The Asia Minor disaster
1935, half of the KKE’s Central Committee and most of its Politburo members were refugees. 9 Though after the Second World War ‘a majority of the rural refugees […] became right -wing nationalists ’ 10 due to their dependence on the Greek state for security, the Asia Minor refugees can be credited with the KKE’s emergence onto the mainstream political stage. Finally, the Asia Minor disaster led to the transformation of Greek nationalism, which had hitherto been founded on the irridentist aspirations of the ‘ Great Idea ’ . Following the Greek War of Independence, the concept of ‘ Greekness ’ had been inclusive, and had ‘ facilitate[d] the acculturation ’ 11 of the Greek state’s many minority populations, such as Vlachs and Albanians. However, after the failure of the ‘ Great Idea ’ and the rise of the KKE as an internal threat, Greek national identity was refocused on strict ethnic lines. General Ioannis Metaxas, who instituted a military dictatorship in Greece after a coup in 1936, promoted Greece’s connection to antiquity and rej ected those not of the ‘ Greek race ’ . Consequently, minority groups were no longer considered to be Greeks, and the state rejected Communist internationalism. This meant that ‘ many [minority groups] opted to support the Communist party ’ 12 due to its internationalist, non-discriminatory ideology, and would later join secessionist movements during the Greek Civil War. In conclusion, it is difficult to overstate the momentous and nuanced effects of the Asia Minor disaster on Greek politics. The defeat of the Greek expedition in 1922, combined with the influx of refugees who idolized Venizelos, resulted in a decade of Venizelist domination over Greek politics. This period boasted many achievements, such as the formation of the Second Hellenic Republic and the revision of the Greek state’s expansionist foreign policy , but also featured the ‘ Trial of the Six ’ , the ugly climax of the ‘ National Schism ’ , which marked Greek politics for decades. Furthermore, the role of the refugees in restoring Venizelos to power led to the normalization of relations with Turkey, which lasted until the 1950s and encouraged a period of cooperation in the Aegean Sea. The Asia Minor Greeks’ dissatisfaction with traditional party politics after the Ankara Convention and their sense of betrayal by the Liberals led to the rise of the Greek Communist Party. This contributed directly to the Greek Civil War of 1946, but also to Greek liberation efforts during the Second World War. Lastly, the population exchange redefined Greek national identity along ethnic criteria, excluding many minorities from the status of ‘ true Greeks ’ and leading to a growth in secessionist and Communist sympathies. The arrival of the Asia Minor refugees posed at once a ‘ staggering burden ’ 13 on Greece, but concurrently an economic opportunity. At the time of the Treaty of Lausanne’s ratification in 1923, Greece was an underdeveloped nation with a mostly agricultural economy. Between 1897 and 1909, the Greek state’s finances had been under the control of the International Financial Commission (IFC). 14 While the IFC’s policies did lead to a relatively stable monetary situation, their conservatism also exacerbated preexisting social problems, such as lawlessness in rural regions. As a result, an estimated 200,000 9 Veremis, T. (2003) ‘1922: Political Continuations and Realignments in the Greek State’. Crossing the Aegean: An Appraisal of the 1922 Compulsory Population Exchange between Greece and Turkey , New York: p. 58. 10 Ibid ., p. 61. 11 Ibid ., p. 59. 12 Ibid ., p. 61. 13 Pentzopoulos op . cit .: p. 144. 14 This was an organization established by the Great Powers to enforce the repayment of Greece’s sovereign debt.
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