Part ofa series on
Greeks
Etymology Greek names
By country Native communities Greece Cyprus Albania Italy Russia and Ukraine Turkey Greek diaspora Australia Melbourne Canada Toronto Germany United Kingdom United States
Groups by region Modern Greece: Macedonians Sarakatsani Maniots Tsakonians Constantinople and Asia Minor: Cappadocians Constantinopolitan Greeks Phanariots Karamanlides Pontic Caucasus Crimea Africa: Egyptiots Ethiopian Greeks Sudanese Greeks Other regions: Cypriots Griko Urums Other groups: Aromanians Arvanites Megleno-Romanians Slavophones Souliotes
Greek culture Art Cinema Cuisine Dance Dress Education Flag Language Literature Music Politics Religion Sport Television Theatre
Religion Greek Orthodox Church Greek Roman Catholicism Greek Byzantine Catholicism Greek Evangelicalism Judaism Islam Hellenism
Languages and dialects Greek: Australian Calabrian Cappadocian Constantinopolitan Cretan Cypriot Griko Hellenoromani Himariote Maniot Mariupol Pontic Tsakonian Yevanic Greeklish Other languages Aromanian Arvanitika Greek Sign Language Karamanli Turkish Megleno-Romanian Slavic Urum
History of Greece (Ancient ·Byzantine ·Ottoman)
v t e

TheGreeks in Turkey constitute a small population ofGreek andGreek-speakingEastern OrthodoxChristians who mostly live inIstanbul, as well as on the two islands of the western entrance to theDardanelles:Imbros andTenedos (Turkish:Gökçeada andBozcaada). Greeks are one of the fourethnic minorities officially recognized in Turkey by the 1923Treaty of Lausanne, together withJews,Armenians,^[7][8][9] andBulgarians.^[10][11][12]

They are the remnants of the estimated 200,000 Greeks who were permitted under the provisions of theConvention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations to remain inTurkey following the1923 population exchange,^[13] which involved the forcible resettlement of approximately 1.2 million Greeks fromAnatolia andEast Thrace and of half a millionTurks from all of Greece except forWestern Thrace. After years of persecution (e.g. theVarlık Vergisi, theIstanbul Pogrom and the 1964expulsion of Istanbul Greeks), emigration ofethnic Greeks from the Istanbul region greatly accelerated, reducing the Greek minority population from 119,822 before the 1955 pogrom^[14] to about 7,000 by 1978.^[15] The 2008 figures released by theTurkish Foreign Ministry places the current number of Turkish citizens of Greek descent at the 3,000–4,000 mark.^[16]However, according to theHuman Rights Watch the Greek population in Turkey is estimated at 2,500 in 2006. The Greek population in Turkey is collapsing as the community is now far too small to sustain itself demographically, due toemigration, much higher death rates than birth rates and continuing discrimination.^[17]

Since 1924, the status of the Greek minority in Turkey has been ambiguous. Beginning in the 1940s, the government instituted repressive policies forcing many Greeks to emigrate. Examples are thelabour battalions drafted among non-Muslims during World War II, as well as the Fortune Tax (Varlık Vergisi) levied mostly on non-Muslims during the same period. These resulted in financial ruination and death for many Greeks. The exodus was given greater impetus with theIstanbul Pogrom of September 1955 and the 1964expulsion of Istanbul Greeks which led to thousands of Greeks fleeing the city, eventually reducing the Greek population to about 7,000 by 1978 and to about 2,500 by 2006. According to the United Nations, this figure was much smaller in 2012 and reached 2,000. As of 2023, according toThe Economist, "Turkey's Greeks are on the verge of extinction".^[18]

A minority ofMuslimPontic Greek speakers, using a dialect called "Romeyka" or "Ophitic", still live in the area aroundOf in north-eastern Anatolia.^[19][20][21]

The Greeks of Turkey are referred to in Turkish asRumlar, meaning "Romans". This derives from the self-designation Ῥωμαῖος (Rhomaîos, pronounced ro-ME-os) or Ρωμιός (Rhomiós, pronounced ro-mee-OS or rom-YOS) used by Byzantine Greeks, who were the continuation of theRoman Empire in the east.

