Senses and Perceptions: The Last Decades of Greek Orthodox Existence in Potámia in Cappadocia

Abstract

The Greek Orthodox Community was uprooted from Cappadocia with the signing of the Convention of the Exchange of Populations between Turkey and Greece at Lausanne on 30 January 1923. Until then Potámia had been one of the prosperous villages of the area, thanks to financial contributions of Potámian migrants in foreign lands. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the village had stone houses, a new church, and a school. The villagers had neighborly relations with the Turks of surrounding villages, with a degree of competition at the communal level which was reflected in their narratives, myths, and songs. These narratives are revealing of their senses and perceptions of their neighbors in the last decades of their existence in their homeland, and they are meaningful in allowing researchers to detect the cohabitation practices of two religious communities at the time.