Expulsion of Greeks from Istanbul

The expulsion of Istanbul Greeks (Turkish: 1964 Rum Tehciri or 1964 Rum Sürgünü) in 1964–1965 was a series of discriminatory measures by the authorities of the Republic of Turkey aimed at the forced expulsion of the Greek population of Istanbul (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις, romanized: Kōnstantinoúpolis). Though the Greeks of Istanbul were initially excluded from the Greek-Turkish population exchange of 1923 and were allowed to remain in their native city, the Turkish government enacted a series of measures that resulted in a dramatic decrease in their numbers, such as the "wealth" tax of 1942 and later the anti-Greek pogrom of September 1955.^[1]

Especially during the 1950s and 1960s, the Greek minority was used as an apparatus of pressure for the Cyprus issue as part of the Greek-Turkish relations.^[2] The anti-Greek measures of 1964–1965 resulted in a drastic reduction in the number of Greeks in Istanbul. As such, from a population of about 80,000 only about 30,000 remained in 1965.^[3] The measures also resulted in the appropriation of minority-owned properties by the Turkish state and were accompanied by restrictions in the fields of religion and education.^[4][5] The expulsion during this period was part of the final phase of state measures aimed at the Turkification of the local economic, social, and cultural life.^[6]