A SONG THAT TELLS AN INTRIGUING STORY
GREEK-SPEAKING REFUGEES
It is a fact that mass human migration has occurred throughout history. It is also a fact that these journeys spawn several stories that are then often forgotten over time. History also tells us that these often-overlooked displaced people soon regroup and begin building new lives in the aftermath of often-tragic events. As years go by, tributes to these people, the world over, are rare, but this is not the case for some of the Greek-speaking refugees of Asia Minor. These people are revered by a song which identifies with their journey from a war-torn Turkey and their subsequent resettlement in Greece at the end of 1922. The song also identifies with the story of their new lives in the poverty-stricken makeshift shelters of Drapetsona, in Greece.
THE AFTERMATH OF A WORLD WAR
The aftermath of World War I had a significant impact on the Ottoman Empire after its defeat in 1918. The war had directly led to the dismantling of what remained of this once great empire. Things were made worse when what remained of the fragmented empire found itself under attack from neighbouring Greece. This new conflict marked the beginning of the Greco-Turkish War, which broke out just 6 months later on May 15th 1919.
A WAR FOUGHT IN ISOLATION
This war was fought in isolation between what was to become Turkey and Greece. The war was initially successful for the latter, who managed to gain huge swathes of territory. Things, however, changed when the conflict gave rise to the ‘Turkish National Movement’. They cleverly turned the war into a new ‘Turkish War of Independence’, which seemed to galvanise the new Turkish nation, leading to a change in the world narrative.
AN ARMY REBUFFED
Now viewed as an aggressor nation, Greece would see its army rebuffed by 1922. This, along with other external pressures, directly led to the end of the war on October 14th of that same year. All Greek forces were ordered to return to Greece, and the territories that were initially taken were recovered by Turkish forces. The end of the war saw the new modern-day nation of Turkey emerge from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. Although Greece mainly lost the greater part of the war, it did manage to secure control of several islands, some of which remain just off the coast of Turkey today.
A NEW NATION
The new Turkish administration soon implemented new ethnic policies. These new directives led to the displacement of thousands of Greek-speaking people from Asia Minor. These people who had lived in Turkey for thousands of years now found themselves not only homeless, but also stateless. They were mainly Greeks of Romani and Pontic origin. Although the majority resettled in Greece by the end of 1922, several also arrived on Cypriot shores seeking not only refuge but also a new life.
A NEW SETTLEMENT
Cyprus, which was still a British colony, accepted several of these refugees. Unlike in Greece, however, Cyprus soon integrated them into the greater Cypriot social fabric, and they soon embraced everything that Cyprus had to offer them. Things, on the other hand, were not as easy for their compatriots in Greece. They had to stay concentrated in rudimentary shelters, on the uninhabited western coast of the port of Piraeus, near Athens. This new settlement emerged as Drapetsona.
A SLOW INTERGRATION
The integration of these people in Greece proved to be much slower and more difficult than that of their compatriots in Cyprus. The new settlement of Drapetsona was essentially a shantytown, rife with crime and squalor. It did, however, become a base for a strong and reliable Greek workforce. This allowed Drapetsona, along with the rest of Greece, to eventually become a centre of major social and economic shift as Greece began to swiftly advance into the modern age.
A SONG THAT TELLS A STORY
The song, originally sung by Grigoris Bithikotsis, takes its name from the Drapetsona settlement. It tells of the plight and hardships that its people faced, and also tells of their lives of abject poverty that followed. The song also identifies how these people strived to overcome adversity and how they helped forge a future for Greece in the modern age. The main message of the song goes on to say that the people of Drapetsona created a world of their own at the end of the world!
A deciction of the Greco-Turkish War of 1919
Greek gains depicted in blue, during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919
