Istanbul - Changing Demographics

[mcgillianaire]

In the 1930s when the population of this most cosmopolitan of cities used to be between 700-800,000 about 300,000 was made up of Greeks. There was also a significant number of Armenians and Jews. But today there are no more than 20,000 Jews; 50,000 Armenians and less than 3,000 Greeks out of a population between 13 and 16 million. By any measure that is a shockingly disappointing transformation. I'd still love to visit it though.

Comments

[brinker.livejournal.com]

The first time I visited Istanbul, after only seeing Europe, I was shocked at how "other worldly" and Arab it seemed. When I went back to live there (after having seen a few more Arab countries,) I was shocked at how European it seemed.

A new teacher who was moving there emailed me to ask what it was like, what she should bring, etc. She'd never been there, but kept talking about how cosmopolitan it was and how she shouldn't need to worry about it being Muslim. She finally came, but didn't last very long when she found out that it apparently wasn't nearly as cosmopolitan of a city as she'd envisioned. I laughed very hard.

All in all, though, Turkey in general is awesome and remains my all-time favorite country to visit. I definitely hope you're able to go some day.

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

>I was shocked at how European it seemed
That's exactly how I'd've imagined it to be. Very interesting story. Istanbul (in its older incarnations) has fascinated me ever since I began reading world history books as a child. When I was in school I used to draw up trios of cities that I'd like to visit in a single trip. Istanbul was part of a group with Athens and Cairo. I've not been to the other two yet but my best friend is moving to Crete at the end of the month and it's pretty close to all three, so who knows!

When was the last time you were in Istanbul and when did you first visit it?

[brinker.livejournal.com]

I wasn't particularly interested in it, until I visited. Then I fell in love with it. Of course, I've always been enamored by the Middle East, and this was the closest I'd come, so that may be part of why it appealed to me.

Athens is nice, although there are other parts of Greece I liked more. Cairo.... well.... I put Egypt in the category of things that you're very glad you've done, but it doesn't mean you enjoy it. I put stepping on a scorpion in that same category. But it is very worth seeing.

First time I was there was in 97. I worked there in 2001-2002. It hadn't changed all that much, just my perspectives had.

Happy Independence Day

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

Interesting stuff. Why did you not enjoy Cairo?

Re: Happy Independence Day

[brinker.livejournal.com]

Well, I never enjoy cities, and Cairo was one of the biggest/smelliest/noisiest/etc. I've been in. But also the people were annoying. Pretty much everywhere you go, you get harassed, to the point of people getting downright angry and yelling at you and such if you don't give them money. Just not a pleasant place, all in all, in my opinion.

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Suppose that's a fair enough reason. Though my years of experiencing some of what you've described there in India should stand me in good stead!

[brinker.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd be curious how it relates to India. I suspect similar in many ways.

Which reminds me that I need to go send my passport off to get an Indian visa tomorrow... No specific plans for traveling there yet, but I will, so would rather have the visa out of the way.

[dubaiwalla.livejournal.com]

Your dates may be slightly off.

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

The BBC radio programme (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00hj6sn) that mentioned this treaty made the point that despite it, the population of Greeks in Istanbul was still that high because it did not take part in the exchange.

[dubaiwalla.livejournal.com]

Ah, did not know that.

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

From the link you provided above:

"The Turks and other Muslims of Western Thrace were exempted from this transfer as well as the Greeks of Istanbul and the Aegean Islands of Imbros (Gökçeada) and Tenedos (Bozcaada).

Due to punitive measures carried out by the Republic of Turkey, such as the 1932 parliamentary law which barred Greek citizens in Turkey from a series of 30 trades and professions from tailor and carpenter to medicine, law, and real estate,[9] the Greek population of Istanbul began to decline, as evidenced by demographic statistics.

The Varlık Vergisi capital gains tax imposed in 1942 on wealthy non-Muslims in Turkey also served to reduce the economic potential of ethnic Greek businesspeople in Turkey. Furthermore, violent incidents as the Istanbul Pogrom (1955) directed against the ethnic Greek community greatly accelerated emigration of Greeks, reducing the 200,000-strong Greek minority in 1924 to just over 2,500 in 2006."

(The figures from the radio programme were provided by people living in Istanbul, not academics so are not as exact as the ones quoted above).