'Corridor' Opened on the 100th Anniversary of the Exchange

As part of the events organized by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the population exchange, the "I Remember" march and the "Corridor" installation were inaugurated. The installation, which includes photographs, sounds and images of families who experienced the exchange, can be visited until 10 February.

Izmir Metropolitan Municipality organized the “I Remember” march as part of the 30th anniversary activities of the exchange agreement signed between Turkey and Greece on January 1923, 100. İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Mayor Mustafa Özuslu, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Secretary General Ertuğrul Tugay, İzmir City Council President Nilay Kökkılınç. , İzmir National Library Foundation President Ulvi Puğ and citizens and exchanges from İzmir attended. After the walk, the “Corridor” installation in the garden of APİKAM was inaugurated. The memory space, where photographs, sounds and images of families who experienced the exchange were included, gave the participants emotional moments.

“Only those who have experienced it will understand your pain”

Speaking at the opening of the installation, which can be visited until February 10, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Mayor Mustafa Özuslu said, “Some historical events have a lasting effect on us. One of the most important events in the history of the world is undoubtedly the First World War and one of its important results was the population exchange. Population changes are drama, great scars remain. Only those who have lived can know the pain of leaving their homeland and being away from their homeland. We must better understand the importance of living together. As a society, we need to live together and have peace. Fights fuel our pain. We can live together as brothers and sisters," he said.

“We need to raise awareness”

Dr. Erkan Serçe, on the other hand, stated that the exchange has been a traumatic development since the end of the 19th century and said, “Exchange has a human aspect as well as its historical roots. Displaced people left places where they were born and raised, not where they stayed as guests. Those who seemed foreign in the places they lived until that day became strangers in the places they went. This happened both in Turkey and in Greece. But now the 3rd generation is trying to find its origin. From now on, it is necessary to raise awareness to eliminate discrimination so that these incidents do not happen again.”