The ethnonymYunanlar is exclusively used by Turks to refer to Greeks fromGreece and not for the population of Turkey.

In Greek, Greeks fromAsia Minor are referred to asGreek:Μικρασιάτες orGreek:Ανατολίτες (Mikrasiátes orAnatolítes, lit. "Asia Minor-ites" and "Anatolians"), while Greeks fromPontos (Pontic Greeks) are known asGreek:Πόντιοι (Póntioi).

Greeks fromIstanbul are known asGreek:Κωνσταντινουπολίτες (Konstantinoupolítes, lit. "Constantinopolites"), most often shortened toGreek:Πολίτες (Polítes, pronounced po-LEE-tes).

Greeks have been living in what is now Turkey continuously since the middle 2nd millennium BC. Following upheavals in mainland Greece during theBronze Age Collapse, the Aegean coast ofAsia Minor was heavily settled byIonian andAeolian Greeks and became known asIonia andAeolia. During the era of Greek colonization from the 8th to the 6th century BC, numerous Greek colonies were founded on the coast ofAsia Minor, both by mainland Greeks as well as settlers from colonies such asMiletus. The city ofByzantium, which would go on to becomeConstantinople andIstanbul, was founded by colonists fromMegara in the 7th century BC.

Following the conquest ofAsia Minor byAlexander the Great, the rest ofAsia Minor was opened up to Greek settlement. Upon the death of Alexander,Asia Minor was ruled by a number ofHellenistic kingdoms such as theAttalids ofPergamum. A period of peacefulHellenization followed, such that the localAnatolian languages had been supplanted byGreek by the 1st century BC.Asia Minor was one of the first places where Christianity spread, so that by the 4th century AD it was overwhelmingly Christian and Greek-speaking. For the next 600 years,Asia Minor andConstantinople, which eventually became the capital of theByzantine Empire, would be the centers of the Hellenic world, while mainland Greece experienced repeated barbarian invasions and went into decline.

Following theBattle of Manzikert in 1071, theSeljuk Turks swept through all ofAsia Minor. While the Byzantines would recover western and northern Anatolia in subsequent years, centralAsia Minor was settled by Turkic peoples and never again came under Byzantine rule. The Byzantine Empire was unable to stem the Turkic advance, and by 1300 most ofAsia Minor was ruled byAnatolian beyliks.Smyrna (Turkish:İzmir) fell in 1330, andPhiladelphia (Turkish:Alaşehir), fell in 1398. The lastByzantine Greek kingdom in Anatolia, theEmpire of Trebizond, covering theBlack Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey to the border withGeorgia, fell in 1461.

Constantinople fell in 1453, marking the end of the Byzantine Empire. Beginning with the Seljuk invasion in the 11th century, and continuing through theOttoman years, Anatolia underwent a process ofTurkification, its population gradually changing from predominantly Christian and Greek-speaking to predominantly Muslim and Turkish-speaking.

Ottoman Empire followed the Sharia rules and there were restrictions regarding the building and restoration of churches. Ottoman documents display that restriction on non-Muslims applied differently depending on the regions. After theTanzimat reforms in 1839, the Christians could get a permission to repair an old church easier, but still they had to follow specific procedures and were supervised by the local Muslim authorities and population.^[23]

A class of moneyed ethnically Greek merchants (they commonly claimed nobleByzantine descent) calledPhanariotes emerged in the latter half of the 16th century and went on to exercise great influence in the administration in theOttoman Empire'sBalkan domains in the 18th century. They tended to build their houses in thePhanar quarter of Istanbul in order to be close to the court of theEcumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, who under the Ottomanmillet system was recognized as both the spiritual and secular head (millet-bashi) of all the Orthodox subjects (the Rum Millet, or the "Roman nation") of the Empire, often acting asarchontes of the Ecumenical See. For all their cosmopolitanism and often western (sometimesRoman Catholic) education, the Phanariots were aware of theirHellenism; according toNicholas Mavrocordatos'Philotheou Parerga: "We are a race completely Hellenic".^[24]

