ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on expatriate representations of two ‘others’: the Turks of Turkey, and the Greeks of Greece (or Ellad í tes). In their oral testimonies and public pronouncements, the Greeks of Turkey often claim a ‘privileged knowledge’ of the Turkish other derived from their experiences of living in Turkey, a discursive position that they adopt to pursue both assimilation with, and distinction from, the Greeks of Greece. In certain contexts, expatriate interviewees and activists replicate Greek nationalist stereotypes of the ‘bad Turks’ who are violent, impulsive, and readily roused by nationalist ideologues (and who stand in stark contrast to the democratic and peaceful Greeks). These representations serve not only to explain their experiences of persecution in Turkey, but also to counteract a perceived indifference on the part of the Greek state and populace by casting the expatriates as national martyrs. At other times, however, they place emphasis upon the virtues of the ‘good Turk’ who is honourable, respectful, and industrious, a representation that commonly functions as a means to critically appraise the alleged untrustworthiness, crudeness, and idleness of the inhabitants of Greece. By the internal logic of such stereotypes, it is the same fanatical sense of honour amongst the Turks that accounts for both extremes of violence and extremes of courtesy, in much the same way as the Greeks’ archetypal love of individual liberty and democratic equality is seen to explain their irreverent and anarchic tendencies. It is argued that these representations form part of a malleable mental apparatus through which individuals categorise and interpret the world around them, articulate their own sense of self and explain the behaviour of others, and make their experiences meaningful to themselves and intelligible to third parties. Moreover, it is suggested that expatriate representations of the Turkish other have at least as much to do with negotiating their place in the Greek state as with rationalising their experiences in Turkey. In the figures of the ‘good Turk’ and the ‘bad Turks’, expatriate interviewees and activists find a critical mirror for the collective national self, opening up opportunities for contrast that not only define its unique attributes but also make conspicuous its flaws.
