ABSTRACT
I would like to start with an anecdote. The encounter takes place in the main street of Paleo Faliro in Athens. Two men standing at the side of the street are talking loudly in Turkish. A woman passes by and, overhearing their conversation, smiles to herself. Seeing that, one of the two men turns to the woman and addresses her in Greek: ‘What are you laughing at?’ (Τι γελάς;). She answers, to the men's surprise, in Turkish: ‘Sorry, I've just heard what you said before …’ She now has all their attention and curiosity. ‘I just came from Istanbul this morning, and when I heard that Turkish was spoken …’, she starts explaining, but is interrupted by the men: ‘Oooh, so you came from Istanbul today? Why didn't you say so? Welcome, welcome!’ One of them asks her, just to make sure, ‘So you are not one of those Anatolians, right? You are from Istanbul, right? Where exactly?’ She barely has time to answer before the other hastily adds that it is obvious from her non-accented Turkish that she is from Istanbul; so they embark on a conversation on the specific neighbourhoods with which they are associated in the city. They then tell her that they came from Istanbul several years ago, that there are many others like them; in fact, they add, ‘everybody in Faliro is Turkish—well, Turkish speaking’; that she should give them a call whenever she needs something, but that she should not be worried if someone else picks up the phone, for ‘my wife does not understand, she is gavur [infidel], you know?’
