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Greeks in Turkey

The Greeks in Turkey (Turkish: Rumlar) constitute a small population of Greek and Greek-speaking Eastern Orthodox Christians who mostly live in Istanbul, as well as on the two islands of the western entrance to the Dardanelles: Imbros and Tenedos (Turkish: Gökçeada and Bozcaada). Greeks are one of the four ethnic minorities officially recognized in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, together with Jews, Armenians,[6][7][8] and Bulgarians.[9][10][11]

This article is about the Greek communities after the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, in 1923. For the pre-1923 Greek communities, see Ottoman Greeks.

They are the remnants of the estimated 200,000 Greeks who were permitted under the provisions of the Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations to remain in Turkey following the 1923 population exchange,[12] which involved the forcible resettlement of approximately 1.5 million Greeks from Anatolia and East Thrace and of half a million Turks from all of Greece except for Western Thrace. After years of persecution (e.g. the Varlık Vergisi and the Istanbul Pogrom), emigration of ethnic Greeks from the Istanbul region greatly accelerated, reducing the Greek minority population from 119,822 before the attack[13] to about 7,000 by 1978.[14] The 2008 figures released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry places the current number of Turkish citizens of Greek descent at the 3,000–4,000 mark.[2] However, according to the Human Rights Watch the Greek population in Turkey is estimated at 2,500 in 2006. The Greek population in Turkey is collapsing as the community is now far too small to sustain itself demographically, due to emigration, much higher death rates than birth rates and continuing discrimination.[15]


Since 1924, the status of the Greek minority in Turkey has been ambiguous. Beginning in the 1930s, the government instituted repressive policies forcing many Greeks to emigrate. Examples are the labour battalions drafted among non-Muslims during World War II, as well as the Fortune Tax (Varlık Vergisi) levied mostly on non-Muslims during the same period. These resulted in financial ruination and death for many Greeks. The exodus was given greater impetus with the Istanbul Pogrom of September 1955 which led to thousands of Greeks fleeing the city, eventually reducing the Greek population to about 7,000 by 1978 and to about 2,500 by 2006. According to the United Nations, this figure was much smaller in 2012 and reached 2,000. As of 2023, according to The Economist, "Turkey’s Greeks are on the verge of extinction".[16]


A minority of Muslim Pontic Greek speakers, using a dialect called "Romeyka" or "Ophitic", still live in the area around Of.[17][18][19]

Patriarch (1940): current patriarch of Constantinople. Born in Imbros as Dimitrios Arhondonis.

Bartholomew I

(1909-2003): American film director. Born Elias Kazancıoğlu in Istanbul

Elia Kazan

(1967): current archbishop of America. Born in Bakırköy, Istanbul as Ioannis Lambriniadis.

Archbishop Elpidophoros of America

Patriarch (1892-1980): Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1957 to 1980. Born in Bursa as Vasileios Papadopoulos.

Benedict I of Jerusalem

(1944-2023): guitarist and composer. Born in Istanbul from a Greek-Armenian family.

Gilbert Biberian

(1918-1995): cartoonist known as Bost, born in Istanbul.

Chrysanthos Mentis Bostantzoglou

(1924-2010): evangelical preacher and translators of the New Testament in Turkish. Born in Istanbul.

Thomas Cosmades

Patriarch (1914-1991): patriarch of Constantinople from 1972 to 1991. Born in Istanbul.

Demetrios I of Constantinople

(1892-1945): musician. Born in Istanbul.

Antonis Diamantidis

(1952): particle physicist at Stanford University. Born in Istanbul.

Savas Dimopoulos

(1911-1980): politician, member of Grand National Assembly twice

Aleksandros Hacopulos

(1958): former volleyball player for Eczacıbaşı and the Turkish National Team. She was born in Istanbul from a Greek-Romani family. Her father Hristo played football for Beşiktaş.

Violet Kostanda

(1959): basketball player and coach who played mainly in Greece. Born in Kurtuluş district of Istanbul.

Minas Gekos

(1903-1976): modernism architect. Born in Istanbul.

Patroklos Karantinos

(1935-2016): footballer player, once capped for the Turkish National Team. Born in Istanbul, he was known with his Turkishized name Koço Kasapoğlu.

Kostas Kasapoglou

(1871-1941): politician, founder and first president of AEK Athens. Born in Istanbul, was forced to relocate to Athens.

Konstantinos Spanoudis

(1951): actor. Born in Istanbul moved in Greece in 1964.

Antonis Kafetzopoulos

(1941-2013): actor. Born in Istanbul moved in Greece in 1964

Michael Giannatos

(1880-1952): rhebetiko musician. Born in Istanbul.

Kostas Karipis

(1953): former Turkish football international. Born in Istanbul.

Nikos Kovis

(1924-2012): Fenerbahçe legend and member of the Turkish national football team. He was born in Büyükada island near Istanbul and was known in Turkey as Lefter Küçükandonyadis.

Lefteris Antoniadis

(1936): philosopher and Maltepe University Academic. Born in Istanbul from a Greek (Rum) family, she's known in Turkey as İoanna Kuçuradi.

Ioanna Koutsouranti

(1832-1900): writer, feminist and educationist. Born in Istanbul.

Sappho Leontias

(1937): writer. Born in Istanbul.

Petros Markaris

(1919-1991): Greek international footballer. Born in Istanbul, fled to Greece during the Greek-Turks population exchange when he was 3 years old.

Kleanthis Maropoulos

a former ultra-nationalist Turk turned pacifist and promoter of Greek heritage in Turkey after finding out his Greek heritage.

Yannis Vasilis

Alexandrēs, Alexēs. "The Greek minority of Istanbul and Greek-Turkish relations, 1918-1974." , 1983.

Center for Asia Minor Studies

Grigoriadis, Ioannis N. (2021). "Between citizenship and the millet: the Greek minority in republican Turkey". Middle Eastern Studies. 57 (5): 741–757. :10.1080/00263206.2021.1894553. hdl:11693/77359. S2CID 233588979.

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Information Portal for present Greek Minority of Turkey in Greek, Turkish and English

Istanbul Greek Minority

Athens protests latest desecration of Orthodox cemetery in Turkey

Greeks of Istanbul (İstanbul Rumları) (Video)

The Greeks of Turkey

Greek - Turkish minorities

Greeks Living in Turkey Today

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Turkey - Greeks