ADIEU ISTANBUL

“Harassed, attacked, deported – we lived in a permanent, cold fear!” says Laki Vasiliadis. He is one of only two Istanbul-Greeks who still has a shop on Istiklal Street, the European center of Istanbul. Before 1950, Istanbul Greeks made up half of Istiklal Street. It all began on the 6th of September 1955, with a nighttime pogrom. Thirty years later, out of 150,000 Istanbul-Greeks, only 2,000 remained. What kind of life was it – for a member of a minority – and how is it today? “The worst thing is to hide your identity,” says one of those who have remained. “Nobody was concerned about us, neither Greece nor Europe!” Many Istanbul-Greeks now live in Greece. But not all are happy there. “Istanbul is not a city, it’s a life!” says one of them. Some Istanbul-Greeks of the Diaspora still want to return to their hometown.