Abstract:

This paper deals with a saga of compulsory migration, refugees and asylum seekers, ending in the formation of transnational groups, part-time citizenships and diaspora as a result of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne and the additional Protocol of the Population Exchange of Rum (Greek) from Turkey and Muslims from the Western Thrace dating back to ninety years. It is argued that the status of Gökçeadalılar (Imbrians) is characterized by a loss of communication rights and locates the instance where this loss is most visible – the Imbros island. In this process the island become a 'detention' place and the 'detained' Imbrians loose their status as 'interlocutors', irrespective of the processes that allow them – or demand of them- to speak. The state of exceptionality assigned to Imbrians by the Lausanne Treaty, ironically become the antipode of the fundamental principles of free movement, expression and protection of cultural heritage as tangible and intangible layers.

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