The Balkan Muhacirs of Akköy: memory and identity in a western Anatolian village

Abstract

The end of the Ottoman rule in the Balkans and the establishment of new nation states was not only a political change, but it affected the lives of individuals. Millions of people had to leave their birthplaces and migrate and settle in socially, culturally and politically different places than their own. The intend of this study is to search how the memories and identities of the Balkan migrants - or as they are referred in vernacular, the muhacirs - were shaped in relation to their migration experiences in a western Anatolian village - Akköy. This thesis is written as an oral history study and the life stories of the muhacirs of Akköy were used as primary sources. These provided enough data to analyze how the muhacirs percieved their homeland, migration experience and settlement. The narrative salso helped to understand the relationship between different groups of muhacirs in Akköy and their relationship with the "native" populations in the surrounding villages and with the Turkish Republic and Turkishness in general. Conclusions are drawn that the migration experience which is today still effective in the lives of muhacirs created complex and multiple identities. This determined the way they composed and told their stories of life. In terms of adapting and assimilating themselves to Akköy and in general to Turkey, conflicting identities even today prevail among muhacirs and it cannot be suggested that they are in complete compliance with the hegemonic social, cultural and political order.