THE REVERBERATING SPACE OF IZMIR: LEVANTINES’ INTERPENETRATING HOMES Thesis submitted to the Institute for Graduate Studies in the Social Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Sociology by Selin Ayşe Kaner Boğaziçi University 2008 Thesis Abstract Selin Ayşe Kaner, “The Reverberating Space of Izmir: Levantines’ Interpenetrating Homes” This thesis is an attempt to understand the ways the Levantine community has formed relations to the Izmir’s city space since the inauguration of the Republic. While the Levantines, in the nineteenth century cosmopolitan Izmir, exerted a considerable influence on the city and were visible in its public space, they lost their effectuality in the nationalized city and receded into their introverted spaces. Levantines’ encounter with Turkish nationalism after the foundation of the Turkish Republic has altered their small community in significant ways. In my thesis, I explore the ambiguities and tensions that arise during this process and their effects on Levantines’ experiences of Izmir’s city space with the help of in-depth personal interviews. As Levantines try to get rid of the stigma of being a ‘stranger’, they get enmeshed in Turkish nationalism. But to the extent that they are not encompassed by Turkish nationalism, they feel a longing for their community that is on the verge of extinction. Perpetually oscillating between being a ‘stranger’ and being a ‘native’, they emphasize being an ‘Izmirian’ and their longstanding ties to the city, reclaiming belonging. iii Tez Özeti Selin Ayşe Kaner, “İzmir’in Uğuldayan Mekânı: Levantenlerin İç İçe Geçmiş Evleri” Bu tez çalışması, Cumhuriyet’in kuruluşundan itibaren Levanten cemaatinin bir mekân olarak İzmir şehriyle ilişki kurma biçimlerini anlama çabasıdır. Levantenler, ondokuzuncu yüzyılın kozmopolit İzmir’inde şehir üzerinde önemli etkiye sahip ve kamusal alanda görünür bir grup iken, şehrin ‘millileştirilmesinin’ ardından etkinliklerini çok büyük oranda kaybettiler ve kendi içedönük mekânlarına çekildiler. Levantenlerin, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nin kuruluşundan sonra gerçekleşen, Türk milliyetçiliğiyle karşılaşmaları, küçük cemaatlerini önemli değişimlere uğrattı. Tezimde, bu süreçte ortaya çıkan ikircikliklerle tansiyonlarını; ve de bunların Levantenlerin İzmir’in şehir mekanını deneyimlemelerini nasıl etkilediğini birebir derinlemesine görüşmelerin yardımıyla araştırıyorum. Levantenler ‘yabancı’ damgasından kurtulmaya çalıştıkça Türk milliyetçiliğine yakınlaşıyorlar. Türk milliyetçiliğinin onları kapsayamadığı noktalarda, yokolmanın kıyısındaki cemaatlerine özlem duyuyorlar. ‘Yabancı’ olmak ve ‘yerli’ olmak arasında sürekli gidip gelen Levantenler, İzmirli olmalarını ve İzmir’le olan eskiye dayanan bağlarını vurgulayarak aidiyetlerini tekrar kuruyorlar. iv Acknowledgements First of all, I want to thank my advisor Prof. Biray Kolluoğlu for her guidance, belief in my research and enthusiasm. I am also indebted to her for the emotional support she gave me. Although most of the time, during the writing of this thesis, I hid myself out of shame and uselessness, I felt her unwavering compassionate support with me at all times. Without her deep understanding, tolerance and concern I would have never made it to the end. I am deeply grateful to you. I want to thank Prof. Meltem Ahıska and Prof. Cengiz Kırlı for their insightful criticisms. I am grateful to Güzin Özkan for her constant kindness and assistance. I would like to express my feeling of gratitude to the Levantine women who accepted not only to open their ideas and feelings but also their homes to me. My debts are owed to my grandmother Gina Milovich for supporting me and for providing my link to the community. I am profoundly grateful to my parents Elena and Cengiz Kaner for their unfading encouragement, support and patience. A special thanks to my father again, he knows why. I would like to thank my sister Sibel Kaner Ferenc for her loving support and for her patience with my absence especially at a time when she was laboring to give life to her little daughter. I owe special thanks to Evren Luş for his deep empathy, for having always made me feel his loving, supportive presence by me and for turning even the hardest v times into memories to cherish. Furthermore, this thesis owes a lot to his organizational skills. Thank you so much. Lastly, I thank Gökçe Susam who has always been with me and confronted my ups and downs while I was trying to make myself sit and write. The incessant dialogues we have had, helped me sort out my way not only in this thesis but also simply in life. Thank you for abiding with me. To Gökçe and Evren who have been my home in Istanbul vi CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 2: A SEARCH THROUGH THE BACKGROUND OF IZMIR AND THE RISE OF THE LEVANTINE COMMUNITY...................................................... 