The first Greek millionaire in the Ottoman era wasMichael Kantakouzenos Shaytanoglu, who earned 60.000ducats a year from his control of the fur trade fromRussia;^[25] he was eventually executed on the Sultan's order. It was the wealth of the extensive Greek merchant class that provided the material basis for the intellectual revival that was the prominent feature of Greek life in the second half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. Greek merchants endowed libraries and schools; on the eve of theGreek War of Independence the three most important centres of Greek learning, schools-cum-universities, were situated inChios,Smyrna andAivali, all three major centres of Greek commerce.^[26]

The outbreak of theGreek War of Independence in March 1821 was met by mass executions,pogrom-style attacks, the destruction of churches, and looting of Greek properties throughout the Empire. The most severe atrocities occurred in Constantinople, in what became known as theConstantinople Massacre of 1821. The Orthodox PatriarchGregory V was executed on April 22, 1821 on the orders of the Ottoman Sultan, which caused outrage throughout Europe and resulted in increased support for the Greek rebels.^[27]

By the late 19th and early 20th century, the Greek element was found predominantly inConstantinople andSmyrna, along theBlack Sea coast (thePontic Greeks) and the Aegean coast, theGallipoli peninsula and a few cities and numerous villages in the central Anatolian interior (theCappadocian Greeks). The Greeks of Constantinople constituted the largest Greek urban population in theEastern Mediterranean.^[28]

In the first half of 1914, the Ottoman authoritiesexpelled more than 100,000 Ottoman Greeks to Greece.^[29]

Given their large Greek populations, Constantinople and Asia Minor featured prominently in the Greek irredentist concept ofMegali Idea (lit. "Great Idea") during the 19th century and early 20th century. The goal of Megali Idea was the liberation of all Greek-inhabited lands and the eventual establishment of a successor state to the Byzantine Empire with Constantinople as its capital. The Greek population amounted to 1,777,146 (16.42% of population during 1910).^[30]

During World War I and its aftermath (1914–1923), the government of theOttoman Empire and subsequently theTurkish National Movement, led byMustafa Kemal Atatürk, instigated a violent campaign against the Greek population of the Empire.^[31] The campaign included massacres, forced deportations involving death marches, and summary expulsions. According to various sources, several hundreds of thousand Ottoman Greeks died during this period.^[32] Some of the survivors and refugees, especially those in Eastern provinces, took refuge in the neighbouringRussian Empire.

Following Greece's participation on theAllied side in World War I, and the participation of the Ottoman Empire on the side of theCentral Powers, Greece received an order to land inSmyrna by theTriple Entente as part of the planned partition of the Ottoman Empire.

On May 15, 1919, twenty thousand^[33] Greek soldiers landed in Smyrna, takingcontrol of the city and its surroundings under cover of the Greek, French, and British navies. Legal justifications for the landings was found in the article 7 of theArmistice of Mudros, which allowed the Allies "to occupy any strategic points in the event of any situation arising which threatens the security of Allies."^[34] The Greeks of Smyrna and other Christians greeted the Greek troops as liberators. By contrast, the majority of the Muslim population saw them as an invading force.

Subsequently, theTreaty of Sèvres awarded GreeceEastern Thrace up to theChatalja lines at the outskirts ofConstantinople, the islands ofImbros andTenedos, and the citySmyrna and its vast hinterland, all of which contained substantial Greek populations.

During theGreco-Turkish War, a conflict which followed the Greekoccupation of Smyrna^[35][36] in May 1919 and continued until theGreat Fire of Smyrna in September 1922, atrocities were perpetrated by both the Greek and Turkish armies.^[37][38] For the massacres that occurred during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, British historianArnold J. Toynbee wrote that it was the Greek landings that created the Turkish National Movement led byMustafa Kemal:^[39] "The Greeks of 'Pontus' and the Turks of the Greek occupied territories, were in some degree victims of Mr.Venizelos's and Mr.Lloyd George's original miscalculations at Paris."

