The Muslim Community of Western Thrace in Context

Abstract

In 1923, the American Geographical Society (AGS), seeking to convey the context of recent events to its readers, declared that ‘The debatable ground of Thrace has long been a political storm belt’ (AGS 1923: 127). Indeed it had and for a variety of reasons. Before examining the events of the 1940s, it is therefore necessary to examine the longer-term setting and inheritance of the region. The demography of Western Thrace had been subject to major changes and this was to prove a significant factor structuring the 1940s experience of its various ethnic groups. Further, the historical inheritance of such groups had shaped their distinct identities. Indeed, as this chapter will outline, previous events had shown not a sense of shared nationhood, but rather the juxtaposition of competing historical narratives (and irredent- isms) within Western Thrace. More particularly, the Lausanne Treaty (1923) had intentionally ‘minoritised’ the Muslim population and this affected its identity and the discourse surrounding it. Thereafter, the establishment of the Republic of Turkey had challenged the minority socially and politically by counter-posing a new nationalism, based on a secular modernity, with traditional Islam. This created local political rifts amongst the Thracian Muslims that remained unresolved by the 1940s and these undermined its own political cohesion. At the same time, the minority was marginalised, but not excluded, from the politics of its host state, Greece.