5 The Economic Relations that Led to the Emergence of the Cosmopolitan Port City of Smyrna ........................................................................................................ 6 The Structure of Levantine Society: Legal Status, Ethnicity, Confession, Language and Class ................................................................................................ 12 Tensions on the Urban Space: The Loosening of Communitarian Boundaries, Imperial Harmonization and the Rise of Nationalisms........................................... 24 End of Nineteenth Century: Cosmopolitanism and its Demise .............................. 28 CHAPTER 3: UNEASY HOMES: STIRRINGS BETWEEN THE ‘HOMEY’ AND THE ‘UNHOMEY’........................................................................................................ 45 Home as a Key Concept to Understand Levantines’ Senses of Belonging ............ 45 Porous Boundaries between the Home and the World ........................................... 50 The Home as a Material and Imaginary Refuge ..................................................... 55 Home Creating Homelessness: Natives and Strangers60 Ghosts of Belonging……….................................................................................... 67 CHAPTER 4: ENCLOSING AND UNCLOSING HOMES: LEVANTINES RETERRITORIALIZING THEMSELVES IN IZMIR................................................. 78 The Borders of Levantinity..................................................................................... 78 Enclosing Homes .................................................................................................... 82 Uneasy Encounters.................................................................................................. 92 Unclosing Homes.................................................................................................... 101 Wanting Homes....................................................................................................... 106 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION....................................................................................... 111 APPENDICES................................................................................................................ 116 A. List of Interviewees........................................................................................... 116 B. Original Texts of the Quoted Interviews........................................................... 121 REFERENCES............................................................................................................... 135 vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Levantines of Izmir are the Catholic or Protestant residents who have come to the city mostly after the seventeenth century. They were active in external trade, banking, mining, shipping, overseas insurance and production. Though Levantines were never populous in the city’s overall population they nevertheless were an important part of city’s business life in terms of capital, expertise and connections. For Frangakis-Syrett, as the dominant actors in the city’s integration to international trade and European economy, Levantines were also significant in giving the city its cosmopolitan culture and identity. In the nineteenth century the city was composed of Turkish, Armenian, Greek, Jewish and Frank quarters. Especially proliferating in the nineteenth century, the respective communities had their own institutions such as churches, schools, hospitals, charities as well as social clubs, theatres, dancing halls, coffee shops. Levantines at the beginning of the twentieth century underwent along with other inhabitants of the city unsettling changes. In 1919, they witnessed the Greek administration established in Izmir, then the coming of the Turkish troops and their reclaiming the city, they saw the Great Fire of 1922 and the Greeks and Armenians who were forced to flee to never come back again. They saw their neighborhood, the Frank quarter burn down along with the Greek and Armenian neighborhoods. Levantines and Jews were the two major remaining non-Muslim communities in Republican Izmir. However, Levantines having lost their neighborhood and social space were burdened with creating themselves new spaces in the nationalized city where they have lost their former power. 1 In this respect, I will try to concentrate on questions like: How do the Levantines, which are placed on the margins of the ‘community of common identity’ of the nation, make themselves at home in Republican Izmir? How do they consume this city space and produce new spaces where