After the end of the Greco-Turkish War, most of the Greeks remaining in the Ottoman Empire were transferred to Greece under the terms of the 1923population exchange between Greece and Turkey. The criteria for the population exchange were not exclusively based on ethnicity or mother language, but on religion as well. That is why theKaramanlides (Greek:Καραμανλήδες;Turkish:Karamanlılar), or simplyKaramanlis, who were aTurkish-speaking (while they employed the Greek alphabet to write it)Greek Orthodox people of unclear origin, were deported from their native regions ofKaraman andCappadocia inCentral Anatolia to Greece as well. On the other hand,Cretan Muslims who were part of the exchange were re-settled mostly on the Aegean coast of Turkey, in areas formerly inhabited by Christian Greeks. Populations of Greek descent can still be found in thePontos, remnants of the former Greek population that converted to Islam in order to escape the persecution and later deportation. Though these two groups are of ethnic Greek descent, they speak Turkish as a mother language and are very cautious to identify themselves as Greeks, due to the hostility of the Turkish state and neighbours towards anything Greek.

Due to the Greeks' strong emotional attachment to their first capital as well as the importance of theEcumenical Patriarchate for Greek and worldwide orthodoxy, the Greek population of Constantinople was specifically exempted and allowed to stay in place. Article 14 of theTreaty of Lausanne (1923) also exempted Imbros and Tenedos islands from the population exchange and required Turkey to accommodate the local Greek majority and their rights. For the most part, the Turks disregarded this agreement and implemented a series of contrary measures which resulted in a further decline of the Greek population, as evidenced by demographic statistics.

In 1923, the Ministry of Public Works asked from the private companies in Turkey to prepare lists of employees with their religion and later ordered them to fire the non-Muslim employees and replace them with Muslim Turks.^[40] In addition, a 1932 parliamentary law, barred Greek citizens living in Turkey from a series of 30 trades and professions fromtailoring andcarpentry tomedicine,law andreal estate.^[41] In 1934, Turkey created theSurname Law which forbade certain surnames that contained connotations of foreign cultures, nations, tribes, and religions. Many minorities, including Greeks, had to adopt last names of a more Turkish rendition.^{[42][43][44][45]}As from 1936, Turkish became the teaching language (except the Greek language lessons) in Greek schools.^[46] TheWealthy Levy imposed in 1942 also served to reduce the economic potential of Greek businesspeople in Turkey.^[47] When theAxis attacked on Greece during WW2 hundreds of volunteers from the Greek community of Istanbul went to fight in Greece with the approval of Turkish authorities.^[48]

In 6–7 September 1955 ananti-Greek pogrom were orchestrated in Istanbul by theTurkish military'sTactical Mobilization Group, the seat ofOperation Gladio's Turkish branch; theCounter-Guerrilla. The events were triggered by the news that the Turkish consulate inThessaloniki, north Greece—the house whereMustafa Kemal Atatürk was born in 1881—had been bombed the day before.^[47] A bomb planted by a Turkish usher of the consulate, who was later arrested and confessed, incited the events. The Turkish press conveying the news in Turkey was silent about the arrest and instead insinuated that Greeks had set off the bomb. Although the mob did not explicitly call forGreeks to be killed, over a dozen people died during or after the pogrom as a result of beatings andarson.Jews,Armenians and others were also harmed. In addition to commercial targets, the mob clearly targeted property owned or administered by theGreek Orthodox Church. 73 churches and 23 schools were vandalized, burned or destroyed, as were 8 asperses and 3monasteries.

The pogrom greatly accelerated emigration of ethnic Greeks from Turkey, and the Istanbul region in particular. The Greek population of Turkey declined from 119,822 persons in 1927,^[14] to about 7,000 by 1978. In Istanbul alone, the Greek population decreased from 65,108 to 49,081 between 1955 and 1960.^[14]

