Greek Targets on Anatolia and the Activities of the Fener Greek Patriarchate in the Armistice Period

Abstract

Since Greece became independent, it started to pursue a policy to revive the Byzantine-Greek Empire in Central Istanbul, which they called "Megali Idea". The Megali idea, which was set as Greek targets, was essentially the aim of the imperialist policies of the Greeks who pursued this ideal since 1798. As a matter of fact, Panayatis Pipinellis, a Greek historian and statesman, describes this idea as follows: "The meaning of the Greek presence forced Greece to become the core of a united national state that would gather the entire Greek race within a border, and everybody lost itself in the dream of reviving the Byzantine Empire." Another researcher writer; The Greeks' Megali Idea says it was a romantic force to revive the Byzantine-Greek Empire, headquartered in Istanbul. Also in a speech he made in January 1844, Greek Prime Minister J. Kollettis said: "The Kingdom of Greece is not the whole of Greece. Only a part of Greece is the smallest and poorest part. Greek is not only living in the kingdom. At the same time, those who live in Ioannina or Thessaloniki, Serres or Edirne, Constantinople (Istanbul) or in Trabzon, Crete or Samos Island and other places connected to the Greek history or Greek race are also Greek. ments. Hellenism has two major centers: Athens and Constantinople. Athens is the capital of the Kingdom alone. Constantinople, the big capital, is the dream and hope of all Hellenism. " It is also possible to see this in the program of the Ethnic-i Ethere Society, which was established to realize the Greek Megali Idea.