2009/12/01 by Nicole Immig · 4 citations
Social Sciences · #Balkans: History, Politics, Society #Turkey's Politics and Society
paper · doi:10.1080/13602000903411408
openalex publication_date 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The withdrawal of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of new nation-states in South-Eastern Europe brought about significant changes in the relations between the region's ethnic groups, caused by military conflict, expulsions and other forms of forced migrations. Whereas in Serbia and Bulgaria the establishment of new nation states and their legal systems lead to significant restrictions in the juridical status of the formerly-privileged Muslim populations, in Greece the government—at least officially—attempted to integrate these “new” Muslim minorities into the new nation-state. However, by the end of the twentieth century most of the Muslim population in recently-acquired regions such as Thessaly and Epirus had left Greece for regions still under Ottoman governance. In this paper we shall explore not only the sociological situation of Muslim populations in Thessaly and the challenges for both Muslims and the Greek government involved in incorporating them into the new Greek nation-state, but also their ultimate motives for emigration. I shall argue that Muslims emigrated from Greece primarily due to social and economic reasons rather than as a result of discrimination or ethnic violence. I will confine my analysis to the first five years of the incorporation of the region, from 1881 to 1886.