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At this stage, there remained about 70,000 people who identified as Greeks of Turkey. He understood that it was tough being Greek, but there was value in treating everyone with respect, no matter what their apparent origins were for a Greek in Turkey, their origins were in Turkey.įast forward to 1948, the second season of playing with the powerhouse Fenerbahçe, and a young Lefter was called up to the national team. Yes, he had dual identities, in the same way many migrants do worldwide, except he was no migrant. At the same time, he would be welcomed by Turkish friends and learn the language of his country, Turkey. Lefteris Antoniadis or Lefter as he was known in Turkey, was born on the island of Buyukada the island is one of nine that sit in the Sea of Marmara, which was taken by the Ottomans in April 1453, When Lefter was born, just two years after the Asia Minor catastrophe of 1922, and 12 months after the sad population exchange between the two countries, the main Turkish city in Europe was still a culturally diverse city, a place where a young Lefter could worship in a Greek Orthodox church and speak his native Greek language. What tax can a government official place on a fish? His father, a fisherman, refused to leave. Lefter had to watch his family of ten siblings leave for Greece, a country that they were not born in. Watch them leave too, especially after the 1955 pogrom in Constantinople (Istanbul). Say goodbye to the family thanks to the policies such as the 1942-44 Wealth Tax (Varlık Vergis), which technically broke the secular Turkish constitution forcing thousands of Greeks, Armenians and Jews to leave. I could leave the article at that and let his stats and name tell the story, for a Greek in the middle part of twentieth century Turkey was not the most comfortable place to be. Oh yeah, this player, well he was a Greek. He was that good, that a statue of him can be found outside the Fenerbahçe Stadium. He was the scorer of 506 goals in 752 matches then there was 21 goals for his national team from 46 matches, captaining Turkey nine times. He wasn’t just a great player he was able to absorb significant pressures off the pitch.
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