Coming to Terms with Forced Migration

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In 2015, during Europe's 'migration crisis', the Greek island of Lesvos became a symbol of hospitality worldwide, hosting vast numbers of displaced people. At the same time, the island's residents were emphasising their own refugee identity, explaining that their parents were refugees from Turkey and that this is why they feel sympathy towards the newcomers. What is so striking about Lesvos is that it hosts significant contemporary migration, while a large part of its population descends from refugees from Asia Minor. In Greece, the case of Lesvos is far from rare. In 1923 Greece and Turkey agreed to the compulsory exchange of populations of their religious minorities, a story central to the Greek identity, which transformed the country's contemporary history and poses international interest since it was the first compulsory population exchange in history. The influx of refugees expelled from Turkey to Greece was estimated at around 1.2 million people. After the Second World War and the post-Cold War period came further waves of forced displacement and migration, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the post-1989 migrations turning Greece into an immigration country. Most significant, however, was the 2015 'migration crisis', when the country once again experienced the arrival of more than 1 million displaced people. Greece is a country that constitutes an entry port, a transit point, and a place of settlements for significant contemporary migration flows. With these considerations and while focusing on the case of Greece, the research questions that this research addresses are: How have memories and identities of the 1922-24 forced displacement changed over time from one generation to the next? How do people with these memories and identities think about subsequent migration? In Greece, where the current population composition has been shaped to a large extent by the 1923 population exchange, the significance of the transmission of these memories and identities and the extent to which they are lasting and changeable throughout generations and geographical locations is paramount. The year 2023 is the centenary of the Asia Minor expulsion. Today, in light of the current migration and refugee crises, the critical understanding of past relocations echoes with new relevance. This study creates a comparative - intergenerational and interregional - history of the 1922-24 memories and identities of forced displacement, which uncovers the multilayered relationship between contemporary attitudes and refugee past. How do people with Asia Minor memories and identities of forced displacement think about subsequent migration? Are they becoming empathisers, antagonists, or rivals? Addressing this question, and without ignoring the multiplicity of variables in-play, this study brings together time (generations), place (geographies), and subsequent migration (waves of other migrations). It argues that the intersection of these three interlocking elements allows an understanding of the continuities and discontinuities that characterise the Janus-faced attitudes of refugee descendants, leading to empathy, hostility, and competition. 'Coming to Terms with Forced Migration' throws light on the convoluted relationship between contemporary attitudes and refugee past and reminds us that attitudes towards subsequent migration can be volatile and ambivalent.