In 1964 Turkish prime ministerİsmet İnönü unilaterally renounced the Greco-Turkish Treaty of Friendship of 1930 and took actions against the Greek minority that resulted inmassive expulsions.^[49][50] Turkey enforced strictly a long‐overlooked law barring Greek nationals from 30 professions and occupations. For example, Greeks could not be doctors, nurses, architects, shoemakers, tailors, plumbers, cabaret singers, iron-smiths, cooks, tourist guides, etc.^[49] Many Greeks were ordered to give up their jobs after this law.^[51] Also, Turkish government ordered many Greek‐owned shops to close leaving many Greek families destitute.^[49] In addition, Turkey has suspended a 1955 agreement granting unrestricted travel facilities to nationals of both countries. A number of Greeks caught outside Turkey when this suspension took effect and were unable to return to their homes at Turkey.^[49] Moreover, Turkey once again deported many Greeks. They were given a week to leave the country, and police escorts saw to it that they make the deadline. Deportees protested that it was impossible to sell businesses or personal property in so short a time. Most of those deported were born in Turkey and they had no place to go in Greece.^[49] Greeks had difficulty receiving credit from banks. Those expelled, in some cases, could not dispose of their property before leaving.^[51] Furthermore, it forcefully closed thePrinkipo Greek Orthodox Orphanage,^[52][53][54] thePatriarchate's printing house^[51] and the Greek minority schools on the islands ofGökçeada/Imbros^[55] andTenedos/Bozcaada.^[56] Furthermore, the farm property of the Greeks on the islands were taken away from their owners.^[56] Moreover, university students were organizing boycotts against Greek shops.^[51] Teachers of schools maintained by the Greek minority complained of frequent "inspections" by squads of Turkish officers inquiring into matters of curriculum, texts and especially the use of the Greek language in teaching.^[51] In late 1960, the Turkish treasure seized the properties of theBalıklı Greek Hospital. The hospital sued the treasury on the ground that the transfer of its property was illegal, but the Turkish courts were in favor of the Turkish treasure.^[57] On August 4, 2022, a fire broke out on the roof of the Balıklı Greek Hospital. The roof was completely destroyed and the upper floor was also destroyed except for the exterior walls. However, the ground floor of the hospital remained unscathed from the fire.

In 1965 the Turkish government established onImbros an open agricultural prison for Turkish mainland convicts; farming land was expropriated for this purpose. Greek Orthodox communal property was also expropriated and between 1960 and 1990 about 200 churches and chapels were reportedly destroyed. Many from the Greek community on the islands of Imbros andTenedos responded to these acts by leaving.^[58] In addition, at the same year the first mosque was built in the island. It was named Fatih Camii (Conqueror's Mosque) and was built on an expropriated Greek Orthodox communal property at the capital of the island.^[59]

In 1991, Turkish authorities ended the military "forbidden zone" status on the island of Imbros.^[58]

In 1992, Panimbrian Committee mentioned, that members of the Greek community are "considered by the authorities to be second class citizens" and that the local Greeks are afraid to express their feelings, to protest against certain actions of the authorities or the Turkish settlers, or even to allow anybody to make use of their names when they give some information referring to the violation of their rights, fearing the consequences which they will have to face from the Turkish authorities.^[58] The same year theHuman Rights Watch report concluded that the Turkish government has denied the rights of the Greek community on Imbros and Tenedos in violation of the Lausanne Treaty and international human rights laws and agreements.^[58]

In 1997, the Turkish state seized thePrinkipo Greek Orthodox Orphanage which had been forcefully closed in 1964.^[60] After many years of court battles, Turkey returned the property to the Greek community in 2012.^[61][60]

In August 2002, a new law was passed by the Turkish parliament to protect the minorities rights, because ofTurkey's EU candidacy. With this new law, it prevented the Turkish treasury from seizing community foundations properties.^[57]

On 15 August 2010, a ritual was held for theAssumption of Mary at theSumela Monastery after an 88 years old ban. This annual ritual continues, although it often sparks debate in Turkey for “keeping foreign traditions alive on the day Trabzon was captured by the Turks.”.^[62]

Today most of the remaining Greeks live in Istanbul. In theFener district of Istanbul where theEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is located, fewer than 100 Greeks live today. A handful also live in other cities of Anatolia. Most are elderly.

Another location where the Greek community lives is the islandsImbros andTenedos near theDardanelles, but this community diminished rapidly during the 20th century and only 200 elderly Greeks have remained there, less than 2%. In the 1950s, an estimated 98% of the island was Greek. In the last years the condition of the Greek community in these islands seems to be slightly improving.^[63][64]

TheAntiochian Greeks (Rum) living inHatay are the descendants of the Ottoman Levant's and southeast Anatolia's Greek population and are part of theGreek Orthodox Church of Antioch. They did not emigrate to Greece during the 1923 population exchange because at that time the Hatay province was under French control. The majority of the Antiochian Greeks moved to Syria and Lebanon at 1939, when Turkey took control of the Hatay region, however a small population remained at this area. After a process ofArabization andTurkification that took place in the 20th century, today almost their entirety speaksArabic as a mother language. This has made them hard to distinguish from theArab Christians and some argue that they have become largely homogenized. Their majority doesn't speak Greek at all, the younger generation speaks Turkish, and some have Turkish names now. Their population is about 18,000,^[65] and they are faithful to thePatriarchate of Antiochia, although ironically it is now inDamascus. They reside largely inAntakya and/or theHatay province, but a few are also inAdana province.

