Ι m + o agkoutoglou Ι
SOCIAL WORK
We are obscure descendants of the Philoxenious ( hosbitable) Zeus. We feel a great honor and pleasure to welcome you to the land of Anavyssos, the land of our ancestors.
The Museum of Asia Minor Culture was founded by Makis Agkoutoglou, to the memory of his parents Paraskevas & Maria Agkoutoglou and to all the people from Asia Minor.
In 1964, the founder started recording the course from Asia Minor to Greece and the inhabitance of those people in the overwhelmed and political divided Greece of early ’20s.
In 2005, he fulfilled his promise to his father ….and as he was saying….
“the informal command” of his father, he turned his paternal house – a refugee house build in 30’s – into a Museum of Asia Minor Culture. His collection enumerates more than 4,500 photos, books and documentaries which continually is enriched. Makis Agkoutoglou was awarded in continuance for his contribution to culture and society. From 25th of September of 2015 we, Maria and Olga Agkoutoglou , are administers of Makis Agkoutoglou archieve.
Regarding today:
we will split our presentation into 3 parts :
Part 1:
We will talk about :
– The History of Anavyssos
( from the glorious ancient years 5th – 4th century B.C)
(in between there is a history gap )
To the Part 2:
We will be referred to:
– The Refugees of Asia Minor after the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923
(Thousands groups of refugees come to Greece and some of them inhabit in Anavyssos and Fokaia )
To the Part 3:
We will be referred to:
– The Anavyssos Salinas (Salt Marsh) / ALYKES
You will watch a photographic TOUR through the years.
You will find out a FOCAL POINT ……
It’s the chapel of Agios Nikolas, which became a MEETING POINT of History and Culture for Anavyssos through the years.
Enjoy the photographic tour…..
20th century
THE TREATY OF LAUSSANE ” ( 24th of July 1923) ,
became one of the worst moments in the 20th century history.
The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey , was stemmed from the “Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations”.
It involved approximately 2 million people (around 1.5 million Anatolian Greeks and 500,000 Muslims in Greece), most of whom were forcibly made refugees and de jure denaturalized from their homelands.
By the end of 1922, the vast majority of native Asia Minor Greeks had already fled the Greek genocide (1914–1922) and Greece’s later defeat in the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922).
Exodos / Eradication
The 1923 population exchange created a vast wave of REFUGEES in Greece
According to UN (united nations) refugee :
” is a person who is outside their country of citizenship because they have well-founded grounds for fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, and is unable to obtain sanctuary from their home country or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of that country; or in the case of not having a nationality and being outside their country of former habitual residence as a result of such event, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to their country of former habitual residence. ”
The historical turning point again for Anavyssos took place in the same location …..
In the area around the chapel of Agios Nicholas .
Chapter ONE
‘’ A hunted herd of Refugees from East/Asia Minor , summer of 1923 , are searching for their NEW homeLAND … in the desert of Anavyssos ‘’
Elias Venezis’ , 1939 novel ”Galini”(Tranquility),
In 1924 the first group of Greek Refugees of Asia Minor comes …..by ship in Anavyssos.
They were from the area of FOKAIA of Asia Minor.
