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Excesses of nationalism: G reco‐ T urkish population exchange
Author(s) -
Kolluoğlu Biray
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
nations and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1469-8129
pISSN - 1354-5078
DOI - 10.1111/nana.12028
Subject(s) - nationalism , population , accommodation , state (computer science) , displacement (psychology) , political science , sociology , law , demography , computer science , psychology , psychotherapist , algorithm , neuroscience , politics
Abstract This article studies 1923 compulsory population exchange between G reece and T urkey through a case study of its experience in I zmir. It traces the ways the early R epublican state engaged in the project of reshaping the population by eliminating the non‐ M uslims who were rendered as ‘excesses’ in the spatial and discursive matrices of the nation‐state. Through the experience of the exchange in I zmir, it argues that the process of the accommodation and assimilation of the exchangees played a significant role in shaping the modalities of T urkish nationalism by creating new lines and fissures, further dividing the ‘ M uslim brethren’ into ever restrictive constructions of T urkishness. It also underlines that this forced displacement is not just a significant episode in G reek and T urkish histories but that it represents a turning point in the project of nation formation in general.