Migranti per forza: lo scambio delle popolazioni fra Grecia e Turchia nella memoria dei dislocati

The population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923 has left deep traces in both peoples, and has contributed to shape and re-structure the two nation-states. In terms of a traumatical experience, but also of an ideologized expression of nationalism, the exchange has entered the collective memory of both Turks and Greeks, and has made a strong impact on literary production of ego-writing in both languages. As an example for the autobiographical narrative of the exchange in Turkish, two books have been selected: Reşat D. Tesal’s autobiography of a Muslim from Salonica (1998), and a novel written by Ahmet Yorulmaz, the descendant of a Cretan-Muslim family (1997). The analysis focuses on the topics of memory narratives and the motif of “re-remembering” the childhood, of nationalism as presented by the memories of the two authors, as well as the perception of “voyage”, “separation”, “arrival” and “return” in the discourse of coercive migration and displacement.