Abstract

One of the important minority movements is Turco-Greek minority exchange decided on 24 July 1923 at Lausane Peace Conference, which took its final form only in 1930s because of the difficulties arising in practice. After the First World War Greece, with the support of the Allies, at- tempted to occupy Anatolia. Greek nationalism under the deep influence of hatred policy of the Orthodox Church created many scenes of savagery in Anatolia. Consequently, lack of confidence and tension between the two communities caused by Greek atrocidies during the Turkish Independence War made the exchange inevitable. This study examines historical background of the minority exchange with its practical reasons and exceptions during the implementation process on the basis of the documents obtained from the Republican Archive of Prime Ministry.