The Greek minority (Greeks) in the Turkish population censuses of 1927 and 1935

Introduction. The article examines the decline in the number of the Greek ethnic minority in the Ottoman Empire and in the territory of modern Turkiye at the beginning of the 20th century, which is reflected in the census materials. Even though republican Turkiye recognizes “non-Muslim minorities” living on its territory, its official documents do not allow us to talk about the nationality of citizens, however, the population censuses of 1927 and 1935 allow us to estimate the change in the number of Greeks in the country in the early period of its existence using indirect indicators.

Materials and Methods. The study was conducted to base on an analysis of Russian, Turkish and English sources of various formats devoted both to the attitude of Turkiye towards ethnic minorities living on its territory in general and to the Greeks in particular. First, it is necessary to highlight the legislative acts of the Republic of Turkiye, namely its Constitutions of different years of publication. In addition, the most important source of this study is the censuses of the Turkish Republic of 1927 and 1935, which allow us to estimate the number of the Greek population of the country in its provinces, as well as to identify the attitude of the authorities to their own population, paying attention to the methodology of their conduct and inconsistencies. By using statistical analysis as a research method, it is possible to identify patterns between the results of the censuses of the Republic of Turkiye in 1927 and 1935.

 Analysis. The data from the population censuses of the Ottoman Empire and the first two censuses of republican Turkiye show a serious change in the number of Greeks living in Asia Minor, amounting to more than 1.5 million people. The policy of Ankara in terms of non-recognition of ethnic minorities, which can be traced in many official documents of the republic, extends to the first population census of 1927 and 1935, in which the nationality of the respondents is not recorded. However, thanks to census data from sections devoted to the native language and religion, it is possible to track the dynamics of Greeks living in Turkiye. In addition, the study covers a detailed study of data on the above-mentioned metrics in 13 provinces of the state, when comparing which inaccuracies and, in many ways, the lack of a clear correlation was found, which may indicate data falsification, to designate as many Turkish residents as possible as Turks.

Results. Despite the policy of non-recognition by Republican Turkiye of ethnic minorities living on its territory in official documents, the censuses of 1927 and 1935. They allow us to estimate the total number of ethnic Greeks in accordance with two indicators of ethnicity – native language and religion. However, in the 13 provinces of Turkiye that our study covers, there are discrepancies between the number of Orthodox and Greek speakers, which, in our opinion, could be due to falsification of local data by regional officials, inaccuracies in data processing by representatives of the central government of the country, as well as self-identification of the population.

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