Bridging the Aegean Growing Up Greek In Turkey

The author, the daughter of Greek parents, was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1933 and lived there for 22 years. During her childhood and adolescence, she was part of a large, vibrant Greek community of about 100,000 people.This was a unique minority group; despite being Christian in a Moslem country, they were neither subdued nor quiet. Although faced with many challenges, they remained active in many aspects of Turkish life and were especially known for their presence and expertise in local commerce. They were owners of many of the well-known shops of Istanbul, the author’s father being one of them. They were proud to be Greek in “Constantinoupoli,” as they called the city among themselves. After all, this had been their native land for centuries and they never forgot it.Things began to change in the 50s, 1955 was the year of the infamous anti-Greek riots. By the time the author left Turkey in 1956, the massive exodus of Greeks had begun. The movement proceeded at a fast pace; by most estimates there are currently less than 3,000 Greeks still living in Turkey—a paltry number compared with the past. The Greek community of the author’s childhood is gone forever.In her memoir, Sendukas writes about the historic exodus as well as many other aspects of Greek/Turkish life in the form of essays or stories that personify the meaningful events of her young life. The joys and tribulations of growing up are accentuated by the situations and developments going on around her.The recollections vary widely—first love, meeting the King of Greece, religious faith, being an immigrant in the US, etc. They are written with humor as well as dramatic impact, striking universal as well as personal themes.