The Greek minority continues to encounter problems relating to education and property rights. A 1971 law nationalized religious high schools, and closed theHalki seminary on Istanbul'sHeybeli Island which had trained Orthodox clergy since the 19th century. A later outrage was the vandalism of the Greek cemetery on Imbros on October 29, 2010. In this context, problems affecting the Greek minority on the islands of Imbros and Tenedos continue to be reported to theEuropean Commission.^[66]

In July 2011, Istanbul's Greek minority newspaperApoyevmatini declared that it would shut down due to financial difficulties. The four-page Greek-language newspaper faced closure due to financial problems that had been further aggravated by the economic crisis in Greece, when Greek companies stopped publishing advertisements in the newspaper and the offices have already been shut down. This ignited campaign to help the newspaper. Among the supporters were students from Istanbul Bilgi University who subscribed to the newspaper. The campaign saved the paper from bankruptcy for the time being. Because the Greek community is close to extinction, the obituary notices and money from Greek foundations, as well as subscriptions overwhelmingly by Turkish people, are the only sources of income. This income covers only 40 percent of the newspaper expenditures.^[67]

That event was followed in September 2011 by a government cash grant of 45,000Turkish liras to the newspaper through the Turkish Press Advertisement Agency, as part of a wider support of minority newspapers.^[68] The Turkish Press Advertisement Agency also declared intention to publish official government advertisements in minority newspapers including Greek papers Apoyevmatini and IHO.^[69]

As of 2007, Turkish authorities have seized a total of 1,000 immovables of 81 Greek organizations as well as individuals of the Greek community.^[70] On the other hand, Turkish courts provided legal legitimacy to unlawful practices by approving discriminatory laws and policies that violated fundamental rights they were responsible to protect.^[71] As a result, foundations of the Greek communities started to file complaints after 1999 when Turkey's candidacy to the European Union was announced. Since 2007, decisions are being made in these cases; the first ruling was made in a case filed by thePhanar Greek Orthodox College Foundation, and the decision was that Turkey violated Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which secured property rights.^[71]

A government decree published on 27 August 2011, paves the way to return assets that once belonged to Greek, Armenian, Assyrian, Kurd or Jewish trusts and makes provisions for the government to pay compensation for any confiscated property that has since been sold on, and in a move likely to thwart possible court rulings against the country by the European Court of Human Rights.^[72][73]

Since the vast majority of properties confiscated from Greek trusts (and other minority trusts) have been sold to third parties, which as a result cannot be taken from their current owners and be returned, the Greek trusts will receive compensation from the government instead. Compensation for properties that were purchased or were sold to third parties will be decided on by the Finance Ministry. However, no independent body is involved in deciding on compensation, according to the regulations of the government decree of 27 August 2011. If the compensation were judged fairly and paid in full, the state would have to pay compensation worth many millions of Euros for a large number of properties. Another weakness of the government decree is that the state body with a direct interest in reducing the amount of compensation paid, which is the Finance Ministry, is the only body permitted to decide on the amount of compensation paid. The government decree also states that minority trusts must apply for restitution within 12 months of the publication of the government decree, which was issued on 1 October 2011, leaving less than 11 months for the applications to be prepared and submitted. After this deadline terminates on 27 August 2012, no applications can be submitted, in which the government aims to settle this issue permanently on a legally sound basis and prevent future legal difficulties involving the European Court of Human Rights.^[74]

The Greek community of Istanbul numbered 67,550^[14] people in 1955. However, after theIstanbul Pogrom orchestrated by Turkish authorities against the Greek community in that year, their number was dramatically reduced to only 48,000.^[75] Today, the Greek community numbers about 2,000 people.^[76]

