International Symposium on Turkish-Greek Compulsory Population Exchange: Memory, Identity, Reconstruction
1923 Turkish-Greek Compulsory Population Exchange in Its 100th Anniversary will be discussed with all its dimensions in an International Symposium.
The symposium to be held in Istanbul on 1-2 April 2023 will host 36 academicians and researchers from universities in Turkey, Greece, England, France, Brazil and Canada.
Pursuant to the exchange agreement signed in Lausanne on January 30, 1923, Muslim Turks residing in Greece, excluding those in Western Thrace, and Greek Orthodox residing in Turkey, excluding those in Istanbul, became subjected to forced migration. According to the Protocol, around two million people were forced to live in new settlements by being uprooted from their homes. This mass and forced migration in our history is called “exchange,” (mübadele) and the people are called as the “exchanged” (mübadil). It was not easy for the refugees to adapt to the new living environment they arrived after difficult journeys, leaving behind their life styles, livelihoods, houses, places of worship, memories, in short, everything that belonged to them. Lausanne Population Exchange is an international historical event whose effects continue to this day. In the symposium, this subject will be discussed from political, economic, social, cultural, artistic, architectural and literary aspects.
The International Centenary Symposium on the Lausanne Population Exchange is organized with the cooperation and contributions of The Foundation of Lausanne Treaty Emigrants, Istanbul-Şişli Municipality, Asia Minor Research Center (KMS) and Minority Groups Research Center (KEMO) from Greece. The aim of this symposium is to contribute to the development of a culture of peace and a multicultural understanding among the peoples of Turkey and Greece, and to the preserve the cultural heritage left behind by the exchanged communities and the heritage carried along with them.
The symposium program, resumes and absracts of the participant academics and researchers can be accessed through the symposium website in Turkish and English.
The symposium speeches will be in Turkish and English and simultaneous translation will be provided. The symposium was organized as a HYBRID event. Some speakers who can not attend the symposium will make their presentations via Zoom. For this reason, we ask especially to the virtual audience to fill in the registration section on the symposium website or send their contact information to sempozyum@lozanmubadilleri.org.tr. A Zoom link will be sent to the participants who share their contact information.
During the symposium, the exhibition “Footprints of the Exchange” prepared by the cartoonist Semih Poroy will be open to visitors.
Web: mubadele100.org
E.mail: sempozyum@lozanmubadilleri.org.tr
