This Monday Turkey held remembrance services for Victory Day, “Zafer Bayram” in Turkish. The reason for the celebrations is the fact that the Battle of Dumlupınar ended on Aug. 30, 1922. This not only marked the end of that particular Greek invasion of Turkey -- there had been other’s before, of course -- but is in retrospect regarded as the day that ultimately heralded the end of Turkey’s War of Independence.
The various phases in the Republic of Turkey’s development as a nation-state -- from its very creation and unfortunate periods of military rule up to today’s modern, democratic and aspiring EU member state outlook -- will have been covered by many of my colleagues on the occasion of this year’s Victory Day. What interests me is how relations between the two former enemies have improved, and whether we can say that Greek-Turkish relations are already fully normalized. As the better part of an entire century has elapsed since the formation of the new Turkish Republic, one would assume so.
In order to evaluate present day relations, I took a look at three issues, or rather places: İstanbul, Cyprus and Turkey’s Aegean coast.
Today’s İstanbul is, unfortunately, no longer a place where we find large numbers of Greek citizens. From more than 100,000 citizens of Greek origin early in the life of the new republic the unfortunate events of September 1955 (in which Greeks and their properties became the target of violent attacks in İstanbul) led to a further reduction in numbers and in today’s İstanbul only a few thousand remain. Can this trend ever be reversed? It is difficult to say, but not impossible. Today’s political climate has changed and local sentiment is definitely not “anti-Greek.”
In retrospect I dare say perhaps it never was “anti-Greek” per se once the new republic had been successfully established and was on its way to becoming the proud nation state it is today. Anti-Greek sentiment was perhaps more of a deep state invention. Citizens were made to believe that the outside world was hostile and that Turkish citizens were right to vent their anger at those who were “different” to try to further establish a uniform, single-race state, a project that was destined to fail.
Cyprus remains divided, longing for a permanent solution that satisfies both the south and the north of the island, and close Turkish-Greek relations may play a key role in determining the island’s fate. Athens has, of course, considerable influence over policies vis-a-vis reunification, as does Ankara. Contacts between both capitals should further improve and increased numbers of high-level delegations should meet with each other (not only for trade-related reasons, but for talking more about policies, too!)
The perfect location to observe today’s level of mutual understanding is Turkey’s Aegean coast, first due to the historical dimension (think about the history of İzmir as a case in point) and, second, because of its geographical proximity to Greece. One practical example I came across is the annual Peace Festival, which is currently marking its 15th year in Didim, a thriving resort town located on the southern end of Turkey’s Aegean coastline.
During the festival, which begins right after celebrations for Victory Day have come to their end, local citizens engage in the planting of trees in the name of peace, participate in a peach march and show off some of their finest cultural achievements (folk music, puppet theatre, paintings, architecture and monuments). The most remarkable aspect of this undertaking is not only that 15,000 guests are expected to participate in 2010, but that artists from Greece join in the activities. Perhaps of even more relevance, Greek civil society is represented by a delegation, too!
Increased grass roots involvement in fostering contacts between Greece and Turkey may perhaps be easier to achieve than changing state policies. However, over the last decade relations between Athens and Ankara have improved immensely. Neither peoples want war between their countries, or anywhere else for that matter. Let the people speak and have politicians listen and the future of mutually beneficial relations between Greece and Turkey looks bright indeed.