• PatriarchBartholomew I (1940): current patriarch of Constantinople. Born in Imbros as Dimitrios Arhondonis.
• Elia Kazan (1909–2003): American film director. Born Elias Kazancıoğlu in Istanbul
• Archbishop Elpidophoros of America (1967): current archbishop of America. Born inBakırköy,Istanbul as Ioannis Lambriniadis.
• PatriarchBenedict I of Jerusalem (1892–1980): Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1957 to 1980. Born in Bursa as Vasileios Papadopoulos.
• Gilbert Biberian (1944–2023): guitarist and composer. Born in Istanbul from a Greek-Armenian family.
• Chrysanthos Mentis Bostantzoglou (1918–1995): cartoonist known as Bost, born in Istanbul.
• Thomas Cosmades (1924–2010): evangelical preacher and translators of the New Testament in Turkish. Born in Istanbul.
• PatriarchDemetrios I of Constantinople (1914–1991): patriarch of Constantinople from 1972 to 1991. Born in Istanbul.
• Antonis Diamantidis (1892–1945): musician. Born in Istanbul.
• Savas Dimopoulos (1952): particle physicist at Stanford University. Born in Istanbul.
• Aleksandros Hacopulos (1911–1980): politician, member ofGrand National Assembly twice
• Violet Kostanda (1958): former volleyball player for Eczacıbaşı and the Turkish National Team. She was born in Istanbul from a Greek-Romani family. Her father Hristo played football for Beşiktaş.
• Minas Gekos (1959): basketball player and coach who played mainly in Greece. Born in Kurtuluş district of Istanbul.
• Patroklos Karantinos (1903–1976): modernism architect. Born in Istanbul.
• Kostas Kasapoglou (1935–2016): football player, once capped for the Turkish National Team. Born in Istanbul, he was known with his Turkishized name Koço Kasapoğlu.
• Konstantinos Spanoudis (1871–1941): politician, founder and first president ofAEK Athens. Born in Istanbul, was forced to relocate to Athens.
• Antonis Kafetzopoulos (1951): actor. Born in Istanbul moved in Greece in 1964.
• Michael Giannatos (1941–2013): actor. Born in Istanbul moved in Greece in 1964
• Kostas Karipis (1880–1952): rhebetiko musician. Born in Istanbul.
• Nikos Kovis (1953): former Turkish football international. Born in Istanbul.
• Lefteris Antoniadis (1924–2012): Fenerbahçe legend and member of the Turkish national football team. He was born in Büyükada island near Istanbul and was known in Turkey as Lefter Küçükandonyadis.
• Ioanna Koutsouranti (1936): philosopher and Maltepe University Academic. Born in Istanbul from a Greek (Rum) family, she's known in Turkey as İoanna Kuçuradi.
• Sappho Leontias (1832–1900): writer, feminist and educationist. Born in Istanbul.
• Petros Markaris (1937): writer. Born in Istanbul.
• Kleanthis Maropoulos (1919–1991): Greek international footballer. Born in Istanbul, fled to Greece during the Greek-Turks population exchange when he was 3 years old.
• Yannis Vasilis, a former ultra-nationalist Turk turned pacifist and promoter of Greek heritage in Turkey after finding out his Greek heritage.

• Alexandrēs, Alexēs. "The Greek minority of Istanbul and Greek-Turkish relations, 1918-1974." Center for Asia Minor Studies, 1983.
• Grigoriadis, Ioannis N. (2021). "Between citizenship and the millet: the Greek minority in republican Turkey".Middle Eastern Studies.57 (5):741–757.doi:10.1080/00263206.2021.1894553.hdl:11693/77359.S2CID 233588979.

• Media related toGreeks in Turkey at Wikimedia Commons
• Istanbul Greek Minority Information Portal for present Greek Minority of Turkey in Greek, Turkish and English

• Greeks in Turkey
• Ethnic groups in Turkey

• All articles with bare URLs for citations
• Articles with bare URLs for citations from August 2025
• CS1 Turkish-language sources (tr)
• Webarchive template wayback links
• CS1 errors: ISBN date
• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from June 2024
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• CS1 Greek-language sources (el)
• Webarchive template archiveis links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• "Related ethnic groups" needing confirmation
• Articles using infobox ethnic group with image parameters
• Articles containing Turkish-language text
• Articles containing Greek-language text
• Commons category link is on Wikidata