized and provided commentary on Merih’s episode in Turkish, while Community Peacemaker Teams did the same in Greek.

Merih tells how she became interested in this lesser-explored facet of migration history. We discuss the motivations of the Armenians who migrated to Greece during that era, as well as the myriad challenges they confronted upon arrival. Furthermore, we explore the mutual benefits that historical studies, such as this one, can offer to the field of refugee studies, and vice versa. Lastly, we examine how the memory of this displacement resonates among younger generations of Armenian Greeks, shaping their identities.

A brief remark for future chapters: From this chapter onwards, we will begin to look at communities that were not subject to the exchange agreement, but were affected by the conditions that made the exchange possible. In the following chapters, we will focus on the experience of Greeks from Imbros and Istanbul.

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